The official definition of genres is 'Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or
spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria.
Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are
invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit
into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these
conventions.'
Now according to this definition and to my understanding of this definition I realized that there are more then a hundred categories of genres. Now why is that so? Well it is because every person has their own taste and likes and therefore someone might like action/romance films while the other might like horror/romance films, but then the problem comes of how to differentiate these hundred genres from each other. Well that is why codes and conventions play a major role in defining a genre.The codes and conventions lay down the general pattern that the storyline follows and thus a person can easily categorize the genres following the storyline in the film.
Like I said before there are more than hundred genres but the major genres that start the whole chain reaction are:
From these genres onwards there are the sub genres that can consists of two to three genres playing together in a movie.
Following aspects of different genres are supposed to be identified:
My first research was on the movies 'The notebook' and 'The vow'.
Both films genre are drama and romance.I noticed considerable similarities between these two films.
Both films featured two lovers who would meet in casual circumstances like 'love at first sight', their love would take them on a journey of unusual happiness where the will find themselves doing those things that they never expected to do before.They express their love in unusual manners like in 'The Vow' he stands in the rain just to see that the girl receives the gifts and opens it and the gift is something that he anticipates will happen in the future but not sure but he still takes the risk. Something of the same sort happens in 'The notebook' where the guy hangs from the Ferris wheel just to get a date with the girl, putting his life to risk yet he does this in his love for her.
In both films the parents disapprove of the relationship and try to end it, in both cases the class plays a major difference. Then the parents own complicated life's interfere with their children lives. Also fate and life plays a part as well where in 'The Notebook' the women has Alzheimer and has forgotten all about her past and her lover and almost similar thing happens in ' The Vow' where an accident wipes 4 years of memory of the girl life which were considered to be the most important years of her life and in both cases the love between the lovers has been shown to be so unique and strong that no matter what happens they always find a way back to each other.
The color used in the movies are soft neutral colors.The locations consist of open wide spaces with laces like the parks, beaches, lakes used. Even their rooms seem to be decorated with lively colors.
Usually high key lighting has been used in order to create hope in the characters of a better outcome.Less grainy pictures with soft contrast.
Their dressing is very casual, however depending on the scenes and places like in a ball they are dressed fancy but in normal days they are dressed in casual clothes that fits the trends of the time period in which the movie is set. Colors like pink, blue, yellow etc. Black is only used for formal meetings usually, like on a funeral etc.Makeup is light and according to the mood.
The next two films that I studied were 'my week with marilyn' and 'the social network' which are biographical drama based genre films.
Again the codes and conventions of these genre play an important part in the film study. biographical films are based on the true life stories of famous personalities that can be political, an adventurer, an artist, an inventor, an entertainer etc. And it usually seems to focus on how they rose to fame and how they met their downfall. It usually focuses on a particular issue that played a very important part in their career went about and effected them. The personality of the characters,the settings, the clothing, the backdrops and the makeup are done following the original environment and the characters and the time period it actually took place in. The film can start at any point. Either showing the down fall of the characters, or their rise. It can go in chronological order or in a set correct order from slums to rise to slums again.
Although many a times many events are changed or alters in order to hide the true faces of the characters and to have the audience sympathies with them. sometimes the order of how the film is shown is changed or another character is added so that the audience can put the blame on someone else and not the main character.
Since biographical accounts of people varies as theirlifestyle varies the lighting and setting varies as well but usually in the case of biographical genre films both high key and low key lighting are used because a real person has many highs and lows in life.
the third set of film that i studied were 'kill bill' and 'rocknrolla' which are action/crime/thriller/drama genre based films.
Both these films are a blend of three genres . Both these films feature a lot of action and killing and fighting. Also there are more then 4, 5 peoples whose lives are interlinked in one way or another.
The films have elements of thriller in it as well which creates anxiety and terror in the viewers. They begin anticipating what could happen afterwards which is something that can completely blow them away. In a thriller genre the villain sets these difficult obstacles and tasks which the protagonist must overcome like in kill bill she is almost killed but after being in a coma for 4 years she wakes up to find that she lost her child and is paralyzed temporarily from the waist down. but we wills her self to move and sets out to find the 5 people who killed her and her baby.The same pattern follows in the rocknrolla.
In kill bill the women is killed and every one who was attending her wedding rehearsal at that time including her fiance as well, as well as her unborn child.The villain bill is clever enough to find her and plan out of how to kill her. Then the women when she wakes up from the coma sets out to kill bill and solve the mystery of where to find every one else who took part in killing her.In Rocknrolla the master mind mob leader Larry Cole controls the entire real estate business. he is a corrupt leader who is secretly using his arch men and other people like the wild bunch for his own gains and has planned for how to dispose of these characters in a clean manner so that no trace links back to him. he is an untrustworthy just like Bill in kill bill who uses his resources and people to turn against each other.
In the end of both films the villain is killed of by the protagonist after the truth becomes clear to them.There is a lot of action and fighting in both films depending on the types of weapons they carry. the villain is presented in a posh manner or as the leader while the protagonist or the hero is always their servant or assistant or helper in some manner. The clothing varies according to the setting and the task and the type of criminals they represent. the props in the film however where similar. Like for example both characters where skilled in one type of weaponry like sword or gun and where skilled in physical hand to hand fighting showing a general patter that follows in films based on such genres.
Now according to this definition and to my understanding of this definition I realized that there are more then a hundred categories of genres. Now why is that so? Well it is because every person has their own taste and likes and therefore someone might like action/romance films while the other might like horror/romance films, but then the problem comes of how to differentiate these hundred genres from each other. Well that is why codes and conventions play a major role in defining a genre.The codes and conventions lay down the general pattern that the storyline follows and thus a person can easily categorize the genres following the storyline in the film.
Like I said before there are more than hundred genres but the major genres that start the whole chain reaction are:
- Drama
- Horror
- Thriller
- Comedy
- Romance
- Suspense
- Action
- Adventure
- Biographical
From these genres onwards there are the sub genres that can consists of two to three genres playing together in a movie.
Following aspects of different genres are supposed to be identified:
- style and forms
- paradigms(key elements)
- icinography
- structure
- theme
My first research was on the movies 'The notebook' and 'The vow'.
Both films genre are drama and romance.I noticed considerable similarities between these two films.
Both films featured two lovers who would meet in casual circumstances like 'love at first sight', their love would take them on a journey of unusual happiness where the will find themselves doing those things that they never expected to do before.They express their love in unusual manners like in 'The Vow' he stands in the rain just to see that the girl receives the gifts and opens it and the gift is something that he anticipates will happen in the future but not sure but he still takes the risk. Something of the same sort happens in 'The notebook' where the guy hangs from the Ferris wheel just to get a date with the girl, putting his life to risk yet he does this in his love for her.
In both films the parents disapprove of the relationship and try to end it, in both cases the class plays a major difference. Then the parents own complicated life's interfere with their children lives. Also fate and life plays a part as well where in 'The Notebook' the women has Alzheimer and has forgotten all about her past and her lover and almost similar thing happens in ' The Vow' where an accident wipes 4 years of memory of the girl life which were considered to be the most important years of her life and in both cases the love between the lovers has been shown to be so unique and strong that no matter what happens they always find a way back to each other.
The color used in the movies are soft neutral colors.The locations consist of open wide spaces with laces like the parks, beaches, lakes used. Even their rooms seem to be decorated with lively colors.
Usually high key lighting has been used in order to create hope in the characters of a better outcome.Less grainy pictures with soft contrast.
Their dressing is very casual, however depending on the scenes and places like in a ball they are dressed fancy but in normal days they are dressed in casual clothes that fits the trends of the time period in which the movie is set. Colors like pink, blue, yellow etc. Black is only used for formal meetings usually, like on a funeral etc.Makeup is light and according to the mood.
The next two films that I studied were 'my week with marilyn' and 'the social network' which are biographical drama based genre films.
Again the codes and conventions of these genre play an important part in the film study. biographical films are based on the true life stories of famous personalities that can be political, an adventurer, an artist, an inventor, an entertainer etc. And it usually seems to focus on how they rose to fame and how they met their downfall. It usually focuses on a particular issue that played a very important part in their career went about and effected them. The personality of the characters,the settings, the clothing, the backdrops and the makeup are done following the original environment and the characters and the time period it actually took place in. The film can start at any point. Either showing the down fall of the characters, or their rise. It can go in chronological order or in a set correct order from slums to rise to slums again.
Although many a times many events are changed or alters in order to hide the true faces of the characters and to have the audience sympathies with them. sometimes the order of how the film is shown is changed or another character is added so that the audience can put the blame on someone else and not the main character.
Since biographical accounts of people varies as theirlifestyle varies the lighting and setting varies as well but usually in the case of biographical genre films both high key and low key lighting are used because a real person has many highs and lows in life.
the third set of film that i studied were 'kill bill' and 'rocknrolla' which are action/crime/thriller/drama genre based films.
Both these films are a blend of three genres . Both these films feature a lot of action and killing and fighting. Also there are more then 4, 5 peoples whose lives are interlinked in one way or another.
The films have elements of thriller in it as well which creates anxiety and terror in the viewers. They begin anticipating what could happen afterwards which is something that can completely blow them away. In a thriller genre the villain sets these difficult obstacles and tasks which the protagonist must overcome like in kill bill she is almost killed but after being in a coma for 4 years she wakes up to find that she lost her child and is paralyzed temporarily from the waist down. but we wills her self to move and sets out to find the 5 people who killed her and her baby.The same pattern follows in the rocknrolla.
In kill bill the women is killed and every one who was attending her wedding rehearsal at that time including her fiance as well, as well as her unborn child.The villain bill is clever enough to find her and plan out of how to kill her. Then the women when she wakes up from the coma sets out to kill bill and solve the mystery of where to find every one else who took part in killing her.In Rocknrolla the master mind mob leader Larry Cole controls the entire real estate business. he is a corrupt leader who is secretly using his arch men and other people like the wild bunch for his own gains and has planned for how to dispose of these characters in a clean manner so that no trace links back to him. he is an untrustworthy just like Bill in kill bill who uses his resources and people to turn against each other.
In the end of both films the villain is killed of by the protagonist after the truth becomes clear to them.There is a lot of action and fighting in both films depending on the types of weapons they carry. the villain is presented in a posh manner or as the leader while the protagonist or the hero is always their servant or assistant or helper in some manner. The clothing varies according to the setting and the task and the type of criminals they represent. the props in the film however where similar. Like for example both characters where skilled in one type of weaponry like sword or gun and where skilled in physical hand to hand fighting showing a general patter that follows in films based on such genres.
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