Lo3 - Genre theory.

Film genres. 

1. Comedy
2. Horror
3. Thrillers
4. Action and adventure
5. Drama
6. Sci-fi
7. Rom-com
8. Chick-flick
9. Anime
10. British firms
11. Children's
12. Musicals
13. Social realist
14. Crime


Genre - is a critical tool that helps us study texts an audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements.

Sub genre - theory by Barry Keith grant (1995) - genres in which have spiralled from other genres, e.g. horror - thrillers, slasher movies, supernatural movies.

comfortable reassurance - theory by Patrick Phillips (1996) - where genres fulfil audiences expectations by following predictive plans - we know what to expect from a text.

Branstson and Stafford (1999) - genres help minimise, risk and predict expenditure, they're a blueprint for success, genre conventions also make it easier to market and sell products to audiences.

Rick Altman (1999) - genres offer pleasures, e.g. emotional pleasures such as happy, sad, angry. Visceral pleasures such as fear, excitement, laughter (gut responses) and Intellectual puzzles which make the audience think.

David Bordwell (1989) - any theme may appear in any genre.

This screenshot is from the media product that I analysed (the woman in black trailer) the screenshot connotes to the audience that the genre of the film is horror due to the fact that the red substance on the wall represents blood, which is associated with violence, therefore reinforcing the frightful theme thought out the trailer, the toy in the foreground also implies that the genre of the media product is horror as children's toys are seen as creepy. 

The sub-genre of the film is 'supernatural' horror, this is connoted from within the trailer due to the fact that we are shown small clips of seemingly ghosts and ghouls in the background of clips.

comfortable reassurance is also shown within the trailer as we are shown clips of the main character being frightened by the supernatural, therefore showing comfortable reasurance of the horror genre as these elements are conventional to that.

The genre of the product helps market the film as one of the joint venture companies in which helped produce the film is 'hammer' their logo is shown at the start of the trailer, the logo is in large sans-serif font and is coloured red, the use of this logo not only helps reinforce and hype up the horror genre as this brand is well know for producing popular horror films but the colour red also helps reinforce the horror genre as it connotes blood, which is associated with violence and horror.

The trailer consists of visceral pleasures as the audience feel fear due to the supernatural elements within the trailer as we are unfamiliar with these elements and therefore we fear them.