Austin’s Blog: Genre Research

Genre - Action

Context

The action genre is typically defined by being very fast paced with lots of stunts throughout the film. Movies in the action genre revolve around a protagonist or group of protagonists going against one main antagonist. They also contain a large amount of fight scenes or action packed chase scenes or scenes where the protagonist is fighting time.

Captain America fighting his former self in "Avengers: Endgame"

The films in this genre also typically have a white male as the protagonist. The role is dominated by a few actors, some of them being Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise, Jason Statham, and Dwayne Johnson. In this genre females are not normally cast as leads and instead have a supporting role or are a love interest. In the films characters use a variety of weapons ranging from guns and knives to blasters and lightsabers depending on the world the film takes place in. Action movies can take place in any setting but the most common setting used is the modern world.

Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible"

Production Techniques

Action movies use a couple techniques to really draw the viewers attention. One technique used is high shutter speed. Using a high shutter speed allows the movements of characters and objections to become much more pronounced on screen. Films also use a lot of closeups and extreme closeups. This makes it much easier to make fights and other action seem realistic and also makes the final edit easier. Action films also use a ton of visual effects to make the stunts preformed seem as realistic as possible.

Before and after visual effects in "John Wick: Chapter 3"

Marketing

Action movie marketing is typically done by showing action scenes in trailers. Movie studios capitalize on people paying attention to fast things and show as much action as they can without spoiling the movie in marketing campaigns. Studios also make flashy posters with the most well known actors so people rush to see famous actors in new movies.

Films

Deadpool

The movie Deadpool is about a superhuman man who is trying to take revenge on the evil scientist who conducted experiments on him. In this film the protagonist is a white male(Ryan Reynolds) and there is only one main antagonist. The movie is advanced by gruesome fight scenes that all take place in a realistic modern world. The film is extremely fast paced and the fight scenes have loads of closeups adding to the mayhem, both staples of the action genre.

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame is an action film in which the remaining avengers must find a way to defeat the main villain Thanos and revert the damage he did to the universe. This film has a lot of visual effects and fight scenes throughout the movie. The movie has non-stop action and includes fight scenes where the characters use both modern weapons and mythical devices to fight the enemy.