Analysis of Genre: Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements

In his book Narrative and Genre: Key Concepts in Media Studies, (Palgrave, Macmillan), Nick Lacey

defines genre elements as constituting the 5 key areas below:

setting

character

narrative

iconography

style

When analysing texts, use Lacey’s repertoire of genre elements as a guide. Fill in the boxes below,

making notes on the genre conventions that you see

Genre elements Conventions Setting- mise en scene/ location

Big new York style city and the typical American dive bar is the opening scenes to show it will be tense and some kind of violence will occur throughout the film

Characters – representations, stereotypes, behaviour, body language, specific actors/stars

Liam Neeson (the protagonist) in an empty bar and one of the first things mentioned Is about him being an ex-cop. This instantly brings the viewer into the story, it’s tense but calm until two guys break in and shoot the bar owner We use the star theory with Liam Neeson by him being a start and him having a well know repertoire of these films We can see the antagonist but it’s blurred It’s possible he no longer wants to be part of the group and is now going to try and help out this again is some stereotypical of the drama action thriller style film

Narrative events –how is the narrative ordered and structured? Is it elliptical/enigmatic (elements left out to intrigue/entice the audience)

We ca hear throughout the trailer liam neeson talking about his previous life in his reasonably vague however he does tell us he is no longer a cop after some kind of assumed accident (shooting someone innocent)

Iconography –Well known or recognisable people/objects/buildings mise en scene/ props, costume, setting, symbolic codes

Straight from the outset we see the guns and the long dark shot of New York city, it’s all dark shots and some in black in white giving the effect that this is some sort of retro detective film The victim in the bright red coat while the rest of the shot is dark is the film paying homage to like red riding hood

Analysis of Genre: Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements

Name of text: Genre:

Target audience for a walk amongst the tombstones

The target audience for this film is quite a broad target possibly from 15-40 it’s also aimed at both

female’s and male’s but mainly males as from the outset It shows violence and bloodshed, there is a

also a distinct lack of a strong female character it would be probably aimed at social class d2 to B as

to incorporate working and middle class.

Summary

This movie trailer works well as it really captures the audience that it markets itself to the advert

starts out with a long landscape shot as to set the scene, then Liam Neesons voiceover starts he

starts to take us on a story of his past, the mise en scene shows codes and conventions of an action

thriller a dive bar and a one cop sat drinking, all of a sudden it uses fast motion to cut through the

scenes

STYLE: Technical and audio codes – camera use, editing, diegetic/non diegetic sound, sfx. Mise en scene/lighting, colour

It beings with slow edits and long shoots of footage and once they have dangled the hook line of the story and then it’s starts to become faster cuts and he footage becomes more aggressive

Summarise how the above helps to define genre in the text All of the things we see in the opening thirty seconds all of massively stereotypical of the action thriller type film we fast pace