english assignment 1

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: ALWIN NG KUN KET
STUDENT ID NO: 0323596
FILMS SELECTED:
1. ADVENTURE : JOURNEY2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
2. DISASTER: SAN ANDREAS
WORD COUNT: 821
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: GOPIGHANTAN MYLVAGANAM
SUBMISSIONDATE: DECEMBER 4TH
2015

2. Prewriting
Definition of movie genres (- refers to the method of categorizing films based on similarities
in the narrative elements from which films are constructed) and stating the 2 different genres
I am researching. Adventure and Disaster. Short description of adventure and disaster genres.
Movies are Journey 2 the mysterious island and San Andreas. (e-book)
Description on adventure movie- Journey 2: the mysterious Island
Adventure films are a genre of film. Unlike action films, they often use their action scenes
preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way.
Stories whose central struggle plays out mainly through encounters with new "worlds." In
Journey, the story centrals around…. This movie is labelled as an adventure film as ….
Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and
primary plot device. Such disasters include natural disasters such
as floods, earthquakes or asteroid collisions, accidents such as shipwrecks or airplane crashes,
or calamities like worldwide disease pandemics. The films usually feature some degree of
build-up, the disaster itself and sometimes the aftermath, usually from the point of view of
specific individual characters or their families. The movie chosen for this genre is San
Andreas. SA depicts an earthquake which… In the movie, The screening focuses on the
survivor… Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
Contrast of movie details
-plot sypnosis
a) Exposition
Depicts families from diff backgrounds, Journey: Son and Father who always argue,
SA: Great relationship between Father and daughter.
b) Rising action
Journey: Finds a map to the mysterious island. Plans a trip there, met up with side characters
Vanessa and Dwyane. (knows what is going to happen)
SA: Stated that San Francisco’s earthquake is misdued. Time of shake not pre-realeased,
prediction of earthquake causes the death of scientist.
c) climax
Journey: Reaches the island, met many dangers, finds out island is sinking, have to escape in
the legendary nautilius
SA: Quake hits SF, quakes get stronger everyhit ending with a 9.6,
d) falling action resolution
Journey: Dad wants to help daughter through college, ends up getting stuck but saved by
daughter
SA: tsunami hits SF traps blake apparently had drowned but saved by dad
e) resolution
Journey: Appears on mag for discovery, gets new girlfriend, gets funding for college by
Nautilius
SA: Daughter saved from disaster, Family stares at the sunset
-main characters
-characters
Conclusion of differences and genre ideas.

3. Compare And Contrast Essay: Differences between Adventure Genre film and Disaster
Genre film
What are movie genres? Movie genre is a term used to categorize the many different
types of movies that we have in abundance. Movie Genres comes in many different
categories such as Action, Thriller, Horror and many more where each is used to categorize a
movie based on their narrative element properties. In this essay, I will be contrasting the
differences between an adventure genre film and a disaster genre film. I had chosen two
movies to research on with the first being, “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” as my pick for
the adventure genre film and “San Andreas” as my film of choice for my disaster genre.
The genres of the two films are slightly different. Adventure films unlike disaster
films, often use their scenes to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way.
˜Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” also known as “Journey” is an Adventure Family genre,
which is made apparent in the first 10 minutes of the film. It begins with Sean, a young
teenager trying to crack a secret code from his grandpa whom was thought to be lost at sea.
The code which was eventually cracked by him and his stepfather Hank, a former marine
who had retired, provides a clue to the mysterious island. This adds an exciting and
suspenseful feeling to the film. The opening image could be seen to have a slow and
mysterious build-up. This scene is followed by both father and son setting out to find the
mysterious island. This convention creates an adventure genre, as it is clearly shown that the
story’s central struggle plays out mainly through encounters with new "worlds."
On the other hand, disaster films mainly focuses on impending or ongoing disaster as
its primary and subject plot device. Such disasters include natural disasters such as
earthquakes as shown in “San Andreas”. The beginning of ˜San Andreas” is somewhat
different, as it has a more action based approach. It begins with Ray, a fireman from the Los
Angeles fire department successfully rescuing a girl who had fell off a canyon. There is
minimal speech for the opening scene, highlighting the background noises, which include
helicopter rotors and the victim screaming for help. This gives the impression that Ray is an
expert on life-rescue missions. Apart from this, the next build-up scene unlike Journey, is
quite predictable, as it shows a group of scientist calculating predictions of an incoming
earthquake. I think that this will make the audience be aware of the incoming disaster,
therefore allowing the main earthquake scene to smoothly make an impact. From the opening
scenes, one could already tell that the genre of the film is clearly a disaster genre.
From the point of view of both movie plot synopsis, we could see the many
differences between both movie genres throughout the entire movie. In the exposition,
Journey depicts a rough family relationship between stepfather and son relationship while
San Andreas portrays a loving relationship between father and Daughter. Throughout the
timeline of rising action to the climax, Journey states its fictional build-up of locating the
location of the mysterious island through a secret encoding and the combination of maps
from three different story books while San Andreas’ build-up focuses on more factual data
such as advanced earthquake prediction machines and geographical calculations. The climax
itself of both movies which clearly depicts the genre of both movies shows Hank and Sean
finally reaching and exploring the Mysterious Island in Journey and a massive earthquake
with a 9.6 magnitude striking the heart of San Francisco in San Andreas.

4. Beside the plot, the characters from both movies also displays many differences in
terms of personalities. The protagonist from Journey, Sean Anderson, played by Josh
Hutcherson portrays a rebellious teenager who hates his stepfather. He doesn’t show a lot of
resemblance to the main protagonist from San Andreas, Blake played by Alexandra Daddario
who is portrayed in the movie as a teenage girl who loves her father Ray very much. Other
than that, Sean is also not as good as Blake in terms of individual survivability. This
statement can be proved as Sean depends a lot on his stepfather Hank to navigate the dangers
and survive throughout the mysterious island while Blake is able to guide two of her friends
through the disaster wrecked city of San Francisco alone. The Antagonists from both movies,
Hank, Sean’s stepfather and Ray, Blake’s Father, both played by Dwayne Johnson also shows
contrast in personalities. Hank from Journey is great with women and plays a very attractive
and humorous character while Hank on the other hand is portrayed to be a more serious and
patient character.
In conclusion, I have compared the two different type of movie genres, adventure and
disaster, based on their narrative elements, plot synopsis and character personalities. From
this experience, I have learn to distinguish two similar genres and understand the striking
appeals of each genre.

5. References
Adventure Films, (n.d) Retrieved 27 November, 2015 from
http://www.filmsite.org/adventurefilms.html
Film Genres, e-Study Guide for: Media in Your Life : Introduction to Mass Communication
by Jean Folkerts, Jean Folkrets (2012) ISBN 9780205523658, Retrieved 27, November 2015,
Google Books
S.James, (2009) Disaster movies, Retrieved 27, November from
http://www.bookrags.com/research/disaster-movies-sjpc-01/#gsc.tab=0