This document discusses different theories of genre as they relate to film classification and a media studies project. It describes genre theory, which revolves around set formulas that films follow within genres. Auteur theory positions itself against genre theory, stating that directors use their own style that may tweak conventions. Iconographic theory relies on recurring images and stereotypes to identify genres and reinforce social order, though these stereotypes can also influence beliefs in society. The theories relate to the author's project of creating a crime thriller trailer, which will follow crime thriller conventions but put a unique spin using aspects of auteur theory.

1. By Joy Sawyn
THEORIES ABOUT GENRE

2. Genres are used to classify different types of
films, this gives the audience more freedom
as to what they want to watch. One of the
problems is the process of classification, how
can you classify a films genre? There are
several theories about genre which apply to
my media project, these are: genre theory,
auteur theory and iconographic theory.

3. GENRE THEORY

Genre theory revolves around the idea that
there are set formula's for different genres
which films follow. Taylor Willis (1999) argues
that:

4. GENRE THEORY
This shows that audiences enjoy knowing or
guessing what is going to happen, also they
enjoy the conventions e.g. in a thriller or horror
film the audience expect suspense music which
leaves the audience in anticipation, which they
enjoy.
 The problem with this theory is that it is too
neat, all films and media texts are expected to
follow the conventions of a certain type of genre
and although this could work in theory, in the
real world it doesn't.


5. AUTEUR THEORY

Auteur theory is positioned against genre theory and
says that directors use their own individual style or an
artistic 'signature', meaning it doesn't slot nicely into a
genre as one of the conventions may have been
tweaked. It is argued that films directed by people
such as Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg are
more iconic and recognisable that a film which slots
into a genre formula. Although, the things that
directors do differently can then be repeated over and
over until they become a convention. This shows that
auteur theory enhances and improves the stock
genres in genre theory.

6. ICONOGRAPHIC THEORY

Iconographic theory relies on recurring
images within a film giving genre its
identity. Iconographic theory uses
stereotypes to their advantage, they use
them to create the storyline and to reinforce
social order. Using props and stereotypical
characters helps the audience understand
what is going on in the story.

7. ICONOGRAPHIC THEORY CONTINUED...

Also the props reinforce the stock genres e.g. in
westerns the audience expect to see a 6
shooter gun where as in a gangster film the
audience expect to see machine guns. The
problem with this theory is that the stereotypes
such as young girls in distress and black
delinquents reinforce social order in that people
believe women are more vulnerable and black
people are suspicious, which isn't good for
society, but then these ideas spark the debate
on how much the media can influence
individuals.

8. RELATING TO MY PROJECT

These terms relate to our project, as Lauren and
I wanted to make a crime trailer. We realised
that there are not many modern crime films
being made for cinema release, they are being
made for television audiences. This is because
they usually have quite a low budget and are
slow paced, meaning that channels can produce
these easily for viewers. This type of film isn’t
suited to cinema release as modern films are
big budget and fast paced. From this Lauren
and I decided to make a crime-thriller trailer
instead.

9. RELATING TO MY PROJECT

Lauren and I want to follow the conventions of the
crime-thriller genre to make sure the audience
recognise the genre and are able to follow the
storyline. This is included in genre theory and
iconographic theory, as we will use stock
characters and props to reinforce the
genre. Although we don't want our trailer to be a
standard crime-thriller trailer, we want to change
some of the conventions and make our trailer
different, bringing in auteur theory, even though
Lauren and I aren’t famous directors we still want to
make a unique trailer.