Mr Bunce half term media work. Millie oconnor

Analyse two clips from a genre of your choice on the typical codes and conventions of their suited genre.

Dumb and Dumber:

The typical codes and conventions of a comedy have been clearly demonstrated in the opening credits of this film. In a comedy there is always a ‘hot woman/girl’ the film opens focusing on a hot woman stood at a bus stop, they focus the scene on her by getting the other actors at the bus stop to face the opposite way so you can only see her face. One of the main characters played by Jim Carrey approaches the woman, another thing you’ll see throughout comedy films. His character is dumb, they show this by making him look dopey he has a bowl cut fringe and a chipped tooth but we also know this as when trying to guess where the woman is from he says ‘new jersey?’ when her accent is Austrian and when she tells him he then pretends to be Australian making himself look like an idiot and gets rejected by the girl which is a typical convention of comedy.

Comedies are usually set in highly populated areas; this film is set in a city. This is shown in mid shots and a wide shot of the city. Dumb and Dumber is a slapstick comedy and shows a typical convention when he tries to climb over the seat and beeps the horn but also when he tried to get his head in the window and got it stuck, using physical humour. When the title comes on the screen there is non-diegetic sound added in like a swoop, the title flies on to the screen and bumps into the other name and the physical bumping shows signs of a slapstick comedy too. (Tried to get a screen grab) Also how some of the letters are in capitals and some aren’t also gives another insight to what genre the film belongs to. They use a wide shot to show the entrance of another character who is wearing a dog onesie, you can assume that he is another main character as he then gets into a truck looking like a dog which shows a low end job meaning he could be ‘Dumb’ or ‘Dumber.’ A typical convention is the lighting is generally all bright to show the light-heartedness of the film and that its ‘happy’ this film follows this convention as well as using generally bright colours for example the credits and title are in bright greens and whites. They use mainly mid shots to show the expression of the characters and this screen grab shows the expression and he looks ‘dopey’ and ‘unintelligent’ they would of done this to show that he is one of the typical idiot characters that you will find in a slapstick comedy.

Step brothers:

Mr Bunce half term media work. Millie oconnor

The film opens with darkness with the credits which are in playful, chilid-likewhite font they could have chosen to use this typography as it reflects the characters that we are about to meet in the film. The sound we can hear over this is of someone opening a packet of crips and emptying them onto a plate and then it cuts from the credits to a wide close up of a man putting cheese on his crips, typically in a comedy they will use a lot of mid shots to show mainly emotion but in this instent its used to show the childlike loves of a character. The background music starts to play when the character presses the microwave button. The song is upbeat and child like again showing that the characters in this film maybe acting a lot younger than their age which can be seen as ‘idiotic’ typically in comedies there are idiotic characters which the storyline follows. The song that’s been editted over adds humour to the film without having any spoken dialogue yet.

They use another mid shot to show the chrips in the microwave but it also shows you the age of the character which adds a level of humour as he is steryotypically too old to be eating that kind of food. Typically in a comedy film there are characters that are seen as the intelligent ones in this film it is the two main characters parents, they both are suited up showing their bussiness men and go to work they are also usually socially awkward however its too early on in the film to make that judgment, whereas the two characters do not go to work and still live with their parents which is the main comedic element of this film as typically you would of left home by you are aged 40. When Breenen’s mother is talking to him she uses a patronising tone as if she was speaking to a pre-teen this could be to show that he is one of the typical idiot characters that you will find in a slaptstick comedy however when Dale’s dad is speaking to him he uses less of a patronising voice but when Dale responds he responds in a child like moaning way showing that he too is a slapstick typical idiot character, we can see this as they use another typical shot (mid shot) to show the emotion on his face. The lighting is typical to a comedy as comedies tend to use bright lighting and bright colours which this film does. The camera work is natural but not hand held, this is another typical convention as they want it to seem realistic. The only non-diagetic sound in this clip is the song added over but typically in comedies there are more to add extra humour. Step Brothers is a slapstick comedy so as the film progresses you would expect to see certain things like physical injuries caused or given to the main characters in a funny way .