Altman & Lacey (Genre)

Key Terms: genre / generic, repertoire of elements, blueprint, contract, iconography, narrative, star image, cultural competence.

Rick Altman

Rick Altman has written widely about film, his most well known book is called ‘Film/Genre’. His ideas can be applied to any media text identified with a generic label. In writing he tries to explain the uses of genre and suggests that there are four distinct uses that genre is put to by four different groups concerned with production, distribution and consumption.

‘Genre is an act of similarity and difference’ – Altman

The Producer (Blueprint)

A media producer uses genre to minimise their risk, by understanding what is currently popular / selling. The producer also uses genre as a blueprint for production.

The Distributor (Label)

Will use genre to communicate the nature of the media text that are selling; they will use well known generic codes and conventions in marketing materials in order to communicate the genre of the media texts to the audience.

The Audience (Contract)

Use their understanding of genre to decide which media to consume as they seek predictable pleasure. The audience will also use genre to shape their expectations of the text, which if met will give them enjoyment. However if their expectations are not met they may reject the text because their expectations are denied or subverted (it’s too different); the generic contract is broken

The Student (Structure)

Will use genre as a comparative system in order to study media texts. They will use the repertoire of elements to group texts into a corpus which may be defined by a generic label. They will also use similarities & differences between texts to explore the characters, themes, visual style, sound, iconography, performance and narrative of a genre.

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Nick Lacey

In his book ‘Introduction to Film’ Nick Lacey describes genre as an act of ‘similarity and difference’; this simple idea is essential to understanding genre theory. When an audience consumes a media text defined by a generic label they have certain expectations of the text (cultural competence), certain features which are often described as the, ‘repertoire of elements’. An audience member will want their expectations satisfied, but will also be unhappy if the text they consume is an exact copy of previous texts. Paradoxically, they want something similar but at the same time different.

THE REPERTOIRE OF ELEMENTS
This is a framework (or structure) which allows students to study genre by comparison with other texts.

In music (videos) those repertoire of elements may be:			In print media (magazines & digipaks) those repertoire of elements may be:
Element	Description		Element	Description
Iconography	A familiar stock of image to do with the band / star the connotations of which have become fixed; costume, props, locations…		Art / Image(s)	The design, style & mise-en-scene of the images on the digipak.
Camera and Editing	Production techniques which echo the rhythm, tempo and instrumentation of the music.		Colour Palette	The palette of colours which are used in the design
The Sound	Conventions of musical style (instrumentation, lyrics, style, tempo)		Typeface(s)	The fonts which are chosen and the design features applied to those fonts.
Narrative	How the themes in the story are reflected in the narrative, and therefore the ideology of the band/artist.		Copy (The Words)	The connotation of the word choices used, especially in the album art & track list.
Star Image	Values / ideology promoted by the star (or their label) which are attractive to fans.		Effects / Filters / Brushes / Stroke	Any effects applied in Photoshop or Illustrator, including design features lines / shapes and filters.
Performance	The style of performance along with the attitude, mannerisms and vocal style (grain of voice) of the lead singer.		Representation	The ideology (values, attitudes and beliefs) of the band / artist.

Glossary:

• Genre / generic – A stylistic or thematic category of media texts based on similarities either in narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or emotional response.
• Repertoire of elements – A list of features common to texts within a genre characters (star image), costume, iconography, colour palette, production technique, typeface…
• Blueprint – Producers use their understanding of generic features as a blueprint (a map) for production.
• Contract – Generic features act as a agreement between producers and audiences. Genre shapes audiences expectations of predictable pleasure.
• Iconography – Props, setting, character types, production technique which are strongly associated with a genre
• Narrative – The plot of a story combined with the structure of the story – how the story is told, in what order and from whose perspective.
• Star image – In the music industry the star image is a product, a brand which can be sold. Often strongly linked to a given genre of music.
• Cultural competence – The audiences understanding of other texts within the same genre and other intertextual references.