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CATEGORIZING FILM GENRES

Three main types are often used to categorize film genres; Setting , Mood , and Format . The film's location is defined as the ''setting''. The emotional charge carried throughout the film is known as its ''mood''. The film may also have been shot using particular equipment or be presented in a specific manner, or ''format''.

The following are some examples of well-established genres in film. They are often further defined to form subgenres, and can also be combined to form hybrid genres.


Setting

  • Crime : places its character within realm of criminal activity.

  • and Existentialist realm or manner.

  • Historical : taking place in the past amidst notable historical circumstances.

  • Science Fiction : a setting or plot defined by the effects of speculative (not yet existing) technology (i.e. future space travel, cyberpunk, time travel).

  • Sports : sporting events and locations pertaining to a given sport.

  • War : battlefields and locations pertaining to a time of war.

  • Westerns : wilderness on the verge of civilization, usually in the American West.



Mood

  • Action : generally involves a moral interplay between "good" and "bad" played out through violence or physical force.

  • Adventure : involving danger, risk, and/or chance, often with a high degree of fantasy.

  • Comedy : intended to provoke laughter.

  • Drama : mainly focuses on character development.

  • Fantasy : speculative fiction outside reality (i.e. myth, legend).

  • Horror : intended to provoke fear in audience.

  • Mystery : the progression from the unknown to the known by discovering and solving a series of clues.

  • .

  • Thriller s: intended to provoke excitement and/or nervous tension into audience.



Format

  • Animation : the rapid display of a sequence of 2-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement.

  • Live Action

  • Documentary

  • Musical : songs are sung by the characters and interwoven into the narrative.



Target audience

  • , no special effort is made to make the film attractive for other audiences.

  • Family Film : intended to be attractive for people of all ages and suitable for viewing by a young audience. Examples of this are Disney films.

  • .



CRITICISMS OF FILM GENRES


What genres are not

There are other methods of dividing films into groups besides genre. For example Auteur critics group films according to their directors. Some groupings may be casually described as genres but this definition is questionable. For example, Independent Film s are sometimes discussed as if they are a genre, but in fact independent production does not determine a film's storyline, and they can belong to any genre.

Some have argued that genre needs to be distinguished from film style. A film's style concerns the choices made about Cinematography , Editing , and Sound , and a particular style can be applied to any genre. Whereas film genres identify the manifest content of film, film styles identify the manner by which any given film's genre(s) is/are rendered for the screen. Style may be determined by plot structure, scenic design, lighting, cinematography, acting, and other intentional artistic components of the finished film product. Others argue that this distinction is too simplistic, since some genres are primarily recognizable by their styles. Many historians debate whether Film Noir truly is a genre rather than a style of film-making often emulated in the period's heyday.


Are film genres definable?

A genre is always a vague term with no fixed boundaries. Many works also cross into multiple genres. In this respect Film Theorist Robert Stam has noted:


A number of perennial doubts plague genre theory. Are genres really 'out there' in the world, or are they merely the constructions of analysts? Is there a finite taxonomy of genres or are they in principle infinite? Are genres timeless Platonic essences or ephemeral, time-bound entities? Are genres culture-bound or trans-cultural?... Should genre analysis be descriptive or prescriptive?
....

While some genres are based on story content (the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are performer-based (the Astaire-Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), location (the Western) or sexual orientation.Robert Stam, ''Queer Cinema'', 2000, p.14



Many genres have built-in Audience s and corresponding publications that support them, such as Magazine s and websites. Films that are difficult to categorize into a genre are often less successful. As such, film genres are also useful in areas of Marketing , Criticism and Consumption .