Coming Soon
Movies yet to be released in 2016
What can you predict
about this movie?
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Plot?
Character?
Visuals?
Music?
Editing?
Special Effects?
Ideology?
Travis and Gabby first meet as neighbors
in a small coastal town and wind up in a
relationship that is tested by life's most
defining events.
What can you predict about this movie?
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Plot?
Character?
Visuals?
Music?
Editing?
Special Effects?
Ideology?
In London for the
Prime Minister's
funeral, Mike
Banning discovers a
plot to assassinate
all the attending
world leaders.
What can you predict about this movie?
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Plot?
Character?
Visuals?
Music?
Editing?
Special Effects?
Ideology?
Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked,
Gotham City's own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on
Metropolis' most revered, modern-day savior, while the world
wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with
Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat
quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it's ever
known before.
Introduction to Film Genre
Please take notes with a minimum of
the highlighted text
Introduction to Film Genre
• Definition from Merriam
Webster’s Dictionary
– Genre: a category of artistic,
musical, or literary composition
characterized by a particular
style, form, or content
• A film genre is a category
(label) of easily recognisable
conventions that exist in any
particular set of films
Institutional use of genre
• Film producers use genre as a
means of minimising the
economic risk in making films
• Film distributors/exhibitors
use genre as a means of
advertising and promoting
films
• Both depend upon
audiences’ foreknowledge
and past experience
Audience use of genre
• Audiences use genre to give
them predictable pleasures
when consuming/watching a
film
• Audiences have certain
expectations of genre films
Generic conventions
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A film genre is defined by its
conventions
Generic conventions will vary from
genre to genre but will usually involve
such areas of repetition as:
– Setting
– Visual style
– Themes
– Ideology
– Stars
– Character-types (including
stereotypes)
– Narratives (including events and
resolutions)
– Iconography
– Cinematography
– Special effects
– Sound/music
against genres
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captive audience (condescends)
Dissuades innovation + originality
marketing oriented
Trivializes the art of film
– Genre film = popular = bad
in favour of genres
• “a work has meaning in relationship to other works”
(Barthes)
• Includes cultural context & historical perspective
• Pleasures of identifying genre features (uses &
gratification model)
• Guides audience towards a “preferred” reading
which can better communicate the film’s content
Your turn: Identify the characteristics
of these genres
Select two or three. Use the conventions (from previous slide) as a guide
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Heist
Drama
Adventure
Comedy
Crime
Sport
Family
Fantasy
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Film Noir
Horror
Romance
Science Fiction
Thriller
Western
Action
Musical
War
Genre Conventions
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Setting
Visual style
Themes
Ideology
Stars
Character-types (including
stereotypes)
Narratives (including
events and resolutions)
Iconography
Cinematography
Special effects
Sound/music
Science
Fiction