Genre Homework

In my foundation portfolio, I created a horror film opening, which allowed me to follow specific convention of horror in order to make my film opening a success.

Furthermore there are many advantages of genre when thinking about the making of a film. Firstly it allows Production Company’s to use conventions, which have made other film successful. Also genre can help with the fundraising, as it is easier to find a company who is willing to fund it as it has a specific genre. This is evident in my work as I specific chose ‘Hammer’ as my distribution company as they have already had many successful horror film such as ‘ The Women In Black’ as well as them having large funds which would benefit the outcome of my film.  Therefore this is supported by Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality, which suggests that media texts are influenced by those that have gone before them.  Also production companies keep in mind genre when choosing actors/actresses for their film. With many genres of film specific actors/actresses will be used due to them having a fan base already however with horror it is different. Horror films are more likely to use unknown actors/actresses to ensure there is no previous opinion of the actors/actresses.

Due to it being a horror, it allowed me to approach it with an open mind, as there are many sub genres within horror such as psychological or slasher. However when completing my research and planning, I gathered many conventions of horror films which I would either chose to follow or challenge. Many of the convention such as faded to black, the use of children, dark lighting, dolls, and a deserted location, I decided to follow, as I felt it would help appeal to my intended audience as well the creators of ‘ Women in Black’ following many of these and it being a massive success.  For example when looking specifically at fades to black, they helped keep continuity within the film as well as the opportunity to insert titles. The titles were white and flickering, which gave the film a eerie feel which is common in horror films. However with some of the conventions, I decided to develop them for example I used children actresses however I portrayed them as signs of evil opposed the stereotypical representation of sweet and innocent.

The theorist, Stephen Neal said that "Genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations" which means that specific convention are essential in establishing a genre and should be repeated throughout the media. This relates to my film opening as i continuously showed short shots of different convention such as lone characters, children actresses, deserted locations and fades to black. This would help keep the audience on edge as well as confident in that this is a horror film. However Stephen Neal also said that "Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre" which shows that variation could be used within a genre convention to ensure that each is unique to attract the audience. I followed this theory by changing the role of the children actresses as signs of evil opposed to innocence. This is also backed up by Tzvetan Todorov as he states that any instance of genre will be necessarily different meaning that different is done by purpose for the better of the film. 

When thinking about establishing the genre to the audience, mise-en-scene plays a key part in this.  The location, lighting, props, make-up and costume all contribute into creating the correct atmosphere for the film to ensure it has a clearly established genre. This allows the audience to clearly recognise the genre then to determine whether they would want to watch it. When thinking about the location, it was set in deserted, dark place as well as the main character being in her room at night. This followed the stereotypical convention of a horror setting. Also by having a lone character would allow the audience to sympathise with her and understand her vulnerability. The costumes of the two young actresses portrayed them as stereotypical children from the past, which helped add to the genre as it added another scary feature to the film opening. This contributed to the eerie atmosphere that we wanted to create which we found was a common convention of horror films, which are similar to ours.

Lastly when thinking about the distribution of our film, having a specific genre gave an advantage, as I was able to look at previous advertisement of the same genre and follow convention of the ones, which were most successful.  Also many film of the same genre will show similar parts of the film when advertising therefore this will allow the audience to understand the genre of the film by what in shown when advertising it.

Overall genre gives many advantages when creating a film.