5 Paragraph Essay - Genre Theorists

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In this essay, I will be discussing how genre applies to a horror trailer made by last year’s students. The production group is Terror House and the trailer is called The Premonition. The genre of this trailer is slasher. Chandler says, that genre types must be recognisable. The conventions are familiar in the teaser trailer and it have characteristics that would be expected from a supernatural trailer. The trailer uses mise-en-scene and low key lighting making it recognizable as a horror trailer. The low key light connotes death in horror trailers. We see the creature, it has a dark suburban setting the sounds and lighting you would expect from this genre.

Metz created a theory for genre characteristics. He said that there are four stages to genre. Experimental stage, classic stage, parody stage and deconstruction. The experimental stage is where the genre is being created. The classic stage is where all the conventions have been set and have been identified as the genre. After this parodies begin to pop up. Satires are made and used to make fun of classic movies. They may even uses scenes from classic movies but increase the levels of blood and graphic content. E.g. Cabin in the Woods. The deconstruction stage is where they start bringing in new conventions into the genre. This can be a mix up with other sub-genres. From viewing the teaser from past students, I would say that it is in the classic stage of the genre theory. The trailer had clear conventions seen in the slasher sub-genre such as a antagonist with a mask and low key lighting. The setting and customes also followed the conventions with the trailer being set in a dark suburban area and the antagonist having visible scars and blood on his face.
Neale discusses repetition in genre. He says, film and genre is defined by how much it links to its conventions and how much it subverts them. And overtime the horror conventions will evolve, people have become desensitized to the same conventions repeatedly, making them less effective in scaring people. This is why horror films have started to subvert the normal conventions of horror films.

 Abercrombie talks about multiple genres coming together and mixing with others. This keeps it new and exciting for the audience, as they no longer know what to expect, Abercrombie says that some genres are using other conventions not typically found in their genre. In the trailer, This theory is not seen.

Comments

  1. ctkmedia25 September 2017 at 08:37

    "The conventions are familiar in the teaser trailer and it have characteristics that would be expected from a supernatural trailer (P). The trailer uses mise-en-scene (E - specifically WHAT/WHICH MES?) and low key lighting making it recognizable as a horror (SUPERNATURAL?) trailer. The low key light connotes death in horror trailers (A). We see the creature..." (A? - WHO is the creature in a supernatural horror? What does it do?

    "I would say that it is in the classic stage of the genre theory. The trailer had (P) clear conventions seen in the slasher sub-genre such as a antagonist with a mask and low key lighting. The (E) setting and customes also followed the conventions with the trailer being set in a dark suburban area and the antagonist having visible scars and blood on his face." - (A) Compare to other films within this period such as Halloween - how effective is the trailer if it is from this period of time?

    "overtime the horror conventions will evolve, people have become desensitized (P) to the same conventions repeatedly, making them less effective in scaring people. This is why horror films have started to subvert the normal conventions of horror films" (A) - WHAT evidence or EXAMPLES have you got in the trailer to prove this - MES, CAM, EDIT, SOUND

    "In the trailer, This theory is not seen. " - No PE or A

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