Genre is a type or category in which a media form or type could fall under. There are many different types of genres for e.g. comedy, drama, horror, action etc. There are also hybrid genres a hybrid genre is a form with two or more genres for e.g. rom-com, action-adventure, Sit-Com etc. As well as genres and hybrid genres there are also sub-genres. A sub-genre is the divided form of a genre with elements which make up a whole genre. Sub-genre could also be defined as a minor style in a normal films genre for e.g. in an action movie you may have disaster as a sub-genre. A genre could be determined by its sense of style as well as the conventions, conventions is what we expect to see which means each genre has a distinctive character or convention in which it determines its style.
Action is a genre in which there is more of exciting action sequences such as fights, car chases, extreme sports etc. rather than a depth of storytelling/narrative. It also focuses more on its sequences and SFX as well as emphasising them more than working on character development. The action genre has many different sub-genres which helps identify the type of action movie. These sub genres can range from a variety of sub styles such as martial arts or any other extreme sports as well as car chases and other types of vehicles. Action is also one of the main genres that are viewed worldwide because of its budgets spend on SFX as well as its hook to intrigue audiences and keeping them on their seats. There are also many conventions in the Action genre, these conventions are:
• Fast Pace: Most action movies are fast paced to keep audiences on edge as well as setting the atmosphere to be tension filled as well as non-relaxing.
• Equilibrium-Disequilibrium-Equilibrium (Hero and Villain): Action movies tend to use the equilibrium balance system to portray action movies this is a convention as well as being one of actions basic narratives, a convention that we would be expecting is that this balance system will usually be shown in good vs. evil i.e. Hero vs. Villains. There are many more conventions of Action.
Comedy is also one of the major genres in film alongside action since comedy appeals to all ages and groups. Comedy is a humorous genre which is practiced to make the audience laugh this is usually at the expense of the character or the situation that they are in. There are also many sub-genres in comedy, these sub-genres can range from different types of sub-genres for e.g. Wordplay comedy, wordplay comedy is a more intellectual form of comedy as it deals with twisting up or manipulating words to make the audience laugh this could be done through puns or rude remarks. There are also different types and forms of comedy such as a mockumentary where it mocks (makes fun of) documentaries, another type of comedy which is similar to mockumentary is spoof/parody, spoof/parody is when there is another movie (comedy) which makes fun of other movies of different or same genre for e.g. Meet the Spartans was a spoof/parody of the movie 300. Like other genres comedy also has conventions, these conventions are:
• Humour: Humour is a main convention of comedy, as the audience would be expecting some sort of comical gags as comedy sets the atmosphere to funny and live sort of place.
• Characters/Situations: Audiences would be expecting some sort of comical trap or comical character so that the audience could laugh at their expense as well as their situation. There are many more conventions of Comedy.
Drama is a genre with a deep storyline and meaning, drama also has realistic characters as well as narratives and heavily realistic themes usually with an in depth emotional storyline. Most of these themes/narratives could be seen on reflecting life such as criminal activities, politics as well as corruption in society and much more. Drama like other genres could also be divided in to sub-forms i.e. crime drama, docudrama etc. Romance and tragedy can also be seen as sub-genres as romance and tragedy have an in depth of emotional storylines as well as having some realistic themes and characters. Although docudrama, crime drama and others, can be seen as sub-genres we could also call them hybrid dramas since these genres have a mixture of two genres. Drama also has conventions audiences would want to see, these conventions are:
• Real life issues: Audiences would expect to see real life issues as drama is based on reality, which means that audience would expect to relate to the drama movies.
• Corruption: In a drama movie we would expect to see some sort of corruption as the corruption is mainly the disequilibrium of the drama.
Romance is a genre that revolves around the liking of someone (love) between a male and a female character, romance like some other genres have deep emotional storylines as well as realistic themes. These themes as well as emotional storylines could also be broken in to sub-genres, the sub-genres are included in romance are comedy, adventure, drama etc. Romance could also be put in hybrid genres such as Action Romance which is a mixture of both the action genre and the romance genre. The Romance drama could also be categorised as a genre that does well when put with other forms of media as it is successful in appealing its target audiences. Like all genres romance also has conventions, these conventions are:
• Male and Female lead roles: Since the genre is romance the audience would expect a relationship between a male and female as well as the lead roles developing on this relationship
• Situation: We as an audience would be expecting to see some sort of situation to see the main leads overcome this situation and work it out so that the characters can show true feelings in the movie as the romance genre is heavily revolved around emotions.
Horror revolves around supernatural and eerie events as horror is meant to keep audiences in the dark to give them a scare. This means that the elements in horror could range from anything such as suspense, action etc anything to keep the audiences on the edge of their seats, the main element that horror uses is supernatural elements and surprises. Horror also has sub-genres; these sub-genres are thriller, action, adventure, comedy and much more. Horror is a successful genre because it also appeals to all ages and different audiences as horror could be very entertaining. Horror like all other genres also has conventions, the conventions in the horror genre:
• Supernatural: We as the audience would expect to see supernatural elements as supernatural events are unusual and unexplained which gives it a scary mystery behind the idea of supernatural events.
• Mystery: Since certain events are unexplained the audience would expect to see mysterious elements which leave’s them in the dark.
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