GENRE RESEARCH

2. Outline
• The genre of ‘Action’ is one that centres on
storytelling. It’s usually very fast pace and
consists of things such as stunts, chases,
fights, battles, and other thrilling scenes. The
story usually has a central protagonist who is
usually on a quest but faces obstacles in order
to reach his/her goal.

4. Sub-genres
• Action-Comedy
• Disaster Film
• Girls With Guns
• Action-War

5. Action-Comedy
• This genre combines
action and humor.
Action comedies usually
count on the actors to
make the film funny,
e.g. in Rush Hour, the
film relies on Chris
Tucker. The action
scenes will be less
intense than a normal
action movie.

6. Disaster Film
• Disaster films often
involve a unavoidable
disaster/incident. Some
disasters may be natural
e.g. earthquakes and
tsunamis, or could be
man made e.g. 9/11.
This type of film relies
majorly on special
effects.

7. Girls With Guns
• This genre involves a
female protagonist who
is usually the hero. This
genre involves martial
arts and weaponry. This
genre is mainly popular
in anime and Hong-
Kong but has also had
great success in
American and European
films.

8. Action-War
• Action War has all the
aspects of an action film
e.g. combat, explosions,
stunts and chases, but
the storyline is based
around war or the time
of war.

10. Star Theory
• Action Films use concepts such as Star Theory.
This is to do with actors that appear in the
film. Popular and well known actors attract a
wider audience. There are certain stars whose
trademarked genre is action, e.g. Bruce Willis
and Sylvester Stallone. When a genre favoring
audience see these names, they almost
immediately want to watch the film.

12. Special Effects
• Action Films tend to use a lot of special effects
especially when it comes to explosions and
fights. These effects make the film more
enjoyable and thrilling for the audience. CGI is
used to make it seem as if something is real
which adds to the imagery of the scene in a
film.

14. Fandom
• Fandom is the fan community for either a
specific actor, genre, company or cast of a
film. Fans will give time and money to show
support for what they like. They join websites
and favorite pages on sites like Facebook.
There are also blogs and conventions that fans
may go to.