Introductory Film Studies: Understanding Genre
TLDRThe video explores the concept of genre in film studies, explaining how genres consist of conventions and characteristics that create expectations viewers bring to films. It distinguishes between a semantic approach focused on recurring symbols and a syntactic approach focused on conceptual tensions within genres. The video argues understanding genre helps analyze how films meet or challenge genre conventions to convey meaning and make broader points about film traditions, moving analytical focus beyond individual films to see how films relate to cinema history.
Takeaways
- 😀 A genre consists of a set of characteristics or conventions that we associate with a type of art
- 👍 Conventions are widely used and accepted devices within an art form that are commonly understood
- 🤔 Semantic theorists focus on consistent meanings within a genre, while syntactic theorists see genres as more fluid
- 🎥 Common technical elements like shot techniques can take on meaning based on the genres they are part of
- 🎞 Genres allow us to understand audience expectations and how films challenge those expectations
- 🔍 Analyzing genre gives context to understand how a film delivers meaning
- 📽 Genre analysis requires looking at multiple films, not just understanding one film
- 🎬 Genre conventions arise for artistic, cultural and practical reasons
- 💡 Using genre analysis can generate questions to scaffold analysis of an individual film
- 🍿 Understanding genre helps appreciate how certain films are subversive
Q & A
What are some key characteristics that define a film genre?
-Some key characteristics that define a film genre include common locations, lighting styles, story elements, characters, and relationships between structured, ordered elements.
What are conventions in the context of film and art?
-Conventions are widely used and accepted devices, practices or processes in an art form that are commonly accepted within a culture.
How does Rick Altman categorize approaches to understanding genre?
-Rick Altman presents two approaches - a semantic approach that focuses on similarities of elements within a genre, and a syntactic approach that describes genres in terms of relationships between structured, ordered elements.
How can understanding genre conventions help in analyzing an individual film?
-Understanding genre conventions can provide scaffolding for the initial questions to ask about a film. It can also help identify how a film challenges expectations by going against conventions.
What is an example of a semantic definition of a Christmas movie genre?
-A semantic definition would focus on common elements - set around the holidays, featuring family members returning home, emphasizing Christmas spirit, including Santa Claus or elves, using red and green colors and warm lighting.
What is an example of a syntactic definition of a Christmas movie genre?
-A syntactic definition would focus on tensions or relationships rather than just common elements - such as the tension between belief and logic, between individual agency and family obligation, or between self-reinvention and inevitable return.
How can both semantic and syntactic approaches be useful in understanding genre?
-The semantic approach identifies common features that characterize a genre, while the syntactic approach reveals meaningful tensions. Using both approaches together leads to a more complete understanding.
How does genre differ from other film elements studied so far?
-Unlike technical elements that can be studied within one film, studying genre inherently involves looking at multiple films and understanding expectations that come from conventions established across films.
What does it mean for a film to subvert expectations or conventions?
-When a film 'subverts' genre conventions, it goes against the usual elements or rules that viewers expect, often to make a point or surprise the audience.
Why is understanding genre an important step in analyzing cinema history?
-Looking at genre allows going beyond individual films to see broader traditions and relationships between films. This understanding of genre is key to analyzing the story of cinema over time.
Outlines
🎸 Defining genres through common characteristics
This paragraph introduces the idea that genres can be defined by a set of common characteristics or conventions. It gives the examples of rock music often having high energy electric guitars while jazz has brass instruments and improvisation. The paragraph explains that these are simplifications but illustrate the point that genres consist of lists of traits that works either conform to or break from.
🎥 Nuances in understanding genres
This paragraph builds on the simplistic understanding of genres by introducing some nuances from film scholar Ed Sikov. He emphasizes that conventions are widely accepted rather than right/wrong, and that they are understood within a culture rather than being universal. The paragraph gives examples of artistic and practical reasons for conventions arising.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡genre
💡conventions
💡semantic
💡syntactic
💡subversive
💡individual vs community
💡nature vs culture
💡scaffolding
💡film history
💡expectations
Highlights
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Transcripts
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