Conventions of genre

A2

1. Conventions of the Post-apocalyptic genre

2. What is the post apocalyptic genre? The post apocalyptic genre is a very modern genre in film and hasn’t been around for all that long. However the concept of it has been around for quite a while and frequently used throughout history. The genre mainly came from popular literature such as the successful more recent film ‘I am legend’ which was based on a book. The term post-apocalyptic literally refers to the end of the world as we know it. This is typically shown in films/books through huge disasters which could include the effects of a virus, war or even the failure of modern technology. It could even be the opposite of that and it could be the end of the world due to advances in technology, such as in the film Terminator where robots take over the world of humans . The post-apocalyptic genre is a sub-genre of sci-fi, the post apocalyptic world itself breaks down the idea of normality and breaks conventions of reality.

3. Some influential films in the genre George A Romero’s dead series Night of the living dead Dawn of the dead Day of the dead 28 days later 28 weeks later Quiet earth The terminator I am legend Survival of the dead Planet of the apes Mad max

4. What kind of target audience does this genre have? Generally speaking it tends to target older teens and young adults. So from around 16-30. this is because the content in this type of film is more appealing, and excites this demographic. This specific genres style of dark themes and violence also is targeted more to the male gender thus these types of films use these themes and conventions to make it more appealing. Due to scenes of violence, post-apocalyptic films such as 28 days later are quite clearly not meant for the younger audience to watch, they would be scared more than actually enjoy the film . Films like 28 days later are targeted towards a more sophisticated audience due to the fact they combine ideas such as the end of the world with another theme alongside that such as Zombies.

5. What are some of the conventions behind the genre? There is generally a tight knit community of protagonists. (The Walking Dead) There are bound to be some survivors, otherwise the film is going to be extremely boring. (any post-apocalyptic film pretty much) Abandoned and isolated locations. Because it’s the end of the world nothing is going to be running, there is evidently going to be litter scattered everywhere, and limited electricity and resources. (I am Legend) Deadly and dangerous environment. (28 days later) Deadly, dangerous antagonists, there is always one guy who wants to put a spanner in the works. (The Walking Dead is definitely the worst one for this, 100%)

6. Conventions of narrative theory All 5 stages of Todorov’s equilibrium theory can be applied to a post-apocalyptic film, lets take the walking dead for example, equilibrium is when there wasn’t any zombies and everyone could just carry on with their day to day lives, then there is the disequilibrium which is where the zombies enter the world and loads of people have been killed, the recognition stage is where Rick wakes up from his coma and realises that there isn't anyone around and the hospital has been trashed, Rick then wakes up and tries to go out and find somewhere for refuge which is the repair stage, we haven’t had the ending for walking dead yet but the new equilibrium could be that they find a cure for the disease. Propp’s Character types: Hero. Villain. The Princess. The False Hero (as it’s all about survival there's usually a betrayal somewhere along the line).

7. More conventions of the genre Survival , this is obviously going to be at the crux of any end of the world situation, staying alive! (again pretty much any film) Death, well someone has to die…don’t they? (Starship Troopers enjoyed killing off a ‘couple’ of people) Living in constant fear. (I think anyone lives in fear if they know that it is the end of the world)

8. Are we going to follow these conventions? For the first one, yes we are, we want to have the married couple as the only two people in the film and we want to portray a sense of gratefulness as they both know that this is all they’ve got now. Well yeah same as the first one. We will have survivors, obviously. This is probably our biggest one and will 100% definitely be following it, we need to give the impression that it actually is the end of the world and not an ever growing modern society which is what we are actually living in. Yes we will be following this one as our characters will be wearing hazmat suits when they want to go outside . With the hazmat suits and the use of flares we are entering a postmodern era.

9. Continued… We wont really be following this convention because there isn't anyone else in the film other than the two scientists (who are the protagonists) to be an antagonist. We really want people to understand that this genuinely is the end of the world, there is barely any hope for any survivor. Obviously because the male protagonist is going to be killed off by the virus, and give the implication that it was his wife that killed him at the end of the film, which shows that it is survival of the fittest. Pretty much just follows on from the last point, yes someone is going to die. This is quite a hard one because in many ways we are going to show the couple without fear and that this is their life now and they just have to accept that and get on with it, so no I think we are going to go against this convention but of course after talking to our audience we can always change this idea.