Film Language: Genre

Today we are:
Learning about the different types of
genre within films
Learning how genre can effect film making
 Objectives:
• By the end of this lesson:
• All of you:
Will be able to describe what genre is and how it is used in media

• Most of you:
Will distinguish between the different types of genre and generic
conventions and be able to apply this knowledge to film clips

• Some of you:
Will be able to describe and highlight signs used within specific genres and
apply this knowledge to film clips.
Will be able to decide what signs and conventions to use within a specific
genre film.
 Starter Questions:
• Write down your answers - leave a space
underneath each answer....

• What is genre?
• Why do we have different genres in film?
• How can you distinguish between different
genres?
 Genre...
• Genre is a French word for ‘type’ or ‘kind’. It is a term used in
film analysis for the purpose of grouping certain films together in
a series of categories.

• It is the way of classifying a film to help the audience identify it.

• Examples:
• Action Adventure Animation Biography
• Comedy Crime Documentary Drama
• Family Fantasy Film-Noir Game-Show
• History Horror Music Musical
• Mystery News Reality-TV Romance
• Sci-Fi Sport Talk-Show Thriller
• War Western
 Why do we have genres?
• Particular audiences like certain types of film
• It helps to analyse films and to see how they are constructed and
marketed
• To give a film an identity
• To attract a mainstream audience
• To attract a niche audience
• To inform an audience of the type of storyline or characters
• To sell the film
• To play with variations on a formula which works
• To deliver an audience to advertisers
• To give audiences what they expect
• To create historical progression (e.g. Directors make films of genres that
they enjoy)
• To make it safe or easy for a specific audience
• To avoid disappointment
 Generic Conventions
• In order for a film to be categorised into a
particular genre, it must share similar features with
other films of that genre. These features can be
defined as generic conventions, giving us a method
of which genre a film belongs to.

• Audiences have certain expectations of texts

because of their generic conventions.

• Generic conventions can fall into a number of

categories.
 Generic Conventions
• Visual conventions
• These are those that we can see on the screen

• Audio Conventions
• Those we hear as part of the soundtrack

• Thematic Conventions
• The themes we identify in the films narrative (how
the storyline is pieced together)
 Generic Conventions
• Watch this clip and see how many generic conventions you
can spot:

• List them under:

• Visual
• Audio
• Thematic

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQrgMIhCkUk
 Generic Conventions
• Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
• Visual conventions
• The spaceships
• The droids
• The costumes

• Audio conventions
• The sound of gunfire
• The sound of the spaceship
• The futuristic dialogue

• Thematic conventions
• Futuristic settings
• Outer space setting
 Generic Conventions
• Generic Conventions are very much associated with
how a film is conveyed to an audience.

• It can include how the audience reads the film and

how they understand messages and values found
within the film (otherwise known as Representation).

• To read generic conventions in detail you can look at

the signs that the producers put into the film.
 Generic Conventions in Depth -
Signifiers and Signified

• Signifier/Denotation = The image in the raw, the physical form - A knife

is simply a metal implement
• Signified/Connotation = That which carries the meaning, referring to
something other than itself - In the context of a scene involving a murder
in a shower this knife signifies death and violence.

• Both a Signifier and the Signified join together to make up A SIGN

• This (otherwise known as Semiotics) is able to give account for meanings

that are absent as well as present in any given representation.
 Applying semiotics to generic
conventions
• Meaning can also be derived from a media text on the following two levels:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hBDNueV4ec&feature=related

• Denotative Level (Denotations/Denotes)

• This is the straight forward visual image we see on the screen. In Psycho
(1960) we see the Bates family hotel. On a denotative level it is a house
on a hill.

• Connotative Level (Connotations/Connotes)

• This is the meaning we associate with the image that we see. In Psycho
(1960) on a connotative level we believe the house is spooky, full of dread
and horror.

• What genre do these generic conventions belong to and why?

 Different Types of Genre

• Major genre
A dominant, important category - it should be
relatively obvious and easy to define or spot

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoAPKt7kbD0

• Unforgiven (1992)
 Different types of Genre
• Subgenre
• A minor category or subdivision that is very closely
related to its major genre by being a specific type in
its own right.
• Subgenres define a specific version of the genre by
refining it with an adjective, e.g. “spaghetti western”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyYYHqVTsE

• The Sixth Sense (1999)

 Different types of genre
• Hybrid genre
• A combination of two major genres that creates another
type of film

• For example: Romance + Comedy = Romantic Comedy

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eIpvZsEky4

• Alien (1979)
 Genre Quiz!
• See if you can identify the genres of the following films:
• Categorise them under the following headings:

• Clip 1 = (Name of the Genre)

• Type of genre (Major/Sub/Hybrid)
• Visual Conventions
• Audio Conventions (Diegetic/Non Diegetic)
• Thematic Conventions

• For an extra challenge try and identify the signs (signifiers

and signified) in each piece under visual conventions!
 Genre Quiz
• Work out which genre these clips belong to by using your new knowledge based
on genre identification! Even if you know what genre they belong to - discuss in
depth the generic conventions found in the clip!
• Clip 1:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8aFp2VPAuM&NR=1

• Clip 2:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOkPtlNgvvw
• Start at 3.15

• Clip 3:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAH3RTRlCHY

• Clip 4:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1hz1xrqvos&feature=related

• Clip 5:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5HZ4NRkcgE&feature=related
Tell me what generic conventions and
signs you would use if you were to
make a....

HORROR FILM!
 In Conclusion:
• Let’s return to our original questions, this
time add in the detail you have learnt this
lesson..

• What is genre?
• Why do we have different genres in film?
• How can you distinguish between different
genres?