Film Genre

1. Film Genre

2. We watch movies… • Because they tell us something about ourselves and the world we live in.

3. A review of X Men

4. Genre Definition: • A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like. • A distinct type. • A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

5. In French… • Means “kind” or “sort”. • Latin: genus (stem gener-)

6. This biological association is useful… • As it helps us think about how genres change, mutate and produce hybrids.

7. Any categories missing?

8. Animation • Musical • Drama • Documentary • Foreign • Romance • Anime • Crime • Mystery • Historical • Political • Slasher

9. Who decides? All films are classified by: • Its makers • Its marketers • Its consumers

10. Rated “NC 17”? • These classifications (horror or thriller?, PG or NC 17?) have major effects on the ways we encounter, enjoy and understand film. • Gender? • Age? • Education?

11. Genre- “Classifications” • They shape the status of the film; they determine whether the film gets made and whether the film gets a wide release. • Discus with a partner sitting next to you: Which factors affect whether or not a film gets a “wide release”. List these factors and be ready to share them with the group.

12. Lesson Objectives: This presentation focuses on ‘genre’ and ways of grouping films to create expectations and evoke audience familiarity. • Students will provide a definition of genre and an explanation of how genre shapes viewer opinion and perspective.

13. Recommend a film task: • How do you go about telling a friend about a film? • What frames of reference do you use to help your friend understand what the film is like? • A frame of reference is a set of criteria or stated values in relation to which measurements or judgments can be made.

14. Why do you think… • The makers or marketers of a film might want to “classify” the film as a particular “genre”?

15. Audiences often seek the comfort/happiness of the familiar. • We enjoy the ritual and reassurance involved in knowing broadly what ‘might happen’ in a particular film. • Comedy VS Drama

16. What ‘might happen’ in Love Happens? What are you basing your judgements on?

17. What ‘might happen’ in Fright Night? What are you basing your judgements on?

18. An important development in thinking about film genres has been to put them into the context of audience’s understandings and activities. Genres are no longer seen as sets of fixed elements, constantly repeated. They are seen as working with ‘repertoires of elements’ or fluid systems of learned conventions and expectations.

19. Film makers and film viewers are both active on both sides of meaning making. The film maker can rely on certain kinds of audience familiarity to play with, and the audience can look forward to having their expectations challenged or developed.

20. These genre conventions and expectations include:

21. Narrative – how the stories in a genre usually begin and conclude, what kinds of characters are at the centre of the film.

22. Audio-visual codes of signification – aspects of mise-en-scene associated with a specific genre; stars and actors associated with a specific genre (including directors and film production companies) Mise-en-scene: how everything is positioned and designed in your set; composing the scene. Learning how to apply this will make your videos look better

23. Ideology and real world values – including perceptions of how realistic the genre is seen to be; and how it taps into the ideological values of the film audience.

24. Assignment: Look at the weekly listings for Cineplex Odeon Organize the films playing by genre (including films you consider to be genre hybrids) What conventions and expectations do you think the films will include? Organize your ideas under the headings: Narrative Audio-visual codes of signification Ideology and real world values