Generic Conventions

Different genre's have different iconography's and conventions. Two genre's won't have the same conventions because the audience won't know how to classify the films.

Comedy

The way that comedies are shown in films is through its distinct iconography, for example, there is always
bright lighting and a bright set, comedies also usually use the colours yellow and blue, this is because they are very bright and distinct colours, this creates a higher verisimilitude.
There are also specific character types, there is always:

• Silly people, they are generally very stupid and accident prone as they have no common sense.
• Smart but socially awkward people.
• There are also the regular people, but these are also usually sarcastic.

There are different sub-genre's of comedy, the most popular ones are Romantic Comedies, Slapstick, and Parodies.
Sound is one of the most important elements in comedies, non-diegetic sounds are used to add effects and emphasis in certain scenarios in the scene. diegetic sounds however, is used for dialogue, the dialogue needs to be clear, this is to ensure that the words can be heard for the audience to react to.
The conventions of comedies has slightly developed since the main concept of visual humour was used in the late 1800's. The most common form of visual humour was either Burlesque or Slapstick.
Burlesque used certain music to get the audience to react. This however differs from slapstick, in which it used visual elements to make the audience react.
Throughout the early 1900's the film industry mainly focussed on producing short silent films, however sounds were played over the top of the images, this aided comedies to emerge. Towards the end of the 1950's black comedies started to appear, this would include a darker humour. This form of comedy did not become popular till the 1970's. Comedies became so popular that they had been developed into TV series. Especially in Britain, various comedies became spin off's from some TV series. The height of comedies were in the 1980's/ 90's as films such as 'Honey I Shrunk the Kids' (1989) are still watched and bought in the present day.
Romantic comedies began to emerge in the early 2000's. the introduction of Gross Out comedies were also in the early 2000's. Gross Out comedies are aimed at teenagers. This includes embarrassing and disturbing situations that will shock the audience.  Examples of this is 'When Harry Met Sally' (1989), and 'American Pie' (1991)

Horror

Horror films are different to comedies as they tend to make the audience react negatively, and scare the audience. The films are generally set in lone, isolated areas where there is no means of help, the surroundings are dark, dirty and dilapidated.
The typical character types:

• The creepy adult/child character who intimidates and scares the teenage/adults  characters.
• The vain male that dies first, caused by his self-absorption.
• The blonde, stupid, promiscuous who never survives.
• The male protagonist, has flaws in his personality.
• The attractive males who is brave and sacrifices himself saving the other characters.
• The beautiful love interest of the male protagonist.
• The scared, yet shy character who dies near the end.

These characters are put into a situation in which they are forced to use their basic, primal, instincts to survive.
The themes that run through horror films are that, there is always a struggle between the good against the evil. There is also the supernatural elements of the films in which the film plays on the characters fear and blurs the line between reality and fantasy.
Fast cuts are used the most in horror films as they are a way for the film to make the audience feel anxious, tense, and panic.
Non-diegetic sounds are used for emphasis of something that is about to happen. Usually a door or floor boards creaking.
Iconography of the horror genre is that there is a murder weapon, usually a knife, that is covered in blood.
Sub-genres of horrors include:

• Supernatural
• Psychological Horror
• Thriller