2. What is genre?
Genre in film defines the category in which a particular film falls
under in terms of entertainment. The usual categories in which
films can fall under are listed below:
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Action
Adventure
Comedy
Crime
Drama
Historical/costume
Musical
Romance
Science fiction
Western
War
Films do not have to be
one specific genre, often
they can be a mixture of
two. For example a ‘romcom’ which is a mixture of
comedy and romance.
3. Conventions of film genres
Action:
Adventure:
Comedy:
•Fights
• Good vs Evil
• Slapstick
•Fast cars/vehicles
• Likely a chase
scene
• Dark humour
•Destruction
•Both goodies and
baddies
•Often big city
•Weapons
•Death
•Cat and mouse
• ‘Damsel in distress’
• Good guy always
wins
• Often hunt got
valuable/powerful
object
• Wit/Wordplay
• Visual jokes
• Verbal jokes
• Narrative comedy
4. Conventions of film genres
Crime:
Drama:
Historical:
• Themes of
violence
• Intense social
interaction
• Dramatic music
• Always set in the
past/a different time
from now
• Dramatic/Emotion
al story line
• Weapons
• Fast vehicles
• ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’
characters
• Death
• Laws broken
• Represent past social
and political beliefs
• Conflict
• Tension
• Realistic
setting/Characters
• Costumes/Make up will
be different from that of
today
• Can often be based on
past events
5. Conventions of film genres
Musical:
Romance:
Science fiction:
• Singing
• Normally happy ending
• Often set in the
future
• Dancing
• Usually a male and
female fall in love
• Problem that need
to be solved
• Happy ending
• Often love story
• Emotional scenes to
capture the audience
• Often two characters go
separate ways but
reunited before the film
ends
• Often includes
alien life forms
or/and robots
• Rebels going
against an empire
• Imaginative
settings
6. Conventions of film genres
Western:
War:
• Cowboys/Cowgir
ls
• Violence
• Weapons such
as pistols and
whips
• Death
• Can include navel,
air, land warfare
• Horses and chart
as form of travel
• Often based on
history
• Good vs Bad
• Can include
prisoners of war
• Suburban setting
usually
desert/small
