FILM GENRE

Department of HSS, JIIT, Noida

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

 Film Genre
 Types
 Cycle
 Documentaries

 Resources to be consulted for further reading:

 https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/exploring-movie-
construction-and-production/chapter/2-what-is-genre-
and-how-is-it-determined/

2
FILM GENRE
 A film genre is a motion-picture category
based on similarities either in the narrative
elements, aesthetic approach, or the
emotional response to the film. 
 A film genre is a structure of story that is
repeated again and again. They often have
the same settings, character types, conflicts
and values
 Genres are the means by which we classify
the movies that we watch; they give order to
the many titles that are created
WHAT IS A FILM GENRE?
 Genres are usually derived from one of four major components to a film:
Setting, Theme, Mood and Format
– Setting
 Fantasy films
 War film

 Westerns

– Theme
 Science Fiction
 Art films

 Film Noir

– Mood
 Drama
 Comedy

 Horror

 Thriller

 Action and Adventure

– Format
 Documentary
 Animation

 Musical
GENRE FILM CATEGORIES
 Western
 Sci-fi film
 Thriller
 Love story
 Fantasy
 Film noir
 Coming-of age
 comedy
 Horror
 Mad slasher
 Buddy film
 Woman’s film
 Farce
ADVANTAGES OF GENRE STORY
TELLING
 Economy of storytelling
 Focus on archetypal ideas
 Comfort of the familiar
 Creativity within a norm
 Custom fit to ideas being explored
DISADVANTAGES
 Trades in stereotypes and clichés
 Constricts creativity within a formula
 Eliminates narrative suspense or surprise
LIFE CYCLE OF GENRES
 Primitive
 Classical
 Revisionist
 Parodic
 Homage
PRIMITIVE
 Naïve
 Great emotional impact
 Establishes conventions

 The Great Train Robbery

 Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
 Golddiggers of 1933
CLASSICAL
 Genre’s conventions well established
 Balanced and rich execution of
conventions

 Stagecoach
 Dracula
 Frankenstein
 The Wizard of Oz
REVISIONIST
 Turn to symbolic
 Ambiguous relationship to values
 Complex
 More intellectual/less emotional

 High Noon
 Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nelly
 Invasion of the Body Snatchers
PARODIC
 Mocks the conventions
 Exposes clichés
 Produces laughter

 Blazing Saddles
 Rocky Horry Picture Show
 Scary Movie
HOMAGE
 Revisits the genre
 References conventions without mocking
them
 Updates conventions

 Open Range
 Chicago
 The Ring
DOCUMENTARY
A nonfictional motion picture intended to
document some aspects of reality, primarily
for the purposes of instruction or
maintaining a historical record.
FEATURES OF DOCUMENTARIES

 Nonfiction
 Actualities
 Documentation
 Window onto the world
 Always have a point of view
 Structured
 Has effect on events being filmed
POETIC DOCUMENTARIES

 First seen in the 1920s, Poetic

Documentaries are very much what they
sound like. They focus on experiences,
images and showing the audience the
world through a different set of eyes.
Abstract and loose with narrative, the
poetic sub-genre can be very
unconventional and experimental in
form and content. The ultimate goal is to
create a feeling rather than a truth.
EXPOSITORY DOCUMENTARIES

 Expository Documentaries are probably

closest to what most people consider
“documentaries.” A sharp contrast to
poetic, expository documentaries aim to
inform and/or persuade — often through
omnipresent “Voice of God” narration over
footage devoid of ambiguous or poetic
rhetoric.
OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES

 Observational Documentaries are exactly what

they sound like — they aim to simply observe
the world around them. Originating in the 1960s
with the advances in portable film equipment,
the cinéma vérité style is much less pointed than
the Expository. The style attempts to give voice
to all sides of an issue by giving audiences first
hand access to some of the subject’s most
important (and often private)moments.
PARTICIPATORY DOCUMENTARIES

 Participatory Documentaries, while

having elements of Observational and
Expository, include the filmmaker within
the narrative. This could be as minor as
the filmmaker’s voice being heard behind
the camera, prodding subjects with
questions or cues — all the way to the
filmmaker directly influencing the
major actions of the narrative.
REFLEXIVE DOCUMENTARIES
 Reflexive Documentaries are similar to
Participatory in that they often include the
filmmaker within the film — however,
unlike Participatory, they make no attempts
to explore an outside subject. Rather, they
focus solely on themselves and the act of
them making the film.
PERFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARIES

 Performative Documentaries are an
experimental combination of styles used to
stress subject experience and share an
emotional response to the world. They
often connect personal accounts or
experience juxtaposed with larger political
or historical issues. 
LET US DISCUSS
 Give an example of each:
 Buddy film
 Woman’s film
 Farce
 Fantasy films
 War film
 Westerns
REFERENCES
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_genre

https://www.ilianfilm.com/film-genres.html
 https://soma.sbcc.edu/users/davega/xNON_
ACTIVE_CLASSES/FILMST_101/08_FILM_GENR
ES/GENRE_STAGES.pdf