Week 2: Genres

Introduction to Genre
In today’s lesson I was introduced to what Genre is. A genre is a ‘type’, it categorising certain codes and conventions which will appeal to a certain audience. Producers are able to classify their audience in terms of the content included. In terms of Film, this applies to two main film industries: Bollywood and Hollywood. These are the two main Film industries which produces the highest grossing films. Both Hollywood and Bollywood have their differences, but are two industries that make huge profit. Both produce films which appeal to a wide audience.

Hollywood:

·         Films are shown and portrayed as a ‘spectacle’ in Hollywood movies.
·         Include well known actresses and actors.
·         Viewers see the characters’ lives as lives they would like to live. This is because the characters’ lives look good on screen; they live in appealing and wonderful locations.
·         The viewer is able to escape from their life through the duration of the film.
·         The cost of creating a Hollywood movie is high.

Hollywood Logo

Bollywood:
·         Cheaper budget than Hollywood movies.
·         Bollywood films incorporate many different genres into one film these include:

-       Musical

-       Romance

-       Thriller

-       Horror
·         Duration of Bollywood movies are 3 hours on average, longer than Hollywood Movies.

Bollywood

Both of these film industries are the most well-known and profitable. Out of the two Bollywood is the most popular and profitable, this could be because their budgets are lower, as the films cost less to make.

I also learnt about the different film genres, these include:
·         Horror
·         Thriller
·         Action
·         Sci-fi
·         Fantasy
·         Biographies (true events)
·         Documentary
·         Musical
·         Gangster/Crime

These are some of the main genres within film and are what each film is classified into. These genres also determine the certificate of the film, for example, Horror films are certificated at 15 and 18’s, because of their content.

Thriller Genre
We discussed in a group the file genre Thriller. We brainstormed the different aspects and what we associate with a Thriller film, these included:
·         Codes and Conventions
·         Memorable Films
·         Film Stars
·         Iconography
·         Sub-genres
Thriller films are interesting to me as they are exciting to watch. This is because they play tricks with your mind and keep the viewer guessing throughout the film. The plots of the films are very well written and are intriguing. I chose this genre because of this reason and I like many different genres of film. I do not have a favourite genre in particular, but I do think Thriller films are the best written and have some of the best story lines within them.

From my brainstorm notes I have been asked to create a visual mind map in Photoshop. This will show my knowledge and what I associate with the Thriller Genre. I will creatively display my notes within this mind map representing ‘Thriller’.