The term genre has been used for a long time. It was used many thousands of years ago by Aristotle and others in Ancient Greece, they use to categorize poetry and drama then based on how well the discription matched the genre the quality of the play was judged. Film is still a relatively new form of culture and entertainment and hasnt been out for more than a hundred years. Genre as a first was aimed more to a high culture such as literature, it was when a mass production took place and the huge successes in cinemas before televisions were possible that genre was used. They used genres to market and classify there new films to show the differentation to the audience. Due to this the studios could calculate how much to spend making a certain film due to the statistics of how big the audience was to the specific genres. In recent years so many different types of films have been produced the list of different genres has grown, some of the most popular genres include horror, action, thriller, comedy and romance.
When a film is categorized into certain genres, there are genre conventions. The audience expects to see certain aspects for example if a film was a horror the audience will expect to see certain typical things. A horror includes deep spooky music, blood and death; you also expect certain parts to make you jump and scream. Where as if you were watching a romance you would expect it to include slow calming songs, tears and love.
Genre has both negative and positive effects on the audience in the film productions. it wasnt untill cinemas were mass produced before televsions were possible that the huge effect of genres created positives and negatives. The negatives of genres was that if a film was miss placed and not put into the correct genre when advertising the viewers would be very disappointed as they would of just been to see and pay for a film they werent expecting. How the film was placed was very important then and if this was done incorrectly then the film would have recieved extremely bad press and the produced would therefore suffer with his future productions. On the other hand the positives of putting a film into a genre was that producers could target a specific audience and it was by doing this that they would make an estimate on how much the film they were producing would make. Because of genres it was a huge effect on what films were produced at that specific time. For example if horror movies were making the most amount of money tthis would encourage a producer to make a horror movie as they would be able to estimate that if the film they were producing ws placed in this category they would be ensured to make money on this specific film due to the categorization. The other positive of the films all being labelled into certian categories was that the audience therefore knew what they were going to watch and knew exactly what to expect. With the cinemas being a mass produced entertainment. genre was an easy way to differentiate between different types of films therefore it was welcomed by all regular cinema-goers. In recent years so many different types of films have been make which fit into so many different typed of categories that which has resulted in genre not being such a strong inflence anymore.
Genre isnt only linked to film and television products anymore; it is also used to categorize music. Just like film genres there are many different music genres, a music genre is a category that identifies music as being part of a particular group and type of music that can be distinguished from other types. Some of the main well known ones are rap, hip-hop, rock, classical, indie, punk etc. Since the music industry has in recent years been booming, just like films different types of music have come under more than one genre for example 'indie-rock' and 'rock-punk' which is only a few examples of all the different types of new genres created. This list of different genres is growing week by week as new artists are forming and producing all sorts of different music which starts off a whole new category. How a piece of music is placed within the different genres is very important because if the genre includes a word which some people may not like they wont consider listening to it. For example if the genre of the music includes the word 'pop' a huge amount of the older generation will not like it, the word pop aims more towards younger teenagers, so the music will have to be tweaked a bit so that it is placed into a different category and will therefore appeal to the older generation. Genre in music is in recent years most probably more important than film genres as music is still hugely judged and aimed towards different a typical stereotype group of people, for example there are a groups of people who would be named indie due to the music they listen too. The music people listen too is a huge impact on peoples lives, how they are categorized as a person, who they are friends with and even down to what they wear.
The opening scenes of a film is a very important part of a film, it introduces you to the film, explains whats going to happen and clearly tells you the genre of the film. In the film 'Hitch' it tells us everything that we need to know. The song is what sets the film off 'you can get it if you really want' clearly telling the audience that the genre of the film is a romantic comedy. The song has been very carefully chosen as it backs the whole of the main theme of the film; it introduces us to the film and mixes with the dialogue to make the whole theme hit the audience in the face so its very obvious. The film is about men trying to get the girlfriends that they want so the lyrics 'you can get it if you really want' emphasises this telling the audience if the men try hard enough they can get it. The mise en scene in the opening sequence of the film is also very obvious that the film is a romantic comedy. Throughout the whole of the opening scene everything is made very obvious to the audience with everything that is shown. A clock is shown on a table which tells the audience that the film revolves around time being short and everything being done in chronological order, this theme is carried on as the couples in the film are also shown in chronological order one by one. By doing this is helps the audience get to know the characters from the begining of the film and ensures there is no confusion. Everything done at the begining of the film is cleverly linked to the theme! The camera angles are also linked, as the words 'dont look at the mouth' appear, the film is focused on the lips of a women. By doing this its showing how the men have bad practice and they have to listen to the main character played by Will Smith to get the girl, thats what the whole film is about. Hitch is a good example of how the opening few minutes of a film can show and tell the audience so much about what is going to happen in the rest of the film and what its all about.
Just like the film 'Hitch' the opening sequence of 'Sleepy Hollow' also tells us straight away about the theme of the film which in this case is a horror. Everything in the first few minutes relates to typical things known in horror movies. It opens in a historical town with lightning and thunder, all these elements follow the genre conventions of a horror. Even in childrens books a historical building with lightning and thunder is shown as a scary mystical place, showing suspense on whats going to happen next. The sounds in the first few minutes also signify horror, an aerie music with lightning breaking out and howls from wolves making people feel the suspense even more and squirm in their seats cuddling up to someone as the though of something jumping out comes into their minds. All these are typical factors in a horror movie and the theme of the film couldnt be more obvious as the movie opens. The difference between the opening in 'Hitch' and the opening in 'Sleepy Hollow' is that 'Hitch' not only tells the audience what theme the film is but also tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the film. Whereas in 'Sleepy Hollow' the theme is made very obvious to the audience but it doesnt describe what is going to happen next which is typical of a horror movie to build everyones emotions up and scare them as soon as action takes place.
To conclude the use of genres to categorize things such as films, music and many more different things. I think its a very important factor in todays industry, without genres the public wouldnt know what to go for and in a way what theyre paying for. For example if a young teenager wanted to buy a new album and all they knew about the album when they bought it was the name it could come out as being a rock album or a hip-hop album which are two completely different things. Without categorization people would be very wary about what it was they were paying for, with categorization people can decide on what type of music they want to buy depending on what they like and what film they want to watch on how its advertised. All sorts of different types of genres are made as there are so many different types and demands in todays market. I think there will always be the big groups in music and films such as romantic and horror films but I also think more and more new small genres will be made in years to come, not for just films but also music.
