This document is intended to serve as an overview of moving image categorization best-practices. These practices are implemented by the Library of Congress, arguably the best-organized media archive on the planet. By following these practices, we enable frictionless relationships with ratings agencies, advertisers, media cataloging groups, metadata databases, etc.
The LoC has defined three types of labels for moving image genre categorization.
- GENRE - Describes the 'plot' or 'setting' of the video, i.e.
#Adventure,#Comedy, or#Romance. - SUBDIVISION - Another genre term, but applied as the leading subgenre of the video.
- FORM - Describes the video's medium of distribution, i.e.
#Feature,#Television series,#Serial,#Trailer.
It is important to note that the GENRE and SUBDIVISION tags share the same list of genre terms. For example, the #Western term can be applied to either GENRE or SUBDIVISION - where the term is placed within this paradigm will be dictated by each media firm's individual defined standards.
The LoC standards for moving image metadata propose the following categorical structures (av2 and avv2):
av2, the older of the two, allows for the use of a #GENRE and a #FORM term:
#av2 GENRE#FORM.#migfg
avv2, the newer of the two standards, introduces the #SUBDIVISION term:
#avv2 GENRE#SUBDIVISION#FORM.#migfg
The following examples demonstrate valid genre categorizations.
#av2 # Prehistoric#Feature.#migfg
#av2 # Science fiction#Feature.#migfg
#av2 # Adaptation#Feature.#migfg
And, if we wanted to upgrade to #avv2:
#avv2 # Prehistoric#Adaptation#Feature.#migfg
#avv2 # Science fiction#Prehistoric#Feature.#migfg
#avv2 # Historical#Animation#Feature.#migfg
#avv2 # Musical#Animation#Feature.#migfg
#av2 # Adventure#Feature.#migfg
#av2 # Biographical#Feature.#migfg
Upon generating a complete genre string, we are now left with the need to implement the string so that it can be officially recognized and validated against one of the various metadata authorities out there.
Once again, the LoC comes to our rescue by offering us the MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema). These scheme is supported by all major motion picture broadcasters, distributors, and archiving agencies.