My Film and Genre
The Importance of Genre: Short Film Edition
In most fiction, genre plays a huge role in defining the elements seen. Genre serves a purpose to give the viewer a point of reference of what kind of film they either want to see or are seeing. By containing elements and texts that confirm a particular genre, a viewer and a filmmaker can rely upon the stylistic nature of the genre to draw meaning from.
Short films are often subversive: they don't conform to a particular set of conventions, both as a film in general and in terms of genre. For this reason, it is often hard to pinpoint what genre a short film falls under and whether genre matters at all in the construction of a short film.
As stated before, genre helps the audience identify what kind of film they want to see. However, short films aren't targeted at the masses, their key audience usually lies among film fanatics and filmmakers alike, who watch short films for the film, not the genre. So does genre matter at all?
Genre perhaps matters in regards to the quality of a film. The genre conventions the director chooses to adopt or subvert may determine how well a film is constructed, however, these do not matter any more than other film elements. So it is safe to say, genre matters more in regards to feature films, which are held to high expectations when it comes to convention. However, genre plays a minimal role in short films because of their broad and unconventional nature.
What Genre Is Your Film?
When developing my idea, even down to minute details such as costume design, I did not care to think about genre and how it could effect my film. All I thought about was how I was going to perfect my storytelling in a unique and individual way that transcended genre. When applying conventions (or avoiding them), my only thought was how they could confer meaning to the audience and not how they could help to categorise my film for potential audiences.
This being said, I realised that I was underestimating the power of genre. Genre isn't just about tailoring a film to a specific audience, genre uses conventions to confer meaning to the audience by manipulating what they are familiar with. I didn't necessarily have to conform to one particular genre, but use the genres as a collage to heighten my own storytelling.
Now, if I were to apply any genre to my film, I would label it a drama. Here's a little research into the drama genre to support my decision.
Drama Genre
Drama is a genre of film that focuses on the emotional and relational development of realistic characters. Dramatic themes often play a large part in the narrative of drama films and are often to do with real-life, relatable issues. For example, alcoholism, grief, heartbreak, depression etc. Drama films often follow a character through a conflict with either themselves or an outside party (eg. their environment or relationships) and aim to tell a story of human struggles.
Here's a mind map I found. It breaks down what the drama genre entails:
So, What Makes Your Film A Drama?
As mentioned before, one of the main reasons I would label my film a drama is because of drama's very broad/vague requirements. Drama, as a genre (a macro element of film), doesn't dictate the micro elements of film because its focus lies in the representation of humans.
So, What Genre Is Your Film?!
In conclusion, the genres I would label my film as is 'Political drama that contains elements of other drama subgenres'. In short, it is a political drama.
In most fiction, genre plays a huge role in defining the elements seen. Genre serves a purpose to give the viewer a point of reference of what kind of film they either want to see or are seeing. By containing elements and texts that confirm a particular genre, a viewer and a filmmaker can rely upon the stylistic nature of the genre to draw meaning from.
Short films are often subversive: they don't conform to a particular set of conventions, both as a film in general and in terms of genre. For this reason, it is often hard to pinpoint what genre a short film falls under and whether genre matters at all in the construction of a short film.
As stated before, genre helps the audience identify what kind of film they want to see. However, short films aren't targeted at the masses, their key audience usually lies among film fanatics and filmmakers alike, who watch short films for the film, not the genre. So does genre matter at all?
Genre perhaps matters in regards to the quality of a film. The genre conventions the director chooses to adopt or subvert may determine how well a film is constructed, however, these do not matter any more than other film elements. So it is safe to say, genre matters more in regards to feature films, which are held to high expectations when it comes to convention. However, genre plays a minimal role in short films because of their broad and unconventional nature.
What Genre Is Your Film?
When developing my idea, even down to minute details such as costume design, I did not care to think about genre and how it could effect my film. All I thought about was how I was going to perfect my storytelling in a unique and individual way that transcended genre. When applying conventions (or avoiding them), my only thought was how they could confer meaning to the audience and not how they could help to categorise my film for potential audiences.
This being said, I realised that I was underestimating the power of genre. Genre isn't just about tailoring a film to a specific audience, genre uses conventions to confer meaning to the audience by manipulating what they are familiar with. I didn't necessarily have to conform to one particular genre, but use the genres as a collage to heighten my own storytelling.
Now, if I were to apply any genre to my film, I would label it a drama. Here's a little research into the drama genre to support my decision.
Drama Genre
Drama is a genre of film that focuses on the emotional and relational development of realistic characters. Dramatic themes often play a large part in the narrative of drama films and are often to do with real-life, relatable issues. For example, alcoholism, grief, heartbreak, depression etc. Drama films often follow a character through a conflict with either themselves or an outside party (eg. their environment or relationships) and aim to tell a story of human struggles.
Here's a mind map I found. It breaks down what the drama genre entails:
Drama is a broad genre, it doesn't necessarily have a recognisable iconography because its main focus is on the representation of humans. I think this is one of the reasons as to why my film fits into the drama genre, because it is so broad. Here is an in depth presentation detailing the forms and conventions of the drama genre:
So, What Makes Your Film A Drama?
A convention of the drama genre that my film follows is its handling of serious themes. My film is full of varying themes and almost all of them can be linked to the common themes of a drama film. For example, my film addresses themes of tyranny, hate, xenophobia, grief, death, terrorism and so on. These themes are very serious and it is common to address serious themes like these in drama films.
In addition to this, my film also depicts the emotional journey and conflict of one of the characters (Egon). The audience witness his conflict with himself unfold on the screen and him ultimately lose that battle, becoming consumed by his own hate and anger. The heart of drama is conflict, there is no argument about this. In order for a film to be a drama film, it must involve conflict and human struggle, things my film exhibits. This categorises it as a drama genre, no matter how loosely I follow the conventions of drama.
Something of the drama genre that my film subverts is realism. My film is set in an alternate world, nothing depicted is real. Aside from this, I do something that is unseen in most drama films: I employ binary opposition. Binary opposition is avoided to maintain multi-faceted characters, characters who seem real, who are not tropes. Characters that the audience can support and empathise with because they are portrayed as real human beings with multiple different characteristics. They can exhibit both good and bad personality traits and this is what makes the characters real. I, on the other hand, completely subvert this through my use of binary opposition. Binary opposition leads my characters to be one-dimensional: completely flat. The reason for this is because the characters are not people, they are manifestations of larger ideas. Good and bad. Man and woman. This juxtaposition helps the audience clearly see what is right and wrong within the cultural confines of my fictional world. This allows them to clearly see the moral message, the use of one-dimensional characters amplifies this message, which is why I chose to subvert this convention.
Something of the drama genre that my film subverts is realism. My film is set in an alternate world, nothing depicted is real. Aside from this, I do something that is unseen in most drama films: I employ binary opposition. Binary opposition is avoided to maintain multi-faceted characters, characters who seem real, who are not tropes. Characters that the audience can support and empathise with because they are portrayed as real human beings with multiple different characteristics. They can exhibit both good and bad personality traits and this is what makes the characters real. I, on the other hand, completely subvert this through my use of binary opposition. Binary opposition leads my characters to be one-dimensional: completely flat. The reason for this is because the characters are not people, they are manifestations of larger ideas. Good and bad. Man and woman. This juxtaposition helps the audience clearly see what is right and wrong within the cultural confines of my fictional world. This allows them to clearly see the moral message, the use of one-dimensional characters amplifies this message, which is why I chose to subvert this convention.
According to the mind map: 'the end of the film portrays a hard-hitting ending leaving a lasting impression on the audience'. This is something my film does do (hopefully). My film is pointless without my sock-it-to-them ending as it is within this ending that the message is conveyed. The ending is ambiguous but gives enough to the audience so that they know what will happen next, it marks the beginning of a cyclical structure. This ending will ideally leave the audience thinking.
Lastly, I intend to make my film emotionally moving. I do want the audience to be moved by the characters' suffering, something conventional of a drama film. Having an emotional impact on my audience is important because it makes them more inclined to accept the message of my film, having a personal connection with the events.
Subgenres of Drama: What Subgenre Does Your Film Fit Into?
Sub-genre is a sub-division of a genre. It can be made up of hybrid genres or standalone sub-genres specific to one genre. As drama is a very broad genre in terms of what defines it, it undoubtedly has a lot of sub-genres to fill in these gaps.
Lastly, I intend to make my film emotionally moving. I do want the audience to be moved by the characters' suffering, something conventional of a drama film. Having an emotional impact on my audience is important because it makes them more inclined to accept the message of my film, having a personal connection with the events.
Subgenres of Drama: What Subgenre Does Your Film Fit Into?
Sub-genre is a sub-division of a genre. It can be made up of hybrid genres or standalone sub-genres specific to one genre. As drama is a very broad genre in terms of what defines it, it undoubtedly has a lot of sub-genres to fill in these gaps.
My short film is comprised of multiple subgenre conventions; rather than choosing to conform to one particular drama subgenre, I pick and choose different conventions to adopt across the spectrum of subgenres. This is called a pastiche - it is commonly used in post-modern media texts.
So, What Genre Is Your Film?!
In conclusion, the genres I would label my film as is 'Political drama that contains elements of other drama subgenres'. In short, it is a political drama.
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