Genre Theories

For our film trailer we will need to select a genre and conform to the majority of it's conventions. We may also choose to subvert certain elements. Before we do this it is important that we understand HOW genre is changing, and how we define genre.

STEVE NEALE
Neale had a belief that genre is in a constant flux, meaning that it is always changing and evolving to suit the audience. There are 5 main stages to this theory, beside are examples from the horror genre to depict how that has changed following Neale's ideas:
1- The form finding itself   (Psycho)
2- The classic   (Halloween)
3- Stretching genre boundaries   (Nightmare on Elm Street)
4- Parody   (Scary Movie)
5- Homage   (Scream)

ANDRE BAZIN
Bazin introduced ideas on genre theory in films by analysing Westerns in the 1950's. He analysed the impact of genre, mainly from an institutional perspective. Bazin's research displayed that genre was beneficial to the industry as set and props could be re-used for many films in the same genre. It made them much easier to market as they followed a similar form.

ROBERT STAM
Stam argues against genre, he suggests that it is very difficult to define what is included within a genre and that therefore genre as we know it, may not exist. He argues 4 main problems with genre.
EXTENSION- breadth or narrowness of labels and what they will create.
NORMATIVISM- preconceived ideas of what will be included in a  member of a genre.
MONOLITHIC- many films would struggle to only have elements of a single genre.
BIOLOGISM- an essentialism in which genres are seen as evolving through a standardized life cycle.

RICK ALTMAN
Altman suggests that to demonstrate something belongs to a specific genre, it must have defining elements, there are two types of these.
SEMANTIC ELEMENTS- signs which are easy for the audience to recognise and identify. These could be props or settings.
SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS- such as themes and plots.

Understanding these theorists will be important when we choose our narrative and identify HOW we aspire to use genre ourselves.