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Conventions of War: by Noah Cowley

The document discusses conventions commonly found in war films. It notes that battles are often set in open rural landscapes like fields to depict the scale of warfare and loneliness of soldiers. Props typically include authentic weapons, vehicles and medical equipment from the time period portrayed. Costuming involves realistic army uniforms, boots and camouflage makeup. The target audience is generally males ages 16 to 60 who are interested in the thrilling battle scenes and moving portrayal of the human impact of war. Most war film plots follow a structure of showing a character's pre-war life, their experiences and how they are changed by the horrors of combat. Cinematography aims to make the viewer feel like a participant through handheld camerawork and establishing shots

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95 views8 pages

Conventions of War: by Noah Cowley

The document discusses conventions commonly found in war films. It notes that battles are often set in open rural landscapes like fields to depict the scale of warfare and loneliness of soldiers. Props typically include authentic weapons, vehicles and medical equipment from the time period portrayed. Costuming involves realistic army uniforms, boots and camouflage makeup. The target audience is generally males ages 16 to 60 who are interested in the thrilling battle scenes and moving portrayal of the human impact of war. Most war film plots follow a structure of showing a character's pre-war life, their experiences and how they are changed by the horrors of combat. Cinematography aims to make the viewer feel like a participant through handheld camerawork and establishing shots

Uploaded by

Noah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Conventions of War

By Noah Cowley
Setting
The general theme of war films appear to be set in open landscapes typically in rural
areas, this is due to the fact lots of battles were fought in fields. Also the
secludedness of open fields helps to connote the loneliness in war and the aftermath
of war can be seen by looking at the damage of the environment.

An example is in Fury since its based in World War 2, the battles are fought in
the fields of France etc, this is effective at showing the audience a lot of soldiers and
tanks etc, more so than in a village where there are more obstructions, however
many war films do involve fights in small villages which can be effective of how war
affects more people than the soldiers and is impactful at showing how the war
reached civilisation.
Props
The general props found in war films are exactly what youd expect, a few examples
are;
- Guns, armoured vehicles, grenades, medical equipment.

In the series Band of Brothers there are various different props used, for example
since it is set in the 2nd World War it contains a lot of guns and vehicles.
Additionally to this an old church is turned into a hospital where it has an
abundance of medical equipment and injured soldiers with guns. This is effective at
telling the audience about the time its set in, and it also informs the audience of the
situation.
Clothing/Make-up
A few examples of this are;
- Army clothing, boots, beret, gas mask, face paint (camouflage), fake blood,
armoured vests.

In all 3 of the film openings i deconstructed the above seemed to be somewhere in all
of them. Its very stereotypical of war films to contain a lot of blood and people in
camouflaged make-up/clothing.
Target Audience
The general target audience for war films is stereotypically males, however it can
appeal to females and nothing about war films try to appeal to 1 gender more than
the other, the main aim of a war film is to show the true heartbreak and suffering of
war and this can appeal to anyone of a mature age. The age range of the target
audience would be about 16 years old to anywhere as near as 60 or above. This is
because they younger years would be attracted by the battle scenes which are so
well made and thrilling to watch. Additionally older people would also appeal to war
films since they are emotional as stereotypically a lot of older people either were or
had family who had fought in a war.
Plot - Structure
Structures of war films vary, some will show the brutality of war at the beginning
and go on to show the after effect the war had and perhaps follow a specific
character as a film to show more of the social impacts. However most war films
follow the same general structure, of which is the beginning shows backstory of a
character before war time to allow the audience to see the innocence of their life and
make you get to know the character and then he/she goes to war and it shows the
horrible reality of war and what it does to people and how it changes them. The
films either end in a victory for the Allies and the character surviving or a victory
but a death of the character to emphasize the emotions other people would of had
after losing loved ones.
Camerawork
The camerawork for most war films follow the same pattern. The shots are meant to
try and make the viewer feel like the film is as realistic as possible so techniques
such as POV and hand held shots to attempt at making shots seem real and trying
to place the audience in the action itself. Another shot are establishing shots which
capture the aftermath of the destruction of war and how devastating war is.
Editing
Editing used in war films are similar, for most of them fast paced editing is used to
show the speed of battles, and it also adds drama to the shots which pull in the
audience, additionally it makes the shots seem more realistic and thrilling. Not only
this but editing techniques such as cuts, jump cuts and parallel editing are used to
show contrast between shots which highlights the calm of somewhere else for
example back at a outpost and then the hectic violence seen on the battlefield.

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