Kayhanah media studies film genre

Kayhanah st Victor 

10/4/2021

    What is genre and what is it's impact? 

Their are many different types of genre romance,  comedy, action, crime, and many others each having their own sub-genres that keep branching out into smaller genres still associated with the bigger one. Movies have different social function, some movies objectives is to give a sense of security, some is to make you wary of everything, whatever it my be there is always a deeper message the director is trying to get to you. 

what's the research?

My group went on multiple different sources to find our information specifically on romantic comedies. We found the history, development, and social functions of the genre. We did some research, some related and unrelated to the genre because we wanted to see if when the movie has romance and comedy does it make the movie a romantic comedy and with help/ background information from my peers presentations it furthered our knowledge, and overall understanding on different genres. I learned the primary elements of a conventional horror which are:

*opening up with an action scene

*obvious suspenseful soundtrack

*the character has to face death

*has a desire for justice

*placed in the suburbs(usually)

Specific character 

1.) person with a mask

2.) early-ish death of clueless people

3.)The basic witty girl

4.) Authority is present to help but gets caught or woking with the killer

Conventions

1.)loud, frighting, and frantic music 

2.) hand-held shots

3.) elements such as fog, dark to dim contrast lighting, and shadows

4.)jump scares

5.)over the shoulder shots to build tension

6.)P.O.V shots

7.) long shots

All of which work together and sets the mise-en-scene of the film

With comedy films it is the complete opposite the feel, conventions, and element what make it what it is. I learned that comedy is a genre of fiction their is a bunch of sub genres of comedy such as, classical, romantic, & sub-mental, but what itself makes a comedy?

I learned the reason of a comedy is to make the audience shocked, disgusted and a plethora of other emotion the reason is to make the audience feel some kind of emotion because there are different things that make people feel joy which you should get from a comedy.

 

Social function 

Comedies are made to make the viewer happy and no matter what they're going through a comedy will always be there to make you laugh.

Old and New?

I learned the difference between old and new comedies. Old comedies where in black and white because of the tech so they need to act more because they didn't have tech to perform certain cuts. New comedies are more vulgar because of Genz humor.

Romantic comedies

Rom-coms are actually a sub-genre of the comedy genre. Me and my partner did extensive research on the sub-genre, come to find out it was more interesting then what we first assumed. All explained the PDF below 

file:///Users/evensstvictor/Downloads/Presentation9.pdf

but to summaries, A romantic comedy is a lighthearted film genre that is defined by a central love relationship as the major source of comedic tension. The film's shenanigan concept nurtures or tests the relationship between two romantically connected individuals. ​

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Films featuring two people falling in love are known as romantic comedies, or rom-coms. They must, in many situations, overcome obstacles that keep them apart, defy the odds, and live happily ever after. ​

*My class also learned about the action genre which has special effects, fights, vehicle and weapons and can be put into adventure films. We can see the actions driving themes are vengeance, justice, and sacrifice. We also learned the social function which is justice will always prevail or evil will always face justice.

*We learned the social influence gangsta are that some people might want to copy what they see and it creates harmful stereotypes. This genre conventionally has low lighting, dolled up girls, and "hero" man.

* We learned Sci-fi the purpose of sci-fi is to bring up technology and there advancements in society and how they might be good or bad. Usually the genre will bring up or integrate political issues happening at the time into the film. Sci-fi also "predicates" how tech will look in the future setting a expectation that we will make that invention in the future which leads to new inventions and ideas that people will want to make. Sci-fi's plot elements are dystopia, advanced tech/society/government, the future, outer space, set in different worlds, a sense of evil. The editing (VFX, fast shutter speed, forced perspective, wide angle shot/low angle shot, strong in light & cooler light for ex. the color blue, or green is often used). Older movies tend to combine horror and sci-fi and newer films aren't only set in dystopian time but in space and around the universe.

* Crime/mystery films conventionally deal with the investigation of murder or missing persons. This genre kind of gives off that of a mystery with dim lighting giving off an eerie feel, and usually the protagonists is someone going through odds and solving this crime/conflict will make their reputation better.

Content application

I made a PowerPoint I put:

 The history

Analyzing Rom-coms (which was my topic)

Understanding Romcoms

Social functions

The comparisons

What rom-com will withstand the test of time?

and bullets more of info such as:

*newer rom-com usually have a image in the background whereas older rom-coms have a solid fill color As the background with Props showing what the movie is centered Around

the early 2000's all follow the same old convention of a rom-coms, standing back-to-back and the red (representing the color of love) if not on the poster, then on women in a form of a dress. etc

I have done days of research from varies sources which can be found in References/sources

Reflection

Knowing all I know about film now I can accurately tell the social functions/authors message in the film. I would like to know if something does not fit into the convention of that genre can it really be considered part of that genre? After all I learned about genre when I watch a film I can't help but pick apart the different lighting, sound, and location they used to make the film fit into the genre they choose for the film.

References/sources 

 

https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/m/014l6_&hl=en-US&q=Pretty+Woman&kgs=126f7f2a0810e006&shndl=0&source=sh/x/kp/1&entrypoint=sh/x/kp

https://www.overthinkingit.com/2011/09/21/romantic-comedies/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_comedy

and my peers presentations!

What is genre? 

by, Kayhanah St Victor