Genre is an important concept in film studies. Genres are vague categories that films can belong to or cross between based on conventions. The Western genre is closely tied to the origins of cinema itself. Genre creates expectations in audiences and conditions their responses. It allows audiences to understand what type of film they are watching and compare it to other genres. Horror films can be identified by feelings of anticipation, settings, music, camera work and how the plot evolves over time. They appeal to audiences by letting them escape real life fears and anxieties by projecting them onto the characters in the film.

1. Film studies homework
By Philip Tomlin
What is Genre? – Genre genre is a loose set of criteria for a category of
composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also
used for any other form of art or utterance. Genres are vague categories with no
fixed boundaries, they are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into
multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.
Genre Quotes –
The "Western" is the only genre whose origins are almost identical with those of the
cinema itself” , said by Andre Bazin.
“An incorrect genre judgment will lead one far astray in interpreting Scripture” said by
Ron Rhodes
“I have never believed that the critic is the rival of the poet, but I do believe that
criticism is a genre of literature or it does not exist.” Said by Harold Bloom
Media languages - We will need to refer to microelement of language within the
exam, which creates a detailed analysis of e sequence.
Institution - Here we will need to explain the context of the film and what institutional
values it has.
Genre - we will need to add a clear description and analysis of the genre of horror
and the codes and conventions, how and why they are used.
Representation - We will need to show a clear knowledge of how the characters are
represented within the narrative.
Audience - we will need to show understanding of who is the targeted and what they
expect from a British horror
Ideologies and values – here we will have to compare certain ideologies of
characters within one British horror film to another.
Narrative – Show understanding of typical narrative and structure of horror films
Why is genre important? - Genre becomes important when we realise that it means
much more than just categorisation. This is because our response to genres is
deeply conditioned and creates the way we approach and respond to a text.
Without genre, the audience is unable to identify or relate to the film, genre on its
own creates; the set, atmosphere, anticipation, lights and gives the audience a feel of
what to expect. For example, in a comedy if there is a scene where it is dark, scary

2. and ominous, the audience is not physically scared because he/she knows that the
outcome will not be as scary as a horror film, the audience knows this because it has
defined the film by its genres, and compared it to other types of genre in its mind
before even seeing the film.
The characteristics of a genre film–
The characteristics of a mystery Genre film include
- Strangeness
- Solving a puzzling event or situation
- Something unknown
- Solving a crime
- Centered around a person who investigates wrong doing
- Centered around a person or persons employed to obtain secret information
How can we tell a horror film is a horror film?
A horror film is normally recognised by the title of the film, or a poster. But apart from
this normally the reasons you can tell if a film is a horror or not is by the feeling of
anticipation, certain ideologies, setting, music, certain iconography, camera work and
how the plot evolves as the film goes on
The appeal of horror
Horror lets the audience escape from the realism of life. The audience of a horror film
would much rather watch someone’s else in trouble rather than themselves, this
shows the cruelty of society. The film lets the audience get rid of their fears as they
are thrown onto someone else
Because horror is innate in the human make-up, an element of horror exists in all
types of film genres. Horror movies make us ask the eternal question, what if? And
allow us to venture into the unknown. It taps into our childhood fears of shadows,
shapes, and slightly opend closet doors. We watch.we get scared, and desperately
remind ourselves that it’s only a movie! We tell ourselves, over and over, it’s not
happening! It’s not real.