Lesson on Genre

Here is a short video of myself and Niki speaking about the films Seven and The Devil Wears Prada. We chose these out of a selection of film posters and we were discussing the signifiers, generic conventions, star association and protagonist and antagonist characters. We enjoyed using this app on the iPad because as well as speaking, you can show the pictures you are referring to and add annotations and arrows to indicate what you are talking about.

Genre lessons film posters video

SELF ASSESSMENT:
What went well: I think we used an array of technical language and picked up on key points and signifiers in the film posters. We understood what we were talking about and found it interesting looking so far into the poster of a film and realising all the hidden meanings it shows that had we not been Media students, we would not have picked up on.
What could be improved: Upon listening to it back, I heard myself say 'genetic conventions' instead of 'generic conventions' so i need to be careful that I am pronouncing the terminology correctly and amending it accordingly. I think the presentation could be presented in a different format, which is where doing a video would come in as we could show work done in class, such as the organising of the different film posters into certain genres.
What is missing: I personally feel what is missing is visual, so it being a video and us being seen when talking about the film posters are you get a better feel of it as you are more involved. Having said that I don't feel as confident when it is video recordings and much preferred the app we used where it was just our voices. However I am willing to work on this and use videos in the future as I know it will help my work.


I learnt that there are 4 micro elements which are:
-Soundtrack
-Camera work
- Editing
-Mise -en-scene (anything you can see on the screen)

I also learnt about cross cutting, which is when two scenes are put together to create tension.The shots jump from one to the other, this also creates a sense of dramatic irony where the audience know something the actors don't. As well as this, I learnt that Genre Films are mainstream films that appear to a massive audience e.g James Bond, and Auteur (author) Films are films that are not financed by big companies and have a niche audience.

In addition, I discovered the good and bad sides of genre films.

Negatives:
- They are repetitive
-They are formulaic
- They limit creativity to a certain extent
- The audiences might get bored
Solutions to this would be developing minor characters in franchises to keep the audience keen, go back in time possibly to a prequel, or develop new story lines that are unexpected and will shock the audience.

Definition of a cameo: Someone famous who plays themselves and is in the film for a short period of time usually with very little to say.

Genre Theory: A ''regulated variety'' (Neale, 1980)
Genre theory is to do with a circulation of expectations between industries, media texts and audiences. this leads to a ''regulated variety''.