Film genre is a macro element of film and is the overarching ‘theme’. This usually means the audience has an expectation of what will be in the film, for example in a horror people expect scary things like jumpscares. I studied the superhero genre and found the main themes are that the hero saves the city from the bad guy.

Genre analysis of the superhero genre:

Hollywood trailer:

Non Hollywood trailer:

In this task, we analysed the short film Suckablood to understand more about the elements that make a horror film unique in its genre.

In class we were given the task in small groups to label the repertoire of elements of the superhero genre and worked on specific characters to see their similarities and differences in character in the genre.

In relation to The Dark Knight, it uses some of the typical conventions for the superhero genre but also breaks them.

Similarities:

• Uses specialised weaponry/tech/vehicles – Batman’s suit, Batmoblie, and the listening and mapping device to map phones/computers.
• Set in a city – Gotham, big urban areas.
• Typical conflict of good trying to overcome evil – Batman trying to stop the Joker (and other smaller villains)
• Aerial shots – swooping shots of Gotham.
• Large action sequences – Joker chase, end Joker fight sequence, the first bank scene.

Differences:

• Dark superhero suit – monotone colours – black
• The hero dose not win – There is no clear winner between Batman and the Joker.
• Dark and gritty – dark tones and themes rather than bright colours and fun stories.

Using different corpora (Lord of the Rings, Shrek, Harry Potter) from the same genre in class we analysed and compared Pan’s Labyrinth’s genre conventions to theirs to see what Pan’s Labyrinth did similar and what it did differently. Me and my partner specifically did events and scenes.

What Pan’s Labyrinth (Pan’s) did the same:

• Both Pan’s and Shrek : Forever After have a close to death scene. Pan’s has this convention but does it a little differently, using a darker, more realistic tone then Shrek’s passing, which was more spiritual.
• Pan’s has a teacher or creature introducing her at the beginning of her journey. This is very common to the fantasy genre and Pan’s does it perfectly, giving us the fawn which tells Ofelia about her quests and starts the story.
• In Pan’s there is a fight or battle with the enemy. Pan’s version of this is quite different from the regular battle of an army of thousands. Instead it chooses to keep the fight personal with only Vidal and Ofelia. This makes the fight seem much more intimate and suits the style of a small cast that Pan’s has.

What Pan’s did differently:

• There is no large sweeping shot in Pan’s of the landscape. It tries to instead keep the same closeness that it shows in the rest of the film. Most of the sets in Pan’s are closed and are made to feel as though Ofelia is trapped in the real world with her abusive step-father and in the magical world with her having to complete these quests.
• Pan’s chooses to drift away from the convention that all fantasy films are bright and magical and often happy. It chooses to stay darkly themed and keep within that realm. Early Harry Potter films could be described as the opposite of Pan’s due to their bright and magical feel and dealing with childhood. Pan’s is much darker and does not have the same feel although magical and dealing with childhood.
• Traditionally fantasy films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have older, medieval settings. Pan’s chooses to keep their setting in 1930’s Spain. Although this may still seem far away, it is a much more modern take on the fantasy setting then other films in the genre. This makes it more relatable to the audience and helps them connect emotionally.