What is genre/subgenre, why is it important (for institutions and audiences)?

What is a genre?
Genre are the codes and conventions.
Conventional means that what you find typical, things that you would expect to find. You can see this when you think about these three aspects:

• CHARACTERS
• LOCATIONS
• PLOT

There are different subgenres in the genre thriller, these are for example:

• Action Thriller
• Conspiracy Thriller
• Crime Thriller
• Disaster Thriller
• Erotic Thriller
• Legal Thrillers
• Medical Thriller
• Psychological Thrillers
• Political Thriller
• Religious Thriller
• Spy Thriller
• Supernatural Thrillers

For each of these you know what what to expect. For example the characters in Supernatural Thrillers could be ghosts, vombies, vampires etc.. and the location could be in dark places, in fields, in haunted houses etc.. and the plot would also be quite predictable. For the audience that likes these kind of films its easy for them to realise that they want to go and see it.


Why are genres important?

• There is an expectation from the audience of what they'll find.
• Genres help the audience choose what they want to see.
• Helps to target the audience.
• Helps market/sell the film.