Genre Analysis

Each genre has different generic conventions to define them. Using these conventions properly is key to setting the key themes and atmosphere that is desired for a certain film. For example, in an action movie, an audience would expect to see certain things. This would be things such as; a chase, fast pace, music to enhance tension and urgency, usually weapons and an antagonist and protagonist. In a horror, the audience would expect to see; gore weapons, lots of tension and fear, scary themes (such as murder), death and very tense and eerie music to help create a scary atmosphere.

All of the generic conventions fit together to create the perfect movie of that genre. Crossing over conventions from different genres would lead to audience confusion and a poor film (unless done deliberately for something such as spoof), so it is important that they are used correctly.

How these conventions are used in film openings:

Action- Mission Impossible

The generic conventions used in this opening sequence make it very clear that this is going to be an action film. It uses very fast paced music to build tension and urgency. This atmosphere is also achieved by the incredibly fast cuts throughout the entire opening. It is made clear who the protagonist is, by the amount of screen time he has and there is also a few brief  images, which suggest that there is a antagonist. There is the use of weapons, such as a knife and there are many bombs. The bombs are a signifier of urgency, which contributes to the theme.

Science Fiction- Star Trek

This opening is very simple and quite short, but you can still quite easily tell it's genre, by the conventions used. It starts with a view of an alien object floating next to, what seems to be, the sun. There are small spaceships,which can be seen flying away, in a group. This tell the audience that the film will not be set (entirely) on Earth, which is a major theme in sci-fi films. The alien object suggest that there will be some fictional creatures from a different world and the ships tell us that there is some advance technology being used. Also the use of grand and futuristic music suggests that there will be a lot of technological themes throughout, and the big orchestra feel is common to the genre. All of these conventions are all quite unique to the genre so it is clear immediately what type of film this is. 

This opening is much slower than the action opening. It doesn't contain any weapons, sense of urgency, or even human characters. The action opening doesn't contain any alien themes, or space ships. This is because these conventions are key to certain genres and are what make a film fit its desired genre.