AICE Media Studies Blog of Natalia Ballinas : The Action Genre

Action films take up a large part of the production world, as they provide viewers with an intriguing, suspenseful, and entertaining plot that keeps them on the edge of their seats. Action films are very successful as they all follow the same set of guidelines that make them very similar, yet effective.

The action genre includes several key conventions that make it unique, yet easy to reproduce. The protagonist's role as a hero is clearly defined throughout the story and the plot of the story is filled with details and supporting stories that establish the journey of the protagonist as he must face the challenge of fighting and defeating the villain. The victim is less powerful and this role is clearly established in the story. The protagonist’s role is to defeat the villain in order to save/protect the victim. The victim may not always be a person, as it can be an idea, group of people, or other objects/living things. The antagonist’s role as the villain is clearly described throughout the story and his story is built upon his power over the protagonist and the victim, as he is depicted as stronger and more powerful than the “good” guys, in order to create a bigger story that involves the protagonist beating this overpowerful person, making the action film more dramatic and more intriguing. There is a speech praising the villain that involves demonstrating how powerful the villain is over all the people. This helps to clearly establish the villain’s status. The plot is always fast-paced, with a lot of excitement throughout the story in order to make it more appealing to viewers. There is always a set of clocks that establishes the concept of time that the protagonist has in order to save the victim. This helps to add suspense and a thrilling effect to the action film. The plot of action films are in easily recognizable locations, helping integrate and include viewers into the film better, as they recognize and are able to relate to the setting.

For example, in the action movie Shang-Chi And The Legend of The Ten Rings, is an action packed film that embodies this genre and uses the genre conventions of the action genre to develop the story. Shang-Chi, the protagonist in the story, is depicted as powerful, but a little less powerful than his father, Fu Manchu, the villain in the story. The victim, the village of Shang-Chi’s mom, is depicted as less powerful against the overpowerful Fu Manchu’s army and his rings. This film involves fast paced editing, many special effects and stunts (for example, there are many occasions where Shang Chi and his sister are running away from their father’s army, and this often involves many special effects and stunts). The plot occurs in China, and the audience recognizes this through use of traditional culture clothing, objects, statues, and more. For example, the village of Shang Chi’s mom wears traditional Chinese robes which depict the easily recognizable Chinese culture. Additionally, there are settings of flashing TV’s on tall buildings with Chinese language, the beautiful nature that is often associated with China (ex. Bamboo trees), and other symbols of this Chinese setting. Shang Chi has a specific amount of time in which he needs to save his mom’s village before it becomes too late and his dad comes with his army to destroy the village. The ten rings on Fu Manchu’s wrists demonstrate his powerfulness over everyone, as the other characters do not have these overly special powers.

Another example of an action film is Black Widow where the protagonist is depicted as Natasha Romanaff, who is an experienced fighter and natural leader. She is a very strong and a powerful fighter, and learns from her sister about the current activity of the Red Room, an organization where girls are abducted and trained into mind controlled assassins. They, along with their adopted parents, form a partnership to take down the Red Room once and for all. Through this exciting and action packed adventure, with many fights, a jail rescue, and many explosions, viewers find themselves entertained and intrigued towards what is bound to happen. There is no major victim in the story, only the main villain dying at the end of the film. A noticeable feature of the film also includes a countdown at the end of the film, with the entire Red Room (which is a massive flying base in the sky) falling, and Natasha and her sister have to defeat the main villain while trying to at the same time save themselves from the falling and exploding base. This works to add suspense to the film, as there is a needed time slot to finish the tasks. The audience is able to easily recognize the location of this film, in Eastern Europe such as Ukraine and Russia, as they are depicted as communist countries with restrictive governments. Other factors, such as the cold weather, helps to develop this easily recognizable location.

Action films are best promoted when the lead cast is a famous actor. This usually gives the film the highest chance of success as viewers can easily associate a specific character to the same actor. Additionally, action films are the perfect source for video game creation, as so many action video games based on the action movies are released before or during the movie. A clear example of such is the Prince of Persia movie and video game. This is because video games are similar to action films, providing a fast-paced, entertaining scenario that keeps the audience intrigued.

There are many unique production techniques to make action films more realistic, exciting, and enjoyable for an audience. One of these includes the shorthanded technique, where the audience is thrusted into the middle of the action, making them live through the action. It is affordable, but the camera can’t be too shaky. Another common technique is making objects change speed. This emphasizes the speed of objects, such as placing a still object next to a person running to emphasize the quickness of a person running. Another technique many action movies use is that they focus on the actor. The camera is focused on the actor with varying camera shots, to give the audience a feel of what the actor is experiencing. By varying the camera shots, it gives the audience a feel of not only what the actor is experiencing, but also what he is feeling.

Some other action film examples include:

Jason Bourne