Steve Neale

Steve Neale states that genres are dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation and change. With my documentary I aim to stay on the same codes and conventions as the style of the documentary genre but add my own style as well. 

As genres become more established, audiences have more of an expectation for your film in that genres style. So I have to stick to those base line codes and conventions of the documentary genre. Sticking to these genres codes and conventions guarantees a degree of success. Neale said that the film and its genre is defined by two things, How much it conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes, a film must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre, and also how much a film subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes: the film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film.

Neale stated that a genre performs two functions, one being to guarantee pleasure and meaning for the audience and the other being that it is used to offset financial risk of film production by providing collateral against innovation and difference.