Research: Reviewing Other People’s Work

My Review of Abbi’s A2 Media Coursework

Abbi,

The content of your A2 Media blog clearly demonstrates that you have a high level of understanding of the horror genre and what it takes to create a successful horror teaser trailer along with the two ancillary products. You have thought very carefully about the forms and conventions that need to be included in your media products and applied them really well.

It is clear that your detailed analysis of trailers, posters and magazine covers have been useful in the production of your own media products and stating your influences has also  demonstrated your understanding of the genre further.

Your extensive research into narrative theories as well as the horror genre itself  shows that you are committed to the project and that has resulted in you achieving three brilliant media products. It seems you have also developed many skills during the creating process on software such as Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, which will be useful for you in the future, again showing your commitment to the project.

You have applied knowledge we acquired last year during our AS year to do with camera shots/ angles and editing, and have used these micro elements very successfully.

Overall your three media products are consistent and work very well together. I really enjoyed watching your trailer and it evoked all of the emotions and feelings you would expect from a horror film trailer. I really like all three of the media products.

Shannon Cotton

Abbi’s Review of My A2 Media Coursework

Shannon,

From your A2 Media blog I can clearly see the product you intended to produce throughout your whole project. To start with their is a great amount of research you have done, you have clearly looked at existing magazine front covers, film posters and trailers- this clarifies that you are trying to get as much knowledge as possible before you go onto producing your own.

The presentation of your blog is easy to read. It is easy to follow and I don’t have to keep going back, I can see the steps that you have taken to get to your final pieces. You have clearly demonstrated on each post what you are aiming towards and why you have analysed/criticised/chosen to talk about it.

You have shown a clear understanding of the skills and technology you have used, especially in Photoshop, Adobe Premiere pro and the internet itself. You have applied your knowledge well, and referred back to the terminology from the theory side, you have also related back to the theory side by showing your understanding of narratives, feminist theory and postmodern theories, this shows that not only have you produced two fantastic pieces, you have analysed the theory behind it which has lead you to produce these pieces.
I can see the clear development of your final pieces and the depth of thought you have gone through to successfully complete them, such as doing questionnaires and getting feedback, also thinking about colour scheme and typography. You have shown the forms and conventions of magazine front covers, film posters and trailers that you have considered to bring the pieces together. I also like the development, the print screens gives me a clear understanding of the process you went through and the changes you made depending on your feedback.

As much as I enjoyed looking and watching your final pieces, the only constructive criticism I have is dialogue in the trailer. Dialogue is a convention in a trailer from what I have researched and I think this would work well, especially with the captions, there could be a few voice overs. I think that as you can’t actually see the characters faces, you could get a feel of what they are like through their voice. On the other hand, this may not work at all and it only works in a few trailers. Having no dialogue could be something you have specifically not put in.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed analysing your blog as it is beneficial to both of us. All your final pieces are superb and I think they all link together perfectly. The images clearly link with the trailer and so on. I definitely got a fright from your productions and I think they are all great.

Abbi Chard.

Research: Feminist Film Theories

The feminist film theory deals with the way in which feminists criticise films for their approach on the representation of women. The development in the feminist film theory was heavily influence by the second wave in feminism and the development of women’s studies which occurred around the late 1960’s. More recently the feminist theory has been applied to things like television and digital media.

The two key themes within the feminist film theory are the male gaze and the female spectator and realism and counter cinema. Many female film critics are quick to point out the use of the male gaze in films which they believe stems from classic Hollywood films. Budd Boetticher summarises this view perfectly by saying “What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance”. Another theorist, Laura Mulvey, has identified three perspectives that occur within films to purposely objectify women onscreen. These are:

• The perspective of the male character onscreen and how he perceives the female character
• The perspective of the spectator/audience and how they view the female character
• The perspective of the male audience member of the male character onscreen

From the third perspective the male audience can look at the female as their own personal object as they are identifying with and relating to the male character onscreen. Obviously this is not how theorists from this theory, along with many others, want females to be viewed in film and in the media as this representation of women is demeaning and sexist.

The second of the two key themes, realism and counter cinema, supports the positive movement of more females in the film and media industry. Due to a growing number of females in the media, they can work together to break this male gaze view of women and help put across a more true-to-life image of women and draw attention to feminist issues while still using traditional film apparatuses such as moving camera, lighting and editing. The idea of counter cinema comes from Claire Johnston, who believes that films made by women have the potential to posit an alternative to traditional Hollywood films.

Research: Postmodern Film Theories

A postmodern film is one that goes against some or all of the generic film conventions in everything to do with or aspects of things like, the film’s narrative and roles within the narrative.

Postmodern features that may occur in a film are things like self-reflexivity, this is where a character from the film may stop and look directly at the camera and talk to the audience. This shows that the characters within the film are very aware they are in a film, instead of the typical fly on the wall style of viewing in the majority of films. Another postmodern feature of a film would be dissecting the narrative and mixing it up so there is not a typical linear narrative. This can confuse the audience and play tricks with their mind but can ultimately enhance the viewing experience for the audience as well as being incredibly postmodern.

The characters within the film can also come across as postmodern. Lots of characters appear to feel disconnected from the world, isolated or alienated. This runs in line with the postmodern feature of pessimism and the view that the future is bleak. Characters can often, especially in horror films, appear postmodern by challenging society’s stereotypes. For example a stereotypical looking chav may turn out to be the hero and the innocent looking character may turn out to be the villain.

As well as this many horror films have become victim to the postmodern feature of pastiche. As previously used as an example, Shaun of the Dead is a pastiche film of horror film Dawn of the Dead. Pastiche means to “imitate the style of” not for any particular reason and Shaun of the Dead does this adequately. Scary Movie is also another example of this and by doing this the pastiche films are turned into comedy-horror films, a hybrid genre, which is again, a feature of postmodernism.

Another example of a postmodern horror film is Scream, which takes horror conventions and turns them upside down. At the end of the film the last person standing and the hero is a woman, whereas normally it would be a man. The location of the film is also unconventional, instead of being an isolated location, the setting is a normal house, something you wouldn’t expect in a horror film. It is factors like this that make Scream appear scarier as it shows that bad things can happen in normal locations too. A final area of postmodernism evident in Scream is the lighting, conventional horror films favour dark, low key lighting  but Scream has taken this opportunity to use bright lighting. This also makes it harder for the audience to tell when the killer is going to strike, as there is no lighting indicator.

Research: Narrative Theories

Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher who came up with his own narrative theory involving equilibrium and disequilibrium. The theory itself is really simple, the narrative begins with a fictional scene with everything as is should be, this is known as the equilibrium. Then the equilibrium will suffer a disruption and there will be an obstacle to overcome. Towards the end of the narrative the equilibrium will be restored or a new equilibrium will be created. Todorov labelled five stages to his equilibrium and disequilibrium theory are these are:

1. A state of equilibrium (everything as it should be)
2. A disruption to the equilibrium
3. Recognising the disruption to the equilibrium
4. An attempt to repair and restore the equilibrium
5. Return to the equilibrium or create a new equilibrium

Todorov’s narrative theory can be applied to spoof horror film Shaun of the Dead, for example. At the beginning of the film stage one occurs, when main character Shaun and some of his friends, including flat mate Ed are in their local pub enjoying a drink. On Shaun’s way home from the pub he starts to hear weird noises and an eerie atmosphere begins, unbeknown to both the audience and Shaun, this is where stage two occurs. The next morning when Shaun returns from a quick trip to his local shop Shaun and Ed discover zombies in their back garden, this is where stage three happens. Stage four happens soon after when Shaun and Ed round up all of their family and friends and attempt to get them all safely to their local pub and “wait for it to all blow over”. After a long battle with the zombies, stage five occurs at the end of the film when Ed has been turned into a zombie but has been tamed and now lives in the shed.

Propp

Vladimir Propp was a Russian scholar who spent a lot of time analysing the basic plot components of Russian folk tales. It was this analysis that led to him developing his own narrative theory of characters taking on ‘spheres of action’ or functions. Propp came up with seven character types which all fit into the generic narrative of a film. These seven character types are:

1. The Hero – this is usually a male character and attempts to restore the disrupted equilibrium, often by embarking on a dramatic quest to save the victims.
2. The Villain – this is normally the character that creates the disruption to the narrative.
3. The Donor – this character usually helps the hero in some way by giving them something to save the day, this could be an object or a piece of information.
4. The Helper – this could also be referred to as the sidekick as this character helps the hero restore the equilibrium.
5. The Princess – also known in some cases as the victim, this is the character who is the most threatened by the villain and needs to be rescued from this threat.
6. The Dispatcher – this is the character that sends the hero out on their mission to restore the equilibrium.
7. The False Hero – this is a sly character in the film as they appear to be a good character until their evil ways are revealed.

Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist and came up with the theory of binary opposites, frequently used in media products. The simple definition of binary opposite is literally a complete opposite, for example, light vs dark. This relates to narrative theory as Lévi-Strauss observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary opposites. Other binary opposites often used in film narratives are:

• Good vs Evil
• Peace vs War
• Young vs Old
• Domestic vs Foregin/Alien

The latter being used in horror films the most. Using my continuing example in this post of Shaun of the Dead the binary opposites drawn from this film’s narrative are good vs evil and domestic vs foreign/alien.

Research: Independent Film Institutions/Studios

In order to decide which film studio would be best for making my horror film I needed to research both major and independent film institutions and studios. Here is what I found out from researching independent film institutions and studios.

An independent film is defined as “a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system” therefore I have decided to look at independent film studios and institutions from the UK, as all the major film institutions and studios previously looked at have been situated in the United States.

Film4 Productions

Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by the Channel Four Television Corporation. Before 1998 Film4 Productions was known as Channel Four Films or FilmFour International. In 2006 the name Film4 Productions was introduced.

Films by Film4 Productions

• East Is East (1999)
• How To Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
• Attack The Block (2011)

Website: http://www.film4.com/film4-productions

Warp Films

Warp Films is another British independent film company which is based in both London and Sheffield, UK. The company was founded by Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett and is also affiliated with Warp Films Australia (based in Melbourne, Australia).

Films by Warp Films

• This Is England (2006)
• Donkey Punch (2008)
• Submarine (2010)

Website: http://warp.net/films

BBC Films

BBC Films is the film making arm of the BBC which has been responsible for co-producing some of the most successful British films in recent times. Until 2007 BBC Films was located in Mortimer Street, London, UK but now BBC Films is based at the BBC Television Centre, London, UK.

Films by BBC Films

• Miss Potter (2006)
• Nativity! (2009)
• Tamara Drewe (2010)

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms

Goldcrest Films

Goldcrest Films was founded in 1977 by Jake Eberts and is a British production company. The most successful time for Goldcrest Films was in the 1980s when they began making and releasing some very successful motion pictures, but has failed to achieve the same type of success since.

Films by Goldcrest Films

• Elvis and Anabelle (2007)
• Cass (2008)
• The Iron lady (2011)

Website: http://www.goldcrestfilms.com/

Research: Major Film Institutions/Studios

In order to decide which film studio would be best for making my horror film I needed to research both major and independent film institutions and studios. Here is what I found out from researching major film institutions and studios.

With the arrival of the Golden Age there became eight prominent major movie studios, these eight Golden Age majors are:

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures is currently situated in Culver City, California, USA and distributes films worldwide. It has been going since 1918 when it was founded by Harry and Jack Cohn and Joe Brandt. It first existed as CBC Film Sales Corporation by was renamed as Columbia Pictures on 10^th January 1924. Columbia Pictures remained an independent film institution until it was bought my Sony in 1989. It is still owned by Sony to this day and has been responsible for bringing out some of the biggest movies in the world.

Films by Columbia Pictures

• Charlie’s Angels (2000)
• The Grudge (2004)
• Skyfall (2012)

Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/

20th Century Fox

This film institution was founded in May 1935 by Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck. Their institution includes some of the most famous film franchises such as Star Wars and X-Men. As well as movies 20^th Century Fox also provide some of the most famous American television programmes including The Simpsons, Family Guy and Futurama. Up until 1985 20^th Century Fox was classed as an independent film institution, however though, in 1985 20^th Century Fox was bought by News Corporation. The headquarters is currently located in Fox Plaza, Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA. 20^th Century Fox is also a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Films by 20th Century Fox

• Ice Age (2002)
• Borat (2006)
• Avatar (2009)

Website: http://www.foxmovies.com/

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. was founded in 1918 as Warner Bros. Studios with Warner Bros. Pictures being founded on 4^th April 1924 by Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack Warner. The headquarters for Warner Bros. is located in Burbank, California, USA and is now a subsidiary of Time Warner after being a part of many other Warner companies including Warner Communications. Warner Bros. is also a member of the MPAA.

Films By Warner Bros.

• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
• Scooby-Doo (2002)
• I Am legend (2007)

Website: http://www.warnerbros.com/

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures was founded on the 19^th July 1916 by Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky. The headquarters for Paramount is currently situated in Hollywood, California, USA. Paramount is the fourth oldest existing film studio in the world, just behind Universal, Pathé and Gaumont Film Company. It is also the last major film studio with headquarters situated in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, as well as being a member of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Films by Paramount Pictures

• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
• School of Rock (2003)
• Charlotte’s Web (2006)

Website: http://www.paramount.com/

Universal Studios

Universal Studios was founded on 30^th April 1912 by eight people including Carl Laemmle, Pat Powers and Jules Brulatour. The headquarters is currently located in Universal City, California, USA, with other locations around the world including Universal Studios in Florida, Japan and Singapore. The studio itself is the oldest in America and the third oldest in the world, with the first oldest being Gaumont Films and second oldest being Pathé (previously mentioned). Like 20^th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios is also a member of the MPAA.

Films by Universal Studios

• Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
• King Kong (2005)
• Kick-ass (2010)

Website: http://www.universalstudios.com/

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM as it is frequently referred to as, was founded on 17^th April 1924 by Marcus Loew. The headquarters for MGM is currently located in Beverly Hills, California, USA and produces motion pictures and television programmes. However on 3^rd November 2010 MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and did not emerge from this until 20^th December 2010.

Films by MGM

• Legally Blonde (2001)
• Nanny McPhee (2006
• Igor (2008)

Website: http://www.mgm.com/

United Artists

United Artists was originally founded on 5^th February 1919 by D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. The current headquarters for this company now though is the MGM Tower, Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA, because in late 2011 the company became a fully owned subsidiary of MGM.

Films by United Artists

• Jeepers Creepers (2001)
• The Amityville Horror (2005)
• Valkyrie (2008)

Website: http://www.unitedartists.com/

RKO Radio Pictures

RKO Radio Pictures was founded on 23^rd October 1928 by David Sarnoff and is the only major film institution/studio mentioned here which has their headquarters outside of California – RKO Radio Pictures’ HQ is in New York, USA. The corporation however has not released any more films under the name of RKO Radio Pictures since becoming  independent in 1989 with new name RKO Pictures LLC.

Films by RKO Radio Pictures

• Peter Pan (1953)
• Oklahoma! (1955)
• Carbon Copy (1981)

Website: N/A

Research: Teaser Trailer Definition

“A teaser trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term “trailer” comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the theater after the films ended, but the name has stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film (or the A movie in a double feature) begins.”

Film companies use teaser trailers as a promotional tool in order to get their film noticed. The trailer itself can vary in ambiguity, with the most successful trailers being the most mysterious as this makes the audience immediately want to know more.

The trailers can vary in time anywhere from 30 seconds to around the 2 minute mark. For this coursework we have been instructed to make our trailer 40 seconds long. This is a good length for a trailer because it is not too long to bore the audience, but is enough to draw the audience in and intrigue them to find out more.

Research: Horror Audience Profile

From my questionnaire results and other pieces of research I can begin to make up a profile for the type of audience I am targeting my trailer and media products towards.

DEMOGRAPHICS

The age of my target audience is going to be between the ages of 15 and 30. From my questionnaire results this age group seemed to be the most interested and enjoyed horror films. The gender of my target audience is not going to play a big part in how I create and construct my media products as from my questionnaire I can see that both genders are into horror films. These demographics match up to those given by data collection website http://www.audiencetargeting.com/. This shows that most horror fans fit within a certain demographic. This makes it easier to cater to the needs of a horror fan when making the media products.

If I follow the other demographics highlighted by http://www.audiencetargeting.com/ then I can believe that my target audience are 18.57 times more likely to visit a games website than the average internet user, which is something to think about and myabe include in my own horror trailer.

More demographics and statistics can be seen in the image below.

Research: Conventions of the Horror Genre

“Definition of convention
noun

• a way in which something is usually done
• to attract the best patrons the movie houses had to ape the conventions and the standards of theatres“

All horror films stick to generic conventions in order to make their film genre “horror”. Some horror films may try and alter some of these codes and conventions in order to be postmodern, but generally the codes and conventions all horror films follow are as followed:

Genre

Not content with being just a “horror” film, these films are split again into sub-genres. As previously explained the list of sub-genres for a horror film is pretty long and ranges from paranormal to slasher and from monster to psychological. To read more about horror sub-genres read my previous post here.

These sub-genres could also be merged with another genre or sub-genre to create a hybrid genre. For example Shaun of the Dead has been described as a Rom-Zom-Com because it contains a romance and zombies but is ultimately a comedy.

Audience

Most horror films aim their films towards 16-24 year old males who enjoy mainstream movies. This is backed up by the general 15 or 18 age certificate given to each horror film. Horror films are deemed as unsuitable for people below this age due to the graphic content and adult themes often shown in horror films. However it is thought once you turn 15 or 18 in some cases you are psychologically old enough to deal with horror film content.

Narrative

There are many narrative conventions to follow in a horror film, the first one being the extensive use of narrative enigmas. These unexplained events and occurrences work best in paranormal and psychological horrors as they leave the audience feeling puzzled and confused but make them want to seek out the answer to the unexplained. These sorts of narratives involve the audience and encourage them to be an active audience. Clear binary oppositions are also used to seal the narrative. The most common one in a horror film would be good vs evil. Finally the use of a three act narrative structure in horror films is usually prominent, which makes the narrative structure appear fairly predictable. The three act structure is very similar to Todorov’s equilibrium theory. The first stage in the three act structure is setup, here the main characters are introduced and the dramatic premise and dramatic situation are introduced. The second part is confrontation, this is where the main drama happens and the obstacles to the main characters are introduced. The third and final stage is resolution, here the story wraps up, evil is fought off and the equilibrium is restored. More information about the narrative structure of horror and the theorists associated with is can be found here.

Representation

Most horror films appear to have a very dominant hegemonic representation of gender, and in this case it is the representation of females. Almost all of the females in horror films are represented as helpless and victims that need to be saved by a male hero. The youth is represented heavily in a lot of horror films. This is because the film makers are trying to appeal to this age audience and this age group can also be seen as less experienced and more vulnerable to the type of events that happen in horror films.

Camera

One increasingly common type of camera work is one where it appears to be filmed through a hand-held camera. This works really well in horror films because it appeals to the audience and makes the events happening within the film more realistic, which makes the film scarier if you think it could happen to you. Other common camera shots are often done with a low angle; this is to show the strength of the villain and the vulnerability of the victims. One of the most common camera shots used in horror is the point of view shot, again this is to highlight the threat of the villain and often the weakness of the victim. Close-up shots of horror victims are also popular as they clearly show emotion and fear on the face of the character.

Editing

Editing within horror is often slow paced until the real drama happens. This creates a sense of suspense and tension between the film and the audience. A lot of CGI and special effects are also used in horror to make the situation seem more dramatic and scary. CGI is used the most in horror films belonging to the monster sub-genre as modern day scary monsters are hard to emulate with costume and make-up.

Sound

Sound is equally important in horror films as the rest of the micro elements, and often lack of sound creates a more haunting effect. The non-diegetic soundtrack often used within horror is eerie and creates tension within the audience. Diegetic sound used is often distorted to make the audience scared. When a horror situation is being played out in front of them and they an here the dialogue clearly they become worried for the character.

Mise-en-Scene

A lot of low key lighting is used in horror because it creates mystery within the film as you cannot see everything as clearly as you would like. Lots of dark colours are also used for the villains and things connected to the villains as this connotes that they’re evil, similarly lighter colour are used for the victims and thing associated with them to portray the victim’s innocence. Typical settings for a horror film include dark and isolated places where no one is around to help. Popular location choices have previously been graveyards, woods and houses in the middle of nowhere.

Research: Types of Editing

Continuity Editing – the predominant style of editing in narrative cinema and television. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

Jump Cut – an abrupt transition from one scene to another

Credits – an acknowledgment of a contributor’s services to a movie or a television program, typically one of a list that is scrolled down the screen at the beginning or end of a movie or program

Cross Cutting – intermingling shots of different events, used to suggest parallels or to create suspense

Cutaways – a shot in a movie that is of a different subject from those to which it is joined in editing

Freeze Frame – the repetition of a single frame of footage to give the effect that the action has stopped or that the audience is looking at a still image

Eyeline Match – a cut between a character looking at something and the something at which the character gazes. For instance, a telephone rings and we see a character glance off screen. The next shot is of the telephone.

Flashback – a scene in a movie, novel, etc., set in a time earlier than the main story

Shot Reverse Shot – a shot of one subject, then another, then back to the first. It is often used for conversation or reaction shots.

Graphic Match – an edit effect in which two different objects of the same shape are dissolved from one into the other

Juxtaposition – the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

Linear Narrative – a style of storytelling in which events happen chronologically

Montage – the process or technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole

Parallel Editing – a type of editing in which events in two locations are cut together, in order to imply a connection between the two sets of events

Visual Effects – a special visual technique used to enhance storytelling (such as computer animation, slow motion, or time-lapse photography)

Match On Action – either an action commenced in shot A is completed in shot B, or an action in shot A is mirrored by an action in shot B, for example when we cut from character A in location A reading a letter to character B in location B reading the same letter.

Out of these editing techniques some work better with the horror genre than others. Jump cuts work well in horror films because they disorientate the audience and make things more mysterious. This then results in the building of tension, which is essential with the horror genre. Cross cutting also works in the same way and is also a good choice of editing to use in a horror sequence. Eyeline matches are prominent in some horror films but not all. For example in Scream or The Ring you will see a shot of the character looking at a phone as it begins ringing, the next shot you will see is an image of the phone. This is a good edit to use when you are trying to create suspense, which is what horror is all about. Flashbacks are also used in horror, mainly towards the end, as they help the audience piece together the mystery which has been running throughout the film. A good example of this would be in the Saw franchise. Montages are often used in the trailers of horror films. These fast paced montages build tension and make the audience anxious. Visual effects will also be used more commonly in horror films as they allow the film to portray scenes more grimly than they would appear without visual effects and CGI.

Linear narratives are not often used in horror as they can be quite predictable, and if your film is predictable it isn’t likely to scare the audience. Horror films are much more likely to use non-linear narratives, including all the other types of editing I have just mentioned in order to scare their audience.