What is genre?

comes from the French word meaning 'type' or 'class‘

can be recognized by its common set of distinguishing
features (codes and conventions)
 What are codes and conventions?

CODES
 are systems of signs, which create meaning

CONVENTIONS
 are the generally accepted ways of doing something
 Types of Code

Technical Symbolic Written

Technical Codes
 ways in which equipment is used to tell the story (camera
techniques, framing, depth of fields, lighting and exposure, etc.)
 Technical Codes
Camera Techniques
Basic Camera Shots Advance Camera Shots Camera Angles
Extreme Wide Shot Two Shot Eye-Level
Wide Shot Cut Away High Angle
Medium Shot Over the Shoulder Low Angle
Medium Close- up Point of View Bird's Eye View
Close- up Selective Focus Worm’s Eye View
Extreme Close- up Arc Shot Slanted (canted)
Basic Camera Movements
Basic Camera Movements
 Types of Code

Technical Symbolic Written

Symbolic Codes
 showwhat is beneath the surface of what we see (objects, setting,
body language, clothing, color, etc. )
 Types of Code

Technical Symbolic Written

Written Codes
 useof language style and textual layout (headlines, captions,
speech bubbles, language style, etc. )
Form conventions are the certain ways we expect types
of media's codes to be arranged. For instance an audience
expects to have a title of the film at the beginning, and
then credits at the end. Newspapers will have a masthead,
the most important news on the front page and sports
news on the back page.
Story conventions are common narrative structures and
understandings that are common in story telling media
products. Examples of story conventions include:
Narrative structures. Cause and effect. Character
construction.
Genre conventions are elements, themes, topics, tropes,
characters, situations, and plot beats that are common in
specific genres. Genre conventions are what make certain
stories the genre that they are.