Project #2

What are subgenre conventions?

For Project #2, you are required to curate a collection of compositions which best represent a narrative sub-genre.

First, select a subgenre of the narrative (Science Fiction, Horror, Romance, etc,) and define the conventions of that narrative subgenre. Provide at least 10 conventions. Now provide 10 examples narratives which can be classified into that sub-genre. Include images, links to how someone might view the example, and 50 words each on why that example fulfills the conventions of that subgenre. Your purpose is to persuade viewers to want to engage with these narratives.
Next, select the best examples from that curation and write a MINIMUM of 1,500 words analyzing the examples.

You will post each draft of your genre analysis paper on your Project 1 page with your curation of compositions.

In the paper, for each example, you are required to identify the:

genre
mode
media
audience
style and design
purpose
use of rhetorical appeals
and how this composition fulfills or subverts genre conventions.

Project #2 Short Assignment #1 – Persuasive Curation

Once you have decided on your subgenre, defined the 10 conventions, and have located 10 examples, you must create a visually appealing hub for all your examples on your Project 1 page. You are persuading your reader that your sub-genre is the best and your examples are representative of the best of that genre. Your 50-word defenses must be compelling and your links on each example should lead the reader to its source.

You will be graded on

Understanding of Conventions of the narrative subgenre and the Persuasive genre (is your convention definitions accurate? Are your examples plausible? Do your 50 persuasive words for each example convince the reader?)
Style and Design (Is it pleasing to look at?)
Accessibility (Do the link buttons work? Is it easy to find everything? Is it easy to read?)
Whether the curation fulfills the prompt (Do you meet the word counts? Do you have all 10 definitions of the sub-genre conventions? Do you have all 10 examples on the page?)

“

convention

”

––a way in which something is usually done, especially within a particular area or activity

noun

Project #2 Outline

Don't forget: You are submitting 3 different drafts of this project and will be expected to participate in Peer Review, filling out a Feedback Form an Evaluation Sheet.

All projects need a roadmap before you begin writing. An outline will be that roadmap for you.
Download the outline form from the class lecture and complete it. Post the outline to your Project #1 page and post the correct link to it before the date posted on the class calendar.

Project #2 Reflection

Throughout the drafting process, you will come to some realizations. Make note of these realizations because when the project is complete you will be required to write 500 words reflecting on what you learned. What did you learn from the process of writing the draft, the act of receiving feedback, and what are your plans for revision?

Further explanation

Aren't genres the same thing as Netflix categories like drama and horror?

No, but also yes. In the course of the class when I say genre, I mean either narrative, informative or persuasive?

Further categories such as drama, horror, romance, R&B, Rock, Hip-hop, Country, Stash haul, prank video, stublr, Fitspo, and so on and so on are all sub-genres.

Why do we discuss it in this way? Because genre means kind, category or sort. It is a definition so broad that it applies to almost anything. If you wished, you could organize your sock drawer and categorize them by the genres and subgenres.

Even Monica Gellar has genres of towels

Where do you start?

Step #1 - Ask yourself... What is the composition doing?

Is it telling a story? Then it is a NARRATIVE genre
Is it informing you on something you were unaware of? Then it is an INFORMATIVE genre.
Is it trying to convince you that something is either a good or bad idea, product, service or venture? Then it is a PERSUASIVE genre.

Could it be doing all three?

Absolutely. But what is it doing more. Is it a narrative which happens to be informing?

Step #2 - Activate your senses.

If you check your course text, the Bedford Book of Genres, you'll see that a mode is how a person experiences the composition. What senses are being used when you engage with this composition?. Audio, video, text-based, audio and visual?

Step #3 - Do you have access?

What is the composition's media? Media is how a person has access to a composition. This is not the same as THE MEDIA, which politicians love to use as a scapegoat. Media is how you have access to the composition, and that usually means either print, digital or face-to-face. Media can also have subcategories, however. Consider compositions which are available only to those who can pay for them. Access to compositions can be limited to only those who have the money to pay for the subscription (or a cousin who is happy to share their password). Game of Thrones is a TV show but it is only available through HBO and Amazon Prime members. This means that only certain people can access it.

Step #4 - Who is this for?

When a composition is being constructed, the composer will often have an audience in mind. Even if the audience is one person. Stephen King writes that his ideal reader for his books is his wife Tabitha. Which is sweet, but he is neglecting the other intended readers which are the millions of horror junkies just like him that like to have their pants scared off them. Lady Gaga writes songs for her Little Monsters. Stephanie Myers found a fanbase of Twi-hards.

Sometimes a composition draws a difference audience than it intended. Consider how surprised the creators of the My Little Pony series were when they garnered a following of adult men who call themselves Bronies.

Who is the audience for the compositions? Is it an intended audience or an unintended audience?

Step #5 - Not my style, or is it?

How does one know a composition is FOR THEM? Consider anytime you have watched a trailer for a movie and thought, "That was made for me!" or "Pass." The composer makes decisions in an attempt to signal their audience, "Over here, Intended Audience Member! This was made for you!!!" Or sometimes a composer will make style decisions which are different from their usual thing, but somehow still seems exactly like something they would create. Bob Dylan knocked out his folk music fans when he recorded the electric guitar classic, Highway 61 Revisited. Shocking, sure, but it's still Dylan's lyrics, Dylan's style, Dylan's inability to articulate a clear phrasing. New style. Still Dylan.

What are the style choices you are looking for? Depending on the mode and media, it could be anything from font selected to note progression. Look at the composition and ask yourself three adjectives you would use to describe it and why you say those adjectives.

Step #6 - What's the point?

Sometimes compositions beg the question, why would anyone make this? With others, the composer's intent is clearer. A good analysis is determining the purpose of the composition, not from interviews with the composer but, from looking at what the composition is doing. The movie Wall Street is Oliver Stone's mission statement against capitalism and greed form the 80s. If you go by his statements in his interviews. However, what the film instead does is create a self-assured symbol of the era who boldly proclaims that "Greed is good". Instead of creating a villain, Stone created an icon.

A composer is out of control when it comes to how an audience perceives a composition. Don't ask them what they meant to do but examine what they did and whether it works.

Step #7 - Rhetorical appeals?

How is the composition making you feel and what is making you feel that way? Does the composer seem in command of what they are doing, or does it seem thrown together? Does it feel like you are talking with a friend? Is the composer making logical arguments or points? Do you believe them? Do you believe them against your better judgment?

Now ask yourself why? What is the composer doing to make you feel these things?

Step #8 - Which of these things belong together?

How does this composition like other genres and subgenres similar to it? If it is a narrative genres in the horror subgenre, what are the expectations of that subgenres? With the horror subgenres, expectations are tense music, dark lighting, monsters (humans or supernatural), etc. However, the movie What Happens in the Shadows uses these conventions to create a comedy. It is also uses the conventions of documentary, reality TV (like Real World) and workplace comedy.

Look at the genre/subgenre rules and expectations and analyze how the composition is using them or subverting them.