A presentation describing the repertoire of elements

2.  Over the last 10 years genre theorists have
started to refer to a 'repertoire of elements'
from which generic descriptions might be
constructed.The repertoire refers to a group
of routines that a media form may use. For
example, a film could draw on a repertoire of
generic elements.Two films drawing on the
same repertoire may have many elements in
common but be seen differently by audiences
because neither film will use all the elements.

3. The repertoire of elements includes:
 Iconography
 Style
 Setting
 Narrative
 Characters
 Themes
 Audience response
 Target audience

4.  Iconography refers to the visual language of films and
other media texts, especially within genre.We expect
to see certain objects on screen when we watch a
genre (such as in aWestern seeing lonely roads,
saloon bars, cowboy hats, horses, etc) and
iconography means how the film fulfills the genre by
using these conventions.These genre indicators are
called the iconography of the mise-en-scene or genre.
Iconography can also refer to 'sound images' as well
as visual images where media forms will use sound
clips that suit the genre they are using.

5.  Style refers to how the objects and sounds
are presented to the audience, focusing on
the camera angles, composition of shots and
editing.All of these feed into the film to
create the style. An example of how style is
influenced by the genre is where there is a
excess of rich and clashing colours that could
suggest the styling of the film to be a
melodrama.

6.  Some genres will have a distinct location,
such as a horror movie having an abandoned
house. Genres will often try and keep a
consistent set of locations but the settings
within a genre can change.An example of this
is the gangster film 'Bonnie and Clyde'
(1967) which switched the usual urban setting
for a much more rural one.

7.  Narrative can refer to both the story structures that
films employ and the specific narrative devices or
elements that are used in the construction of a film
(such as gun-fights and dance sequences). Narratives
tend to focus more on conflicts than ideas and values.
Narratives will tend to start with an existing
equilibrium or balance between opposing forces.
Conflict ensues and is eventually resolved so that a
new balance can be achieved (Todorov's 1975 theory).
On top of this, most genres offer a narrative of
'reassurance' where murders in films are usually
captured and punished.

8.  Narrative will often be developed through
characters - the villain will cause a problem that
must be resolved by the heroes. Genres will
often have particular villains and heroes
associated with them, such as the 'gangster
boss' and the 'FBI' agent in a gangster movie.
Some characters are tightly associated with a
genre that they attain the term generic type. An
example of this can be seen when looking at
police films. After the Lethal Weapon series
police films seemed to constantly have two
unlikely partners teamed up to stop the villain.

9.  Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites can
often be seen when looking at the theme of a
film where East vsWest, Black vsWhite, Rich vs
Poor are often seen. In a narrative there will
usually be some form of disruption between two
binary opposites. Different themes can be found
in different genres however. Musicals will try and
focus on escape whereas family melodramas are
about the security and suffocation of the middle
class home.

10.  Some genres are identifiable through very specific
settings and locations, often being associated with
imagery and style, whereas other genres are perhaps
mainly identifiable through narratives and themes.
However, there is a much more immediate way that
audience group films - the audience response.
Audience will often go to the cinema in search of
sensation, an immediate emotional response.The
adrenaline rush of an action film, the 'on the edge of
your seat' tension of a suspense thriller or the release
of laughter for a comedy - all of these are important
elements of several genres and their aim is to achieve
this from their audience.

11.  Every film has a 'mode of address' - the way it
speaks to a particular target audience.The
assumption, for example, in the film industry is
that some generic elements will appeal to men
rather than women and to older rather than
younger audiences, etc.These assumptions are
supported by the industries own research but is
mostly outdated with the shift in equality for
genders. For example, the usual assumption that
action genres are 'male' seems to be
contradicted by the interest of female fans in
female action heroes.