Media Studies Help
G E N R E A N A L Y S I S
Writing frame for essay or PowerPoint
Title: Investigate how genre conventions are used in a poster advertising…[chosen film]
(400-850 words)
Paragraph 1: Explanation of the textual analysis task:
What film poster you have chosen, the director of the film and year it was released.
How you are going to analyse its use of genre conventions (mise-en-scene).
The conclusions you will be able to draw (whether the poster maintains genre conventions or challenges them, who the target audience is and why etc).
Paragraph 2: Science Fiction conventions used in the mise-en-scene (meaning and effect created by this):
Location
Lighting
Colour
Costume
Character Positioning and Expression
Props
Typography
CGI and Special FX
Paragraph 3: Science fiction stock elements in the poster (remember you are only looking at the poster, not discussing the film it advertises!):
Stock settings
Stock narratives
Stock characters
Stock iconography
Paragraph 4: SPECIFIC Target Audience Demographics (not just WHAT they are, but WHY these are the demographics):
Age
Gender
Nationality
Race
Religion
Income/class
Level of education
Marital Status
Hobbies/interests
Paragraph 5: Institution behind the poster:
Which production company produced the film that the poster advertises?
What other films does this company produce?
Who is the film’s director?
What other films does the director create?
Similarities and differences between the film advertised on your poster and the other films created/produced by the same person/company. E.g. If Spielberg is the director then he is known and widely recognised for creating ‘family’ films that stick to generic conventions, whereas the Wachowski Brothers (who directed The Matrix) are known for pushing genre boundaries.
Paragraph 6: Comparisons with other film posters:
How does your main poster compare to other Science Fiction posters?
Similarities and differences in their use of
Writing frame for essay or PowerPoint
Title: Investigate how genre conventions are used in a poster advertising…[chosen film]
(400-850 words)
Paragraph 1: Explanation of the textual analysis task:
What film poster you have chosen, the director of the film and year it was released.
How you are going to analyse its use of genre conventions (mise-en-scene).
The conclusions you will be able to draw (whether the poster maintains genre conventions or challenges them, who the target audience is and why etc).
Paragraph 2: Science Fiction conventions used in the mise-en-scene (meaning and effect created by this):
Location
Lighting
Colour
Costume
Character Positioning and Expression
Props
Typography
CGI and Special FX
Paragraph 3: Science fiction stock elements in the poster (remember you are only looking at the poster, not discussing the film it advertises!):
Stock settings
Stock narratives
Stock characters
Stock iconography
Paragraph 4: SPECIFIC Target Audience Demographics (not just WHAT they are, but WHY these are the demographics):
Age
Gender
Nationality
Race
Religion
Income/class
Level of education
Marital Status
Hobbies/interests
Paragraph 5: Institution behind the poster:
Which production company produced the film that the poster advertises?
What other films does this company produce?
Who is the film’s director?
What other films does the director create?
Similarities and differences between the film advertised on your poster and the other films created/produced by the same person/company. E.g. If Spielberg is the director then he is known and widely recognised for creating ‘family’ films that stick to generic conventions, whereas the Wachowski Brothers (who directed The Matrix) are known for pushing genre boundaries.
Paragraph 6: Comparisons with other film posters:
How does your main poster compare to other Science Fiction posters?
Similarities and differences in their use of