The concept of 'genre' within a film

In todays lesson we looked at the concept of genre within a film, and why it is important to the audiences and industries.

We learnt that genre is an essential marketing tool for film producers and provides part of a group of expectations of a film. Also, without genre, producers couldn't describe films for a target audience easily, and therefore would not get a secure funding for a film. Having a genre also makes it easier for the audience to have expectations of a film and to hope that they would be met. Not only this, but film producers also like genres as it provides predictability and, to provide stability producers also like to see similarities with other films of that genre so they know that the film should be a hit in the box offices.

We then started to look at horror as a genre, and how it has been sucessful for over 112 years. During the 1970's and 1980's producers were concerned about using explicit violence and genre in case the audiences were too shocked by it; it wasnt untill 'Halloween' set off alot of film within the sub genre 'slasher'.

The we looked at the conventions of horror films and why we have them. Music is one of the main elements within a horror film as it adds to the suspence and triggers emotions, lighting and characters are also a huge part of a horror as they also contribute to trigering emotions within te audience. Smaller things like props and typography can also have a big impact upon a film, and also the audience and add suspence.

We also learnt that there is always a repetoire of elements within a horror film, meaning what we as the audience expect to in a horror film. (The conventions above)