Consideration of Genre

Genre is a term used to categorise a film or piece of media. There are many various genres, such as action, adventure, comedy, crime, romance, sci-fi, horror and many others. Within this there can be hybrid genres- a genre of film in which more than one genre is included.
Different types of genre appeal to different audiences at different levels- for example, a horror film including gore would be targeted more to older teenagers and above, depending on the certificate of the film. An action film involving superheroes would appeal more to comic book fans, teenagers and males.

Within genre there are conventions which help to differentiate it from different genres. A sign is something you see in its raw, physical form and the signifier is what the sign means and symbolises within its context. An example would be a knife in a horror movie; the sign is the knife and it would signify things such as danger, death and murder- all things associated with horror movies. Alongside this is the denotative level, which is what you see and the connotative level is the thing's connotations.

A clear example of a film scene which uses signifiers and signs is Psycho from 1960, as seen below. This is the example used earlier- involving a knife which has connotations of death, violence and danger.




However, conventions and signifiers can often be specific to the genre of a film. As Psycho is a horror movie, it is part of its generic conventions to involve things that have connotations of death and violence. This is not something expected of a film genre such as a romantic comedy, which may have signifiers such as flowers and letters which would perhaps connote romance and love.

It is for this reason that our group will have to make sure to consider the conventions and signifiers in relation to the genre of our film opening. It is also important to do this because it will be what gives first impression of the film and the representation of its genre to the audience.