ppp

1. Genre
Genre is a category of media or artistic composition characterized by similar
aspects, style and subjectmatter. Steve Neale stated that genres are instances
of repetition and difference. He said that repetition of conventional elements
(e.g.: darkness in a horror film) all the time would not
engage an audience therefore difference is essential.
A film will stand out to the audience if it has a few
differences that are not typical for that genre. The
audience also sometimes enjoy the familiar repetition
elements as it is easier to understand and what they
are expecting rom the film. He went on to say that
genre is a set of expectations the audience has for
certain categories of media. They are not systems;
they are processes which changeas the years go by as
they are dynamic. This can be gender roles for example, usually the hero in a
film is male for example, someviewers may enjoy watching films with this
tradition in their genre however others may like it when the film swaps the
roles so it is atypical for that certain genre.
Genre has many differentcodes
and conventions to establish them,
we usethe setting, technical,
iconography, narrative, characters
and themes. Nick Lacey created a
theory based off this. Firstly,
setting, this is wherethe film is
based, the location. Certain genres
have certain locations they are typically based in. for example, horror films are
often set in abandoned houses, e.g.: ‘Insidious’. Action films are set in big cities
a lot of the time, for example ‘Spiderman’. Wecharacterisegenres through
characters too. There will be different stereotypes, behaviour, body language,
and specific actors. Different genres contain different types of characters, for
example in action thrillers there is always a protagonistwho will be the hero
and an antagonistwho will be the villain. In somegenres there are gender
roles within the characters too, usually, in a romancethe man will be the hero;
for example, Noah in ‘The Notebook’. Events within the narrativevary through
the genres too. This is how the storylineis structured and which events occur

2. when to engage the audience. There are usually typical narrativestructures for
each genre, in a horror film for example, there are normally three stages: the
supernaturalbeing created, discovering the supernaturaland lastly, destroying
the supernatural. Iconography is when the audience expects to see certain
aspects if they are watching a certain genre. Italso conveys hidden meanings
behind the film. For example, films may quote other films within their films so
hat the audience perceive the film and
the characters in a certain way. Lastly,
style, this is camera movements, audio,
editing, mis en scene and colours used
throughoutto represent different
genres. Itis common in a horror film to
have low-key lighting throughout. In a
romancefilm there is usually a lot of
saturated colours to make the tone of
the film more positive.
The target audience for each genrevaries a lot and the creators of the film
always mustconsider which age, gender and style of audience will watch their
film and what they would like to see. There are different reasons wewatch
each genre of feature films. For example, we watch comedy films to be
amused and lift the mood, horror films’ aim is for their audience to experience
tension, fiction movies are so that we can escapefrom reality and watch
something differentto day to day life, mystery and thriller films are made so
that the audience can interpret their views and be involved in the story line
with tension. Each genre will usually meet these aims but sometimes they
change it slightly, breaking then genre conventions, to engage the audience
more. For example, if all horror films have the exact same narrativeevery time
the audience will get bored. A lot of successfulfilms aredifferent to their usual
gender as it will interest the audience morewhen it is original. Genres are
helpful towards the audience as it helps
them categorisewhich film they want to
watch as they will have pre judgements
because of the gender, they will be
predicting and expecting certain
elements. A lot of audience like a mix of
familiar aspects and a mix of new aspects
within a genre film.

3. Using genre conventions within films are
important towards many people,
producers, distributors and marketers,
audiences and even for academic reasons.
Producers need genre because it is easier
to create more income on certain genres
as some will be more popular than others,
it is easier to create films as they usually
follow a typical formula, it minimizes risk
as they will have predictions of the film
and it will also be easier to find certain
actors as they may be specialised in
particular genres. Distributors favour gender as it will help them allocate target
audiences to particular films and they can market films according to the
specific genre. Without genre conventions it will be difficult making the film,
advertising the film and watching the film as there would be no categorisation
or any expectations to go off. Itorganises the media in a helpful way in my
opinion.