What is Genre?

Genre is classification of a certain things that can be classified: book, movie, music and many more. There are two major genres: fictional and non-fictional, under these genres there are other sub-genres for instance romance, comedy, horror, thriller, action etc.

Fictions are stories/movies which are made up and it doesn’t happen in real life for example in a movie when a human obtains powers that are beyond any ones measure (e.g. Batman, Superman).

 

Non-fictions are stories/movies that aren’t made up most of the time. These stories are mostly biography of someone famous or an admired person because of what they have done. However, not all non-fictional stories are biography; they are stories of what happens in people’s everyday life.  

Key term

 



Connotation: Describing in detail what have seen.  

Genre: Category of a certain subject.   

Denotation: Basic information of what you have seen.  

Stereotype: When you judge someone based on their abnormal charactristics or when they are physically unique in a certain way.  

Sub Genre: A sub theme of a subject for example movie, music etc...

Representation: How someone is potrayed visually in a certian way.  

 

Thriller Director Case Study: James Wan & Marc Forster

 

James Wan was born on 27th February 1977 in Malaysia. He was bought up in Australia, where he got his bachelor of Art degree from Melbourne Institute of Technology', which is located in Melbourne.  Wan is an Australian film producer and director, who is well recognized for directing horror movies such as 'Saw' as this was his first official full-length movie.

Wan mostly directs thriller/horror genre movies:

James Wan	What are the similarities/differences between most famous works of James Wan?	What codes/convention does he use that fit in with the thriller genre? What subgenres do these films fit in to?	To what extend has the director, James Wan, influenced the thriller genre?
Saw (2004) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-1QgOMQ-ls	Similarities: Wan mostly directs movies where the movie is based around one family. The story is based on ‘Todorov Narrative Theory’.	Background music, Settings, costumes, props. Horror, Gore, Psychological, Suspense	He has used different techniques to make the movie interesting such as the way he films it and the way he orders his scenes.
Death sentence (2007) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVdWq9jxejI		Settings, Background music, costumes, props. Revenge, Action, Suspense, Mystery
Insidious (2011) & Insidious: Chapter 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfcHoXTlMX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBbi4NeebAk	Differences: ·         Has different sub-genres ·         Some are naturalist and some are non-naturalist (ghosts/sprits)	Settings, Background music, costumes, props. Horror, Romance, Family, Suspense, Mystery
The Conjuring (2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejMMn0t58Lc		Settings, Background music, costumes, props. Horror, Romance, Family, Suspense, Mystery
Fast & Furious 7 (2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skpu5HaVkOc		Settings, Background music, costumes, props. Romance, Action, Adventure,Crime(some)

Marc Forster was born on 30^th November, 1969 in Illertissen, Germany however his family moved to Switzerland. Interesting facts about Forster is that in his early career he was proposed to direct a movie, where he would have received $500,000 but refused even though he was unemployed. This was because Foroster found the script was of atrocious quality. Not only that, he was also offered to direct Harry Potter and the prison of Azkaban, but instead directed Finding Neverland.  

   

Marc Forster	What are the similarities/differences between most famous works of James Wan?	What codes/convention does he use that fit in with the thriller genre? What subgenres do these films fit in to?	To what extend has the director, Marcus Nispel, influenced the thriller genre?
Stay (2005) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIk5rfA5uWE	Similarities: ·         Most of his movie contains action scenes. ·         Contains guns & bombs ·         His story is based on ‘Todorov Narrative Theory’.	Psychological, Mystery, Suspense	Most of his movies are based on true story. He has challenged the stereotypical view of how protagonist has to be played by a white male character.
The Kite runner (2007) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLtavGjAOJY		Friendship, War, Action, Real-life.
Quantum of Solace (2008) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4jY8WxcFMo	Difference: ·         Different sub-genres ·         Some are naturalist and some are non-naturalist (ghosts/sprits)	Action, Adventure, Romance, Crime, Spy, Revenge.
Machine Gin Preacher (2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3VOVu4eMwI		Real-life story, War, Action, Suspense.
World War Z (2013 ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcwTxRuq-uk		Action, Non-naturalistic (zombies), Gore, Family, Romance.