Genre essay

‘Using two or more examples from film/TV products, discuss the importance of genre as a form of product categorization.’

A genre is a form of classification which groups forms of art or utterance within their common element. Genres are vague categories with no fixed boundaries; they are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple genres by way of combining these conventions. Genres are difficult to define in any other terms beyond banal summaries of plots; in part this is because they constantly evolve. Genres of film and television are different to that of literature texts. A few examples of film genres are Western, Thriller, Horror, Action and Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Rom-Com, Mystery, Crime, Gangster, Musical, Historical and Period Drama. Some genres have sub-genres, such as Animation with its sub-categories: Traditional Animation, Computer Animation, and Stop-Motion Animation.

Although the term ‘genre’ has been around since the birth of cinema, it only became integrated into film theory and discourse in the 1950s. By the 1980s, one could go to their local video store and easily locate their chosen section of interest, and with videos now in mass production and circulation, elements of genre more often than not served a more practical function than an academic one.

One play can belong to several genres at the same time, and cinema is now entering a new phase of genre modification. Genres that were once easy to categorize are now beginning to blur and mesh, making it harder to classify them and the film or show’s subject, for example programmes such as Doctor Who which includes action, romance, adventure, and drama themes all in one show. However, a lot of various genres have done this in the past. In fact, one of the most socially significant movements in genre-dismantling emerged during the liberated 1960s as challengers tried to destroy the cherished traditional Hollywood narrative.

Audiences read the texts in terms of how they are different from and similar to other stories. Response to a genre is the primary way of differentiation between texts. One of the benefits that genre classification can have for audiences is that potential viewers can tell instantly whether or not they are going to like the film. This means that the viewer does not have to bother renting a film or television programme he or she will not be interested in watching, which will save them both time and money. For example, people who are interested in horror films would not want a romance, and vice versa, and so it would be a waste of their time to rent and watch it.

Genre categorization for radio plays and programmes is equally important. The listener of the radio will mentally index and cross-reference between plays they have already heard. There are echoes between plays, for example between afternoon plays on BBC Radio 4, which are very often played as a series and so are about the same subject. Obvious genres for radio are the radio soap, the thriller, the comedy and the afternoon play with a woman as a subject. The slot and time at which the play is on defines the genre.
An advantage of genre classification for media producers such as directors and script writers is that knowing genre boundaries not only helps them to categorize their film creations, but also helps them to know where to go with a text or film whilst it is in production. Genres provide guidelines for grouping texts within which writers and directors work to produce typical texts. This means that films and other such artistic creations will not be so hard to classify as they have been produced for a specific genre area.

Genre classification can also be beneficial for film award ceremonies as it can help the films to be categorized into groups of nominations for films, for example categories like Best Actress in a Musical etc.

A benefit of classifying films by genre for film companies is that they need to know which genres are the most popular with the public so that they can film and make those and consequently take in more money from them. This is similarly the case with film rental shops such as Blockbuster; they need to know which genres are the most popular with their customers so that they can order a lot of those particular genres and make more money from people renting out the DVDs.

One piece of criticism of classifying texts by genre is that when being studied by students, it can lead easily into pigeonholing or categorizing texts as representing certain genre features without critically analysing those texts, which could lead to a stunted development of analytical skills for students.

In music genres, one of the main disadvantages of genre is the inter-changeability of terms, and the confusion that that brings, for example Techno, House and Trance music, or Hard Rock and Heavy Rock.

In the future genres will most probably merge even more than they have begun to, and it will become even harder to distinguish between the different genres and to classify artistic creations. Various film genres which have been out of the spotlight for a long time will probably make comebacks, such as the Western genre, and that will be the case with musical genres such as classical and jazz music too. According to the Richard Larson blog, the future of story genres is short fiction and online blogs. Publishing short fiction online is also, with or without market considerations, one of the smartest things a new writer can do, as long as he or she trusts the quality of the work to find an audience. The fact that this will become the norm for all short fiction for genre readers, name-brand or otherwise, is not entirely unrelated. Graphic novels and romantic novels are apparently also becoming very popular for readers on the Internet as Google shows that online novel downloads of that genre have increased by 3 per cent during the last year.

What is an opening sequence?

An opening sequence is the first couple of minutes of a film or television programme, in which the audience usually see the title of the film, along with the names of the key production and cast members or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. It usually follows but should not be confused with the opening credits, which are generally nothing more than a series of superimposed text.


The opening sequence of a film or television show also usually offers the audience their first meeting with the protagonist, who is usually doing something in order to keep the story moving quickly and therefore allow the scene to be set and the audience to become familiar with more than one character; for example, in Trainspotting, the film begins with a group of men running down the street, implying quickly to the audience that this is a crime and drama film - however it doesn't instantly make it clear who these people are and whether they are the bad guys or the good guys, therefore making it difficult for the audience to identify and engage with the film immediately. Doctor Who, on the other hand, begins the first episode of series four with its two protagonists walking down the street in a crowd of people with the camera focused on each of them, so the audience know these people are who the show is going to be about.


The opening sequence of a film or a television programme is extremely important as it makes or breaks the amount of views your media product will receive. If the viewers decide after a couple of minutes that they are not interested in the film, it is more than likely that they will simply turn it off and watch something else - especially if, like us and our media coursework, they are not films you have to pay to see, just ones you put on YouTube. Though people are less inclined to pay to see a film if they don't think it will be very good, they are more inclined to continue watching even with a boring opening sequence if they have paid to get in.



In 'An Analysis Of The Opening Credit Sequence In Film', Melis Inceer, University of Pennsylvania, describes film opening sequences as follows:


"At a time when copyright issues are so central in the entertainment industry, film credits are likely to become more and more important. Furthermore, in an environment full of clutter, the first impression of the film in the movie theater, or on the television screen, prepares the viewer for what is to come just like the cover of a book. In this

respect, film credits fulfill the important role of outlining the filmmaker's intentions and setting up the expectations of those watching."

Demographic and psychographic profiling

A demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands (as teenagers do not wish to purchase denture fixant), social class bands (as the rich may want different products than middle and lower classes and may be willing to pay more) and gender (partially because different physical attributes require different hygiene and clothing products, and partially because of the male/female mindsets).

In the field of marketing, demographics, opinion research, and social research in general, psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables (for Interests, Activities, and Opinions). They can be contrasted with demographic variables (such as age and gender), behavioral variables (such as usage rate or loyalty), and firmographic variables (such as industry, seniority and functional area).

Psychographics should not be confused with demographics. For example, historical generations are defined by psychographic variables like attitudes, personality formation, and cultural touchstones. The traditional definition of the "Baby Boom Generation" has been the subject of much criticism because it is based on demographic variables where it should be based on psychographic variables. While all other generations are defined by psychographic variables, the Boomer definition is based on a demographic variable: the fertility rates of its members' parents.

Media theories

• Audience Reception Theory 
• Also known as reception analysis, audience reception theory has come to be widely used as a way of characterizing the wave of audience research which occurred within communications and cultural studies during the 1980s and 1990s. On the whole, this work has adopted a "culturalist" perspective, has tended to use qualitative (and often ethnographic) methods of research and has tended to be concerned, one way or another, with exploring the active choices, uses and interpretations made of media materials, by their consumers.
• Maslow's hierarcy of needs
• Often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid, with the largest and most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom, and the need for self-actualization at the top.
  The most fundamental and basic four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": esteem , friendship and love, security, and physical needs. With the exception of the most fundamental (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met, the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs. Maslow also coined the term Metamotivation to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment. Metamotivated people are driven by B-needs (Being Needs), instead of deficiency needs (D-Needs).
• Different ways of gaining audience feedback
• Primary
• Secondary
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Hypodermic Model –  a model of communications also referred to as the "magic bullet" perspective, or the transmission-belt model. Essentially, this model states that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the audience, therefore offering the concept of an idea being 'injected' into the recipient's mind. However, theorists have now thought that the media could not have such an effect on its audiences and that the media is a weak influence on people's personalities, as most people are able to distinguish between the media, whose predominant purpose is entertainment, and real life.
• Uses and Gratifications Theory –  a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959) . It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also says that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification. (Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. 1974)
  
• Todorov’s Narrative Theory – stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. This theory can be applied to films such as High School Musical and rom-coms - fantasy, drama and sci-fi films like 'Shadow' seem to start with a problem so as to instantly grab the audience's attention.
• Vladimir Propp’s character functions – identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.
• The 8 character roles are
• 1. The villain(s)
• 2. The hero
• 3. The donor - who provides an object with some magic property.
• 4. The helper who aids the hero.
• 5. The princess (the sought for person) - reward for the hero and object of the villain's schemes.
• 6. Her father - who rewards the hero.
• 7. The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way.
• 8. The false hero
• The character roles and the functions identified by Propp can be applied to all kinds of narrative. In TV news programmes we are often presented with 'heroes' and ‘villains'. Just think of the media portrayal of Saddam Hussein or Princess Diana.

'Shadow Night'

I sat staring at the door for a long time after she left. I was not aware of the passing of time; minutes melted into hours and I had not moved or broken my trance. Inside my head, my mind was replaying the scene that made me this way, the scene that would or could never repeat itself, because she was not coming back.

   Somewhere among the hours of numbness, I drifted into sleep, and it was there that the haunting images captured me once again. I still remembered the sensation of astonishment and relief that shivered through me when I opened the door and saw her standing there; I could still recall how it felt to hug her again after all this time; and those were the only things I remembered with absolute clarity. The emotions were dimmed in my inadequate memory - I know I was confused, afraid when I saw the expression on her face, and in my mind I heard myself question what was happening:

   "What's wrong?"

   She merely shook her head, unable to speak.

   My voice, more urgent now: "What's happened?"

   "I'm sorry..." her voice was a whisper, her eyes flickering past me and looking behind, as if she was scared, almost as though she was breaking the rules by being here with me. Then she seemed to get a grip on herself and took a deep breath as if she was preparing to tell me something.

   "Nema..." she began, her voice cracking with pain and regret, "This is so hard for me to say, and I don't know how--"

   I cut her off. I couldn't bear it anymore; I had gathered that whatever was about to pass her lips would turn my world upside down in an indescribable way - I sensed that something was about to change, and most certainly not for the better.

   "Just say it, Azia, please."

   "This will be the last time you see me. Ever."

   I stood, all the air knocked from my lungs momentarily. Unable to breathe, I struggled to put my thoughts into some coherent order, needing to confirm that it wasn't true, that I'd heard wrong or misunderstood, and finally, inadequately: "What?"

   When she didn't answer, I knew I'd heard correctly. I looked into her distressed eyes. "Why? What's going on? Please," I begged her, "tell me what's going on!"

   Her eyes flickered behind me again. "I..." she began, and then she gasped. “I have to go!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, but Nema - remember this: you are never alone." and then she was gone.

   Forever.

I awoke to silence. It was familiar to me now, the sound of emptiness, just as my heart reflected. Somehow, I knew, life would go on, but I didn't know how to begin. I didn't even know I was supposed to feel this way - surely it was not possible to get so attached to a friend, someone I had met minimal times in my life, but still had somehow become the centre of my existence; in my eyes, she belonged in my life. The most unexpected and unforeseen circumstances, such as the ones through which I had met Azia, could bring such utter change to one’s situation, and yet somehow we both knew that we were meant to know the other. Now, life without her would be intolerable.

   I unfolded my lead-like legs and dragged myself across the darkened room to the serving hatch. Fishing for a candle and a match, I watched the flame cast dancing shadows against the walls. Fascinated, my eyes followed a shadow as it detached itself from its two dimensional position and flung itself across the room towards me. It was almost upon me before I realized that shadows could not do that - they were inanimate. A wave of panic overtook me as shadows raced across the room at me, and the next thing I knew, there were no more shadows. The world dissolved before my eyes and I descended into a pit of darkness.

Concept

Nema, the protagonist, is a very poor seventeen-year-old girl who lives in a one roomed house without much light or heat and no family. The story begins with Nema dreaming, and in her dream she is reliving the moment her best friend, Azia, came to tell her she would never see her again.

When Nema awakes, she is attacked and kidnapped by dark creatures who later become known as Shadows. They take her to a large room full of people, where she finds out her location and the name of her captors. The Shadows come to choose a few people and pick Nema, who is taken to work in the mines. After three weeks, she tries to escape but is caught by the Shadows, who transport her to a room in which she finds Azia. Azia takes Nema into a palace-type area encrusted with jewels and presents her to the Queen of Shadow Kingdom, whom Nema then discovers is her mother, along with the realization that Azia is her sister. Nema, who thought she had no family, realizes that she has a mother and a sister. Nema, who thought she has no family, realizes that she has a mother and a sister and ends up staying with Azia and the Queen in Shadow Kingdom for the rest of her life.

180 degree rule, shot-reverse-shot and match-on-action

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

Cutting on action or matching on action refers to a film editing technique where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action. Although the two shots may have actually been shot hours apart from each other, cutting on action gives the impression of continuous time when watching the edited film. By having a subject begin an action in one shot and carry it through to completion in the next, the editor creates a visual bridge which distracts the viewer from noticing the cut or noticing any slight continuity error between the two shots.

A variant of cutting on action is a cut in which the subject exits the frame in the first shot and then enters the frame in the subsequent shot. The entrance in the second shot must match the screen direction and motive rhythm of the exit in the first shot.

Preliminary task evaluation

Our preliminary task was created to enable us to learn some skills with the camera and editing software before we made our opening sequence.

To plan this film, my partner Hannah and I had various production meetings in which we carried out our planning, for example scripting, storyboarding and shot lists. I believe our planning was mostly successful, although we could have been more thorough. However, since we had never done anything like this before, we had not had any planning practice, so our planning was not as good as it could have been and therefore our preliminary task was not as easy to film as we had anticipated.

From the preliminary task, we learned techniques in scripting and storyboarding, and how to use a lot of the software such as the cameras and editing software. The editing software we used for the preliminary task was Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, but we found it very confusing and hard to use, and since I had a lot of experience with Windows Movie Maker we decided to use that to edit our AS coursework opening sequence.

From the preliminary task, we also learned that the camera's sound quality was very tinny and at times it was hard to hear what the actors were saying, which meant that we decided to use a voiceover recorded separately with a microphone for the opening sequence. I believe this added to the verisimilitude of the opening sequence as a person's voice is not tinny in real life.

We also learned a lot about continuity. For example, in our preliminary task, a character has to give a packet of biscuits to the other character and we only noticed that it was not there until she had to pick it up. Therefore we were forced to film the entire first half of the script again. The making of the preliminary film also meant that we knew what to look for whilst filming the opening sequence; in the preliminary film, the actors changed position slightly between shots, causing problems when we came to edit the film. This meant that while we were filming our opening sequence, we were looking out for things that could mean continuity issues and therefore we ended up with a better result.