“Using two or more examples from film or television products, discuss the importance of genre as a form of a product categorization”
Genre is very important form of categorization especially in television and film. Genre is used to tell the potential audience what to expect when they watch the film or television show. The type of genre can also be an indication to the industry because different people prefer different genres so they will know the potential audience and a rough estimate of the amount of people who will watch it. It is very important that the media industry create a film or show correct to the genre, because genre is also a way for the audience to judge how well it was created and if it fits the genre it was given. I am going to explain why genre is important form of product categorization by using two or more examples of either film or television.
Genre was first devised by the Ancient Greeks. They categorized their plays in to either comedy or tragedy. Tragedy originated in the late 6th century BCE and comedy originated about 486 BCE. Later on in 1791 the word genre was used to describe domestic scenes and in the mid 19th century this usage was fully established. The term genre was derived from the French ward for kind or variety.
There is many forms of genre here is a list of some of the genres: Action, adult, adventure, animation, biography, children’s, comedy, crime, disaster, documentary, drama, fantasy, horror, musical, mystery, romance, sci-fi, short, sport, thriller, war and western. There are many more types of genre such as hybrids. Hybrids are a cross between to genres such as Rom-com; this is a romantic and a comedy movie in one.
Genre is also a way of categorizing fictional forms according to their setting, theme topic, mood or format. For example in ‘Rio Bravo’ the setting is a wooden town with dusty roads set in the mountains and the theme topic is based around the town and fight; the mood of the film could change quickly when a fight is happening or about to happen and finally the format of the film is the mise en scene such as the bar, cowboy hats, guns etc. This all shows that the movie can be categorized, and fits the western genre. Another example of this is ‘Love Actually’, the setting is in a quiet town, in a cosy flat; the theme topic is the love or bond between two people, the mood is very happy, energetic and joyful; finally the format is the Christmas tree, the airport were people are hugging each other. All of the above fits into the genre of romantic comedy.
Hallmarks are objects which are always shown or are within a certain genre of movie; they are symbols of the genre. Each genre will have hallmarks. Hallmarks are there to help the audience to know what genre they are watching and to judge how well the film fits into the genre it was given. For example ‘Rio Bravo ’ is a western movie and the hallmarks that are shown within the movie are: cowboy hat, guns, cow skin/print clothes and many more. These are all hallmarks of the western genre. Another example is the film ‘Love Actually’ which is a romantic comedy, some of the hallmarks are: city, laughter, a couple in love and many more show the genre.
Camera angles are used within movies to show what is going on within the scene and to tell us about the character. There are many types of camera shots which are used to tell the story or to send out the story. One camera shot is a close up, this is used to show the emotion the character is feeling at certain points during the film. Medium shots are used to show the character is of some importance in the movie, for example they may be the main character, it also can show you the location of where they are. Another camera shots are tilt shots, for example in ‘Rio Bravo’ the sheriff is looking down at a person within the bar, the camera angle is tilted down at the man in the pub this shows that he is inferior, weak or has no importance. However when the camera is tilted up towards the sheriff this shows that he is superior and has power. Establishing shots are used within every movie to show where the film is set and to get the atmosphere of the area. In ‘Rio Bravo ’ the establishing shot is held for quite a few seconds so that the audience can take in the setting. The film is shown to be set by the mountains on a long dusty dirt track road. The dirt track road can symbolise or represent a journey of some sort, which also is normally associated with the western genre. In ‘Love Actually’ the establishing shot shows the film is set in a city at Christmas time, which is the time of love and giving, this lets us know part of the genre is romantic, as Christmas is a romantic and loving time of year. Another camera shot which is used is a pan shot, this sweeps from left to right or right to left; the idea of a pan shot is to give the audience an idea of what is going on in the scene and to show what the setting is like.
In the first few seconds of the film being showed you can tell a lot about the genre from the first few seconds. For example in most film the title is the first thing shown, from the title, font and colour you can estimate the genre. In ‘Rio Bravo’ the font is very wooden looking and a yellow sandy colour, this can show it is a western film because wooden is related to the western genre because most of the things in western movies are made out of wood, it also matches the time most of the movies were set in. In ‘Love Actually’ from the opening title you can tell is a romance because of the colour of the writing, it’s a red colour and red symbolises romance and love; the white colour symbolises innocence and can represent Christmas, the time for giving and love.
Music is used in film to create atmosphere and show meaning. In ‘Love Actually’ the music starts out very soft and quiet. The instrument that the audience can here the most is the violin; this instrument is normally related to love and romance. Then when the song begins a comic man attempts to sing the song, but is not very successful with it, this then shows the comedy of the movie. In ‘Rio Bravo ’ the music sounds very country sounding as it uses a guitar and harmonica, and these musical instruments are commonly related to a western film. Also the harmonica symbolises travelling, which also shows the genre of western as most people travel from town to town.
From the actors you can also tell the genre. For example in ‘Love Actually’ one of the actors is Hugh Grant, he is a well established actor, so most people are more likely to watch the film because they have seen him play. Also he plays in a lot of romantic films meaning people will watch this film as they know it shall be good if he is playing in it. ‘Rio Bravos’ main actor is John Wayne he also has done many films so more people are likely to come and watch one of his films. He is also associated with loads of western films, so if the audience see’s that he is playing in a movie they will automatically think it is a western.
Genre is important for the media industry as it can tell them what genres will generate the most money and will be the most popular; also it can tell the potential audience. For the film ‘Rio Bravo ’ the potential audience will most likely be male and children, as they enjoy the gun fighting also some will like to learn about the history of the western. ‘Love Actually’ is a romantic comedy and the people who are most likely to watch it are women and teenage girls, as they enjoy the romance, and teenage girls like a laugh as well.
In conclusion genre is very important form of product categorization as it lets the audience know what to expect before they even watch the movie. Also different people enjoy different types of genre, so the media industry can chose a film to fit a genre a person likes. It also helps the industry to choose the right genre to get the most amount of people to come and watch their film or television programme and to generated a good amount of money. Genre can also be used for the audience to judge the quality of the film, too see if it fits in with the genre it was given, this will affect the amount of people that will come and see the movie, so media industry must concentrate on getting the film correct. Overall genre categorization is a very important part of the media industry back in ancient Greece and till this present time.
