Analysis of Genre: Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements

Ryan Sharman

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

The first scene of the trailer shows a panning shot of Washington Heights, New York and this instantly means that this is where the rest of the film with is shot. Also New York City has a bad representation of being a rough city and in most films a lot of crimes happen so it relates to the location and story.

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

Ex-cop (Liam Nesson) who is the good guy or protagonist throughout the film who kills bad people as favours. Instantly you suspect that Liam Neeson is going to be the good guy because he has a representation of playing similar roles in a majority of films, and being an ex-cop is a stereotype of an action horror. The women that gets kidnapped is a beautiful women a stereotypical character when it comes to these types of films mainly action horror.

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

There was many scenes during the trailer which makes you want to know more leaving the person watching on edge. This is called a narrative enigma for example it gives you the story of a man’s wife being kidnapped but she wasn’t just taken at random they took her for a reason, so from that suspenseful story it makes you want to know more. Another scene in the trailer shows a man dramatically jumping off a building, this is shown with thrilling and suspenseful music catching the viewer’s attention and because of this it will make the people watching want to see more.

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

An iconic scene I noticed in the first trailer was that the good guy usually does something bad to make him lose or quit his job; in the trailer he accidently shoots an innocent bystander whilst trying to save the day which explain why he’s an ex-cop. Another iconic prop used in most action thriller movies is that the good guy always seems to wear a big black coat as a type detective stereotype.

Analysis of Genre: Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements

Target Audience

I think the target audience is 15-50 years old, this type of film is more appropriate for middle aged

teen to older adults. I think that this film is suspenseful and thrilling which most people between the

ages I mentioned will enjoy when watching this trailer. A very exciting but chilling part of the film is

when the ex-cop (Liam Neeson) asks a man on top of a building ‘Where can I find them?’ and after

he says this, the man throws himself off the building. This makes it more exciting to watch and grabs

the watchers attention and interests them into going to see the film.

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

During the trailer I noticed a different perspective of how the story looks and how it could have a different representation. I compared it to the fairy tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ because of the stereotypical kidnapped character wearing a red coat which represents her as red riding hood and the people that kidnapped her to be the big bad wolf.

Summarise how the above helps to define genre in the text What I have written above defines the genre of film as an action thriller and I’ll now explain in little detail some of the points that prove this. Looking at the mise en scene, the first 5 seconds shows the location of where the story will unfold and this is New York City, because of the chosen location and the type of city it is known to be quite rough and dangerous. This gives you a basic idea of what the story is about.