Media Fact Sheets

Genre: Categorising texts 

1) What example is provided of why visual iconographies are so important?

Visual iconographies are enough alone to show a genre.

2) What examples are provided of the importance of narrative in identifying genre?
Narrative is important as it helps viewers/reader in identifying the genre through specific plot lines .

3) What is the difference between character representation in action movies and disaster movies?
In action movies there is a main protagonist who is isolated and makes the final decision in the end. While, in disaster movies it is a group, with different abilities, who make the final decision.

4) What are the different ways films can be categorised according to Bordwell? 

Period, Star, Technical, Style, Series and Audience.

5) List three ways genre is used by audiences.

Prior knowledge, comparison, rejection of texts and preparation.

6) List three ways genre is used by institutions or producers.

Prior knowledge, to rejection of texts and preparation.

7) What film genre is used as an example of how genres evolve? What films and conventions are mentioned?

Gangster films are the genre mentioned and it lists Reservoir Dogs, Scarface and The Sopranos.
Superheroes: A Genre Case Study 

1) List five films the factsheet discusses with regards to the Superhero genre.

Spiderman, The X Men, Avengers Assemble,  Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron man. 

2) What examples are provided of how the Superhero genre has reflected the changing values, ideologies and world events of the last 70 years?

The chages made to the Batman logo to be taken more seriously.

3) How can Schatz's theory of genre cycles be applied to the Superhero genre?

The superhero genre made their key conventions known until it was implimented and the audience became familiar with it. They were mocked in a parody ,and so, reconstructed again within the films that followed the intentionally funny parody.

General: Stranger Things(Netflix)

1) Why did you choose the text you are analysing?

I chose it because the premise of the show is short but complicated.

2) In what context did you encounter it?

Netflix the streaming service

3) What influence do you think this context might have had on your interpretation of the text?

The streaming aspect gives of a serious cinematic feel.

4) To what genre did you initially assign the text?

Science fiction, Supernatural fiction and Historical period drama

5) What is your experience of this genre?

Little. I do not have a particular fondness of jumpscares and horror.

6) What subject matter and basic themes is the text concerned with?

Unravelling series of mysteries involving secret government experiments, unnerving supernatural forces, and an unusual little girl.

7) How typical of the genre is this text in terms of content?

It is slightly atypical in the sense that you can't know the whole plot without watching each extract and little hints are given which complicate the story excel in making it quite bearable to watch.

8) What expectations do you have about texts in this genre?

Scary, gory and unpredictable

9) Have you found any formal generic labels for this particular text (where)?

Imdb have classed it as a Drama, Horror and Mystery

10) What generic labels have others given the same text?

Rotten Tomatoes classed it as just Drama.

11) Which conventions of the genre do you recognise in the text?

Having jump scares and tension built through eerie music. Having props know to the 90s specifically(keeping to their theme) 

12) To what extent does this text stretch the conventions of its genre?

Slightly

13) Where and why does the text depart from the conventions of the genre?

In Horror we normally see the enemy/villain. However, Stranger Things uses sound and small shots of the enemy to proper submerge the viewers. It is also uses the ideas of action genre as the main character Eleven is seen to be the one with all the power.

14) Which conventions seem more like those of a different genre (and which genre(s)?

Having a romantic aspect of a boy meets girl type relationship being built in the foreground of the main story. Typical of a 90s teen drama and not much into Horror.

15) What familiar motifs or images are used?

The constant gurgling sound when the alien is near or is ready to attack, which was foreshadowed at the beginning with the children playing a board game and being a attacked by a creature. The contentious motif of light when a mother is searching for her son.  

Mode of address

1) What sort of audience did you feel that the text was aimed at (and how typical was this of the genre)?

A young demographic of teenagers and anyone born in the 90s era. No specific gender demographic.

2) How does the text address you?

Assumes I want to part from the normal apocalyptic type action and into a more in depth drama.

3) What sort of person does it assume you are?

Someone who enjoys a deeper and more sinister look on making a child's board game come to life.

4) What assumptions seem to be made about your class, age, gender and ethnicity?

Middle-class white male from 12-17 or millennials. 

5) What interests does it assume you have?

Interest in Detectives, Supernatural and Covert secret government organisations. 

Relationship to other texts

1) What inter-textual references are there in the text you are analysing (and to what other texts)?

Inter-textual references N/A

2) Generically, which other texts does the text you are analysing resemble most closely?

Sense 8 as they both use the idea of Science fiction, Drama and keep true to their time settings.

3) What key features are shared by these texts?

Both use the sense of supernatural and a secret organisation going after super powered beings. Also using excruciating cliffhangers to leave audiences sceptical and wanting to keep watching.

4) What major differences do you notice between them?

Sense 8 goes beyond simple curiosity with its longer season and uses a lot of know faces for popularity in for its show. While, Stranger Things is able to compact intricate detail and cliffhangers foreshadowing to the next interlude/season into 8 episodes.