Genre Theory
Genre theory is used in the study of films in order to facilitate the categorization of films. Genre is dependent on various factors such as story line, who the director is, what are the audience expectations.... In using genre theory we create a short cut in how we are to describe films.
E.g When looking at the horror film where we know everyone will die except one. The audience whom go to those films expect to see zombie, were wolves, werewolvess and more. They also expect certain content and a certain style of film making.
Audience
When marketing and studying cinema it is important to know who the intended audience are. We must take into account at what time the film was made and for which audience.
The time period
An important part of Genre theory is knowing at which period a film was made. This is particularly important when considering what technology was being used. With today's high speed films (shorter exposure times) films may be shot with very different lighting from those of twenty years ago. The rhythm and pacing of the film may have been altered with editing. Core values which would seem unimportant to us when watching certain films may be of prime importance to the people whom are contemporary to the film's.
Problems with Genre theory
If all films were exactly the same then genre theory would be easy to study and defining which type of film it is would be easy. Unfortunately though it is far more complicated than this. As we look and analyze various films we find that although they have similarities in other aspects they are very different. It creates the need for genre theory to continually re-define itself according to the technology, the audience, the political message among many other variables. What may have been typical of a genre at one time may evolve other time as the audience evolves.
This is useful for me as Genre theory "continually re-defines itself", this will allow me to see the different between contemporary and classic zombie films.
http://www.main-vision.com/richard/genre.shtml
Genre theory is used in the study of films in order to facilitate the categorization of films. Genre is dependent on various factors such as story line, who the director is, what are the audience expectations.... In using genre theory we create a short cut in how we are to describe films.
E.g When looking at the horror film where we know everyone will die except one. The audience whom go to those films expect to see zombie, were wolves, werewolvess and more. They also expect certain content and a certain style of film making.
Audience
When marketing and studying cinema it is important to know who the intended audience are. We must take into account at what time the film was made and for which audience.
The time period
An important part of Genre theory is knowing at which period a film was made. This is particularly important when considering what technology was being used. With today's high speed films (shorter exposure times) films may be shot with very different lighting from those of twenty years ago. The rhythm and pacing of the film may have been altered with editing. Core values which would seem unimportant to us when watching certain films may be of prime importance to the people whom are contemporary to the film's.
Problems with Genre theory
If all films were exactly the same then genre theory would be easy to study and defining which type of film it is would be easy. Unfortunately though it is far more complicated than this. As we look and analyze various films we find that although they have similarities in other aspects they are very different. It creates the need for genre theory to continually re-define itself according to the technology, the audience, the political message among many other variables. What may have been typical of a genre at one time may evolve other time as the audience evolves.
This is useful for me as Genre theory "continually re-defines itself", this will allow me to see the different between contemporary and classic zombie films.
http://www.main-vision.com/richard/genre.shtml
posted by Jaskeerat at 6:08 PM
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