Genre Explained

Genre

 Media products can be put into categories or genre. They appear in things such as film and television. A genre has a common set of distinguishing features which are codes and conventions. These features will be found in for example lighting or music. Audiences will always recognise these features in films and it helps them to understand more what is happening.  Genre is also usfel for Produces because they can use it to target a specific audience for example. It is also useful for audiences because it will enable them to know what movies they want to see. However genre changes all the time and this will result in hybrids and the changing of codes and conventions, this could confuse the viewers because it is not what they expected for example in film.

Conventions

Conventions are the widley recognised way of doing something. They are in any type of media, for example the use of good critic reviews on a movie poster. 

Codes

 Codes are signs which create meaning.  

They can be seperated into two categories:

- Technical

- Symbolic 

Technical codes are the ways in which equipment is used to tell a story, for example the lighting in a film.

Symbolic codes show what is under the surface of what we see, for example the non diegetic sound will show you how the character is feeling. Some codes can fit in both categories: music for example is both technical and symbolic.

Sub-Genre 

Sub-Genre are overall groups of media that share similar conventions. An example The sub-genre of animation would be hand drawn or computer generated animation.

 Hybrids 

 Hybrids are the putting together of different genres. Horror movies are predominantly the main genre which people of general ages enjoy the most. An example is Twilight which is a mixture of horror and romance.

Iconography 

Iconography is the interpretation of images. For example in the genre film of horror there will always be the repetition of ghosts and dark lighting.