Post 4

Genre as a Media Concept

Genre is an ancient concept that has been in existence since Aristotle's time.

When we approach a film text we come across a pre-defined set of tools and conventions, both producers and audiences categorise and thus the encoder, also known as the film maker can be decoded by the audience easily and gratification will be achieved. Genre allows media products to be packaged and targeted at an audience so they can then select products according to previous experience of the genres. Audience preference clearly affects the genres available, therefore getting the dead genres.

What is Genre

Below is a spider diagram showing what I think genre means:

The Formal characteristics of genre

Genres work through their formal characteristics. These are know essentially as codes and conventions, these include stylistic characteristics, iconography, mise-en-scene, and narrative structure

Stylistic Characteristics

When looking at film, stylistic characteristics are camera work, lighting, sound effects, speech, music and editing, these can also be called technical codes.

Iconography

An icon is a key type of sign, and is something which resembles the object for which it stands but which has meaning beyond its psychical form. A stetson hat is an icon for a western film, and a butchers knife for horror. Particular styles of knives are very 'iconic' in some horror films, that for both the film producer and audience the icon acts as a sort of shorthand saving them time filling in the background of the character and action. If we see a butchers knife the audience automatically takes a series of assumptions to the characters. Genre works because it does not let our assumptions down. In reality there is no link between big knives and murderers, most of the population have bread knives at home , but when this is used in film this will immediately have significance.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene includes everything within the frame: location, image, set-design, the kind of characters, lighting, the camera's position, and the angle of view. All these elements generate mood, atmosphere and the general 'feel' of the genre. The same aspects of mise-en-scene are used in certain genres and the audience will be able to spot these over and over again. Genre usually provides crucial visual clues, these visual cues stimulate our expectations and when these are met, the audience are then working with the media producer, successfully decoding his encoded meaning. 

The codes of genre

The ingredients of a certain genre and the elements that make it recognisable are called conventions, these provide a common link between types of films, and these then become the visual elements that we expect when we see a film.

There are seven codes that are used in genre these are

• Technical codes - Camera, lighting techniques, sound
• Symbolic codes - body language, use of colour, mise-en-scene
• Character codes - costumes and make up of a particular character
• Written codes - captions,anchorage
• Narrative codes - the shape and structure of the narrative 
• Enigma codes - a sense of mystery that intrigues the audience 
• Action codes - action that make us realise where we are in the narrative and that the story is developing.   

Some facts about genre as a concept

1. It is an ancient concept that has been in existance since Aristotle's time.
2. Writers learn by imitation and should observe the codes and conventions of genre.
3. "Genre can be defined as a structural patern which embodies a universal life pattern....Genre is universal, basic to human perceptions of life"-John Cawelti
4. Genre also has the advantage of developing a process already in existence.
5. Genres work as a kind of formula that the industry can use, a 'blueprint' for production. This is supported by the vertically intergrated Hollywod Studio System of the 1930s and 1940s
6. Genres also saved time and money within the system, as everybody knew how to do their specific job.
7. Genre's work as a 'label' they exist as categories central to decisions made in their marketing by distributors and exhibitors. They are a way of informing the audience the audience about the basic format of the film. 
8. Genres act as a 'contract with their audienc, who enjoy the repetition of certain conventions, yet find pleasure in the novelties of new ideas
9. Emily Atenhol believed that different types of film appeal to various segments of the audience, for example, males and females prefer different genre films.
10. Genres change over time. The pattern of development, growth, maturity and decline seems to relate to changing political, social, artistic trends. For example Westerns have been in decline but Westerns may again become popular and provoke the same feelings of patriotism. However the horror genre, for example follows a less linear life cycle. Genres do appear to reflect the times in some way and this has the advantage of making genres seem current despite being an old concept.
11. Hybribds and crossovers, are films that combine two or more genres which have existed in the early days of Hollywood and blur the boundaries between catergories weakening the concept.
12. Some films dont belong in any genre at all, this generates the issue that genre is perhaps not universal.
13. Frank McConnell, for example, sugests four genres, the Epic, Adventure Romance, Melodrama and Satire that correspond to the four-stage historical cycle of culture.
14. Schatz on the other hand offers just two genres, the 'genre of order' such as Westerns and Science fiction and the 'genre of integration' which are Musicals and Comedies.
15. Todorov's view is that there is just one genre, that is presented or dressed differently each time
16. A disadvantage of genre is the fact that there is no agreed list or even number of film categories and the ideas can be very contrasting, this suggests that genre is harder to negotiate and is hard to find one strict definition of genre.
17. The existence of film genre depends mainly on the recognition by the mass audience.
18. The terms 'western' and 'musical' were initially used as adjective, describing one aspect of a film rather than a category of a film and looking back we can see that most films are assigned to categories. This means that the way film genres exist could depend more on a critics labelling than the actual audience recognition.
19. Big film companies like Paramount and Warner Bros avoided making genre films and decided to make encompassing fims that attract a bigger audience. It tended to be the smaller, independant studios that created the genre films.
20. Studio's lost control of the monopoly in 1949, after Paramount lost its case with the American Government, this also means that studios are not run in the way they used to and this means that genres may not be appropriate. This could be mirrored by our increasing 'postmodernist' society that favours hybrids, intertextuality and bricolage, where it is harder to talk about 'simple' genre films.
21. Patrick Philips suggests that 'A 'genre-world' is one in which there are a limited and predictable range of features'. This is because all film makers use the same codes and conventions but with a twist to gain audience satisfaction.
22. Genre can be thought of as dynamic, meaning that something will change, like the society and culture it exists in, over time. This then means that no one idea or theory about genre as a concept will always be true
23. The advantages and disadvantages of using the concept of genre and indeed the understanding about what it's strengths and weaknesses are, will also change in relation to the society around it.    

Review of Genre from my opening sequence
When creating our opening sequences last year me and my group opted to go for the crime genres, at the beginning of the task we took in as much information about the types of conventions in this genre. However at the time we had very little knowledge of how genre's worked and the history of the different genres. Subsequently this meant that when we did pick the crime genre we weren't very aware that this was a less popular type of genre and isn't as established as a genre like a rom-com. As a group we also did the stages of the planning of the fim in the wrong order. This happened because to begin with we worked out the narrative of the story before we had a genre in mind. This then meant that we had to find a genre to fit our narrative, which meant that this ended up being the crime genre, because at this point we had only just worked out the genre of our film, this then meant that we had to find conventions to fit into the narrative so that it made sense. This resulted in our group not really sticking to the task of making a genre film. The genre related parts of the film were also very strict and as a group we didn't play around with the different genres and sometimes subvert them or give them a bit of a twist.

Conclusion
Now after taking a proper look at the concept of genre, for the next media task we do, which is our main films, I will design my narrative around the genre I pick, so I will be sticking within the task. I will also try to use the genre concept of repetition and difference. If every film stuck to the same conventions of their particular genre, then all films would be very similar and would all be very boring. This concept was created by Neale and he states that 'difference is absolutely necessary to the economy of genre': mere repetition would not attract an audience. And this is what I am going to do for my short filml, as I am going to stick to the conventions of my genre but in fact subvert them and give them a bit of a twist.

Post 3

Skills I have developed over the past year and targets set to improve

In groups we made a table demonstrating the skills we have developed over the past year of doing Media Studies. We then made a video to explain and describe the table we would have created.

After reviewing my skills from last year I decided to make 5 detailed targets to ensure that I made a better end product for this year. Underneath is a list of these 5 targets:
Target 1
Specific: My first target for this year is to choose the concept and genre of the film realistically. This is because last year, we choose to compare our film to big hollywood movies and this wasn't achievable due to the lack of high tech equitment and locations.
Measurable: This shown in our opening title sequence where we recreated a chase scene, this point is shown through the unsteadiness of the camera throughout, simply because we didn't have the equipment to follow the characters along running and had to make do with using a skateboard.
Achievable: I feel this target is achievable because this year, I have decided to not set our expectations so high and think realistically. By doing this I have done some research and discovered that the french especially the film director John Luke Goddard are well known for making low budget romantic films, that turn out to be very popular choices and I felt that these types of films would be easier to re-create as I will also have a low budget.
Relevant/Realistic: I feel this aim will be relevant as the more simple we make it the easier it is to re-create it with such a low budget and the better and more professional the film will look.
Time-Bound: This target should be used mainly for all films with a low budget, but especially for my projects this year so I will get a better outcome.

Target 2
Specific: My second target for this year is to do a lot more research on the genre of films and to choose a genre I can relate to and that is easier to re-create using our low-budget material.
Measurable: This is shown through the genre of our main task, crime. Before I had never really been interested in the crime genre and therefore hadn't really watched any low-budget films within the crime genre, this meant that I didn't know what sorts of conventions and elements where needed to re-create a popular crime film. I also found this difficult because I had never watched a crime film to realise how difficult they can be to make.
Achievable: I feel this target is achievable because I will choose a genre like a rom-com which are easier to make sticking to the conventions with a low budget. Also the majority of films I watch are usually rom-com's or romantic films making it easier for me to spot the conventions and choose storylines that are not too much out of my depth.
Relevant/Realistic: I feel that this target is relevant because this will help to produce a better outcome because the genre that I will choose will be easy to make with such a low budget and I wont be out of my depth because of the lack of equipment.
Time-Bound: This target should be used for any futue media prducts I create, but especially for this next task, so the outcome will be a lot more believable and professional.

Target 3
Specific: My third target for this year is to work well in a group making sure all of us put in an equal amount of effort, time and work. This is because last year a lot of our group just decided to do the tasks they were good at meaning firstly, the members of the group that were not very good at some tasks, for example camera work were unable to improve their skills and learn about this role. Secondly this meant that we were unable to have an input from all of the group because sometimes  there may have been only one person doing a certain part of the planning, meaning the group are only going to be using her ideas.
Measurable: This is shown through the lack and variety of ideas within the planning because as a group we didn't really have many different ideas.
Achievable: I feel that this target is achievable because in the next task coming up we will work together as a group and everyone will be a part in all the tasks, whether they have a major or minor role.
Relevant/Realistic: I feel this task is realistic as when choosing our groups for our next project I will be sensible with who I pick and will pick a group that I can work well with.
Time-Bound: This task should generally be used for any group tasks I complete in the future.

Target 4
Specific: My next task is to be more involved with the pratical side of this task as usually I would take a back seat when it came to this side of the project and I am usually very involved with the written side of the project. This means that I have gained very little skills in the pratical side of media and for this academic year this is what I'd like to focus on.
Measurable: This is shown generally through how little practical work I have done over the past year and how I have concentrated on the theory part of this task.
Achievable: I feel that this task is achievable because I will make more of an effort to get involved with this part of the task and not just do all the theory.
Relevant/Realistic: I feel that this task is realistic because this year I am going to push myself to make more of an effort to get involved in this part of the task
Time-Bound: This task should be used mostly for this next academic year to show that I can do the pratical side of this course and to experiment both of sides of the coursework.

Target 5
Specific: My final target is to focus on the genre and for this task to produce the narrative around this genre by using conventions that would traditionally be used but sometimes twisting them so the audience wouldn't expect it and would give them something to work out so they will get audience satisfaction.
Measurable: This is shown through the fact that in the main task I used the conventions of the crime genre we were doing like the fact that we used the guns, but we didn't work around them and we stuck to these conventions like glue making the film rather boring and not giving the audience anything to work out.
Achievable: I feel that this task is achievable as this year I am going to do a lot more research on how conventions of genres are used to give the audience pleasure.
Relevant/Realistic: I feel that this task is relevant as this will help me to get more audience satisfaction and a better final product because I would not have only used the conventions for the certain genre I am doing but I would have played with them and done something creative with them.
Time-Bound: This task should ideally be done for this upcoming year, but I can use this task for any other media production I may choose to make.