GENRE BLOG TASK

 Task 1: Genre factsheets

Complete the following tasks using the Media Factsheets available on the Media Shared drive. You'll find them in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or can access them online using your Greenford Google login here.

Create a new blogpost in your Exam blog called 'Genre blog tasks' and complete the following:

Read Media Factsheet 03 - Genre: Categorising texts and answer the following questions:

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

Film westerns will share codes

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?

linguistic decisions made by the media shape the perception we have of a news program.

3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?

character representation in an disastrous movie is that the characters are usually confronted with human weaknesses, often falling in love and almost always finding a villain to blame. 

4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell? 

• Period or Country,

• Director / Star, 

• Technical Process, e.g. Animation

• Style, e.g. German Expressionism;

• Series, e.g. Bond;

• Audience, e.g. Family Films

5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.
Compare features to other well-known writings, and their understanding of the genre may lead readers to reject the work altogether.
6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.

When creating the content itself and promoting it, such as with movie trailers

7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?

At the moment, gangster movies use more contemporary techniques to engage audiences and stay up to date with current society;The Sopranos  have the same themes relating to rivalry gangs

Read Media Factsheet 126 - Superheroes: A Genre Case Study and answer the following questions:

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.

• Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) 
• The Avengers and its franchise
• Batman (3 Films since 2000;
• Watchmen
•  Sin City (2 Films since 2000)

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?
When World War II first broke out in 1939, the American public initially perceived it as a European problem. In the 1940s, Superman was depicted as having to fight European villains who endangered Metropolis' safety and tranquility.
3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?

Classical: good vs bad binary opposition 

Task 2: Genre analysis case study

Carry out your own genre analysis using the model provided by media theorist Daniel Chandler. Choose a film or TV text and answer the following questions - brief answers/bullet point responses are fine:

General

1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?

-It is one of my favourite tv shows.

2) In what context did you encounter it?

-My family recommended it to me.

3) What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text?

-I tend to like tv series with suspense or crime being solved, which How To Get Away With Murder is basically revolved around.

4) To what genre did you initially assign the text?

-Crime, thriller and suspense.

5) What is your experience of this genre?

-I really enjoy crime, thriller and suspense genre, so I really liked How To Get Away With Murder.

6) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?

-Lawyers trying to solve crime cases and what their lives are about.

7) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?

-I would say very typically as there are many tv shows and films with genre of crime with lawyers.

8) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?

-Typically the plot is a criminal being sent to jail by a one of the main lawyers.

9) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where)?

-The main generic label for How To Get Away With Murder is crime, thriller and suspense and I have seen this on posters, websites and TikTok, I can also just infer this genre from the poster of Annalise on the cover while being inside of a court and many other posters. 

10) What generic labels have others given the same text?

-Crime, thriller, mystery, suspense and melodrama.

11) Which conventions of the genre do you recognize in the text?

-A man gets killed in his home, which is also the office of a couple of lawyers, and a lot of crim and mystery followers this event :this is generally seen as the crime, thriller and suspense genre.

12) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?

-The main couple of lawyers are pushed into the real world of crime and mystery after causing the death of the husband of Annalise Keating's ,who is their boss. This shows the idea of enigma.

13) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?

-The originally plan is for the five chosen lawyers to help Annalise Keating solve crimes but his changes when they kill her husband.

14) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s))?

-How To Get Away With Murder has many genres, but the main genres are crime, thriller and mystery.

15) What familiar motifs or images are used?

-There are a couple of posters for each season, most of which involve having a dark courtroom with the main lawyers or Annalise Keating.

Mode of address

1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?

-This type of show is aimed toward adults in their early 20's,whom enjoy watching crime and thriller. This show may also intrigue teenagers as it has many seasons, which would mean that they could spend all their free time watching How To Get Away With Murder.

2) How does the text address you?

-It addresses me as I am interested in watching crime with mystery, How To Get Away With Murder is full of plot twists and disequilibrium being solved.

3) What sort of person does it assume you are?

-It assumes that I am an individual who like crime, thriller and mystery.

4) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?

-That I may be an adult in my 20's who may be a male, who like watching crims shows, or on the other hand that I am a teenage girl who also likes watching crime mysteries.

5) What interests does it assume you have?

-It assumes that I do problem solving hobbies as I watch a show that is very mystery solving involved.

Relationship to other texts

1) What intertextual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)? Intertextuality is when a media product references another media text of some kind.

-The show’s creator, Peter Nowalk, has mentioned that the show was inspired by the true-crime documentary “The Staircase”. Additionally, the show has made references to other popular TV shows such as “Breaking Bad” and “The Wire". Also it has references to Macbeth.

2) In terms of genre, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?

-Suits, legally blond, The Lincoln lawyers.

3) What key features are shared by these texts?

-The main features shared by these shows are they all involve lawyers solving crime.