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Sunday, 17 August 2014

Defining Genre


Print off all work we do on Genre/Sub Genre and Hybrid Genre in class and put in your folder 

The evaluation question that the posts on genre relate to is:

How did you attract/address your audience?

In class we will explore what genres are and how they can be recognised. We will look at feature film posters to explore the key conventions of genre and how the mise en scene and camera angles help to define the films. Different genres engage different audiences. We will also explore why we categorise films and the advantages and disadvantages of genre.

The intellectual roots of genre can be traced back to 300BC and the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who identified some basic principles for understanding dramatic forms like comedy and tragedy. Literary theory owes an enormous debt to Aristotle’s thinking, as it concentrated in the beginning on producing defining characteristics for particular genres based on historic usage. It took a structuralist approach, deconstructing the structural elements to find patterns and repeated motifs in how stories are told.
Genre, in fact, guides industrial procedures – how it organizes itself, how it appeals to viewers and how commercial stations deliver audiences to advertisers. The theorist

Neale (2003) points out that generic norms and conventions may be recognized and understood by audiences, readers and viewers. Genre frames audience expectations, whereby viewers bring a set of assumptions with them and anticipate that these will somehow be met in the viewing experience. This brings audience pleasure. The demands of commercial practices necessitate that generic forms must somehow ‘guarantee meaning and pleasure’ in order to locate and retain a sizeable audience to justify a return on substantial investment.

Task:  Create a post called 'Defining Genre' and write up a definition. Then add a list or spider diagram of all the different film genres you can think of.


A Useful link: 

http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/drama#






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