GENRE RESEARCH

What is a Genre?

A genre is a category or type of film that illustrates a certain style, themes or emotions. It helps organize films by putting them into categories that make it easier for filmmakers and audiences to understand. Genres heavily influence a film's style, narrative and the characters within. Each genre has a stereotypical theme that helps inspire filmmakers and makes it easier for audiences to understand a film.

What is a Sub-Genre?

A sub-genre is a more specific category within the main genre themes. A sub-genre helps you understand a film and its story further. 

Types of Genres:

1. Drama - Focuses on emotions and detailed storytelling

2. Romance - Focuses on relationships and themes of love

3. Comedy - Focuses on entertaining audiences using humour, sarcasm and exaggerated characters

Codes and Conventions: 

Technical and symbolic codes are elements that filmmakers utilise to communicate a films story and meaning.

1. Technical codes - Camera work, editing, sound and lighting 

2. Symbolic codes - Colour schemes, objects and settings

Conventions are the themes and narrative structures. For example;

1. Storyline - A struggling artist who cannot accept her inferior creative vision

2. Character types - Perfectionist artist with an inferiority complex

3. Themes - Drama; realistic and emotional struggles

My Genre: Romance

I chose Romance because it is a genre that I enjoy and feel that it would be an interesting challenge for me to tackle in regards to my own film. I would usually stick to something melodramatic but I wanted to experiment with romance because it would create a great storyline. My film will be a romance film integrating the world of fashion; someone being your muse, as well as the full on typical romantic film codes. 

Codes and Conventions of a Romance:

1. Technical - Usually a Romance film consists of soft or warm lighting. The use of close-up shots in a romantic film are used to emphasise the intimacy and connection between characters. Another element is slow camera movements, these are used to show a level of tenderness within the film.

2. Narrative - My genre selection of romance will involve a work-place setting, the narrative elements here may be 2 characters forced to work together on a project, the male character falls in love with the woman first and then uses her as the muse for their project without her knowing, then revealing it at the end. 

Romance films that inspired my genre selection:

1. House Of Gucci 2021 - A romantic film of fashion, showing the closeness between the Gucci family and how the empire came about. This inspired my film in the sense that it involved both fashion and a semi-romantic storyline which I want to utilise in my film. 

2. Materialists 2025 - A Rom-Com film about a successful dating app worker who is caught between a financially stable relationship with someone, or debating to go back to her ex-boyfriend; a relationship full of struggle and financial issues. This film sticks out to me as it brings in the comedic elements that I may want to use in my own film. 

Conclusion: 

Researching different genres and then finally selecting romance made it a lot easier for me to understand how I want to navigate the storytelling and aesthetics of my film based on the typical elements behind this genre and how I can implement my desired elements into my own film.