Exploring Generic Conventions

Main Task I watched the first two minutes (ish) of a few films and watched to see how they did it, what kind of things they included, whether or not you can tell the genre and who the main characters are.
The Skeleton Key
The western music at the start could suggest that the location is somewhere in the country in America. This shows how music can be used at the start to set the location.
It starts off in a hospice, already setting the scene, the natural lighting tells the time of day it also tells the audience that it does not start of as being a typical Horror genre.
As it goes in a character dies in his bed whilst a woman reads to him. a character dying at the starts could suggest what is to come? It's quite a sad death as the character has no family.
In this film the setting is established and what it seems a main character.
You can also tell the genre is a 'Physiological Thriller'
Arlington Road
The genre is established by the first few minutes of a young boy walking down a typical American street. The eerie, tense and dramatic music (non diegetic) sets the mood for the scene. in the first few seconds of the boy walking down the street you can see blood dripping on to his shoes and trousers. By the appearance of blood added to the music you can tell this film could be a horror or a thriller. A man gets out of his chair in work clothes, this tells the audience he has a job in an office or something and is part of the 'general' public. He is seen as the protagonist character because he stops to help the boy. Whether or not these are main characters we don't know.
From the first two minutes you can tell this film genre is going to be Thriller.
Shaun Of The Dead
It starts off with eerie music over the production titles. The music builds and builds and then cuts to a shot of man, sat in a pub with a pint and a cigarette. We're straight away introduced to the main characters and what he's like. The audience is 'thrown in at the deep end' as all of the main characters are established at the start. The dialogue plays a big part on deciding which genre this could be because there's a lot of swearing and jokes. I found it funny so you would presume it was a comedy. It is in fact a comedy horror but you wouldn't know this from the first two minutes because there is nothing that suggests that it is in anyway scary.
The Pursuit Of Happyness
The fist thing we see after the production credits and company titles is writing. It says 'inspired by a true story'. This already tells the audience that this is going to be slightly non-fictional. It's a 'Biography Drama'. The calm music at the start combined with natural lighting says it to be a, happy, touching story. The audience can already tell that a middle aged man (Will Smith, recognized actor) is supporting a young boy, his son. It's set in America. The audience knows the main characters, the genre, and the location/setting.