Skip to main content

Research Into Genre

Introduction

  Genre....very common word in the language of filmmakers and film lovers. As teenagers, we already know about the genre, but it wasn't until I took Media Studies classes and learned to look at everything through a digital lens- a camera lens and see the bigger picture.

The ability to understand what 'genre theory' is seems straight forward, yet is pretty complex. Talking about the basics, we know James Bond films are action movies. Catch Me If You Can is a historical movie and comedy, based on true events and Clueless is a great rom-com. But, what do filmmakers and directors actually want to represent in these different sectors?

So, here is a brief introduction to 'genre theory' is and how it is used by directors in the film industry.



What is meant by 'Genre' in the film industry?



Straightforwardly, the genre is a category of the media type. It is the concept used in film studies, as well as Media Studies, to describe similarities between groups of films based on aesthetics, cultural and psychological aspects. The word 'genre' comes from the French word for 'kind' or 'class'. 

We come across genres almost every day when scrolling through Netflix or looking for a movie in a video library, for example. Looking at the genre gives us an idea of what are we looking for or what the plot is going to look like.

The genre evolved through the years and the genre that we see today on our screens wasn't the same as 10 to 15 years ago, which we would call pure film genre. Most of the films produced today we consider hybrids, briefly speaking, the blend of different themes and elements from two more different genres.


How many film genres are there?


In the earliest days of cinema (early 20th century) the term 'genre' was used to organise films by their type. In the 1950s genre was used in the first-ever Western film.

 In the 1920s to 1950s, genre films had clear conventions and iconography, for instance, heavy coats are worn by gangsters in films like Little Caesar.





So, here are some basic film genres that are commonly used in the film industry:


  • Action
  • Horror
  • Thriller                                       
  • Fantasy
  • Drama
  • Comedy
  • Mystery
  • Romance
  • Western




Furthermore, sub-genres are introduced as classes of the larger category of the main film genre. For example, sub-genres for fiction are: 
                                                          1. Fantasy fiction
                                                          2. Historical fiction
                                                          3. Mystery fiction
                                                          4. Romance fiction
                                                          5. Thriller fiction


How does genre stereotypes affect the audience?





Genre, however, has some issues. The structure of repetition, for example, is very common in the cinematic narrative, because it tells you the storyline and makes recognition possible between certain characters. However, repetition can cause some serious problems and loss of audience over time. People are getting bored watching the same character over and over again, for example. 

On the other hand, the audience is the most important 'ingredient' that has to be added to make it work!
If the audience wasn't so intrigued by cinematography and film in the past, today's fortunate film industry wouldn't even exist. As the audience evolves over time, the film genre changes also do.

Stereotypically speaking, do all women actually watch 'girly movies' and are attracted to red and pink and are boys supposed to play with trucks and be attracted to blue and green? How accurate can men and women stereotypes these days be, considering that men and women have completely different preferences these days? The things in cinematography are getting shakey because of stereotypical preference, which disturbs some people and makes them uncomfortable, which can potentially in the end lead to huge audience loss.





















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Production Of My Film Project- Part 2

 2. PROPS Props were crucial in every scene of the movie. All the way from drinks to the smallest details, like candles on the bar table. In this post,  I'll lead you through my prop list and set design that in this case includes lighting and colour combinations. For two of my characters, Zara and Tom, smoking was important, because that complemented Zara's and Tom's characters. None of the actors are smokers in real life, so I decided to make 'fake cigarettes' based on actors' needs. I filled cigarette filters with dried parsley that is more or less healthy and has the same burning effect as real cigarettes. Here's the video tutorial that I've followed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFyN43HEC4s&t=45s The drinks that each of my characters drank were fake. For example, the beer, that Harry drank, was apple juice that was in a beer bottle. This made the character look reckless and manly. Zara drank Gin tonic, which was mineral water with ice in it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Social Dilemma- Case Study

It comes as no secret that technology has changed our lives. It hasn't only made communication easier, it has also influenced society with a variety of streaming apps, dating services and sharing abilities. But, under one condition, as long as we stay connected they are going to provide whatever we want while browsing. But, what if I were to tell you that technology can possibly predict our personalities, and essentially know us better than your family and friends do. This is fascinating and terrifying at the same time. In the advancing world of technology that stores enormous amounts of data for each user, so apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other big companies can collect information about you through things that you browsed or what you've liked for the past few weeks.  The people have started to wake up with terror after watching the new Netflix's documentary, 'The Social Dilemma'. After watching this film, it felt quite scary opening your phone to brow...
Post a Comment
Read more