Over the past few days of writing my presentation of what I am going to portray in my up coming Genre Sketch and where that will lead me, I have been brainstorming a lot of ideas about how my sketch will foreplay. I have brainstormed the way in which I am going to convey this piece which is in the eye of a mother who is expected to hold herself together, but when the children go to school and the husband is off at work that is when her true colours show. I think that this is a good approach because it follows on with my idea of gender in genre and the image that is expected of women, but compared to PB2 I can play with the editing more so. I have done a bit of reading of Film Noir and what is expected so I feel that those few things I need to have in the back of my mind when creating it but this also really gives me a good chance to step out of my comfort zone and play around a bit.

Eeek had to pop off to New Zealand early to see my family so was unable to attend both the screening and the seminar… BUT thankfully with Daniel’s help I think I finally feel confident in my PB3. I was really nervous for this has I have to make a video genre sketch, but I think the creative and unique light I am wanting to convey could really work in my favour. I have decided to look into Film Noir as it is so different from anything I would ever watch, but I really like the expected creative aspect of it. I have always been a lover of crime and horror films so I feel that with a touch of Film Noir I can present a wacky and abstract image. What I focussed on in my last genre sketch was the idea of gender in the horror genre- this is something I feel passionate about and feel that I can develop into other genres which I want to also flow into as I feel it is something people don’t usually focus on but can really dive into the conventions of Film Noir as well.

Reflecting upon this workshop I have started to feel slightly uneasy towards the next project brief/ genre sketch as we can’t use the same component and genre. This is going to lead me to really step out of my comfort zone (as I do feel comfortable with horror) and try something new such as a bank of images or a video. When thinking about this genre sketch the way I am looking to approach this is similar to my Horror sketch in which brainstorming common conventions of the genre chosen and being able to present them in my personal and unique way consciously through my sketch. I sort of find this confusing and feel that I will need to pick a genre I feel comfortable about and that has conventions I can relate to.

For now I will be doing a lot of brainstorming and research!

In our week 5 workshop we discussed our first genre sketches. It seemed that majority of the class had done the horror genre which was interesting to see how people find that the most relatable genre to make a sketch out of. In our class we watched a few of these horror sketches (as the weekly genre was horror) and talked about the common elements of them. I think everyone was quite reluctant to show their’s (I defiantly was) but I found it very useful to see how each person went about making theirs. One thing that stood out to me was one of the video ones I watched and how it was all in black and white and the different camera angles enhanced the creepy surroundings and uncomfortableness within the audiences. I think this was very effective because it engaged the audience into wanting to see more and also made it very clear of the genre in such a short timing of a sketch.

I am very interested also in theories and conventions of the horror genre and what is expected to be seen in horror films such as sexualisation of women and them usually to be the victim. One theory I did research into last year was the ‘Male Gaze’ written by Laura Mulvery in 1975. This theory stated that women were often objected in Hollywood cinemas and seen as ‘objects’ to the male heterosexual pleasure. I saw this in both the film ‘Alien’ and ‘Alien’s’ watched in class where Ripley wears loose singlets were the camera focusses on her body looking her up and down (emphasising her lady parts). When they wake up off the space ship Ripley is also in her under wear and a singlet exposing her body a lot more than the men.

For my genre sketch I have decided to follow these typical horror conventions and theories as I feel this is the original idea of a horror film. Although these horror films are changing to be more engaged with the changing role of women and now they are becoming the antagonists themselves, I feel that it is more understanding and clear cut to see a weak women put in a unfortunate situation.

For my genre sketch I thought that it would be a good idea to watch some of my favourite horror films to remind me of ideas and issues within this genre I would like to investigate further. In my last year of school, I focussed my media studies exam around the horror genre because I enjoyed the conventions of horror films and found the changing role of the female characters so distinctive and relatable to society movements in the period of time that the films were released.

This week I decided to watch the original ‘Alien’ film released in 1979 because yesterday we watched ‘Alien’s’ in class.  The genre we were looking at was sci-fi, but this can also I believe that this can be a hybrid genre cross with horror. I did some research into the time period of this film where I discovered at the time ‘Alien’ was released there was a new social movement that took stage for women where there was a lead of civil rights as well as the mounting protests against the Vietnam war. This film particular relates to this women’s movement as the protagonist has a unisex name ‘Ripley’. She is shown to be tough and willing to fight Alien’s off the ship. What I also got from this film is that the characters have been stripped of their first names to further remove any sense of gender as this film was concluded as a feminist film.

I was so excited that we were watching a Rom Com in class yesterday because its such an easy genre to relate to and makes you feel so much emotion for the characters and put yourself in their shoes. I had never seen ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ and it is truely your typical Rom Com genre film. What we discussed in class was that the target audience for this film would be a middle aged female, and a classic Bridget Jones personality. The women who watches romantic movies and cries the whole way through it. I think this is so funny because you can just imagine women looking for a love that is shown in this film- and even though it is so unrealistic for the events in this film to happen in real life it gives you a sense of hope about fate and the idea that everything happens for a reason. Another point that was raised in class that I thought was interesting is that genre is predictable so what is the point in creating predictable movies? Someone raised a point that there is always universal themes and always going to be an audience for them. For example you crave foods, you also do crave these films which I can relate to because there are defiantly times when I need a Rom Com film to brighten my mood.

For the continuation of the second week we looked at the Western film genre. In the reading for this week it was really interesting to see where the how Asian cinema emerged with Westernisation. It was said that international films played a huge role in constructing the category of Asian cinema. One point that was raised that is key to this category of cinema, is that in order of Asian cinema to establish itself to be viable of film history “it must involve more than a tracing of the globalisation or westernisation of Asia cinema”. This shows that in order for it to be recognised it needs to have its on sort of ‘tail of Western cinema and as they reading says- a sort of ‘Asianisation”.

This reading also raised points that were seen in the film ‘Sukiyaki Western Django’ directed by Takashi Miike in 2007. For example, in Western film genre it is known that the male protagonists don’t say much showing they remain control and mystery over the other characters. We see this evidently by the gun slider in this film as he represents this tradition ‘silent’ hero. What I really liked about this film as it was very clear to see the difference between the two clans (one being red and one being white) this easily showed there was a battle between them as red is a symbolic colour of anger.

An issue that can be seen in this film that this Asian cinema film has undertaken is the discrimination of women/ sexualisation of them. This is interesting to see, because I know that in other genres such as horror and action/adventure women are undermined but never had I thought a Western genre film would also follow this trend of women. This is something interesting I would like to further look into maybe for my genre sketch as it was an issue raised in the earlier years of genre films such as the ones listed above.

Week 1 of this class I was still overseas but from my understanding in the Monday session they talked about Genre and what it entails. I thought that it would be a good idea whilst over seas to think about what genres I enjoy to watch and how that will benefit me in this studio. On the plane ride back to Melbourne I watched ‘Eye in the Sky’ which is in some what a war film but falls mostly under the thriller genre. This got me thinking about this genre to understand how directors and producers work to find new ways to continuously excite audiences. I find that whenever I watch a thriller movie it is not one that I can fall asleep to, and in order to understand the plot you need to be constantly engaged. With the development of this genre what you can see is that they move with society and what is actually going on in the world. For example- the main protagonist of this film was a women working for the army which in previous war films this wouldn’t be seen as it is more of a male driven work force. I think this is good because it shows that they are staying with the times and portraying films in a more realistic view.