Genre Theories

Rick Altman, a genre theorist, proposed a theory there are a set of pleasures for audiences to feel in order for the film to actually be a success and for the audiences expectations for the/a horror film to be exceeded. The set of pleasures include : emotional, visceral and intellectual. Emotional is for the audience to feel fear whilst watching a horror film as it is a main concept (to scare the audience) for a horror film. Visceral is when a visual part of the film makes the audience feel physically sick whether its from a very gory moment in a film or just genuine anxiety whilst watching it. Lastly, intellectual is used to make the audience think about the film, this is commonly used in thrillers or slashers as the audience tend to try and guess who the mystery killer is. In the summer project me and my peers produced, we included visceral pleasure which is the gory blood on the clothing of the actors/actress. By doing this, it will give the viewer a physical feeling for example, in a slasher movie, when a gory scene comes up it could make the viewer feel physically sick which is them experiencing visceral pleasure. Compared to actual gory scenes in a real film trailer, our shot may not have as big as an effect on someone as our shot was only 2 seconds long. Furthermore, emotional pleasure could be considered as well due to a jump scared that we added which could cause the audience to jump. However, despite including a jump scare, it may not be evident it is one due to the placement of it, usually jump scares are positioned at the end of a trailer, however our one was very brief and quick in the middle of the trailer. Our trailer did not really include emotional pleasure as the editing was fast-paced and quick which could make the audience lose track of what was happening.

Metz, another genre theorist, claims there are 4 development stages that can be applied to a genre; Classical, Experimental, Parody and Deconstruction. Classical is an original piece of work that is looked up to and used as reference for more films as it includes the typical codes and conventions of the certain genre. One example of a classic film is 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock. Experimental is the beginning phases of a genre which is where the foundation is built and typical codes and conventions for it are found, a film example could be Scream. Parody is when a film incorporates comedic effects which waters down the expectations of a typical horror film, Scary Movie is an example which is a parody of Scream. Finally, deconstruction is where the rules of a particular genre is broken and anything is possible in the film, for example, Cabin In The Woods. Our film trailer would be considered as classical as it includes the typical codes and conventions for a horror film. This is identifiable as we followed the typical codes and conventions for a supernatural film, it is obvious that our trailer is set in a deserted/suburban area due to the medium shot of the 'possessed' actress allowing the viewers see the lack of buildings and bright lights which is a well known convention of a supernatural film. Additionally, the lack of speech the 'possessed' actress (Olivia) obviously suggests she is not her human self and will not respond because of the 'demonic possession' that is being encountered. Also, her costume consists of a white top which suggests purity and innocence, this can be linked to the film 'The Exorcist' where the possessed character was also wearing white but was actually possessed with a demon. Throughout the trailer, there is multiple elements of screams which makes it recognisable that it is in fact a horror film, if it were to be a parody then there would be elements of laughter which there is not. 

Abercrombie's theory suggests that 'The boundaries between genres are shifting and are becoming more permeable.' This means that completely different genres are coming together in a film to produce a unique, never-before-seen film which excites the audience. This keeps horror fans entertained as producing same, over done plots for horror fans will leave them bored and not entertained. One film example is Warm Bodies as it incorporates romance, comedy and zombies all in one. In our trailer, we aimed to make it obvious there is a mix of two genres coming together, slasher and supernatural. It is obvious that slasher may be included because of the blood on the costumes as well as the actors. Furthermore, it is obvious that supernatural is also being incorporated because of the cross that the actor is wearing around his neck, this suggests that religion is a significant theme in this film/trailer which is generally seen in supernatural films. However, our mix of genres are not as unique as other films (Warm Bodies), which is where we may need to alter our ideas to fit this theory in.

Neale said 'Genres are instances of repetition and difference. Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre.' This tells us that the its defined by two things; how much it conforms with a genres typical codes and conventions and how much it subverts it. An example of conforming is Texas Chainsaw because it is set in a typical old, scary looking house. An example of subverting is Paranormal Activity as the setting is not visually scary but actually appealing as it is new and modern.