LO3- 22nd March 2021

 'The Genre of a product does not contribute to its success.' Discuss the statement with reference to a digital media product you have studied. Use example to support your answer.

There are many theories about how audiences understand the construction of genre and I am going to discuss these with reference to the video game 'Dead by Daylight.' Rick Altman's theory of Generic pleasure states that genres have different pleasures that entertain the audience through familiarity how they respond to them the pleasure are called Emotional pleasure, Visceral pleasure and intellectual pleasure. This suggest that media products will make us feel pleasure in several ways for example in 'Dead by Daylight' you will feel all three types of generic pleasures. The production technique which are 'Dead by Daylight' are non diegetic sound an example is when you are playing the game and the killer finds you you hear a heartbeat sound and also really fast paced music, the feeling of running from a killer as it makes you worries and it also will scare you as it emotional pleasure. This clearly demonstrates to the player that generic pleasure is an essential part of this video game leaving a dramatic effect and this further solidifies the generic pleasure theory. The production technique I discussed allows the audience to get fully immersed into the the video game as the chase also makes you feel scared as it is emotional pleasure.

Another Genre theory that links to 'Dead by Daylight' is Steve Neale's theory about repetition and difference. Steve Neale's states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference and difference is essential to the economy of genre. Neal states that all products and it's genre is defined by two thing how much it conforms to its genres individual conventions and stereotypes. A product must match the genre's convention to be identified as part of that genre. He also says 'How much a product subverts the genre convention and stereotypes. The product must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing product. 'Dead by Daylight' has instances of repetition for example in every match you play the main aim is to escape the killers compound through the exit gate by activating 5 generators. An instance of difference would be when you have the opportunity to escape via hatch this usually doesn't happen often in the online matches as people mainly use the exit gate as a means of escape. A production technique that has been seen in this game is diegetic sounds one such example is when you miss the skill check on the generators and the generator blows up making a loud sound that can be heard throughout the compound another instance would be when you get hit by the killer's weapon, the weapon makes a slashing noise and cutting noise indicating you have been hit and the survivor also screams to indicate it. You can argue that even the production technique given conforms to the idea of repetition as these sounds are repeated throughout the match.

Another genre theory that links back to 'Dead by Daylight' is Jason Mittell theory Industry uses genre commercially. Jason Mittell states that genres 'are exploited by media producers so that products are financially successful'. 'Dead by Daylight can be linked to Jason Mittell theory as there are in game micro transactions which allow you to cosmetic items for your survivors and killers and with these microtransactions you can also unlock other kinds of killers quicker. Jason Mittell theory links back as these transactions are there so that you pay and so they can get profit off of the game.

Another theory that also links back to 'Dead by Daylight' is David Buckingham's Genres are in a constant process of negotiation and change. David Buckingham states that ' Genre must go through a socio-economic and culture change', meaning that genre will always change due to society. One way 'Dead by Daylight' uses this genre theory is by bringing out new survivors and killer which meaning it is changing. Because of the the introduction of new killers and survivors it conforms to the idea of David Buckingham's theory.

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Claude-Levi Strauss- binary opposition 

The protagonists are the survivors and the antagonist is the killer 

when you are the killer you are in a first person mode whereas when you are a survivor you are in third person but if you die you are sent into the sky by the entity to get a Birdseye view to see the protagonists run from the antagonists.

Tzvetan Todorov - Conventional structure 

The Game starts at equilibrium all the survivors are alive and zero generators are activated 

The killer disrupts the equilibrium by putting a survivor on a hook narative continues to climax when the survivors activates all the generators equilibrium is restored after the survivors escape after escaping they enter a spectator mode giving them a birds eye view of the map while other survivors are still in the compound

Pam Cook- cause and effect 

The problem is getting the exit gate open without getting caught the way to overcome this is by trying to be as sneaky as possible. the production technique that is used is diegetic sounds for example when the exit gate opens indicating to you and the killer that the survivors can escape.

Roland Barthes- Narrative Codes

The enigma code links to game because you have to solve a problem to escape and survive the production technique that is used is sound as there are many sounds in this such as a generator exploding further delaying the escape and these are all diegetic sounds