Film Genre vs. Film Style

Film style is distinct from film genre, which categorizes films based on similar narrative structures. For instance, Western films are about the American West, love stories are about love, and so on.

Film style categorizes films based on the techniques used in the making of the film, such as cinematography or lighting. Two films may be from the same genre, but they will probably look different based on the film style. For example, "Independence Day" and "Cloverfield" are both sci-fi, action films about the possible end of the world.

However, they are shot completely different, with Cloverfield using a handheld camera for the entire movie. Films in the same genre do not necessarily have the same film style. Therefore, film genre and film style are distinct film terms.

Analyzing Film Style

According to David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, there are four general steps when analyzing film style in a film or of a director.

1. The first step is to determine the organizational structure. Narrative films have cause and effect relationships, parallelism, and distinct patterns of story development.

2.  The second step is to identify prominent techniques. Films use many stylistic techniques, but identifying ones emphasized throughout the film helps to analyze and identify film style.

3. The third step is finding patterns between the techniques. Filmmakers often use the film’s stylistic system to correlate to the drama of the story. Specific scenes may also have film styles that reflect the plot of the specific scene. Another technique used by filmmakers is making the film style highlight parallelism by creating associations between situations. Although the film style tends to match the overall structure of the film, sometimes filmmakers will choose techniques to emphasize the style itself.

4. The fourth step in analyzing film style is to propose functions for the techniques and the patterns formed. For example, style may enhance emotions throughout a film by rapid cutting, for example. Film style helps to bring meaning to a film. Certain shots and techniques do not have the same meaning from film to film, but meaning in a certain film can be attained through the patterns and techniques used in the film.

Task:

1. Identify 2 films that are from the same genre but are handled with different styles.

2. Choose a scene from each film that highlights a major stylistic difference.

3. Create a sceen shot from each film and that visibly shows the difference.

4. Post the images and your analysis to your blog.