Genre

What is Genre?

Genre is both a description and form of classifying film, music and television programs. For a film to fall within a genre, the audience must be able to understand the principles of the film to identify its meaning in which the producers of the film are trying to convey. There are many expectations in a film/genre, like a set of rules/conventions which have to be obeyed for the viewer to see the film as a certain genre.
Iconography is used so that there is recognisable conventions within a film in which the audience would associate with that genre/style, e.g. Western film: tumble weed, saloons, show downs, cowboy hats and horses.

Familiar narratives are used also to portray a film as a certain genre as the audience would recognise the actors, actresses within the film and would be able to know what style of film the actors would usually be apart of, which reassures the audience what genre of film they are seeing.

Mise en scene encompasses the most recognizable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors but also includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize the scenes filmed. The phrase is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning “put into the scene”, which can be interpreted as mise-en-scène describing the stuff in the frame and the way it is arranged and shown. This gives the audience Familiar reassurance that they are paying to see a film of this genre and that they know what they are paying for so that they are not skeptical about spending money on watching the film. 

Genre also offers comforting reassureance in an uncomfortable world. We live in a world in which people are punished for committing the wrong, however many people get away with these acts which goes against what many people are brought up believing is right in the world. Genre then offers this when someone is watching a film as the 'bad guys' are most often caught and are punished which is what the viewer wants to see. But would people be satisfied if the bad guy got away? No is the answer as it goes against what we have been taught to believe in and the audience would come away from the film without that comfort.