Post 7e - My Film's Genre Convention - Summary

Our film's genre is a hybrid of Mystery and Drama, I have conducted research into conventions of both these genres below, in hopes that within our group we can use these to our advantage. These conventions will include plot and structure along with mis-en-scene.

Mystery conventions

Whilst the website below is about Mystery in literature, it is very similar in film too.

http://www.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/r/reading_bestpractices_comprehension_genrechart.pdf

• Based around puzzle solving, there will often be a detective character who is the one 'set out to figure out the mystery'.
• Foreshadowing, red herrings, suspense and inference gaps. These four conventions of the mystery provide connections between the film and the audience. An audience will be able to connect to character or plot points or clues easier.
• Gaps are used in the mystery genre, leaving the audience with a sense of the unknown that will later be revealed.
• Mystery films are very realistic, often involving crime, again connecting to an audience at a level of 'this could be happening around us', almost the opposite of escapist, although the extremity of some mystery films cancels this out. The film 'Trance', as an example of this, is a collection of the genres: Crime, Drama and Mystery.

The film is set in London, the basic plot is based around an art robbery gone-wrong, this incorporates the genres of crime and drama. However, Danny Boyle [the director] adds the mystery genre as the film progresses, the audience will see clues about the background of the character Simon, little hints which most don't notice the first time viewing the film. The mystery genre uses subtlety in order to convey a complex plot. Like with 'Trance', where the film suddenly becomes more complex than expects when the elements of amnesia and an unknown story hidden within the main plot are built up and revealed.

Drama conventions