Genre

Genre is used for classification of media texts.
They are classified into similar group, this is done my similar characteristics.
Characteristics – Visual elements, Editing style, Actors, Props, Costumes, Lights, Music etc.
However there is a debate what genre actually is and how we actually use it.
The genre helps the audience establish what they are going to watch. Different genre’s appeal to different people, this is dues to there being no set elements as everyone has there own take of what a genre is. This is why it is debatable what is a genre.


– Action,
– Adventure,
– Comedy,
– Crime,
– Fantasy,
– Drama,
– Family,
– Horror,
– Mystery,
– Romance,
– Thriller
– Science Fiction,

These are just some of the genre’s that are used everyday in films.
This will help me as there is a wide range of genres available, I will be specifying on a Thriller Genre. But what I have found out that there is a lot more variety to the guidelines to a genre. This means that I can produce a thriller film opening, but it can be different and creative but still be recognized as a thriller.
But there are some problems, as Andre Bazin a French cinema critic believes that western films do not count as a genre. You will find many different looks and point of views on genres, sub genres and hybrids. There is nothing set, people will vary in how they interrupt them.


Hybridisation –
A hybrid of two or more genres. Put them together to make a new hybrid genre.
For example - Action and Comedy – Action Comedy, this is just an example of one of the new hybrid’s that you can watch today.
Hybridisation is very use full to me as I can use one of the hybrids of a thriller making a new type of thriller genre. This will make the opening on my thriller different and exciting hopefully keeping the audience entertained.
There is theory in hyridisation, Robert Altman believed that there was a relation between evolution and hybridization. He thought genre began with semantics and then slowly evolves into genre. But there are variables that affect this like shifting social thoughts. This means he thinks that a genre will always begin somewhere slowly evolving into other genres, In this case hybridization is just a form of genre branching out.
Sub Genre –
Sub genre for a film is a larger category from the main film genres, with their own distinctive subject matters, style, formula and iconography. We find that sub genre generally includes the less common film types, or the less liked film types. These are some of the sub genres –
– biopics,
– chick flicks,
– detective films,
– distater films,
– film noir,
– guy films,
– road films.
Sub genres are also very important, as it is a more specific type of genre, this means that I can have a sub genre of a thriller. for example Film Noir, it has all the codes that make up a thriller however some of its own these will come together to make different sub genres. Making sub genres different and exciting, but not to everyone’s taste this is why there is a large amount being very specific to certain audiences.