Genre theory or Auter theory? That is the question

'Genres create order to simplify the mass of available information. Creating categories promotes organisation instead of chaos'

The quote above is written by Daniel Chandler-British visual semiotician based (since 2001) at the department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University.
I have chosen this Semiotician because I believe that his definition is the closest to defining genre.

Genres are broad enough to accommodate basically any film ever made, although film categories can never be precise. By categorizing various elements within a film into genres, it is possible to easily evaluate a film within its specific genre. As well as this, it also allows for meaningful comparisons on overall ratings from consumers and film journalists around the world. A film doesn't have to pick a genre and then stick to this category though. Overlapping genres or creating sub-genres within a category, is a major part of creating an epic film. These types of films could then be categorized as a hybrid or cross bread film, but this is done so much within the film industry it is seen as the norm and no categorization takes place.

The Auteur theory can be contrasted to the genre theory, in which films are rated on the basis of the expression of one person, their own creativity becomes individual to them. This is usually applied to the director for their unique style, vision or signature narrative structures, witty dialogue, camera angles, transitions anything which dictates their personal, look, and feel to the film and therefore become distinctive to them. Certain directors are known for certain types of films, for example, Woody Allen and comedy, Alfred Hitchcock for suspense and thrillers, as well as quentin tarantino for graphic thrillers and artistic dialogue.

Some of my favorite films nearly all fall into the same genre but have some different sub genres:
-Dead Man's Shoes/psychological thriller
-Phone Booth/ psychological thriller
-Memento/psychological thriller
-Lucky Number Slevin/Crime thriller
-Donnie Darko/psychological thriller-fantasy
-Inception/Science fiction thriller

The correlation between them all is that they all fall into the thriller category. This is my favorite genre of film as well as Blaine's and this is why we want to make a thriller. But we would also like to incorporate sub genres making our short film a psychological thriller, which matches many of my favorite films above.

Both myself and Blaine will categorize our film as a 'psychological thriller' and this will provide some basic conventions that make up the thriller genre but we are both very imaginative,intellectual and artistic young directors, so having total creative freedom and control over our film is vital in making our film to an industry standard as well as consequently giving us the chance to express our artistic visions and possibly make consumers think about the message within the narrative. Which would give me great pleasure in achieving.

If you want to read more into the historical context of Genre theory as well as many different philosophers views on genre and auteur theory then take a look at my co-directors blog and his post:
Genre Theory Vs. Auteur Theory