Genre

Posted by Ryan Allen - A Level Media Thursday 26 May 2016

What is Genre?

Every different type of genre is governed by a set of codes and conventions, or rules that are followed for that genre.
Genre - Is a specific type of music, film or writing.

Genre is relevant to magazines as it can give the magazine a targeted style, audience and purpose, by following the conventions set out by particulars types of genre the magazine become a representation of that genre, a media text that reflects the style and demand set by that genre. Different audiences mass or niche that respond to various types of genre will respond to the magazine as it meets the expectations and requirements set by the audience and genre. 

 Rick Altman's Genre Theory


 Applying Rick Altman to the Horror Genre

 Semantic: Abandoned house, intense music, blood, dirty area, demons, ghosts, fear, insane asylums, graveyard, dark, shaking camera, low key lighting, scary masks, props such as chainsaws and axes.
Syntactic: Main protagonist (victim/hero), the villain (monster, mutated freak etc.), stupid immoral teenagers getting killed, creepy children etc, religion as a story, Todorov's Narrative Theory, main setting presented as the first thing in the film.

 Todorov's Narrative Theory

 1) Equilibrium: The state of normality in the story.
2) Disequilibrium: The event that disrupts the state of normality such as a possession in the house in a horror film.
3) Realisation: Characters realisation that something has disrupted the equilibrium such as the realisation of possession of the child.
4) Repair: Characters attempting to fix the situation such as bringing in a exorcist to get rid of the possession.
5) New Equilibrium: The new state of normality.

 Horror

 The very first horror film was created in 1896, by a french film maker known as Georges Melies, the film was titled 'Le Manoir Du Diable' this translated to the 'The Devil's Castle/The Haunted Castle'. The film was only a two minutes long but contain various elements that would later become connections of horror films, the use of bats, castle, cauldron and devil like figure all contributed to the eerie atmosphere.
The horror genre aims to create a sense of fear, panic, alarm and dread for the audience, doing this by scaring the audience with the portrayal of their worst fears and even nightmares. Horror films usual focus on an evil presence, looking to ancient mythologies as the primary source of influence for their plot, looking at evil figure such as the devil, ghosts and demons, Horror films traditionally used a large amount of violence and gore to drive it's plot, however in recent years this has changed and developed as the ability to scare someone hugely relies on being unexpected and surprise, during the early days of film, blood and gore was never heard of on the big screen, however these days it's become a cliche and fails to entertain the modern audience in the same way.
Due to this the horror genre has to continuously change and evolve to stay fresh, creating new ways to mess with audience. This created sub genres within the horror genre, these include:
  • Comedy Horror
  • Teen Horror
  • Monster Horror
  • Slasher
  • Supernatural Horror
  • Zombie Horror
  • Psychological Horror
For example Slasher's and Comedy Horror's are both types of horror films however the way the reach their aims are different, Slasher film is a sub-genre of Horror film that revolves around a psychopathic killer. This killer stalks and murders his victims in extremely violent and memorable ways. Though it centers on a specific killer, the violence is what sets Slasher films apart from other horror films. A Slasher film will devote more screen time to portray murder and mayhem than a traditional Horror film. Comedy-Horror combines comedy with traditional horror movie themes and characters. Because of the subject matter, Comedy-Horror films can cross over into the Black Comedy sub-genre. Comedy-Horror films aim to scare the audience, but also provide comical outlets that let the audience laugh at their fear.

Comedy

The earliest known publication of a comedy film is 'L'Arroseur arrosé', an 1895 French short black-and-white silent comedy film directed and produced by Louis Lumière. It was first screened on June 10, 1895. The entire film lasts only 45 seconds, but this simple bit of slapstick may be the forerunner of all subsequent film comedy.
Much like the horror genre comedy has also taken a hit with higher expectations, as the audience gets use to the jokes and gags being used in various films, their ability to generate laughter becomes less successful so directors and actors have to envision new ways to make people laugh that is original, for this reason the surplus of comedy films being generated have meant that not many of them become successful.
The Comedy genre, uses humor as it's driving force, it's intended to generate laughter from the audience through the use of it's narrative or characters. Although comedy has taken on serious material as it's source of inspiration, such as movie spoofs. They tend to generally have a happy ending. Comedies are more likely than other films to fall back on the success and popularity of an individual star. Comedy is a incredibly diverse genre forming many other sub genres due to it's ease of being incorporated into other genres, hence Rom-com, being a romantic comedy. The following are sub-genres of comedy:
  • Anarchic Comedy
  • Action-Comedy
  • Black-Comedy
  • Horror-Comedy
  • Dramedy
  • Parody/Spoof
  • Romantic-Comedy
  • Slapstick

Crime

 Crime film is a genre that revolves around the action of a criminal mastermind. A Crime film will often revolve around the criminal himself, chronicling his rise and fall. Some Crime films will have a story line that follows the criminal's victim, yet others follow the person in pursuit of the criminal. This genre tends to be fast paced with an air of mystery – this mystery can come from the plot or from the characters themselves.
Crime uses many conventions created by both thriller and horror as it leaves he audience on the edge of the seats trying to pule out what happened alongside the protagonist.
The following are sub-genres of crime:
  • Mob/Gangster
  • Film-Noir
  • Neo-Noir
  • Crime-Thriller

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Task List 1


1. Write a film analysis for LoveField; focus on the RAILING concepts for the film – be careful not to write this as a chronological description of what happens in the film, what we want to see is where the concepts are identified with examples given from moments in the film to help justify each point.

2. Write a film analysis for Blood and Chips; focus on the RAILING concepts for the film – be careful not to write this as a chronological description of what happens in the film, what we want to see is where the concepts are identified with examples given from moments in the film to help justify each point.

3. Film Research – Genre research; Begin to research a variety (at least 3) Film genres that you are particularly interested in producing for your short films. Look at the following; generic conventions, typical audience, classics, remakes, most successful, vs least successful, SFx (if any), mise-en-scene. Reflect on what you have found and how it is helping you shape your ideas.

4. Initial Ideas – What genre have you decided on? What are your initial thoughts and ideas for a short film? Blog this.

5. Production log: Meeting 1 – You must discuss in your groups what ideas you have got, you must indicate who contributed what in your meeting. This will act as a summary for your tasks and you must indicate what genre you have chosen and why and what you will be doing next to develop idea planning.

6. Film Research - You need to take photos of a doll, toy or friend that can stand on its own from different angles, shots and movement. Upload your photos and videos to your blog with an explanation for each one, what do they show? How can they use a variety of these shots in your short film? Which shots are stereotypical used in your chosen genre?

7. Film Research - Create a montage of what you consider conventions for your chosen genre of film. Explain on your blog why you have picked them. How have they inspired your ideas?

8. Film Research - Research at least 3 different short films in the genre you have agreed as a group that you will produce. (Analyse; mise-en-scene, sound, editing, camera shots/angles, conventions and audience appeal) Remember – be careful not to write this as a chronological description of what happens in the film, what we want to see is where the concepts are identified with examples given from moments in the film to help justify each point.

9. Film Research - Investigate narrative theories (Propp, Todorov, Levi Straus etc.), find an interesting way of presenting them and blog it.

10. Audience research – who is your target audience? (create a questionnaire with questions about their film consumption)

11. Audience research – Analyse and evaluate your questionnaire results.

12. Audience Research – research which short films your audience think are good, what attracts your audience to films and what puts them off? Blog your findings. (Conduct Vox Pops).

13. Audience Research - Go to http://www.uktribes.com and http://www.findyourtribe.co.uk and use them to define your perfect audience member. (Have some fun and find out what tribe you are too). Create a complete picture of your audience member, from clothes to the food they eat, music they listen to, TV shows they watch, magazines they read etc. You can get a friend to dress up in the appropriate costume and take photos.

14. Audience Research - Go to the ‘Pearl and Dean’ website, look at the audience section http://business.pearlanddean.com/audience_profile and investigate how they categorise their audiences. Can you fit your short film to their ideas?

15. Institution research - Research the companies that might produce and distribute your short film. Justify your reasons on your blog.

16. Summarise your research - Define the key conventions you must include in your film opening sequence to conform to the expectations of the genre you have chosen, the audience you have chosen and what is expected of a film opening sequence. Make a check list.

17. Create a story arc for the whole of your film; write a brief synopsis. Remember most films have 5 ‘acts’, and most conform to normal narrative theories.

18. Summarise your final short film idea

19. Write your script for your short film sequence using Celtx. Get your peers to read through it, post it on social media and get some feedback. Blog!

20. Create a shot list.

21. Design a storyboard.

22. Plan the sound of your short film– are you having a soundtrack, or just Foley sounds? Blog where you’ve found your sound and why you have chosen what you have.

23. Create a shooting schedule.

24. Plan locations and take location shots. Blog your reasons for choosing these locations. Seek permission to use the locations.

25. Cast your short film and take casting shots. Blog your reasons for casting who you have.

26. Plan and collect all props and costumes. Blog your reasons for choosing the ones you have.

27. Shoot your short film.

28. Make a rough edit and check that you have all the shots you need.

29. Film Research – research film titles used in your chosen genre.

30. Do any re-shoots and pickups needed.

31. Film Research – watch tutorials on film titles (www.videocopiolet.co.uk) print screen the progression of two or three. What tools are used? Blog this evidence.

32. Design a storyboard for your film titles.

33. Create your film titles using After Effects.

34. Complete final edit.

35. Post your finished short film to your blog.


Task List 2


Pick two of the following three options:

· a poster for the film;

· a radio trailer for the film;

· a film magazine review page featuring the film.

(There should be at least one blog post about each stage)


1. Research film posters. Come up with a list of conventions – things you will need to include.

2. Research film magazine review pages featuring films. Come up with a list of conventions – things you will need to include.

3. Create a collage of what you consider conventions for your chosen genre of film poster (same genre for your film). Explain on your blog why you have picked them. How have they inspired your ideas?

4. Create a collage of what you consider conventions for magazine film reviews (same genre for your film). Explain on your blog why you have picked them. How have they inspired your ideas?

5. Research at least 3 different film magazine reviews. (Analyse layout, conventions, audience appeal and images)

6. Research at least 3 different film posters. (Analyse layout, conventions, audience appeal and images)

7. Blog some initial ideas for your own film magazine review.

8. Blog some initial ideas for your own film poster.

9. Pick a film magazine review and film poster that is similar to your idea, annotate the pages explaining why they are appealing and what you can take from them as inspiration.

10. Audience Research – research which film magazine reviews people think are good, what attracts people to them to films and what puts them off? Blog your findings. (Conduct Vox Pops).

11. Audience Research – research which film posters people think are good, what attracts people to them to film poster and what puts them off? Blog your findings. (Conduct Vox Pops).

12. Go to the ‘Empire’ website, look at the audience section http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/uploads/Empire-MediaPack-20111.pdf and investigate how they categorise their audiences. Can you fit your magazine film review to their ideas?

13. Research the magazines that might produce and distribute your film review. Justify your reasons on your blog.

14. Define the key conventions you must include on your magazine film review. In order to conform to the expectations of a magazine film review, the audience you have chosen and what is expected of a magazine film review. Make a check list.

15. Define the key conventions you must include on your film poster. In order to conform to the expectations of a film poster, the audience you have chosen and what is expected of a film poster. Make a check list.

16. Create 3 flat plans for your magazine film review. Annotate.

17. Create 3 flat plans for your film poster. Annotate.

18. Audience research -

19. Summarise your final magazine review idea. Blog it.

20. Summarise your final film poster idea. Blog it.

21. Take photographs for your magazine film review and film poster of a model/s that you can use. At least 5 different images that are excellent quality.

22. Plan and collect all hair, make up and costumes. Blog your reasons for choosing the ones you have.

23. Make a first draft of your magazine film review.

24. Make a first draft of your film poster

25. Do any re-shoots and pickups needed.

26. Complete final drafts.

27. Post your finished magazine film review to your blog.

28. Post your finished film poster to your blog.