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Film genres: features, functions, evolution

This Interactive workshop aims at exploring the origin of genres, their functions in cinema and their evolution, with particular emphasis on the latest developments. We first ask why we need genres at all and examine the variety of classification criteria that can be used. Then we focus on the specific features of genre films, analysing their conventions and their narrative structures. We then explore how different agents (from producers to audiences, from critics to film scholars) have used and still use genres, and highlight their economic, sociocultural and communicative functions. Finally, by taking a historical perspective, we explore how genres have evolved in the course of time and how modern cinema extensively use genre mixing and hybridization, thus pointing to the future of this important but complex category of film analysis. Part of the www.cinemafocus.eu research materials.

This Interactive workshop aims at exploring the origin of genres, their functions in cinema and their evolution, with particular emphasis on the latest developments. We first ask why we need genres at all and examine the variety of classification criteria that can be used. Then we focus on the specific features of genre films, analysing their conventions and their narrative structures. We then explore how different agents (from producers to audiences, from critics to film scholars) have used and still use genres, and highlight their economic, sociocultural and communicative functions. Finally, by taking a historical perspective, we explore how genres have evolved in the course of time and how modern cinema extensively use genre mixing and hybridization, thus pointing to the future of this important but complex category of film analysis. Part of the www.cinemafocus.eu research materials.

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I generi cinematografici: caratteristiche, funzioni, evoluzione

Film genres: features, functions, evolution

cinemafocus.eu

film.

6. Continua il processo a tempo indeterminato."

Sebbene questo "Gioco" includa la parola

"formula" come uno dei suoi principi

fondamentali, non si tratta sicuramente di un

insieme rigido di "regole" - al contrario, è un

meccanismo altamente flessibile che si basa, da

un lato, sul riferimento costante ai risultati di

botteghino (cioè alla redditività) e, dall'altro, su

una continua (ri)valutazione delle caratteristiche

che rendono un film di successo. Lungi dal

creare un insieme di "regole" per un genere, si

sottolinea le qualità di "ripetizione e variazione"

di cui abbiamo già discusso. In un certo senso,

questo processo, che non si ferma mai ma è

strettamente legato alla continua evoluzione dei

mercati, è molto creativo, perché deve garantire

un attento equilibrio tra il nuovo e il vecchio, tra

i rischi e la garanzia del successo - insomma,

non c'è standardizzazione senza innovazione (e

viceversa).

La storia del cinema abbonda di esempi della

pratica del "Gioco del produttore". Anche al di

fuori di Hollywood, il "gioco" è stato utilizzato

più e più volte: negli anni '50 e '60, ad esempio,

la società britannica Hammer si specializzò nella

produzione di film di fantascienza e horror dopo

il grande successo di "film-test" come,

rispettivamente, L'astronave atomica del Dottor

Quatermass e La maschera di Frankenstein (si

vedano i video qui sotto). Dopo aver stabilito

questi generi, la società fu in grado di

standardizzare la produzione impiegando gli

stessi registi, direttori della fotografia,

scenografi e, naturalmente, attori (come Peter

Cushing e Christopher Lee) - una "ricetta" che

ha contribuito notevolmente a mantenere i costi

al livello più basso possibile massimizzando i

profitti.

(re)assessment of the features that make a

successful film. Far from creating a set of "rules"

for a genre, it stresses the qualities of "repetition

and variation" which we have already discussed.

In a way, this process, which never stops but is

closely linked to the constant evolution of the

markets, is a very creative one, because it must

ensure that a careful balance is achieved

between the new and the old, the risks and the

guarantee of success - in sum, there is no

standardization without innovation - and

viceversa.

The history of cinema abounds in examples of the

practice of the "Producer's Game". Even outside

Hollywood, the game has been used time and

time again: in the 1950s and 1960s, for example,

the British company Hammer specialised in the

production of science-fiction and horror films

after the great success of "test films" like The

Quatermass experiment and The curse of

Frankenstein, respectively (watch the videos

below). After establishing these genres, the

company was able to standardize production by

employing the same directors, cinematographers,

set designers, and, of course, actors (like Peter

Cushing and Christopher Lee) - a "recipe" which

greatly helped to keep costs at the lowest possible

level while maximizing profits.

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