My research into the action film genre told me that there are many conventions that and audience expect to see. These are:
-hero
-villain
-male leads
-fast music
-fast paced action
-gunfights
One of the main conventions of films in the action genre, is that they feature two male leads - a hero and a villain. Although we planned to use two male actors, we were unable to get them for when we planned to film. Instead, we used two female leads. This was not ideal, but when editing the clips, we discovered that it could work quite well, as instead of following the genre and using males, we challenged the conventions. Nowadays, we see more female leads in action films, however they are mainly 'side-kicks', or they play characters such as 'Bond girls'.
Also, action films tend to use similar fonts. These are normally block, capital letters in black or white, or in basic colours. These types of fonts are used, as they look more official than other more playful fonts, as they are easier to read.
A lot of action films tend to be set in cities, or on the roads when there is a car chase. We developed this genre, by using a forest as the location, and all of the action occurs there.
The music used in action films is typically fast paced, where the action on screen matches the music. In our title sequence we used that convention, as we used a fast track, which started when the hero began to chase the villain through the forest. However, we developed this convention as the track did not run throughout the whole of the title sequence, only in the second half. Instead, we used a clip of birds quietly, to create the atmosphere of the forest, and a clip of footsteps, which fitted with the villain walking through the forest.
The title sequence uses all of the steps in the Todorov theory. These are:
1. (equilibrium) the villain is just walking through the forest
2.(disruption) we see that the villain is holding something behind their back
3.(recognition) the hero sees the villain approaching
4.(reperation) the hero begins to chase the villain
5.(new equilibrium) the villain manages to get away, and runs off across the field.
Typically, title sequences only show the first step of Todorov's theory, however if we were to film the complete story, the theory would repeat, and we would see the story develop from the new equilibrium.
My title sequence also uses Levi-Strauss' binary oppositions theory, as the storyline focuses on 'hero vs villain'.
