Presenting Genre's Through Iconography

First Composition

Today, we learned how different genre's can be presented using iconography. Firstly, we were given a scene to analyse, where we then interpreted what genre it would be. The idea's I came up with were that it would mostly be under the crime/thriller genre due to the gun and alcohol which connotes a negative tone referencing words such as 'death'. Personally, I also had the idea of it being attached to the 'romance' genre because of the typewriter which is very old-fashioned and is linked with 'love letters' and the alcohol could portray the person being sickly in love.



Our Composition

Next, we got into groups and created our own scenario's using the props available. We used the objects and items to create a particular genre, in our case, we chose re-enact a 'romance' scenario. We positioned the objects specifically to create a romance based theme; as shown we placed the plates and cutlery opposite each other, with two wine glasses and acting as the centre of attention was the silver ring on the table. The ring was  used to portray a proposal occurring between two people. We also learnt that the way we compose the objects will have a dramatic effect on what is interpreted; for example if the wine class was full and was standing upwards, it connotes the elegant romance theme. However, if the wine glass was tipped over on it's side, it would connote a negative mood and tone e.g. a fight has taken place. Additionally, i thought it was effective how we positioned the light because it added to the romantic atmosphere, as if a candle was lit at night.