10. Genre

WHAT IS GENRE?

Genre comes of a the french word meaning "type" or "class". They are used to put different products such as films in different categories depending on their features. For example, if there is intimacy, involves a male and female falling in love, then that film would be categorised in the genre "romance". Genres are important in the media and film industries because they allow us to straightaway figure out the different forms of media and what to expect. It allows us to establish certain codes and conventions that film makers use in order for the audience to establish what it could be about. It also helps the audience to develop their own tastes.

Genres

A sub genre is a genre that is within a genre. For example, an animation movie would have fantasy within their movie and this makes fantasy a sub genre.
A film could have more than one genre which makes it a hybrid genre. For example "romantic comedy" is one genre made up of the genres "romance" and "comedy".
Along with the genres, come codes and conventions which are features of a genre, almost like hints which allow the audience to recognise that specific genre. They meet the expectations of the audience from that genre. For example, in a horror movie, we would expect to see scares, murder, thunder lightning and dramatic music in the background.
Genre tropes are very similar. They are signifiers that lets us know about the genre such as objects in the film or the angles it's taken from. For example, in a horror movie, we may expect a haunted house or we may expect to see it from a down angle.

Haunted house with thunder lightning.

My favourite genres:

My favourite genres in order are comedy, horror and action. 

Comedy:

Comedy is my first preference because it makes the audience laugh, smile and keep them happy throughout the film and I think that's important because I believe the main purpose of a film should be to make the audience happy and entertained. The conventions of the genre that I most like about comedies is the stupid characters and their embarrassing moments. I like it when the characters are funny being themselves as it makes the whole film realistic and believable. When comedies use real life funny situations, it is much more relate-able to the audience. As a result, they manage to turn out really funny. Some examples of the films that I have watched and enjoyed are "Norbit" and "The Identity Thief".

"Norbit" movie cover + "Identity Thief" movie cover

Horror:

My second preference of genre is horror because I like to challenge myself in watching horror movies without getting scared. I also find the use of sound, angles of the shots and the pace of the camera very capturing. It creates suspense and allows the audience to hold their breath. It allows the audience to feel as if they were with the victims and that's important in a film as their attention remains throughout the whole film. The conventions that I most like about horror movies are slasher movies because its real. If there was a ghost or witch involved, we wouldn't be that frightened because we know it's all fake and ghosts don't exist whereas if there is a real person involved doing all the spine-chilling actions, we will always have fear as we know this is possible and there are psychotic people like that in the world. This gets the audience more curious. One example of the slasher movies that I watched is "The last house on the left".

"The last house on the left" movie cover

Action:
And finally, the third favourite genre is action because it seems  really cool and clever. Most action films have a clever storyline which is also one of the reasons why I enjoy watching it. Not only does it involve action, it has emotions, romance and even some comedy. The conventions of the genre that I particularly like is the way it confuses and plays with your mind a bit and how the characters always do amazing action. This impresses the audience and holds them in it's captivity. An example of action movies that I watched is "Fast and furious".

"Fast and furious" main characters