A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    1/22

    G235: Critical Perspectives in

    MediaTheoretical Evaluation ofProduction - Question 1(b)

    Overview

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    2/22

    Aims/Objectives1.To introduce the concept of genre theory

    and key genre theorists.2.To have a basic understanding of how to

    evaluate your coursework against genre

    theory.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    3/22

    What Is Genre? Genre is a critical tool that helps us study

    texts and audience responses to texts bydividing them into categories based oncommon elements.

    Daniel Chandler(2001) - the word genrecomes from the French (and originally Latin)word for type'.

    The term is widely used in literary theory, mediatheory to refer to a distinctive type of text.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    4/22

    The great debate

    In film theory, genre refers to the method of film categorization based onsimilarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Mosttheories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre criticism. As with genre inliterary context, there is a great deal of debate over how to define or categorizegenre. Besides the basic distinction in genre between fiction and documentary,film genres can be categorized in several ways.

    Fictional films are usually categorized according to their setting, theme topicmood, or format. The setting is the milieu or the environment where the storyand action takes place. The theme or topic refers to the issues or concepts thatthe film revolves around. The mood is the emotional tone of the film. Formatrefers to the way the film was shot, eg widescreen or the manner of presentation

    eg 35mm 16mm or 8mm. An additional way of categorizing film genres is by thetarget audience. Some film theorists argue that neither format nor targetaudience are film genres. Film genres often branch out in subgenres, as in thecase of the courtroom and trial focused subgenre of drama known as legaldrama. They can be combined to form hybrid genres, such as the melding ofhorror and science fiction in the Aliens films.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    5/22

    All Genres have Subgenres Genre is a type, but these types can be

    divided and sub divided into specific categoriesthat allow audiences to identify allow theaudience to recognised the, specifically bytheir familiar and what becomerecognisable characteristics.

    Steve Neale(1995) stresses that

    genres are not systems they areprocesses they are dynamic and evolveover time.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    6/22

    Generic Characteristicsacross all texts share similar elements and can be identified bythese elements. These elements can be referred to as paradigms meaning patters, andaudience have certain expectations, what they expect to see. As Neale (1980)suggests Genre is a set of expectations.

    Think about it from an institutions context why is it certain genres get made more thanothers, why are certain actors association with certain genres? Think about thesuccess of Twilight, or the bond franchise?

    Paradigms:

    1. Typical Mise-en-scne/Visual style(iconography, props, set design, lighting,temporal and geographic location, costume,shot types, camera angles, special effects).2. Typical types of Narrative(plots, historicalsetting, set pieces).(For section B of the exam notice although genre is aconcept it is also linked to narrative)3. Generic Types, i.e. typical characters (do

    typical male/female roles exist, archetypes?).

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    7/22

    Typical studios/production companies

    4. Typical Personnel(directors, producers,actors, stars, auteurs etc.).5. Typical Sound Design(sound design,dialogue, music, sound effects).6. Typical Editing Style.

    How does this apply to your film trailers

    genre, how have you created it based onthese elements in this paradigm?

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    8/22

    What is the genre of your teaser trailer?

    Social realism?

    Thriller?

    Urban? Contemporary?

    British?

    All of the above? Is it a hybrid?

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    9/22

    Jason Mittell(2001) argues that genres arecultural categories that surpass the boundaries ofmedia texts and operate within industry, audience,

    and cultural practices as well.

    In short, industries use genre to sell

    products to audiences. Media producers usefamiliar codes and conventions that often makecultural references to their audiences knowledge of

    society + other texts.

    Genre allows audiences to make choices

    about what products they want to consumethrough acceptance in order to fulfil a particular

    pleasure.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    10/22

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    11/22

    The Strengths Of Genre TheoryThe main strength of genre theory is that

    everybody uses it and understands itmedia experts use it to study media texts, themedia industry uses it to develop and markettexts and audiences use it to decide what textsto consume.

    The potential for the same concept to be

    understood by producers, audiences andscholars makes genre a useful critical tool. Itsaccessibility as a concept also means that it

    can be applied across a wide range of texts.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    12/22

    Genre Development and TransformationOver the years genres develop and change as

    the wider society that produce them alsochanges, a process that is known as generictransformation.

    Metz (1974) argued that genres go through acycle of changes during their lifetime.

    1.Experimental Stage

    2.Classic Stage3.Parody Stage4.Deconstruction Stage

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    13/22

    Teaser trailer is it a genre?

    Does it have specific conventions?

    What separates teaser trailers from trailers?

    They can be very often anti-narrative/surrealist.They can be ambiguous, open meaning

    (Eco, 1981) and experimental.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaser_trailer

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    14/22

    Definition:

    A teaser trailer, or teaser is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming movie,game or television series.

    Teasers, unlike typical theatrical (main) trailers, are usually very short in length(between 3060 seconds) and usually contain little, if any, actual footage from thefilm. Sometimes, it is merely a truncated version of a theatrical trailer. They areusually released long in advance of the film they advertise. One of the reasons for thename "teaser" is because they are shown usually a long time (one or one and a half

    years) before the movie comes out, so as to "tease" the audience.

    Teasers are also commonly used in advertising. Theso-called teaser ad/campaign consists typically in (aseries of) small, cryptic, challenging, advertisements

    which anticipate a large(r), full-blown campaign for aproduct launch or otherwise important event.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    15/22

    Teaser trailers are usually only made for big-budget and popularly themedmovies. Their purpose is less to tell the audience about a movie's content thansimply to let them know that the movie is coming up in the near future, and to addto the hype of the upcoming release.

    Teaser trailers are often made while the film is still in production or beingedited and as a result they may feature scenes or alternate versions of scenesthat are not in the finished film. Other ones (notably Pixar films) have scenes madefor use in the trailer only. Teaser trailers today are increasingly focused on internetdownloading and the convention circuit.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    16/22

    Teaser trailer a genre with many sub-genres/postmodernstyles?

    Teaser trailers are a genre intended toappeal directly to a specific audience.

    They are used to promote awareness atan early stage in the marketing of a newfilm or a film that is part of a franchise

    They dont have to be literal representations

    This is a medium known for beingexperimental and controversial

    The generic conventions stay the samebut the style (the look of something)changes

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=kAEme33ZQHI

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    17/22

    Nicholas Abercrombie (1996) suggests that'the boundaries between genres areshifting and becoming more permeable'

    Abercrombie is concerned with moderntelevision, which he suggests seems to be

    engaged in 'a steady dismantling of genre

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    18/22

    Genres are not fixed. They constantly changeand evolve over time.

    David Buckingham (1993) argues that'genre is not... Simply "given" by the

    culture: rather, it is in a constant processof negotiation and change.

    As postmodern theorist

    Jacques Derrida reminds usthe law of the law of genre is

    a principle of contamination,a law of impurity.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    19/22

    In terms of your coursework...

    How we define a genre depends on ourpurposes(Chandler, 2001).

    What was your purpose and the medium?

    Your audience and the industry sector youwere working within will have defined what

    you understood as the genre and sub-genreof the texts you created.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    20/22

    Media texts rely on audience knowledgeof generic codes and conventions in orderfor them to create meaning.

    Explain how you used or subvertedgeneric conventions in one of yourproduction pieces.

    Remember Explanation, Analysis,Argument, Examples and terminology. UseQuotes and a structure format on the

    following pages:

    Homework

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    21/22

    Genre: Theorists:

    Gunther KressGenre is a kind of text that derives its form from thestructure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with itscharacteristic participants and their purposes.

    Denis McQuail The genre may be considered as a practical device for

    helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficientlyand to relate its production to the expectations of its customers.

    Nicholas Abercrombie Television producers set out to exploit genreconventions... It... makes sound economic sense. Sets, propertiesand costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars,writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economiesof scale

    Christine Gledhill Differences between genres meant different

    audiences could be identified and catered to... This made it easierto standardise and stabilise production

    Katie Wales Genre is... an intertextual conceptJohn Fiske A representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation

    to all the others we have seen - after all, we are unlikely to haveexperienced one in reality, and if we did, we would, according tothis model, make sense of it by turning it into another text, whichwe would also understand intertextually, in terms of what we have

    seen so often on our screens. There is then a cultural knowledge ofthe concept 'car chase' that any one text is a prospectus for, andthat it used by the viewer to decode it, and by the producer toencode it.

    Andrew GoodwinGenres change and evolve:

    Christian Metz - Stages of genres: Experimental/ Classic/ Parody/Deconstruction

    David Buckingham - Genre is not simply given by the culture, rather, it is in a

    constant process of negotiation and change.

  • 7/31/2019 A2 Section A Genre and Media Theories

    22/22

    Format for writing assignment

    para 1 Intro: which of your projects are you going to write about?

    briefly describe it

    para 2: what are some of the key features of the concept you are

    being asked to apply? maybe outline two of the theories/ideas of

    particular writers briefly

    para 3; start to apply the concept (genre), making close referenceto your production to show how the concept is evident in it

    para 4: try to show ways in which ideas work in relation to your

    production and also ways in which those ideas might not

    apply/could be challenged

    para 5; conclusion

    Again remember you only have 30 minutes and that you really need

    to analyse the finished production, rather than tell the marker howyou made it