Research Task 2

Amber Jackson

Defining Genre1) ‘Genre’ the word translated in French means ‘type’ or ‘kind’.

2) Films are put into genres so that the audience know what type of film they are going to watch will be, as the ‘iconography’ is the same in each category. Genre is also there so that producers can stick to or challenge conventions within the ‘guidelines’ to create subgenres and make a more intriguing film.

There is a divide within genres, that being:1) Rigid – for the ‘Hollywood’ type of films created

by mainstream companies, appealing to a wider audience, so staying with what is normal

2) Flexible – made by independent companies for niche audiences, The reason why they are more daring is because they have a smaller market to appeal too. Allowing them to have that artistic freedom.

Rigid Theory The idea of not straying away from what the particular genre of the piece

was, came from the Ancient Greek theatre, when Aristotle used genres in hiswork. It was frond upon in that era to mix genres and people looked at

‘quality control’ to see what belonged in each genre. This is how mainstreamfilms have developed throughout time, they don’t stray as the audience

assume what they will see and don’t expect any different, and if it is then thefilm can get a bad reputation.

A genres structure determines what the audience assume they will see. Charles Sanders Peirce looked into what made

a genre through it’s iconocography and fixed meanings.

Flexible Theory The Flexible Theory would refer to more Independent films, rather than mainstream as they are able to be more creative and do as they wish. Two of the most well know European critics that specialised in ‘Hollywood’ or mainstream films where Adorno and Horkheimer. Their ideology was that creating films with the same narrative, in the same genre, made films plateau becoming predictable and repetitive, the most popular being ‘The American Dream’, a romantic comedy. So they where looking for change and where wanting to see the unexpected.

Nick Lacey, a theologian put mixing genres to the test. (who is he? Can’t find on google). He toyed with the idea that there is a middle ground between the producer and the audience that there could be an ‘in between genres’ type of film. He is one of the reasons why genre’s have evolved the way they have. By creating ‘sub genres’, ‘mixed genres’ and ‘hybrids’ he has opened the pathway to a variety of different films, not one having to be the same, all having the creative freedom they desire, until mainstream companies start to specify what exactly they want, which turns into the typical ‘normal’ genre type.

The Postmodern theory has helped film producers, as it has enabled them to challenge conventions within a genre by mixing and using a range of conventions belonging to different genres to create their own subgenre.

TarantinoBoth types of theory relate to Quentin Tarantino as both types of film require the audience to pay attention and analyse what the producer meant when they introduced a certain stand out convention. This happens more so indie films as they have the ability to stray further away from set categories then mainstream films do.

Tarantino uses conventions in his work so that his audience can relate his film to someone else's. He does this by referencing quotes, intertextuality, from other films. This mixture of many different conventions makes the film unique and without any real genre to fall into, creating a hybrid.

This mixture confuses the audience, therefore telling them that in order to follow the narrative, they have to listen. By breaking the rules in the way that Tarantino does, creates a suspensenceful atmosphere, enticing the audience to follow the plot and think about what the message of the film was.

Examples of films of which he has given homage to are: Kill Bill Ect…

Dystopian Definition

A dystopian film involves anywhere you don’t want to be. It’s is somewhere so remote and dark that no one

wishes to be there. It is the end of the world.Dystopian films usually critique society

NarrativeEnd of the world synario.

- Emptiness - Cold- Dark- Rubbish

Character - Antihero is pushed into protagonist role- Humans turn to live like animals Two teams:Group 1: Purely out to hunt and killGroup 2: Helping each other get through a time of despair.

Subgenre + examplesScience fiction - Science experiments have gone wrong.

Post Apocalyptic - end of the world

Horror- chaotic world where genetics have created zombies

“28 days later” Dystopian RelationTrailer can be found HERE

Narrative: horror film where a virus spreads because protesters interrupt a science experiment and let loose chimpanzees who are highly infected. The infection is caught all through out the UK. As the days go on, it spreads to the rest of the world. There is one man who knew nothing about this, due to a coma, and woke up to utter abandonment. Until he finds other living characters …

What is this film saying about society?

What I personally take from The film, is that this World is disrupted, people have no respect for anyone and the consequences one day could be fatal. It is a warning that if we aren't more carful then all hell could break loose.

Anti hero's in this film…

Jim, the one who woke up in hospital,

after coming out of a coma, he never

asked or wanted to be the hero of the

hour, yet he waspushed into doing what he had to, to survive, to protect. He

does this when, the person he finds in a derelict church, Selena, is imprisoned by solders and she is lured into sexual

intercourse in the aim to rebuild the world from scratch.. Jim escapes his own imprisonment and attacks this man with

Selena, in the attempt to save her.

…28 days later: Challenged conventionsJim is physically and mentally weak, which is the opposite of the general stereotype, where as the female character, Selena, is very strong willed and is shown as being stronger than him. This breaks the normal Hollywood narrative, to make the audience aware that women can be empowered.

Pastiche comes from ‘Planet of the Apes’, with the reference to the wild chimpanzees, taking over the world.

This film has hyperreality, because it includes monsters! Everyone knows they are not real and understand that what they are watching is not real life.

POST MODERN CONVENTIONS

Robotic Character transitions into lady –

hyperality

Overlayed images - hypereality

Visible Lightning bolts- hyperality

POST MODERN CONVENTIONSApes take up human charactistics: walking, riding horses, talking, friendship making

POST MODERN CONVENTIONS

1)Talking to the camera.

2)Monsters talking saying they want to go home.

3)Monster signs.

4)UFO.