2. BASICS
All films are grouped into genres, the main ones include horror,
drama, action, sci-fi and there are many others. When a genre is
another genre in itself, so a vampire film inside the category “horror”
this means it has a subgenre, which in this case, is “vampire”. Finally
when we mix 2 genres together to have a mix, we get a hybrid. So a
film about the Wild West and ghost hunters would be a “western
horror” and this shows that we can mix films.
3. BASICS PT.2
The borders between each category are very blurred, so films can
evolve almost, they can start off as a horror, but over time could be called
a thriller, because over time our perspectives of what each genre is
changes. For example, if we look at the film “the impossible” its about a
tsunami, hundreds dead and some very brutal injuries. A few years ago
someone may have called that a horror, but as we have become more
desensitised by death and violence, we no longer see it as something scary,
we see it as a regular action film/thriller.
4. ICONOGRAPHY AND
GENRE
Iconography and conventions help us define a genre, for example we
expect to see a lot of blood in a horror film, this here as been a typical
convention now. Another example would be if we see a ghost, very rarely
do we see ghosts outside of horror films, so now we associate ghost with
horror which is true. Iconography is something that is part of the film
that we can visibly see that links it to the genre. It may be a weird type of
camera movement or the low key lighting.
5. WHY USE GENRE?
Genre means that the makers and the audience know what they want in / from
a product, they know what to expect and the creators can make supply and demand.
Furthermore, the producers can manipulate the conventions to create a hybrid
genre and therefore play with the audience expectations. My film does this, the
audience see the first 60 seconds and assume that my film is a sci-fi, with the
postmodern representation of heaven, but in the space of a frame there entire idea
swaps as my protagonist is brought back to earth. When a film follows the
conventions of a horror, the audience are happier, as they get a sense of familiarity.
6. MY RESEARCH
I used this book as my research, there is an
article by Steve Neale that supports everything
that I have discussed.
7. “on the other hand, the point was made
that genres cannot, in fact, be
systematically categorized one from
another and differentiated from another
solely on the basis of such instances,
taken in isolation if they constituted
specific genre essences.”
This here supports my decision to
hybridize my genre. It tells us that we are
not bound by simple conventions to our
genre, we can mix and match almost.
8. ROLAND BARTHE
Roland Barthe talked about narrative in genre, he stated
“Mainstream narrative is nothing if not a “text of pleasure”: a text that regulates the subjects desire for
pleasure.”
This here shows that the audience want a specific narrative style that is unique to
each genre, each audience has become accustomed to the character types, and
therefore feel safe when everything comes to there expectations in a film. Therefore
they derive pleasure from the product as the fact that they worked out what the plot
is gives them gratification. And the familiarity of the product gives them acceptance.
9. ONLINE RESEARCH
This here is the website
that I gained most of my
research off, it gave me
clean and crips analysis
and was simple and easy
to follow.
