Considering Genre Theory

The theory that John Fiske came up with was 'Any one programme will bear the main characteristics of its genre, but is likely to include some from others: ascribing it to one genre or another involves deciding which set of characteristics are most important'.

This relates to our project as we have followed some of the typical conventions of a 'pop' genre video such as including a dance routine in our video. However we have also challenged these conventions and not included every detail involved in a typical 'pop' music video, because instead of using a very cheesy song and dressing in bright colours to appeal to a young audience with a cheerful bubbly song. We have made our image more modern and up to date to appeal to a wider audience that are also older. So we have decided that we want to make It clear what genre our video fits by including a dance routine typical of a 'pop' video but also including different characteristics by having more of a mature image.

The theory that Edward Buscombe came up with was 'Iconography was the best way to achieve generic definitions'.

This relates to our project as we have created icons by making our band in the music video follow some of the conventions of the 'pop' genre, such as putting across a happy and cheerful image to appeal to a large audience. But at the same time a sexy and provocative image to be more up to date and modern. Therefore our band is able to be icons for many viewers and at the same time for in with our chosen genre.

The theory that Richard Maltby and Ian Craven came up with was 'The success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of the predictable elements with variation'.

This relates to our project as the Saturdays are a classic icon 'pop' band that have been put together to appeal to a large audience, and follow the typical conventions of the 'pop' genre. They are extremely popular and well known and have a very clear image that they have put across, which is very predictable of a 'pop' band.

The theory that Rick Altman came up with was four different points on the media theory:
1) Genre theory presumes that viewers pre-read texts.
2) Viewers become passive voyeurs.
3) Genres therefore are restrictive.
4) Does not acknowledge or allow for the hybrid- the blending of genres.

This doesn't relate to our project as i believe that the Saturdays song 'work' that we have chosen does not fit in with any other genre than the 'pop' genre because of the following reasons;
- The song is very popular, well known, upbeat and cheerful that appeals to a wide audience.
- Our video involves a dance routine, typical convention of the 'pop' genre music videos.
- Our band puts across a very happy yet sexy image to appeal to a variety of viewers.
- The way the song is performed also shows that they have a very bubbly image where as genres such as 'rap' would be more aggressive.
- The all around mise-en-scene of the video follows the 'pop' conventions.