”Here’s a little bit on the history behind Action films. ” The words ‘Action film’ was first recognized as adventure films in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1940s and the 1950s saw ”action” in a new form through war and cowboy movies. Action movies are quite popular nowadays. Some of the more well-known actors of the genre are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford. Some hybrids of the action genre are ‘Action Comedy’, ‘Action/Adventure Drama’, and ‘Action Adventure Sci-Fi”.
An action film with a fast-moving plot, usually containing scenes of violence, it is a film genre in which one or more heroes are put into a series of challenges that typically include physical threats, extended fight scenes, violence, and frantic chases. In my short film i am going to have the main character that has these imagination the hero and the interviewer the villein.
Characters/villain/hero is the main protagonist, always the hero controls the action. The villain, often a rich millionaire or ex-military, usually has an accent that sounds menacing(For example in the movies Silva and Sky-fall) Sometimes hides their identity and usually has a female companion. This is what most action movies have however i am going to change some things around when it comes to creating my short film. My characters are going to be goofy and close to real life as it is going to be a Comedy Action.
Comedy film codes and conventions
”In a modern sense, comedy refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film, stand-up comedy, or any other medium of entertainment. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a “Society of Youth” and a Society of the Old.A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter.”
Comedy films will occur in bright places, this is normally in a location that is known for social events. You can also make a location part of a joke which helps put the viewer in the scene with the characters. I am going to stick to this when planning my short film because I think this will be a good addition to it.
The camera work used in comedies looks natural and close to real life. This is because if it looks close to real life people will find the film more enjoyable. The camera work might change around in when i start doing some action shots. But most of them will link to the comedy genre.
The sound is also a good way to improve the comedy genre. The diegetic sound like dialogue needs to be clear to make sure it will be laughed at. Non-diegetic sound is also impotent, edited sound can be used to place emphasis on certain scenes. The sound that enhances comedy will also help the action genre in a way.
My understanding and application I could definitely add sounds into my short film that do both (example an explosion going off and then a goofy character making a cheesy Arnold Sch quote). There’s the explosion for the action genre and the cheese comment for the comedy genre.
Lighting is also leading to the camera work. The lighting is commonly bright or natural as this creates a realistic environment. Bright and happy colours are used to show that the scene is happy, or shoot in the daylight at the peak time. However, Lighting is similar to sound as Action Lighting can merge into Comedy lighting if that makes sense. For example, you could have lighting with high contrast but still, keep the comedy aspect with facial expression and body language. I want to add this aspect to my short film. So if i have a scene where a guy gets shot for no reason i could then have the next shot of the shooter shrugging his shoulders as if nothing happened.
My understanding and application The person that is dead represents action and the characters facial expressions is the comedy aspect. This would probably be in one of the flashbacks not in the interview part because the flashbacks aren’t going to be real but the interview is.
There is a lot of useful information here however if i need to refer back to this it is here for me to do so. I now need to have a look at some script layouts and just some tips and tricks on how to create one. This is because i have never created a short film that has dialogue in it so I just get this part correct so that my actors don’t have any problems when reading my script.
Ref:
Henderson, J. (1993) Comic Hero versus Political Elite pp. 307–19 in Sommerstein, A.H.; S. Halliwell; J. Henderson; B. Zimmerman, eds. (1993). Tragedy, Comedy and the Polis. Bari: Levante Editori. (Anatomy of Criticism, 1957) Marteinson, 2006
“Action Top rated Most Viewed – AllMovie”. Allrovi.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21.
Rainer, Peter (June 27, 1993). “FILM COMMENT : Endangered Species : The American action-fantasy epic is in danger of becoming terminally musclebound and knuckle-headed”. The Los Angeles Times.
Brandon Rutlidge's - FMP - Level 3 Creative Media 