RESEARCH: Genre and Subgenre

Genre and Sub-genre

Genre: A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Sub-genre: Subcategory with a particular genre.

In media terms, genre is basically the category in which a film may fall under, for example, a thriller - following all the conventions of a stereotypical thriller. 

But there can be a sub-genre - To lure in the target audience, a sub-genre may be used to allow the film to be targeted at a more specific audience, for example an action thriller would be targeted at the people that like action movies along with thriller movies combined.

Shutter Island is a phsycological thriller that my group are interested in. We want to base our thriller opening within this sub-genre because they are designed to make the audience think. It will also interest the generation that the film opening will be shown to.  


The opening of shutter Island starts of as if everything is normal, and then progressing more into the film it shows the darkness behind what is happening. As a group we would have to try and come up with a way of showing that there may be something more to the story than just what you see on screen to show that it is a phsycological thriller.

Some phsycological thrillers I have researched use a discreet opening, usually showing miscellaneous objects that may be important during the film. Or just close ups of objects that may connote something.