What is genre?
Genre is any form or type of communication in any mode with socially-agreed upon conventions developed over time. Genre is most popularly known as a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. Genres form by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones is discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may be rigid with strictly adhered to guidelines while others may be very flexible.
How are narrative structure and genre related:-
Film trailers are also an engaging means to teaching fiction genres and narrative structure. It is important that genre is established in a trailer as it grabs the attention of audiences that studios know will want to see the film. If it’s a fantasy then fans of that genre will want to see your films more than the very different audience demographic who will be more interested in then latest romantic comedy. The trailer’s voiceover or text on screen will sometimes quite overtly compare a new film to a previous, successful film that the studio released in the same genre (e.g. "From the people who bought you…"). Of course, when choosing moments from the film the film studio will often choose a range of sequences (action, romance, comedy) to show that their film has ‘something for everyone’.
Typical narrative structure is often broken down in this way:
Opening: establishes setting and introduces character
Build up: Relationships established. Development of characters and their world
Problem: a dilemma or series of complications. Characters are faced with an obstacle to overcome a mystery to solve, or often more than one
Events: a series of events/action as characters try to overcome obstacle, solve problem, discover truth and so on. Further complications may arise in the process
Resolution: the protagonists are victorious, problems are solved, truth revealed
Ending: characters reflect on events, reinstate relationships and look forward.
The narrative structure of a film trailer could be simply shortened to this:-
Opening
Build Up
Problem
Events
Occasionally people complain that film trailers give far too much away. An effective trailer avoids any suggestion of resolution and ending, perhaps just a hint that the protagonist is going to learn an important lesson. The intention is to leave audiences wanting more, not feeling they have seen all the ‘best bits’ already. The key events are often put in non-chronological order so the actual film will not be too predictable.
How does genre affect our lives?
Ok...for example if we take the example of music:-
Music affects our emotions. When we listen to sad songs, we tend to feel a decline in mood. When we listen to happy songs, we feel happier. ... About 22.2 percent of people said that they listen to music between one to two hours everyday, where another 22.2 percent said they listen at least five hours a day. Same is the case with movies, drama, tv serials....if their genres are horror, we'll get the eerie feeling of being scared...
I can organise different types of genres and how the affect our feelings and moods:-
Crime
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalises crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting.
Romance
The romance novel or "romantic novel" primarily focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life.
Western
Western fiction is defined primarily by being set in the American West in the second half of the 19th century and, secondarily, by featuring heroes who are rugged, individualistic horsemen (cowboys).
Inspirational
Inspirational fiction is fictional works with faith-based themes.
Horror
Horror fiction aims to frighten or disgust its readers.
The genre that we chose:- (Drama)
For our preliminary task...we decided to make a film opening based on the genre drama...
As our main target was bullying so this genre is quite helpful for us to emphasize our ideas...and we can easily show the society around and how it affects our lives in a positive or negative way...
