Since we first talked about genre theory in week one, I have developed my understanding of genre. I think that modern films can never truly stick to one genre, as John Frow theorises, genre is a dynamic process that reflects the time. Films and genres talk to each other. Genre doesn’t imply a set of rules, or boundaries you cannot cross when film making, but acts as more of a guide for film discussion.
After 12 weeks of exploding genre, the following things stand out about what I have learnt:
- Media management is really important when you are creating content.
- How to use an EX3 camera, from turning it on to focusing, exposure, and white balance.
- How to hire an camera equipment, haul it around the city and not get blacklisted for winding earphones the wrong way.
- How to write an exegesis, (not to leave an exegesis to the last minute).
- And of course genre; genre conventions, purity, hybridity and the problems and opportunities for us as creators that genre poses in filmmaking.
‘Subject matter doesn’t determine genre. Genres only start existing when there’s enough of them to form a sort of critical mass’ (Gaiman & Ishiguro 2015). So for creators, remixing genres allows us to draw on a range of genre rubrics, using varying visual, aural and narrative styles.
This studio has been really worthwhile and makes (slightly) easier to motivate yourself to come to class at 8.30AM.
References:
Frow, John. Genre. The Critical Idiom, Series ed. John Drakakis. London: Routledge, 2006.
Neil Gaiman & Kazuo Ishiguro (2015, June 4), Let’s talk about genre, New Statesman.