Genre Theory

Genre is a way of categorising a text through style and form. It is vital to be able to categorise texts in this way - both for production and analysis. Most students associate genre with film, and indeed this is where categories can be most easily identified.

The definition of genre from dictionary.com is "a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, context, technique, or the like." Although it seems that genre should be easy to define, the finer points of textual categorisation are not yet established.

Genres, according to Daniel Chandler, create order to simplify the mass of available information. Creating categories promotes organisation instead of chaos. Jane Fuere has divided ways to categorise genres into three different groups. The first is aesthetic. By using this method one can organise according to certain sets of characteristics, and so the overall work of the artist is not disparaged by generalisation. The second classification method is ritual. Ritual uses its own culture to help classify. If one performs a ritual associated with a system of ritual, one can be said to be practicing as a member of that system. The common taxonomical method is ideological. This occurs most often in the marketing of texts, music, and movies. The effectiveness of this type of categorisation can be measured by how well the public accepts these categories as valid.

Genre is dependant on many factors, the storyline, the director, and the audience's expectations to name few. When creating or marketing a film, it is important to consider the audience the film will be for.

Narrative Theory

|Propp's seven character types-

Propp's theory states that there will always be seven main character types. The hero, the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess, the false hero and the dispatcher. Although this may be the case in many feature films such as Star Wars, in short films such as Uncanny Valley it is difficult to follow these rules as there isn't generally as many characters. 

|Todorov's Equilibrium Theory-

Todorov's theory suggests that the movie always starts with a state of equilibrium before there is a disruption of the equilibrium, then it is repaired before being reinstated.

|Torodov's Equilibrium Theory in Uncanny Valley-

Equilibrium-

This short film begins with shots of a man walking and sleeping to the sound of his own voice. Although there is ominous music in the background, all seems to be well and there appears to be a state of equilibrium. This state of equilibrium continues throughout this short film as we see people playing VR games and then waking up.

Disruption-

The equilibrium is disturbed when the main character is in a VR game and notices a glitch in the graphics. As he begins to shoot at it, the glitch turns into a portal and the character proceeds to enter it. The characters and graphics change and the character seems confused.

Recognition-

As the graphics change and the 'game' becomes more realistic the character begins to notice the change. The graphics change furthermore and the enemies are no longer depicted as robots but as people. This is when the character becomes fully aware of the break in the equilibrium.

Repair and Reinstatement-

 Unfortunately there is no repair or reinstatement of the equilibrium in this short film and we are left on somewhat of a cliffhanger. 

|Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition Theory-

Levi-Strauss suggests the all narratives are driven by a constant creation of conflict

|Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition Theory in Uncanny Valley-

This theory isn't immediately obvious in Uncanny Valley as there are not the typical 'Good-guy', 'Bad-guy' characters or light and dark themes. The whole film is quite dark from the off but progressively gets darker as the story goes on. There isn't much light to contrast with the dark, so this film does not follow the theory.

Anachronic:

Modified flashbacks and flash forwards.
No clear dominance between any narrative threads.

Anachronic in Uncanny Valley:
In Uncanny Valley this is one of the first scenes we see. It shows an elderly woman looking confused and emotional, but we don't know why. The film the goes on as normal, until we see this scene again but this time it corresponds with the rest of the story.












Forking-path:

Alternative versions of the story.
Outcomes that may result in changes.

Alternative theory in Uncanny Valley:
Unfortunately i couldn't find an examples of alternative theory in Uncanny Valley.

Episodic:
A collection of stories joined by a common theme.

Genre Theory in Uncanny Valley

The definition of genre from dictionary.com is "a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, context, technique, or the like." Although it seems that genre should be easy to define, the finer points of textual categorisation are not yet established. Genre is dependant on many factors, the storyline, the director, and the audience's expectations to name a few.

Uncanny Valley is a short film directed by Federico Heller, which gives us a glimpse into a future where First Person Shooters have become a new drug for those disillusioned with society. The film examines the consequences of this on the global society and gives us an insight into what is happened to one player in particular. 

Federico Heller is a relatively new actor and so there isn't much to suggest what his genre of movies typically are. Heller has 3 pieces of work all together: 

• Shave It (2012)
• Aliados (2013 - 2014)
• Uncanny Valley (2015)

'Shave It' is a short movie about a monkey that finds a razor lying in the jungle and shaves his body to make him look human. He then moves to the city and proceeds to try to climb society's ladder. This is an animated film and has no dialogue. In some ways this movie has some comedic value but would ultimately fall into the genre of 'fantasy' as none of what happens is true and could never happen.

'Aliados' is a series about 6 humans working together to prove that humanity has enough to survive in just 110 days. This series is a mixture of many genres; comedy, fantasy and romance.

As these are the only other two things ever produced by Federico Heller we have limited information on what genre 'Uncanny Valley' may be. Judging by the previous two movies, we may expect a fantasy piece as that is the only thing both pieces have in common. However, Uncanny Valley appears to be more of a Sci-Fi/Thriller. This shows us that we can't necessarily tell what genre a movie will be just by the director.

As genre is also determined by the time and place in which it is set, Uncanny Valley seems to fall in the 'Sci-Fi' genre bracket. This is because it is set in the future and technologies that do not yet exist, are common place in this movie. Things like virtual reality are just beginning to become popular in our world and this movie provides a glimpse of what things may be like for us in the future.

Here are some PowerPoints that I found containing some good points and quotes on genre theory.

Genre for our Short Film

Genre

Mockumentary

The definition of a mockumentary is a TV show or film that takes the form of a serious documentary and satirises its subject. This is often a very effective comedic technique and has been used in many successful television programmes throughout recent years. Shows such as 'The Office', 'Arrested Development' and 'Modern Family' all used this style of filming and were enormously successful. Shows such as these have given me the inspiration to create a mockumentary short. Before making this mockumentary short, I decided to do some research into the codes and conventions of other mockumentary shorts.

The first short I will be analysing is 'While You Were Fighting', a short film about the life of the superhero 'Thor' after his life in 'The Avengers'. Thor decides to flat-share with another guy and this short mockumentary is about Thor trying to adapt to normal life. 

This short film is filmed in the style of shows such as 'The Office'. It consists of an interview with a specific character or two followed by some 'live' shots of the characters' day-to-day lives. This makes the film feel natural and not scripted, as if a documentary.

The short film also uses titles to label each character to give them an identity and to let us know who they are, just like a documentary. 

'While You Were Fighting' also contains many different shots of 'real' footage to make it seem as though we had an insight into the lives of the characters. In this scene we can see Thor helping out at a local primary school and trying to find his place in society now that he is no longer in 'The Avengers'. 

In another scene of this film, also showing 'real' footage, we see Thor and Bruce Banner (The Hulk) out for coffee. This gives the mocumentary a semi-believable storyline whilst also increasing its comedic value.

A mockumentary, trying to look as natural as possible, often includes natural things such as natural sounds and natural lighting to make the footage look as real and unscripted as possible, making the whole 'documentary' idea a bit more believable.

Although this one does not, some documentary- style programmes may have interviews with experts to confirm information given to them by the voice-over or by an interviewee. These experts help the viewers believe what is being said.

Codes, conventions and patterns in short films

Short Film- 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short filmas "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits".

Codes and Conventions-

Characters-  A short film typically has 2 or 3 main characters. Not only does this help to not complicate the film by keeping it short, it also keeps the cost of the film down to a minimum as many short film directors are independent film makers and don't normally have a substantial financial backing.

Twist- Short films often have a twist to the storyline. This is the director's way of making the film as interesting as possible in the short amount of time that he/she has. For example, Uncanny Valley is about virtual reality and how people want it to be 'more realistic' but it later turns out that it has been real-life all along. This would help capture the viewer's attention and makes for a good cliff-hanger to end the short film on.

Budget- A short film will almost always have a lower budget that a feature length movie. Many short films are made by independent film companies that don't typically have sufficient financial backing. Although this may be the case in many instances, this doesn't mean it is the case all the time. Many short films have more than enough money behind them an benefit from great special effects and editing software e.g. 'Uncanny Valley' had several characters, great special effects and was very well edited, suggesting it had a large budget. Whereas 'So you've grown attached' only had 1 or 2 main character and basic special effects, suggesting its budget was not as substantial.

Length- Short films typically have a maximum length of about 35-40 minutes but are usually around 5-15 minutes in length.

Uncanny Valley- This is a short film directed by Federico Heller that tells a futuristic story of homeless virtual reality junkies that live in the slums of the future. Their craving for realistic violence on the web leads an expert player to discover that the line between games and reality is much thinner than originally thought.

Although this story is somewhat farfetched, it is filmed in such a way that it is still able to capture the attention of the viewer. The movie cuts between interviews with the gamers and clips of them playing the game, joined by a sound bridge of the narration. This allows the viewers to hear the story from the gamers' perspectives as well as allowing them to see what they are taking about first-hand, giving the viewers a better understanding of the story.

Characters- When it comes to characters, Uncanny Valley doesn't really follow the codes and conventions of a short film. A typical short film is said to contain few characters in order to make the film as cost effective as possible. Uncanny Valley has quite a large number of characters and extras, which would normally make the cost quite high. A short movie may use actors that are willing to work for little to no pay.

Twist- Uncanny Valley has a clear twist at the end where we find out that the 'VR' is reality. All the VR users believe that they are just players in a game but it turns out they were killing real, innocent people all along.

Length- Uncanny Valley has a length of about 8 minutes, complying with the convention of length.

 A combination of close-up and mid shots are used to create the feeling of a personal interview. This engages the viewer in he movie and invites them to focus more closely on what is being said.

The movie begins with a close-up of a woman's face. She looks distressed and confused and seems to be looking at something or someone. This gives the beginning of the film mystery and makes the audience immediately begin to ask questions. 

This shot then fades seems to become distorted and pixelated before fading to black.The pixilation of this clip suggests an evolvement of computers in some form or another, introducing the viewer to the idea of technologies such as virtual reality right from the beginning.

The shot the woman then fades to black and the titles appear, allowing us to see the movie name.

A male voice is then heard which bridges to the next scene.

After the credits we then see a tracking shot of a man as he walks down a large hallway lit by candles. There are then multiple shots of the man as he walks due to the fast paced editing. This allows us to see all of the surrounding area.

There is then an interview scene with the man from the previous scene. This consists of him talking to what looks like the person behind the camera. He continues to talk about virtual reality (similar to the title scene).

It then cuts between the interview scene and the hallway scene repeatedly and we see the man caught up in a slow-motion explosion which causes him to go flying through the sky. A graphic match is the used as the scene changes to the man levitating in mid-air in slow-motion with a small metal devise on his nose.

The man seems to be in a sleep-like state for a brief period before he 

regains consciousness and wakes up. He can then be seen removing a ring from is nose. 

 






























Horror - by Rudi Magill

After watching a few short films, I have realised that some of them follow similar patterns and structures, for example, the first pattern I picked up on is that many of these short films get straight in to point and are filmed in a way that it seems mid scene. I also grasped a firm impression on the character quicker than I would in a full-length film, as a full-length has more time to build up a character progressively. Short films tend to begin with a title straight away within the first 15 seconds where as most films' titles' are shown after the opening scene, or ending. This reinforces my point how short films get straight to the point. Here is examples of a few short films I watched which began with the title.

 A Short Film I watched called 'Where You Are' by Graham Parkes begins with the title then a mother and son in mid conversation. With no narration or build up we are put straight into the scene, firstly hearing a part of their conversation which is the main theme of the short film. This scene is continued at the end of the Short Film

This pattern continues. When I watched 'Stryka' by Emily Carmichael, the opening scene for this shows 3 people sitting where one begins to laugh, again we are shot in to the middle of a scene where we don't know what happened but we're in the moment. The ending of Stryka is a continuation of the opening also.

CHARACTERS

Short films tend to have a small variety of main characters. The fact that these films are what they are (short), means that there isn't enough time to delve in to more that 2 or 3 characters. If there were more than 3 characters, it wouldn't allow the viewer to relate to all of the characters in the short amount of time that is a short film. Short films usually tend to have one main protagonist throughout the film. For Example, "Lonely Planet" by Alex Burunova only has 2 main characters in the short film, with the girl being the main.

LENGTH

Anything over 40 minutes would be considered a feature film. Short films usually last 5-10 minutes, but can be longer.

"Lonely Planet" - 24 minutes

"Killer" - 20 minutes

"Where You Are" - 13 minutes

BUDGET

Most short films would tend to have a low budget, reason being that most short film makers are independent. Many actors in short films are amateur actors, so they wouldn't be expecting a high payment. As well as having to pay the actors, directors and producers also need to get payed, this 'Budget Breakdown' shows the actors, producers and directors being payed hourly for a relatively cheap price in comparison to full feature films. The Breakdown also shows the costs of props, equipment and location rental. There are a lot of factors involved in creating a short film, but a lot less than a full feature film. The grand total shown for this certain film was £571.50, which is quite cheap compared to full feature films.

TWIST

Short films tend to have a twist or at least an element of the film that is completely extraordinary. The endings of short films are usually clever and leave a message to the viewer. In the short film 'Black Hole', the main protagonist gets more than he bargained  for and this was conveyed in a very smart way, with a message telling the audience that being greedy is immoral.