Matching Pairs Characteristics of Movie GenresOnline version Top 5 Movie Genres' Characteristics by Dario Gonzalez 1 The Purpose of Genre 2 Plot 3 Creative exceptions 4 Presentation 5 Characters To set up audience expectations and to provide a roadmap for storytellers. Spoof, Subversion, Genre Switch, Hybrid Genre. How the story is presented to the audience. The narrative structure. It is how the formal elements of a film are put together: cinematography, costumes, editing, music, setting, atmosphere. These are persons or beings in a narrative. They are recurring in each genre.