Post 4: Genre Theory

Genre Theory.

Genre theory is used in the categorization of films. Genre itself is dependant on factors such as audience expectation, the story line and the influence of the director.

A genre film such as a western, from this we expect to see horses, gun fight, Indians and the solitary cowboy who save the day.

Another example being a horror film, from this we expect to see some sort of creature in the form of zombies, vampires etc. (villains), and the majority of the cast to die other than one survivor (usually the innocent girl), also the implement of tense music and dark scenes.

A final example being an action film, in an action film we will see car chases, explosions, big fight scenes and certain cast members such as Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt as these kinds of actors are what is expected to be seen in a film of this nature.

Things to consider when choosing my genre:

Audience:  A target audience must be selected and the genre must fit their preferred requirements to a film. To increase chances of the film being successful questionnaires and interviews should be done to obtain audience feedback to help structure the piece.

Achievable genre: I don’t think choosing a genre such as action or horror would be suitable for me to film as first the budget for the film is zero. An action film would require lots of special effects and explosions which our school wouldn’t be able to accommodate for due to the basic equipment and editing software available. Horror would be unachievable as it would be too hard to build the tense atmosphere and constructing a villain in only 5 minutes is too big of a task. 



http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/168430/168430,1255203438,1/stock-photo-movie-poster-of-film-genres-vintage-background-38614918.jpg

The image above gives a brief insight to certain aspects that affect genre as so much variation can occure when choosing a genre.

There are seven codes that are used in genre these are

• Technical codes - Camera, lighting techniques, sound
• Symbolic codes - body language, use of colour, mise-en-scene
• Character codes - costumes and make up of a particular character
• Written codes - captions,anchorage
• Narrative codes - the shape and structure of the narrative 
• Enigma codes - a sense of mystery that intrigues the audience 
• Action codes - action that make us realise where we are in the narrative and that the story is developing.

This slide helps define genre as an idea that can be altered and involve more than one genre per piece and indicates the creation of sub-genres. This is indicated by the audience recognition of a genre and the predictability of certain genres. For example an action film will have a chase scene and a horror film will have a scary character or creature.