A textual genre that is seen day in and day
out by a large amount of people are the descriptions, or the small written
previews, that are showcased before a movie or a TV show for platforms such as
Netflix or any other video streaming site. Although these cinematic previews
are normally short, they have certain conventions that allow them to accomplish
their purpose and carry out their intentions successfully. One of these
conventions revolves around the length of the piece, and normally the rule is
that the description should be short and concise. This allows the viewer, when
choosing something to watch, to scan multiple shows at once, decide on what
seems interesting versus what doesn’t, and then make a selection and be able to
have an idea on what they’re going to be watching, without giving away any huge
plot points. Another convention within this genre lies in the constraints that
are present. Whoever may be writing the description for the show must make sure
to give enough information so that the reader may have a general idea on the
topic of the show, but they must also not reveal too much information, so as
not to spoil the viewer out of the suspense.
Descriptions must also try to
appeal to the largest audience possible, in order to draw more viewers in. The typical
audience for a Netflix description is normally someone younger, more than
likely a high school, or college student, who is looking for something
interesting to watch in their spare time. This forces the descriptions to
target younger viewers and in doing so, must make short, to the point summaries
that are interesting. The writer must also emulate the show or movie’s genre
into the description. For example, if a viewer is on Netflix searching for a
comedy show to begin watching, then the description should try to showcase some
of the humor the show has to offer, so that the reader can see that the show
will be funny as well, ultimately drawing more viewers in than if it was a
bland and uncharacteristic description. One example is with the television show
The Walking Dead. Known for its bloody
scenes and award winning make-up, the show’s description encompasses the entire
tone of the series perfectly by only stating, “It’s the last of humanity vs.
the hordes of the undead. In this game of survival, there will be blood.”
Although very short, it still covers the entire base of the show, which is 1.
That people will be fighting the ‘undead’ and 2. That there will blood, lots
and lots of blood.
Descriptions also go hand in hand with the cover photo for
the series or movie, as they both serve as a first impression to the viewers. Again,
using The Walking Dead as an example,
we see that in the cover photo they look ready to fight for their survival, by
killing whatever may be in their way. The main purpose of the description is to
allow for the viewer to get an understanding and a taste of a variety of shows,
without having to truly watch any single episode. All of these rules and
conventions fit into the context of trying to give the viewer the least amount
of work possible while searching for a show, so that they may chose a show with
a good description. In the end, good descriptions cannot fix bad shows, but
they can get viewers.
This is a very good piece of writing about a Netflix description as funny as that might sound. You really described the whole point of the description and how it does this. You state that Netflix descriptions try to draw in the largest audience possible but then you clarify what group the audience is usually comprised of. You also state that the whole point of Netflix descriptions is to give a viewer a small taste of what happens in that series or episode. You also state one of the conventions of a Netflix description while not outright calling a convention. You hint that a Netflix description is short and sweet and like I previously said, just meant to give a taste of the show. Good job overall.
ReplyDeleteThis genre is pretty genius because descriptions are definitely something most people have read and written. All of the examples you included made it a lot easier for me to understand exactly what you were talking about. I liked how you mentioned certain descriptions are for specific age groups according to the streaming site they might by using and its audience. If you wanted you could have also mentioned all of the descriptions we see when downloading apps or on pictures or for books, etc. It's great that you mentioned how certain descriptions need to be funny for the specific tone of what they are describing. You did a great job with this genre, and I would have never thought of it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Netflix descriptions are very important in the decision making for what show to watch so it is definitely important as a description writer to focus on the conventions. One convention that I really liked was the length of the description because when a description is either to vague and I do not get the gist of the show or movie or too long and so I become lazy and do not want to watch it. Of course Netflix has shows from all different genres and so when you started focusing on the Netflix meant for young people I felt like that’s what Zach was trying to get us to understand in class- a more focused and narrow genre. I felt like you hit the main conventions of a Netflix description but when narrowing your genre new conventions will need to be acknowledged to correctly describe the genre. For example with shows like Blue Mountain State they specifically use very casual and slang-like language to describe the show because it is meant to appeal to those interested in the party lives of college students.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool genre to analyze. Nice job! I thought this was really creative and I liked how you talked about the intentions behind the conventions. I definitely agree with you that the descriptions of movies play a key role in who watches them or not. It directly relates to the most recent reading we did, and serves as the "so what?" for the movie. I agree with the fact that the cover photo plays a key role in persuading as well. I liked how you explained the constraints too. Its interesting how they have to limit the amount of information that they give the reader, but still provide enough so that the reader gets a taste of what the movie is about. It seems like there's an art to drawing the reader in and, like you said, relating the tone to the actual movie or series to give the viewer a more authentic interpretation. Great job!
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