Evaluation 1In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In relation to this question, genre:

“ The word ‘genre’ means ‘type’ or ‘category’. To study a film as a genre involves treating it, not as a unique entity, but as a member of a general category, as a certain type of film. The aim is therefore to classify, or organise, a large number of films into a small number of groups.” – Warren Buckland

More genre theorists and their quotes...

To help give and understanding of what genre is, here are some quotes to help: “patterns/styles/structures which transcend

individual films, and which supervise both their construction by the film maker and their reading by an audience” (Tom Ryall, 1998)

Genre is there, according to Ryall, to place convention for the film maker to recognise and develop within their own work, but also for the audience to identify.

Steve Neal (1990) argues that Hollywood’s generic regime guarantees meaning and pleasures for audiences.

Steve Neal (1980) also states that much of the pleasure from popular cinema lies in the process of “difference in repetition”. Meaning, we gain pleasure by watching films that we can identify features of genre conventions but in an unfamiliar way. So not every film is exactly the same, but still easily identifiable within a specific genre.

Another by Steve Neal (1990) is that genre is constituted by “specific systems of expectations and hypothesis which spectators bring with them to the cinema and which interact with the films themselves during the course of the viewing process” which expands on his latter point of “difference in repetition”. This is because viewers go to see films within genres they like and thus have their expectations of what will happen in the film and the interaction comes from the difference that this film has to other in that genre.

Jonathan Culler (1998) declares that generic conventions exist to establish a contract between and deviation from the accepted modes of intelligibility. Acts of communication are rendered intelligible only within the context of a shared conventional framework of expression. Meaning that genre is there to work as a framework for viewer and film-maker which can be used to see whether the film is successful (intelligent) or not.

Ryall (1998) sees the framework provided by the generic system, therefore, genre becomes a cognitive repository of images, sounds, stories, characters, and expectations.

Similar to Culler, John Fiske (1988) believed that genre has come to represent “attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in or culture for the convenience of both producers and audience”. So audiences can go see films they know they like (ones from specific genres) and film-makers can use the conventions from genres to ensure they appeal to audiences.

Audiences and industries use genre to help appeal certain movies to people whom like that genre

Genre helps to allow industries to follow certain codes and conventions to create films within a specific genre

However, the purpose of films is to be different from one and other but to still be classified in a genre, thus, the boundaries of genre’s are ‘fuzzy’ and not clear

My film and genre

My short film is mainly about war, but I would not classify it within the war genre, emphasising this fuzzy boundary between genres. I would however, classify it within the drama genre with elements of war.

Conventions of drama

Uses a dramatic story line to move the audience emotionally

Contains real life situations and characters along with settings and stories to allow the audience to build emotions with the characters

Journeys through characters development to gain more emotional connection between audience and film

Conventions of drama

Often contains conflict or disaster/difficulty and pain

Audience can relate to the characters because it is more a realistic storyline

Includes climaxes which throughout for there to be a form of realisation at the end – can be both a happy or sad ending but commonly happy endings

Most importantly, drama can have aspects of other genres to create more of a storyline for the audience

Conventions I have used

A realistic storyline that many people can relate to as it is about PTS (post traumatic stress)

Character development is the climax creating tension and the realisation at the end of the short to see what the problem is

Contains a problematic storyline

Conventions I have developed

I believe the main convention I have developed with my work is the use of PTS as the disaster. This is because it is only becoming recently a widely known disorder which affects many people. As this is something new that may not have been fully investigated and shown in films involving disasters from the war and it also strays away from the common war storylines.

Conventions I have challenged

I have challenged conventions such as the happy ending as I have gave it a sad ending. Sad ending are still seen in drama conventions, however, I have challenged this, not so common, convention in that there is no resolution or no prospect for resolution because of the characters condition. It shows the character at an older age after the war and the journey through his every day which emphasises that it has never went. Implications of his condition never getting better come from the short being set in the past making the ending far more sad which challenges the conventions more.