Journal 01

Whenever I go to the cinemas, I choose a movie genre based on how I feel that day. If I had a rough day, I’ll watch a comedy movie to lighten my day up. As a movie audience, genres categorised the different types of movies; it makes it easier for people to choose the movies they want to watch. As a film student, I’ve learned in today’s lesson that there’s a lot of different aspect in understanding a genre. The style of the shots, the editing, sound, scripting, lights, character eg. adds on to how we differentiate each genre- it can be more complex whenever we define a genre. Like what Neil Gaiman said: “ There is a huge difference between for example, a novel with spies and a spy novel; or a novel with cowboy in it and a cowboy novel. Different genres lay the fundamentals of structure for the writers/directors to work with. If it is a cowboy genre/novel, the focus will be on the life of the cowboy, the main actor should be cowboy.

After watching High Noon, Psycho and Singing in the rain’s scene in class, comparing to a recent western, thriller and musical genre, the fundamentals of the genre remains but certain style changes alongside with the era/generation. Like how technologies advance, genres evolve. Who knows what other new genres will exists 20 years later?