Genre

A genre is a type of something for example a type of film would be called the genre of the film.  There are many examples of film genres for example:

• comedy
• horror
• thriller
• documentary
• sci fi
• action
• adventure
• drama
• western
• romance
• musical

and many more....

Films within a particular genre have similar characteristics (mise en scene & characters) for example in a thriller there is always a threat, a person being targeted and someone trying to stop the threat.  In a rom-com there is usually a romance then they fall out then they are together at the end.  It is very unusual for the plots of these kind of films to be different.  The main similarity between different types of thrillers is that they always get the same audience response which is putting the them on the edge of their seats.

Although the genre of the film may be similar in the thrillers, they can still turn out very different for example Jaws and The Strangers.  They have a completely different setting and different characters but they are still similar in plot.  An obvious difference between these two films is that the main character in the Jaws is a shark and the main characters in The Strangers are a couple who are being threatened.  The setting in Jaws is usually in the ocean and the setting in the Strangers is a small house in the middle of nowhere.

The whole thriller genre is very broad but within that genre there are sub-genres. Within these there are recognisable characteristics for example characters, mise en scene and setting. For example in a crime thriller the plot will be the same in most of them (someone killing or robbing someone then ditectives trying to find out who did it.)