1. FM2: British and American
Film Topics
Summer Examination

2. FM2: British and American Film
Topics
• Summer Examination
• 2 ½ hrs long
• 3 sections, 1 question from each section to
be answered
• Section A: Producers and Audiences
(Easter Revision session to be run by Mrs
Moore)
• Section B: British Film Topics (Mrs Raji)
• Section C: US Film Comparative Study

3. FM2: Section B – British Film
Topics (Mrs Raji)
• British Film Genre – Horror
• What do you need to know and be aware of? (KEY AIMS
OF SECTION B)
• How macro elements (genre and narrative) of a film
construct meaning and raise issues
• Understand the ‘constructed’ nature of narrative and how
spectators experience it
• The key elements of the horror genre
• Representation issues
• The interrelationship between producers and audiences
• The British context of films
• Detailed knowledge of at least 2 films

4. WHAT IS GENRE?
AS DEFINED BY THE MEDIA & FILM STUDIES HANDBOOK (Clark et al, 2007)
• a genre is a loose category or classification of media product (e.g. tabloid
newspaper, soap opera, science fiction film). Classification into one genre
or another is governed by codes and conventions, and each has its own
more or less obvious iconography. The codes and conventions of a genre
refer both to the cultural signals contained in the text and to the ways in
which the text's content is presented.
• However, because every media product is unique in one way or another,
not all generic elements will invariably be present in every example of a
genre. Genre acts as useful shorthand for producers, for whom it helps
to generate profit, and for audiences, to whom it provides pleasure. It helps
audiences know in advance what to expect of the product, and many
become fans of certain genres; for producers, genre helps to make clear
what is being proposed when they are pitching ideas for new products.
• Conversely, a media product that does not fall into a clear genre, and is
therefore more challenging to describe, may be less successful than one
that does. Genres can die out or mutate over time: the Western is an
example of an important film genre which has almost disappeared, while
since the 1950s the horror movie has often combined with science fiction,
e.g. The Thing (John Carpenter, USA, 1982). This is an example of a
generic hybrid (which involves genre-bending or genre-surfing) - a mixture
of two or more genres.

5. WHAT IS GENRE?
• The next slide provides you with several
definitions of genre
• It would be useful to read through these and see
if you agree with what they say
• Memorise some quotes so that you can use
them in the exam
• Hopefully you will get a sense of it being difficult
in some ways to pin down the definition of genre.
• Remember that genre is used a blueprint, and
you can add and take away from the blueprint as
long as a recognisable foundation remains.

7. KEY CONCEPTS
• Media Languages The Key Concepts are
widely used in Media
• Institutions Studies for the
purposes of analysis.
• Genre They can be a useful for
Film Studies too.
• Representations
• Audiences See the next two pages
for an explanation and
• Ideology and Values a diagram
• Narrative

8. KEY CONCEPTS
• Media Languages for this unit you will need to refer to the micro elements,
when conducting detailed analysis of sequences
• Institutions for this unit you will need to elaborate on the British context of the films
• Genre for this unit you will need to a clear understand of what genre is, the codes and
conventions of the horror genre, and explain how they are used in the films
• Representations for this unit you will need to explain how the horror genre is
represented possibly through characters (gender representation) and the narrative
• Audiences for this unit you will need to make clear the appeal of the horror genre for
audiences, and what their expectations of the genre are
• Ideology and Values horror films are known for presenting ideas about
society you will have to offer an explanation as to how the case study films do this
• Narrative you will have to have knowledge of the typical narrative conventions and
narrative structure of horror films

10. Things to consider at this
point…
• Why is genre important?
• What helps audiences recognise a genre?
• How can we tell a horror film is a horror
film?
• What is the appeal of the horror genre?

11. KEY CONCEPTS OF GENRE
Taken from ‘More Than Meets the
Eye’ Graeme Burton 3rd edition (2002)

12. RECOGNITION and
ATTRACTION
• The story makers depend on recognition for
instant communication with the audience. If it is
familiar then the audience know the kind of
person or scene that they are dealing with.
• Alternatively the story makers can trade in
recognition in order to tease the audience, by
doing something, which they do not expect. This
is often the case in sequels. So the attraction of
genre material is the mixture of familiarity and
the unexpected.

13. ANTICIPATION, EXPECTATION
and PREDICTION
• All media material gives some kind of pleasure
to the reader of view. This is why the audience
buys the product.
• There is a kind of pleasure gained from being
able to anticipate what will happen next, e.g.
Mystery Thriller Genre (Murder She Wrote)
• There is a kind of pleasure gained from
expectation of what should happen next, e.g.
Action films

14. REPETITION and
REINFORCEMENT
• The building blocks of genre, its elements, as
well as the messages that genres communicate,
all depend on being repeated, so that they
continue to be known and understood by the
audience.
• The more the stories use the same or similar
elements, the more the audience accepts that
this is what the genre is all about. They become
‘natural’.

15. FORMULA
• When we recognise and make sense of
genre material we take all elements
together. This combination of elements
special to a genre represents a kind of
formula.

16. GENRE, INDUSTRY and
AUDIENCE
• Genres are good for industries because
they are generally good for profits. They
are good for profits because, the audience
pays for them consistently. The audience
is attracted to genre material and pays for
it because it takes pleasure and
satisfaction from the material.

17. Genre Codes & Conventions
AS DEFINED BY THE MEDIA & FILM STUDIES HANDBOOK (Clark et al, 2007)
• We’ve already defined GENRE, so let’s define CODES and
CONVENTIONS
• CODE: in simple terms, a code is a system of letters,
numbers and symbols that communicate ideas to a group or
society. A simple example is The Highway Code: it is a set of
rules that we must know and agree to, which is characterised
primarily by a series of signs, which when decoded offer the
exact information we need when we are driving or riding on
the roads. In semiology (the study of signs), we can talk about
encoding and decoding in relation to how images are put
together (constructed) or read (deconstructed) in a media
text, for example. In some ways, codes can be seen as a
system of rules (as in The Highway Code), which must be
learned by a group or society. In some cases, codes are
understood by reading media texts and trying to make sense
of them and they are established by practice; hence they also
relate to conventions.

19. Genre Codes & Conventions
AS DEFINED BY THE MEDIA & FILM STUDIES HANDBOOK (Clark et al, 2007)
• CONVENTION: An established way of
doing things, therefore…
• CODES & CONVENTIONS: used casually
as a catch-all term to describe the things
that we associate with a text; hence the
phrase 'generic codes and conventions' to
refer to the signifiers we can expect to see
or hear in specific genres.

20. Genre Conventions
• Genre conventions are the identifying characteristics of a film.
• Iconography
• Setting
• Characters
• Narrative
• Style
• Theme
• Despite often clearly definable characteristics, however, it is
important to remember that genres are not fixed entities, but are
instead constantly evolving. Often the boundaries between genres
become blurred. In most cases films represent a “genre hybrid” – or
a combination of attributes from several different genre
backgrounds. Studying genre reveals a pattern of repetition and
difference. In other words, some films do have identifiable
similarities, but they also contain new elements or similar elements
used in new ways.

21. Genre Conventions: HORROR
• Read the explanations for the for the genre conventions and think
about how each one can be applied to the horror genre
• Iconography is a term from art history which refers to the classification of
art based on common or recurring images or icons. Films and moving
image products can also be identified by the key images or icons contained
within them. These images or iconic elements are usually immediately
recognisable. For example, a central iconic image of classic Hollywood
gangster films is the machine gun, in this instance a film prop. Types of
costume, sound and music also function as iconic features within other
genres.
• Setting Many genres, particularly the Western and Gangster genres, have
a distinct location and time period associated with them. The use of
temporal and spatial settings can therefore make a film immediately
recognisable within a particular genre or sub-genre.
• Characters The story of a film is most often told through characters. A film’s
main protagonist or “hero” encounters a variety of obstacles which he must
overcome within the story. These obstacles are usually caused by some
kind of adversary or “villain”. Different genres become associated with
different heroes and villains. Over time, these particular characters achieve
the status of a “generic type”.

22. Genre Conventions: HORROR
• Narrative refers to the different types of story structure that films of different
genres employ, in addition to the narrative or story-telling devices and
narrative moments which they are associated with (e.g. chase sequences,
shoot-outs, romantic kisses etc). Narratives are all based on some form of
conflict. Different genres therefore focus on different types of conflict.
Genres can therefore also be differentiated by how they each represent
conflict and resolution in their own distinctive ways.
• Style Iconography refers to actual objects or sounds in a film or moving
image product, whereas style specifically refers to how these are presented.
This category mainly relates to use of camera, lighting, colour and both
audio and visual tone.
• Theme Genre films are often underpinned by universal themes, which
increase their appeal to audiences. These themes, underpinning a film’s
narrative are most effective when they are based on binary oppositions. For
example, Jim Kitses used anthropological studies of folklore as a basis for
identifying a number of key underlying themes in the Western genre; East v.
West, Garden v. Wilderness, Industrialism v. Agrarianism.

23. This table provides a
comparative example of how
the genre conventions are used
in Dracula and Scream.
Do a similar table for our 2 case
study films

24. ANALYSIS
• Watch the case study films and make specific notes
on scenes and sequences that exemplify how the
films have utilised the horror genre conventions.
Things to consider:
• How the setting fits the expectations of the horror genre
• Who are the characters and how they are represented to
us; heroes, monsters, victims, also consider gender
representation
• What is the plot (how does it fit with horror conventions?)
• Iconography – in mise-en-scene (costumes, make-up,
props etc.)
• Music/ sound effects
• Camerawork
• Themes
• If you can attempt intertextuality

25. THE HORROR GENRE
A few extras you should be aware of

26. The Horror Film
• Horror films tend to be viewed with critical
disdain for a number of reasons:
• Predictability of form and content
• Low budgets and poor production values
• Targeting an adolescent audience
• Variety of generic sources and subgenres
• Fantasy worlds – little connection with social or political
issues
• Dependence upon blood, gore, viscera for effect
• Conservative attitudes towards morality and sexuality

27. The Horror Film
“The horror film has consistently been one of the
most popular and, at the same time, the most
disreputable of Hollywood genres. The
popularity itself has a peculiar characteristic that
sets the horror film apart from other genres: it is
restricted to aficionados and complemented by
total rejection, people tending to go to horror
films either obsessively or not at all”
Robin Wood, American Nightmare

28. The Horror Film
• Why are horror films popular with
audiences?
• Stability of form and content provides a predictable
set of pleasures
• Ability to merge with other genres e.g. crime, sci-fi
• Emphasis on the impossible and the uncanny
• Taboo or forbidden subject matter
• The attraction of fear

29. The Attraction of Fear
• Psychological:
• Iconography often linked to primal fears e.g.
darkness, knives, masks
• Return of repressed desires, especially violent and
sexual urges
• Fascination with the body and its fragility
• Sex and sexuality as key themes
• Ultimately reassuring – the diegesis is governed by
set rules, chaos is brought under control
• Questions of morality

30. The Attraction of Fear
• Social:
• The diegesis represents ‘normality’; the monster
stands in opposition to this
• Often based around contemporary social fears and
tensions
• Ultimately, society is able to contain and control
the ‘abnormal’
• Issues of science, technology, religion and
psychology as social ‘narratives’
• More recently, the family and middle-class
lifestyles have been examined as a source of
horror

31. Some Horror Trends
1. Traditional, gothic horror
2. Sci-fi horrors
3. Stalk and slash horror
4. Psychological horror

32. Horror Narrative Conventions
• Narrative: a story, whether factual or fictional. Narrative is a macro element in any
film, which can only be understood by looking at the film as a whole. The term
'narrative structure' describes the way a story is told, and during the twentieth century
numerous theorists constructed various models of the process:
• Vladimir Propp studied Russian folk tales, and detected in them an underlying
narrative structure consisting of eight character roles, or 'spheres of action' and 31
possible story events or 'functions'. His 1928 book The Morphology of the Folk Tale
was later appropriated by film scholars to analyse story structure in films.
• Claude Levi-Strauss is an eminent anthropologist who studied tribal myths and
argued that they contained sets of binary oppositions that revealed the deep structure
of the myths and hence their relevance to a society's innermost beliefs.
• Roland Barthes identified different narrative devices or codes in film and television
drama, such as the action code, suggesting to the audience that an action is about to
take place, and the enigma code, planting a mystery in the story.
• Tzvetan Todorov (who coined the term 'narratology' for the study of narrative)
suggested that all narratives begin in a state of equilibrium, or balance, which is then
upset by some event, and the story continues until a new and different equilibrium is
established.

33. Horror Narrative Conventions
• David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson have described such
aspects of narrative as -range and depth - respectively the amount
of information available to the audience at any given point, and how
much of a character's point of view the audience shares.
• In his 1997 book Story, Robert McKee examined film narrative from
the point of view of the screenwriter, insisting that all effective films
have a three-act structure, and that action is always more important
than dialogue.
• Christopher Vogler, another screenwriting 'guru', also emphasised
the importance of story structure in The Writer's Journey (1999),
arguing the enduring power of traditional myths, and seeing in them
underlying structures reminiscent of Propp.

34. Possible exam question…
• What are some of the narrative features
that are distinctive in the films you have
studied?
• The best way to answer this question
would be to gain knowledge of the
narrative theories and see how they apply
to the films, and then see if this is generic
across all horror films