Sub-genres

Research: Sub-genres

A sub-genre is a subdivision of genre, for example, motor-sport films are a sub-genre of action adventure films because they share the same conventional iconography and themes, however have a definite style of their own.  Steve Neale explained this as 'the same but different';...
...the conventional iconography you would find in action adventure would be weapons, vehicles, explosions and dark colors. 
In motor-sport films such as 'rush' and 'need for speed', much of the iconography would be the same. However, the themes and locations may be different, for example, the theme of a motor-sport film would be about a race of some sort and usually there is a head to head race between two groups of people whereas in a conventional action adventure film the theme would usually be about one guy taking on the evil antagonist. Also, the main location for a motor-sport film would be at a race-track, and conventionally action adventure films are set in big cities where lots is going on. ...'the same but different'...

Rush

Released in 2013, Rush is a biographical sports drama film, based on the rivalry between F1 drivers James Hunt and Nicki Lauder, set in 1976. 

It took $90 million at the box office.

Narrative: The opening starts with the non-diagetic voice over which sounds like a race commentary- this is a very typical convention of motor-sport films- while the idents fade in and out over a bleak looking, cloudy sky. It cuts to an extreme close up of a male's eye- which is a shot which is common in motor-sport films as it connotes focus and concentration- looking up at the clouds and the quickly back to the clouds where the tile 'Rush' fades onto the screen. We then come to a close up of Nicki Lauder's F1 car and track up to his face when a voice over starts explaining how dangerous F1 is. 

While the voice over is on there is a montage of shots setting the scene; we see the crowds, the cars, the dark skies, and we see Nicki Lauder look over at James Hunt, who is shown to be surrounded by women and represented as a flirt and a bit of a show-off. Lauder explains that he has a rivalry with Hunt in his voice over, which, again is a conventional feature of the motor-sport sub-genre. There is some Dialogue about what tires he will race on and then it cuts a montage of flames and engines and diagetic sounds of engines starting- possibly the most conventional sound in motor-sport films- and the non-diagetic dramatic soundtrack before cutting to a high angled long shot looking down on the starting grid. 

You can see the conventional iconography of action adventure films with the bleak skies flames coming from the cars. Also quite often there is a voice-over at the beginning of action adventure films to give us an over-view of what is happening in the film. There is also the theme of the head to head rivalry between Lauder and Hunt as well as the location of the race track which clearly categorizes Rush into the sub-genre of motor-sport. 

Rush Opening 

Need for Speed

Released in 2014. Took $203 million at the box office. Starring Aaron Paul, this American action thriller sees street racer Tobey Marshall race cross-country to avenge his friends death at the hands of a rival racer.

Narrative: The film begins with a montage of establishing shots, including a rural, run-down garage and an old, dark office. There is the non-diagetic soundtrack which is quite slow and depressing, there is also, when we see the office the non-diagetic voice over who starts talking about 'this kid, Tobey Marshall'. While the voice over is going, we see the iconography of pictures on the wall of a little boy often playing with cars. There is also the iconography of model race cars and trophies. We then cut to the run-down garage where we see a group of young guys working on some a car, with some dialogue where they are engaging in 'banter'. They then get excited about something on a tablet, we then cut to the scene on the tablet, where an important looking man is on the phone. The person who he talks to describes someone as a 'red-neck' which in America is used to describe someone in a negative way.

Again, the conventional iconography of the vehicles, the male characters, the dark settings were all there but with the differences in locations; they were all rural locations and everything seemed very quiet and calm, especially with the slow, non-diagetic sound track. 

There was also the voice-over which is a conventional aspect of most action-adventure films, but again the iconography of the cars and the racing theme places Need for Speed in the motor-sport sub-genre.

Need for Speed Opening

Cars

Cars is a 2006 American animated motor-sport comedy film produced by Pixar. It took $462 million at the box office. Set in a world of only anthropomorphic vehicles it sees protagonist Lightening McQueen race two rivals in the Piston Cup, but not before being lost in a small run-down town with a lot of work to do. 

Narrative: The opening starts of pitch black with no sound or dialogue, then a voice over of Lightening McQueen begins of him talking to himself, there is no sound track at this point. It then cuts to a blurry mid-shot of cars racing past the camera, with the diagetic sounds of the engines before quickly cutting back to the blank screen with only the dialogue from the voice over, Then it cuts to a close up tracking the movement of Lightning's back wheel in a race. After a couple move of these cuts, the high energy, base guitar soundtrack cuts in and a lorry trailer opens outwards, we see Lightning's shiny body work and he slowly rolls out towards the flashing camera lights and the thousands of fans in the stands. We then see the montage of establishing shots of the race track and the posters that represent Lightning McQueen as an important character.The idents of Pixar and Walt Disney then cut in and out with the background of many different cars racing around the speedway. Before tracking Lightning passing other cars around the track.

Location: The location is a typical american speedway, which is a conventional setting for the sub-genre, the stands are full of thousands of people (or in this case cars) all taking pictures which represents the event as being important. 

Iconography: All the posters and billboards had Lightning McQueen on them which pinpoints him as the protagonist in the film. The bodywork in this film is the equivalent to the costumes of others, and Lightning's bodywork was shiny and new, we had a lot of close-ups which drew our attention to this which represents him as successful and wealthy.

Lightning's character is represented as being very confident as when he is racing he is casually rolling past the other racers, he is also, throughout the whole first 2 minutes, smiling whereas every other racer looks very concentrated and angry. This self-confidence is a conventional trait most protagonists have in the action-adventure genre but having fans and admirers is something you only really see in the motor-sport sub genre.

Cars Opening 

Looking at these openings has been useful, as when I come to film my own 2 minute opening to a motor-sport film I will understand what conventional iconography and sounds to use to make it seem professional and be understood as the specific sub-genre.