Genre.

Genre

Genre is a type or category of film. It is a way of classifying a film to help us to identify it so we can:

Create it – for a director of a film

Choose it – for a member of an audience

Understand it – for a student of a film

Types of Genre: Horror, Thriller, comedy, drama, action, fiction, social drama, slasher(scream movies),animation, romance, tragedy, adventure, documentary, western, musical, sci-fi, war, fantasy, gangster.

Major genre: a dominant, important category, it should be obvious and easy to define.

Subgenre: a minor category or subdivision that is closely related to its major genre by being a specific type In its own right, eg. James Bond.

Hybrid genre or generic hybrid: combination of major genres that sometimes creates another type of film eg horror/western.

How do we use the concept of genres?

Audiences analyse, identify, niche, characters, storyline, stars, sell, formula which works, advertisers, expect, historical, attract, marketed, constructed, target, mainstream.

How do we recognise genre?

Generic codes, conventions, signifiers (sign of something. Horror knife), mise-en-scene, characters, storyline, meaning.

Contextualise: make sense of something which is gives out of context. Give meaning and understanding.

The mis-en-scene is what which we see in the frame d the film: it is that which is ‘put into’ the picture. So this would include the set, the props, the costumes, and the landscape in the world of the film.