Genre is the way of categorising a product, based on features it portrays that are similar it to other products.
Type/category of film.
Film genres:
Action/ adventure
Sci Fi
Comedy (treatment - can have different types, e.g. action comedy etc)
Romance
Musical
Fantasy
Horror
Animation
Thriller
Social realism
Exam questions (examples)
6* Analyse how the production techniques used create meaning in a media product you have studied. (12) MICRO - MACRO
6* Analyse the conepts of 'genre' and 'representation' in a media product you have studied. (12). MICRO - MACRO
Common elements (found in genres) are called generic conventions/ characteristics/ elements or tropes.
Key theories:
Barry Keith Grant (1995)
Said all genres have subgenres. Divided up into more specific categories that allow the audience to identify them specifically by their familiar and recognisable characteristics or Generic Elements.
Subgenres
Slasher (horror), psychological (horror, thriller), zombies (horror), hammer (horror), gothic (horror)
Said genre offers audience 'Comfortable reassurance'.
Genres fulfil audience expectations by following predictable patterns - we know what to expect from a text.
Branston and Stafford (1999)
Genres help to 'minimise risk and expenditure'.
Are a blueprint for success.
Genre conventions also make it easier to market and sell products to audiences.
Rick Altman (1999)
Genre offers pleasures.
Emtional Pleasures - happy, sad, nostalgic etc.
Visceral Pleasures - 'gut' responses - excitement, fear, laughter etc.
Intellectual Puzzles - Makes the audiece think, has enigmas, insert shots etc.
David Bordwell (1989)
'Any theme map appear in any genre'.
Theme = the ideas, ideologies, concepts, 'myths' etc. that are encoded into a media text.
Inception
The genre of Inception is Sci Fi, because it uses fictional science as a central part in it's story.
It could be considered in the subgenre of action/adventure, as it uses action and fight sequences in it's story frequently, and uses fast paced music to buld excitement. But it doesn't feature violence, and the characters try to avoid it, making it a subgenre not a hybrid.
Inception reinforces/ provides familiarity in terms of genre as it uses the basic plot of a staple in Sci Fi, heist based films, to connote to the audience what to expect. For example, it connotes a planning, an action sequence and a pay off at the end, which is has, although the specifics differ slightly to the norm.
This film was successful, as the marketing for the film was original, but it stuck to the Sci Fi methods of mystery and showed off the science elements of the film to appeal to a Sci Fi audience.
Pleasures featured in Inception, and Sci Fi as a whole, are Intellectual (as it features a puzzling plot and problem solving, how to get into Fisher's mind, solving the mazes), Visceral (as it's subgenre action often features excitement, tracking movements, fast cuts etc) and Emotional (sad when shown the backstory of the protagonist, Cobb, and happy at the pay off when he's back wih his kids).
I agree with David Bordwell's theory, as Inception shoed the themes of family, loss and friendship eventhough it's a Sci Fi film with a subgenre of action, both of which typically don't usually exhibit these features. For example, the death of Cobb's wife, him reuniting with his chldren, the emotion Cobb feels at meeting his friend in limbo again.
Inception reinforces/ provides familiarity in terms of genre as it uses the basic plot of a staple in Sci Fi, heist based films, to connote to the audience what to expect. For example, it connotes a planning, an action sequence and a pay off at the end, which is has, although the specifics differ slightly to the norm.
This film was successful, as the marketing for the film was original, but it stuck to the Sci Fi methods of mystery and showed off the science elements of the film to appeal to a Sci Fi audience.
Pleasures featured in Inception, and Sci Fi as a whole, are Intellectual (as it features a puzzling plot and problem solving, how to get into Fisher's mind, solving the mazes), Visceral (as it's subgenre action often features excitement, tracking movements, fast cuts etc) and Emotional (sad when shown the backstory of the protagonist, Cobb, and happy at the pay off when he's back wih his kids).
I agree with David Bordwell's theory, as Inception shoed the themes of family, loss and friendship eventhough it's a Sci Fi film with a subgenre of action, both of which typically don't usually exhibit these features. For example, the death of Cobb's wife, him reuniting with his chldren, the emotion Cobb feels at meeting his friend in limbo again.
KTA 5 Genre analysis essay
Intro that defines genre + InceptionKey Theory 1 - back up/ challenge with examples
Key Theory 2 - back up/ challenge with examples
Key Theory 3 - back up/ challenge with examples
Key Theory 4 - back up/ challenge with examples
Key Theory 5 - back up/ challenge with examples
Examples include diegetic and non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene, editing, themes etc.
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