GENRE

Steve Neal

"Genre's are instances of repetition and difference"
"Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre"

• There need to be differences so it's more interesting - if we constantly repeat music videos then people won't watch because they'd get bored. We need to put our own twist on it.
• More repetition would not attract an audience, so texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre
• Music videos - changed over time - used to be lots of narratives - then dance videos without narrative - now narrative is coming back - lady GaGa - instantly recognisable but different
• Sub genre - different versions of music videos that merge conventions together
• hybrid genre

All genre's have a cycle

• Classic Stage - the conventions of the media text are clearly defined and the audience are clear of genre. Music video example - 80's - Micheal jackson - dance routine, light up tiles, signature dance moves, camera trickery 
• Experimental Stage - in this stage the conventions are clearly defined and the audience is clear of the genre of the piece. However, some of the elements of the text may be different, and abstract elements may be used - video may be shot differently. Micheal Jackson  - Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal. Boy doing dance moves + lean, tiles, chimp and pvc jacket. Still rock conventions - band, guitars, moshing etc. Act one - interviews. Act two - articles that recently relate to the films themes. Django - slavery etc. Act Three - regulars - film reviews
• Baroque Stage - at this stage the conventions of the text are subject to parody and the conventions are subverted for comic relief. After this stage the cycle tends to continue from the beginning again. However  this movement can can years to complete. Magazines - private eye. I'm fat music video - same costume + beginning + same dance routine 
• My coursework lies in classic

Douglas Pye

• "Films have to conform to audience expectations about narrative"
• Sixth sense ending - doesn't conform
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre does - group off, die one by one and girl escapes
• Rihanna's music video does - couple in love, fall out and hate each other
• Beyonce's Single Ladies - doesn't - dance routine throughout - expect more than one location
• Smack my bitch up - violent and explicit video - turns out it's a woman 
• Frank Ocean's - thinking about you - think it's about a break up - voodoo 
• Our own - couple in love - typical - we found love + a dance scene with people getting ready to party 
• Follows conventional narrative

McQuail

• "The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate to its production to the expectations of its customers"
• Horror's in darker months NOT summer - not practical 
• Expectations - use genre to tap into a readily available audience, use codes and conventions to appeal to them
• For our music video - how did we promote our artist and how was it instantly recognisable to our audience
• Video 
• used conventions of locations - woods, club/limo, dance studio, brick wall
• Bright colours
• Tight, fashionable clothes - leggings, crop tops
• Camera angles - close-ups of the artist and two-shots of the couple
• Digipak 
• 
  
• Advert 

Robert Stam

• "While some genres are based on story content (the war film), others are borrowed form literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical)"
• "Some are performance based (the Astire Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (black cinema), location (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema)
• Own production
• Video - dance scene - dance videos
• Performance based - dance scene
• Love song - boy and girl in love + love song + story based genre
• Location based - dance studio, woods, limo, brick wall, fun fair - bright, fun locations - conventional
• Digipak
• Advert

Tom Ryall

• The types of conventions found in genres can be grouped within the following categories
• Iconography - Symbols associated with this genre - 
• R'n'B - clothing - fashionable, but casual - location - dance studio, limo
• Narrative - structure - open/closed
• Simple narrative - couple in love - end - see the couple and then the camera rises up - suggests that they live happily ever after
• Representations - Characters/ stereotypes
• Mise-en-scene - styling - male gaze - dance routine - couple in love - bright locations - star persona - attributes linked with the artist
• Ideology - beliefs, overall ideas and themes 
• Conforms to societies norms and values - heterosexual couple in love
• R'n'B/ pop - 
• Interracial couple - represents different ethnicity's  
• Genre films can create pleasure through the use of both familiar and unfamiliar elements
• If we recognise genre conventions in a text it makes us feel comfortable with that text. As an audience we enjoy "spotting" the conventions and making comparisons to texts of the same genre
• We can also enjoy seeing conventions broken in a text, however if the filmmaker goes too far this can confuse and alienate the audience
• Lots of recognisable genre conventions - dance scene in a dance studio, brick wall scene with the artist singing