Genre Film Case Studies

For our fiction film opening scene, i would like our group to create a film with the genre action-comedy.To show that i know the conventions im going to work with, i have studied 2 films of this genre. These 2 films are Central Intelligence (2016) and Deadpool (2016).

'Central Intelligence' Rawson Marshall Thurber (2016):

-Setting: The setting of this scene is in a tall building full of offices where wealthy people would work. Money and high expensiveness is usual convention seen in action films and the audience will know that the people working in the setting are most likely to be highly paid. As the scene plays out, much of the setting is destroyed by the guns being shot and the fighting. The audience will expect to see this as damaging of expensive items is another convention of action.

- Iconography: Action films tend to have some sort of iconography such as gadgets, guns and expensive suits etc. and all of these can be seen in this scene. In action comedies, the weapons used can seem quite over the top or very irregular, for example in this scene Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson) uses a Banana to help defeat the man he is fighting. Also the clothing the characters are wearing make them look smart and professional, however, Bob Stone seems to be the toughest guy in this scene and is known to be a CIA member but his clothes do not make him seem smart and professional at all which can seem humorous. This is an an example of hyper-masculinity for Dwayne Johnsons character. 

-Character: Generic Characters in action-comedy can become traditional action heroes. The main characters in action-comedy can usually be partners and this can be seen in films such as 'Bad Boys, Hot Fuzz and 21 jump street,(buddy films) a partnership also takes place in this film between Bob Stone and Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart). there is usually many faults and differences about the 2 characters which can make the relationship comical for the audience and this can be seen with the 2 main chracters of this film.

-Narrative: The opening of many action comedies show how the two characters got to know each other. The begin of this movie shows the 2 characters during there time in high school. Calvin was a extremely popular student who was loved by everyone but Bob was very unpopular and was embarrassed in front of everyone as he thrown out naked in front of the whole school during an assembly. Calvin felt bad for bob so he handed him his jacket to help him. Bob then contacts him later in life and they meet up which is where the partnership begins to start.

'Deadpool' Tim Miller (2016):

-Setting: The setting of this scene takes place on a motorway in a big city. A city is usually a ideal setting for a action movie and the motorway has potential in producing many conventions such as high destruction. This also puts many innocent people who live in the city at danger.

-iconography: Weapons are a common iconography in action movies. The character of Deadpool shows this as the audience can see the wide range of weapons he has on him such as a gun and two huge swords on his back. This makes deadpool look as if he is ready to kill, which is unusual for a superhero movie. The car chase and fight show more conventions of action, however deadpool seems to not be taking the moment seriously as he fights the antagonists which makes the scene more comical.

-Character: As mentioned, Deadpools character does not seem to take serious moments seriously, when in fights he can give funny one liners and has attitude as if there is no fight going on at all. This shows that he if very comfortable when fighting and shows that he is used to it. His character is alos betrayed as a anti-hero which contrasts with the genre of the film having a sub-genre of a superhero movie.
-Narrative: The film is about the character of Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) who has fond out that he has late stages of cancer after finding the love of his life. He is told that he can be cured however it turns out to have haunting side effects, even though he is now immortal, Wade has been left with terrible mutated skin. Therefore, before returning to his girlfriend he must find the man that done this to him, Francis, who can allegedly turn him back to normal.