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
Titanic segna la fine del secolo scorso con i tratti
di un blockbuster di grande successo che combina
tutta la tensione e l'ansia del "film catastrofico"
con l'altrettanto potente romanticismo di
un'appassionata storia d'amore - due ingredienti
che si aiutano a vicenda per aggiornare entrambi i
generi classici in una nuova versione per il 21°
secolo. Allo stesso tempo, a questa combinazione
di generi viene concesso un nuovo inizio,
combinando una tragedia storica con la potenza
del conflitto di classe sociale, rendendo così la
storia d'amore più integrata sia con il contesto
sociale che con la triste storia dei due sfortunati
personaggi.
The Blair Witch Project è stato uno dei primi film
per il quale è stato coniato un nuovo termine
descrittivo (un nuovo genere?) - mockumentary -
che significa un falso documentario presentato
come un vero filmato. Questo "progetto"
probabilmente non avrebbe mai potuto avere il
suo straordinario successo se il suo lancio non
fosse stato in grado di trarre profitto da una
massiccia campagna pubblicitaria su Internet, che
aveva lo scopo di diffondere la voce che tutto ciò
che veniva mostrato era reale. Quello che colpisce
di più in questo tipo di esperimento è il sapiente
montaggio del "filmato", presentato come le
registrazioni, realizzate attraverso una handycam e
una telecamera 16mm, fatte da tre studenti alla
ricerca di una mitica strega presumibilmente
responsabile dell'uccisione seriale di bambini. I
titoli di testa affermano infatti che il materiale è
stato ritrovato un anno dopo la tragica scomparsa
degli studenti, con l'ulteriore effetto di suggerire
che non siano mai più tornati, aggiungendo così
suspense e orrore all'intera operazione: un revival
dell'horror classico, dove la maggior parte
dell'azione si svolge fuori campo, con un punto di
vista soggettivo, e in cui i lunghi dialoghi tra i
personaggi non aggiungono quasi nulla alla
soluzione del mistero (che per la natura stessa del
"progetto" rimane irrisolto). Il film, con il suo
enorme successo di botteghino, ha quasi dato il
via a un nuovo genere: il cosiddetto "found
footage" come base per finte storie di tipo
documentaristico (combinate, come si può
facilmente immaginare, con ogni sorta di effetti
speciali digitali) .
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However, the movie also makes references to
other genres, like thriller, "disaster movie" and
even melodrama, and shows a high level of
self-awareness and cinephile consciousness,
with a masterful use of suspense and a careful
balance between violence and irony.
Titanic marks the end of the last century with
the features of a highly successful blockbuster
which combines all the tension and anxiety of
the "disaster movie" with the equally powerful
romance of a passionate love story - two
ingredients which help each other to update
both classical genres in a new 21st century
version. At the same time, this combination of
genres is granted a fresh start by combining a
historical tragedy with the power of social
class conflict, thus making the love story more
integrated with both the social context and the
sad story of the two ill-fated characters.
The Blair Witch Project was one one of the first
movies for which a new descriptive term (a new
genre?) was coined - mockumentary - meaning
a fake documentary which is presented as real
footage. This "project" could probably never
have had its extraordinary success if its lauch
had not been able to profit from a massive
Internet publicity campaign, which was meant
to spread the voice that all that was shown was
real. What strikes most about this sort of
experiment is the clever editing of the
"footage", presented as the recordings, made
through a handycam and a 16mm camera by
three students searching for a mythical witch
supposedly responsible for the serial killing of
children. The opening credits actually state that
the material was found a year after the tragic
disappearance of the students, with the
additional effect of suggesting that they never
came back, thus adding to the suspense and
horror of the whole operation: a revival of the
classical horror, where most action takes place
off screen, with a subjective viewpoint, and in
which the lengthy dialogues between the
characters add almost nothing to the solution
of the mystery (which by the very nature of the
"project" remains unsolved). The film, with its
huge box office success, almost started a new
genre: the so-called "found footage" as the
basis for fake documentary-like stories
(combined with all sorts of digital effects).