Action Film Convention

Action films have a range of conventions and stereotypes which appear in almost every film of the genre. The first convention that I am going to discuss is the lighting on the character, for example, the terminator is shown with bright lights all over his face which implies that he is the limelight of the film and the main character.

Secondly, during action films, the main character who is usually a strong male will have battle scars on their face. The reason that it is put on their face is so that the audience can see what has happened, also, it emphasises how much that character has been through during the film. One example of this is the scars on the face of Bruce Willis during die hard (1988). The scars really portray the character as a warrior and a real hero.

Another convention of an action film is the use of background music. Often, you will find that the action film is made in America due to the high budgets needed to film these shows, this causes the film producer to try and appeal to and cater for the American audience. Film producers cater for the American audience by playing patriotic music in the background which links with the usual patriotic character. For example, the first Captain America shows him singing 'The Star Spangled Man' which is a play on words of the spangled stars on the USA flag.

Finally, I will be discussing the common location in action films. Generally, action films take place in major cities across America, cities such as New York or Los Angeles are used in order to get the American audience to relate to those places as most American people have been there or fantasised about going there.