Genre

Genre contains  many different aspects. Genre gives filmmakers and the audience a set format of content and style to follow and categorize the film. Genres are constantly changing over time with new technology, convections, and sub-genres emerging. Determining genres means taking in all the elements, Mis-en-scene, camera work, editing, cinematography and decided the genre the film follows.

Genres are sorted in different ways. Some may look for the sharing of subject and themes, or the manner of appearance. Genres like horror, action, and comedy sometimes collide with each other in a film creating subgenres. Genres also create their own cycles. For example, the action genre has a cycle of superhero/comic book films. Once the first superhero hero film was released, it created a domino effect of movies with a superhero subject. The following are my notes on genres taken from my classmates' research.

Genre Presentations Notes

Drama

-contains stories with high stakes and a lot of conflicts.

-Conflict = heart of the genre

- originated in 1970

-shaped by the role, characters, relationship, situation, atmosphere, and silence, used to create tension.

-View gets emotionally attached to the film using the gratification

-Tell a story of human struggles.

-Subgenres:

Historical Drama 

Romantic Drama

Teen drama

Medical drama

documentary drama

-Climate and anti-climax have a peak of truth in them.

Romantic Comedy

-humorously tells a love story. 

- William Shakespeare helped to develop the genre

-Deciding if the romantic relationship has comedic tension throughout the movie.

Horror 

-Incorporates violence and gore; portrays worst nightmares

-types of characters: The killer, the blonde, the cop, the bad/girl, the skeptic

-Theme: Don't take things for granted, be careful what you wish for.

-Techniques: jump scares, tight framing, mirror reflections, spotlights, under exposer

-Lowkey Lighting; dim hues and shadows

serve up scares that also illuminate the anxieties of our collective cultural norms.

-zero in on a specific time and place to be terrifying. Resonate profoundly with certain culture films.

-Sometimes leaves watchers on high alert.

Action

-action sequences such as car explosions and car crashes take precedence over elements like characterization

-typically involves efforts from individuals on the hero contrast.

-Mostly linked with the thriller and adventure genre.

-slow motion in action sequences creates more suspense. 

-When there is an obvious villain they almost make the audience feel sorry for them through character development.

-Convections:

Always a hero and villain 

The hero is designed to save the villain; stop the villain

The villain always gives up their big plans

There's always violence or destruction

Science- Fiction

-incorporates hypothetical and science fiction themes into the plot.

-Associated with exploring elaborate abstract unknown worlds or experimentation. 

ex. space, aliens, humans X machines

-Used to focus on political or social issues.

ex. human conditions

-Anything related to space travel aliens or different planet/universe

Thriller

-subgenres:

• Crime thriller 
• Psychological thriller
• Spy thriller

• Action thriller
• Supernatural thriller

-Editing

-Includes lots of jump cuts

-Narrative

-A story of disturbing or suspenseful events that build up to climax.
-Aims to create suspense and excitement within the viewer.
-The identify of the antagonist is usually hidden 

-Cinematography

-Tilted/disorientating shot and angles to make the viewer uncomfortable. 

-Close ups and extreme close up of protagonist

-Mise-en-scene

-Low key lighting to create to create suspense or gloom

- Lots shadows

-Violence and blood is often a key theme

-High angle shot of the antagonist over the protagonist to show usually to show dominance.

-Dark color pallet

-Settings include isolated places

-Antagonist wears dark clothes 

-Sound

-Slow or eerie music to create suspense or uncertainty

-Begin with a slow tempo

-silence

-Heighted diegetic sounds such as a door creaking

My classmates and I worked on our own PowerPoint presentation of certain genres and shared it with the class. This was certainly a learning experience. It allowed me to get generalized notes on other genre researches so I have a starting ground for my own notes. My genre was musical. I did a deep research dive and learned about the typical convection and patterns within the genre. Learning about genres has made me start to notice the use of themes and convection showing up in movies that are associated with certain genres.

presentation notes 

film art Chapter 9

https://www.mindmeister.com/685037204/conventions-of-the-thriller-genre

https://www.slideshare.net/simakhan/conventions-of-the-thriller-genre-20364549