Romance films mainly appeal to a female audience and most of the films of this genre follow a similar story and are very predictable, although they are still successful as they make the audience feel good about themselves and are popular films for females to go and see together.
The characters in romance films are probably the biggest cliche, the protagonist with a failed love life, the gay best friend, the humorous lazy best friend and the pushy parents. These characters are all used as they are relatable to most of the audience so it makes them more involved in the film.
Horror films are popular among a wide range of audiences, adults and teenagers of both sexes watch them. Horror films heavily rely on cliches as most successful films have used them or invented ones and the audience expects to see them.
The biggest cliche used in horror films is the location. All films have the isolated location such as houses in the middle of nowhere 'The Strangers', houses where somebody has previously died and an unsuspecting family move in 'The Amityville Horror' or on Farms 'Isolation.' These locations indicate the genre of the film immediately and are popular among the audience as it causes the film to be scarier as the victims do not not stand a chance so the tension builds throughout the film as the audience becomes more expectant of deaths about to take place.
Action is a genre which is popular among all audiences, although most have more male dominated audiences, females can also find this genre enjoyable to watch.
The most commonly used cliche in an action film is the predictable fighting scene, as an action movie relies on the them heavily to make a fast paced film. This scene is often full of suspense and can include a chase scene, car chases are popular among a male audience, they also include big explosions. The explosion is usually on a huge scale and very destructive and commonly includes a tense moment for the audience when the hero disappear, although he always reappears and the audience does know this it adds to the storyline of an action film.
The Ring follows many conventions of the horror genre. It us a horror film which falls under the sub - category of psychological horror. It was received very well among audiences which resulted in the sequel 'The Ring 2' being made in 2005. The basic story line of the film, is a journalist investigating a video tape which 4 teenagers have died from after 7 days of watching it.
The film is rated a 15 attracting a female and male audience aged 15 - 25 as horror films generally attract this age as they can go in groups with their friends. A lot of the characters in the film are also student age therefore making them relatable characters to the target audience. The trailer begins with the question 'Have you hear about this new video tape that kills you when you watch it?' This immediately entices the audience as it indicates the horror genre and raises a lot of questions as although it suggests this is the storyline it is different to other horror films so encourages the viewer to continue watching. This is a unique selling point of the film and is revealed in the first 10 seconds of the trailer.
The next shot is of a ring, which the audience assumes to be the video tape which kills the viewer. This raises further questions and encourages the audience to continue watching the trailer. The narrative which was at the beginning of the trailer continues by saying 'you start to play it and it's like somebody's nightmare.' This narrative is a woman's voice and is quite sinister, this indicates the genre of the film and entices the viewer into wanting to know who this woman is.
The narrative is revealed and we see a close up of a dark haired, pale lady who appears to be quite a sinister character. The non - diegetic music which plays becomes more prominent as the 'DreamWorks' logo appears and the loud, slow music is a common convention in horror films. The trailer continues onto a shot of a little boy where he seems to be sinister talking slowly and of death. We later see shots of the little boy drawing disturbing pictures , including ones of 'the ring' with his explanation being 'because she told me to.' Using children as victims or the possessed is a common convention in successful horror films so further encourages the viewer to go and see the film as it further indicates the genre of the film and shows how it follows horror conventions suggsting it will be good.
After this, we see a fast montage of clips in which a woman seems to be in a psychiatric unit and we hear a long scream, presumably the woman's and the music gets louder. This causes more questions to be thought about and also indicates the genre further as it is a jumpy part of the trailer and makes the film appear quite sinister. Towards the end of there is a fast paced montage of clips, showing a variety of clips, the music becomes louder and more prominent and the phrase 'you'll see the ring' is repeated suggesting that these are the images you see before your death from the videotape.
The title of the film 'The Ring' then appears on a black screen, it is in childish font, further suggesting that this film follows the conventions of horror films by a child playing a major role in the film. This makes the audience think this is the end of the trailer , but it is followed by the female protagonist screaming and looking at something we cannot see and a fuzzy picture of a blurred girl, which is assumed to be on a TV screen. This makes the audience jump at the end of the trailer and suggests to the audience that this is a jumpy film.
This trailer suggests that 'The Ring' follows conventions of horror films as towards the end of the trailer we see some establishing shots of rural locations which is a common cliche in horror films as it puts the characters in hopeless situations and indicates to the audience that something will happen there. Another cliche is conveyed in this trailer through the dark lighting with a lot of scenes being in the dark and the only daylight scenes being in dull light. This is a common convention as most horror films are filmed in darker lights as it adds more of a depressive tone to the film.
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