Essay on Film Genre - 2313 Words

A true film genre relies on shared iconography, formalistic themes and similar narrative structures and content. ‘What genre does is recognize that the audience any one film within a context of other films, both those they have personally seen and those they have heard about or seen represented in other media outlets. †¦In general, the function of genre is to make films comprehensible and more or less familiar. (turner 97)’. Action/adventure, the Western, Gangster/Crime, Detective/Film Noir, Comedy, Science fiction/Fantasy, Horror/Monster, Suspense Thriller/Spy/Heist and many others groups are usually used for marketing in stores where films are being sold. The majority of viewers, film critics, and film producers talk about films in†¦show more content†¦One of the genre conventions is iconography, which ‘derives from art history, where it only referred to visual signs. The context in which an object or sound is used is crucial in defining its meaning. For example, a crucifix is readily associated with the church as a symbol of Christ`s resurrection, and is not simply an example of horror iconography.’ In terms of a horror film a symbol of Christ would represent not only the Christ but the weapon against the evil. Another example could be a knife which is used to kill somebody rather than in comedy it is used for cutting things. In order to identify that the genre of a film is horro r, such visual signs like red and black colors, blue filters in films are used. The use of blue filter is called digital color correction. It was hard and expensive to achieve this correction previously. However, since computer technologies have developed a lot, much more powerful and exciting effects can be achieved by simply editing a film sequence in different computer software nowadays. Moreover, the mise- enscene of horror films also show that this film is horror film with the help of using such things like knives, guns, axes and many others. Another use of iconography is the setting. In horror films the setting is usually abandoned, isolated from people, the houses generally hide scaring past. The majority of scenes are filmed in night time but the plot can beShow MoreRelatedGenre Films Predictability and Formulaicity Essay1598 Words   |  7 PagesGenre Films Predictability and Formulaicity This essay shall discuss whether Genre films are predictable and formulaic, looking at the Western genre, and using the example films of, The Searchers and Unforgiven. Genre is a fundamental means by which we communicate especially in storytelling. If looking at genre in terms of Thomas Shatz, he puts forward the theory of similarity and overlap. He adopts a thematic and ideological approach, which identifies only twoRead MoreHorror Film Genre Essay969 Words   |  4 PagesThe two movies I viewed were Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist, which were both directed by Tobe Hopper. 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