Films Genre Upon The Audience example essay topic

HOW DOES THE FIRST 10 MINUTES OF FINAL DESTINATION GAIN INTEREST FROM THE AUDIENCE AND CREATE EXPECTATION FOR THE REST OF THE FILM? Final Destination is a teen horror movie typical of its genre, a genre that has seen many successful movies produced over the last few years. It contains a number of conventions that apply to the hybrid genre. The first 10 minutes of the film is used as an introduction to the film and its key storyline and main protagonists. As the credits roll up the first real shot the audience is shown is a flash of lighting which pans down to a pane of glass, the stormy night and bad weather could be seen as a pathetic fallacy. It immediately tells the audience that something is wrong, the weather being bad is a sign of things to come.

There are a number of references to death and evil in the opening sequence to the film. The first of which is shadow of a doll hanging, giving the impression of a man who has been hung to his death. The next shot is of a boarding pass being thrown onto a table, the moving blades of a fan then obscure this, the fan obscures the whole pass from view except the flight number and destination. This is so that the audience will recognise that the flight is in peril. The next sequence revels a book about France being taken from a shelf behind it is a book named Death Of A Salesman, the reference to death is obvious from its title however those familiar with the book (actually a play written by Arthur Miller) will know that the main character brings about his own death in tragic circumstances, this is a theme that could be applied to Final Destination. The following shots give glimpses of sketches from people in battle, the cinematography used in this sequence doesn't give a clear view of what exactly is being shown - this is to give the film an eerie presence and slightly confuse the audience as to what is actually happening.

As the blades of the fan once again obscure the full picture clearer pictures are shown of what looks like bible tales. Good vs. Evil and the sign of a man bearing a cross to ward of a devil, this is to convey the supernatural element that the film has. As the blades pass over the screen it sounds like the swish of a blade. Knives are often used in horror films past and present and again enforce the films genre upon the audience. The last shot from the opening credits is over writing in blood red which reads "this is the end" and stays in shot as the image around it fades to black. This is to heighten the audience's anticipation of the action and to create suspense.

The first scene introduces the audience to the central character of the film, a teenage boy named Alex. We as an audience can see that everything is "normal" that is to say nothing out of the ordinary has yet happened. Alex is immediately shown to have superstitious beliefs; he will not let his mother take the label off. As she ignores him and rips the tag off the action is slowed down momentarily just as the rip takes place. This is to show to the audience that Alex and his superstitious beliefs are going to be a central part of play. This also creates the expectation that Alex will somehow become the hero and that "normality" will be restored via him.

When Alex's father tells him "you have your whole ahead of you" the camera is constantly zooming in on Alex or his father, whoever is in shot. There is also a sound bridge of eerie music and the voice of Alex's father sounds detached, as if it is coming from somewhere else. This again is to convey to the audience that Alex's life will be greatly affected by events to come. The cinematography used when Alex is asleep showing the chain of events started by the wind moving a model planes propeller and ending with a shot of his alarm clock flashing the time 1.80 - the same number as Alex's flight again shows that the flight has central role to play. The way that the weather seems to cause the chain of events leading up to to the alarm clock flashing shows the audience that the film has a different convention in terms of the "monster" in most teen horror it will take a human form.

Although the "monster" has not yet been revealed the sequence revels that something that no human can control (the weather), seems to be against Alex as well, as if controlled by some outside force. The sequence of the Alex's class at the airport shows the other characters and their typical characteristics that make up a group in a teen horror film. All members are young, attractive and have certain traits, which can be found in any teenage group, there is a bully, an idiot, a girlfriend; a best friend and the central characters love interest. The next shots of Alex show him noticing little things about the airport that seem to disturb him, the action focuses on the board clicking down which seems noticeably loud and the fact that the camera stops on the word terminal is again reminding the audience of the underlying theme of death. This is to show that Alex notices things that other seem not to, again typical of the genre and narrative the central character has to seem a little unique to survive. When the airport clerk tags his bag it reads "Final Destination" across the top, obviously the title of the film but also another reference that death is evidently a major feature of the film.

When the clerk tells Alex that the departure time is the same as his birthday, this unnerves him and the action zooms in a loose wire, this could perhaps show that the line of "normality" is about to be disturbed. As Alex hears John Denver whilst in the toilet he remembers that John Denver died in a plane crash, the cinematography used makes each of these small coincidences seem very noticeable, telling the audience that they are important to the narrative of the film. As Alex boards the plane he notices more and more things that the camera focus's on, from the bus passing under the plane which reads 666 - the number of the beast, again a reference to the biblical portrayal of the devil and evil, the cinematography plays an important part in creating the general unease which Alex conveys to the audience, we can see that he is afraid of flying but it seems that there is something particularly strange about the flight, the continuing camera movement of bringing a small object into the main focus creates tension, suspense and interest from the audience. As the flight prepares for take off music is bought in and the pace of the action quickens to show the anxiety that Alex is feeling, this in turn makes the audience feel unsure and anxious of what is about to happen. The plane then experiences some minor turbulence; this is building to an anti-climax, making the audience believe that something is about to go badly wrong only to restore the equilibrium again. This is to relive the tension, which in turn allows for the tension to be built up again.

As the plane experiences turbulence for the second time the cinematography becomes very wild, jerky and fast. The audience cannot see clearly what is in shot, the screaming and general panic is conveyed through this technique, making the panic seem surreal and confusing. The plane then explodes in which we see a number of special effects, something that tells us the film has to be a high budget movie, as Alex awakes and the events seem to repeat themselves he panics. This is to show the audience that Alex knows what is to come; this is the disruption to the equilibrium in Alex's mind - which Alex must now try to restore. However I believe that the main disruption is when the audience see the plane explode, this shows them that Alex is right even though it seems impossible that anyone can see the future - this again re-enforces the supernatural element of the film. The way in which the film is introduced to the audience displays a number of genre and narrative conventions.

The disruption of equilibrium by a "monster" of some sorts, the young group friends shows that it will be a modern horror film set in a suburban location. Through the entire airport sequence the weather is dark and rainy, again a pathetic fallacy, which immediately tells the audience that, something is wrong. The main features that seem to give Final Destination another dimension are the constant references to death in a more surreal and supernatural sense. Far from having a human form causing the disruptions to the protagonists it seems to be a force which humans have no control or experience in dealing with.

This creates the expectation that Alex will have to contend with a number of situations, which would not normally occur within the teen-horror genre. The overall impression of the opening scenes serve the purpose of introducing the main characters, showing the disruption of "normality", introduces the main protagonist and shows how they are unique in comparison to (his) friends, gives an introduction to the monster and sets up the narrative for the typical teen-horror movie. Most audiences will feel that after watching the opening scenes that know enough about the film to begin to create an idea of what is about to come. Final Destination clearly in the same genre as highly successful films such as Scream, Halloween and Scary Movie, the audience will relate it to these films in terms of genre and narrative but will expect to see something quite different as well. I think the cinematography plays an important part in showing the supernatural element of the film which is how I feel it differs from most other films in its genre.