Applying Genre to our Final Idea

I think the genre of our short film will be a hybrid of romance and mystery. This is because the film has romantic elements for example the couple, and the going out for a meal aspect; But its also has dramatic elements such as the affair and the poisoning making it fit the mystery genre. Therefore I feel that the Romantic-Mystery genre is best suited, especially due to the occurrence that the romantic part doesn't display happy and heart-touching scenes.

One film that I have studied is 'Never Forget' which I believe also has the same genre. Therefore we will use this film to study the techniques and codes used to create the genre.

Rick Altman - Semantic codes

Semantic codes are aspects in a film that make it fit into a certain genre, therefore the semantic codes in our film would be:

• The couple - which is a common aspect in  most romantic films (Romance)
• The meal out - This is typical activity for couples to do, and in most films it displays the love towards each other.
• Props - we have not yet decided specific props, but we will use them to connote a romantic them e.g. Flowers, candles etc.
• Non-diegetic music - we may add some instrumental calm music in the restaurant to act parallel to the romantic theme. 
• The poison - this will fit the dramatic side, as the poison is a disruption in the romantic plot line. 
• The affair - this fits the dramatic genre as it is a twist in the conventional romantic film. 
• Body/facial expressions - the women's expressions would be shifty implying to the audience that drama may take place in the film. 

 Steve Neale - Repetition and Variation
Our short film will repeat conventions of Romantic-Mystery films e.g. love aspects, a meal and a dramatic event. But our variation will be the twist where the girl didn't intend on the death of her boyfriend. This makes our film different to those already on the market and if it was to be sold, it would bring something different to an already saturated market: potentially reaching higher sales.