Film Trailers

Final Girl (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83mnz5127L0

• The trailer introduces the characters to us by previewing the main character as a child and her interviewer or teacher. 'Four boys' are then shown in their car together, in a very ominous and dark lighting, with a snapshot and white font saying 'four boys'.
• In this trailer the music starts off slow and melodic, indicating a process at the beginning of the film, then going into summertime, smooth and slow paced jazz, which means there will be a mischievous yet hidden motive behind the story, a secret which also contrasts with the dark setting. As the pace picks up it gets more orchestral and dramatic, meaning there will be an impact to the plot initiating some action.
• Smooth jazz over when the 'four boys' are being profiled and the dark lighting suggests they are the villains. Whereas for Veronica she is shown with a spotlight and a dramatic drop in the music, she is important, seen as pure but with an ulterior motive, probably to do with killing the 'four boys'.
• My expectations of the film is that it won't be as dramatic as it sounds or looks, it's edited well apart from the soundtrack but the plot doesn't seem as impactful as the trailer makes it.
• I would watch this film because the lead female character is a good actor, she's been in other films that were pretty good. The plot appeals to me but I don't know if the film would live up to the trailer however I am intrigued to see if it will.
• I would consider myself the target audience due to the female lead being a teenager and most of the other characters looking relatively young. The elements that appeal to me is the lighting, in how they represent their characters and the characters themselves however the plot seems interesting to me but they should've used better music to captivate the reality of the situation as much as possible.

Enemy (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJuaAWrgoUY

• We are introduced to the main character protagonist by seeing him alone in a classroom, with him narrating over it. His wife is then introduced and the antagonist is shown too, riding along side the main character on a motorcycle while he is in the car and then the guy on the bike speeds off.
• At first the music is a slow violin, as the plot thickens there is a dramatic bass drop and the music intensifies as the violins go higher in pitch. The direction of this movie seems to be heading in a very disorientating and dark way, with a lot of confusion following and ambiguity.
• A yellow filter is used over the film, this colour represents the practical thinking and sense of self worth which is absent in this trailer. Both traits of the colour yellow are juxtaposed due to the omnious lighting, this suggests a very muddled way of thinking and low sense of self worth from the protagonist is misconstrued, as his identity has been stolen. The lighting in the scenes however are generally quite dark, all of this goes very well with the creepy yet dramatic music.
• I expect this to be a very good film, the plot is strange and is thought-provoking even though i've never seen the film even advertised, after watching the trailer I expect this film to be a truly odd and suspenful experience.
• I do consider myself the target audience for this film. The complexity of the plot is what really appeals to me, as well as the dramatic emphasis and how it will all unravel, I'm interested to see what reactions will be and the solution to the ending and also the suspense is enough to immerse into the film.

Genre and Film Posters

What type of film is it?

Thriller, also an aspect of horror (dark).

How do you know?

The main villian 'The Joker' is hiding behind a misty hue and on the opposite side he's written his chilling catch phrase in blood. The reference to blood makes the horror aspect known in a very dark way, the way it's written and where shows he's got a violent personality meaning there will be blood shed. Also foreshadowing the thriller and action.

Is it appropriate and why?

It is appropriate, the light behind him symbolises batman's justice, as it reins down on the malevolent Joker. 

All the aspects of the movie are clearly represented.

Horror Film.

Black background, decomposed hand, creepy doll and white faded/shaky font.

Appropriate because it states at the top a reference to another horror film saying if they liked that then they'll like this film, plus the poster looks very dark and spooky, clear connotations of horror

Action Film

Bright horizon (new beginnings), guns and dark clothing.

Film Pitch

Feedback

• More or less confident, would have been more confident with a planned and completed film pitch.
• Hardly organised, complete and organise it properly.
• Decent communication, people were able to guess the genre however with it completed would have been easier to get across.
• Consistent approach, it would've been a better approach had it been completed, organised or planned properly.
• Good understanding of conventions, through target audience and the setting and how it ties into the plot and genre of the film

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_mPhIAbRf0Zc1ZzSzE5MkI3bVk/view?usp=sharing

Genre

Simply a French term for type or kind. In media studies it is a theoretical term fir classification of media texts into type groupings.

(Bryan Cranston with Strafford, 2010:74, 736)

• Typical Narratives
• Typical iconography
• Typical characters
• Typical settings
• Typical technology

Case Study Task

Case Study

The case study i'm choosing to analyse in representation is the main character of The Shining, a classic horror. Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, who signs a contract, a normal writer and former teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone in the hotel in a nervous situation.

Firstly, I would like to say I view this film as typical representation of horror, and how the key areas of age, gender, regional identity and social class are explored. However I would say that the way in which insanity is portrayed is an extremely selective representation, the director is trying to give a specific message in this movie, even if the message is an enigma of why Jack has gone insane, he wants you to have your own interpretation.

In the beginning, Jack is presented as very family oriented and happily married, the sterotypical white writer that has hit writer's block and see's this oppurtunity to be away from the city (regional identity). Probably due to his old age and regional identity he sees being alone with his family in a massive hotel a chance for more writing however as the loneliness of the manor starts to creep into his life, Jack slowly starts to become insane, eventually attacking his own wife and son. A completely unexpected turn of events, when the countertype is announced there is genuienly a feel of worry for both Jack and his family. The only comfort being that his child has acquired a power called 'The Shining', this allows him to communicate through telepathy, which is a positive countertype but also meaning the amount of effort needed from a child will demand an extreme willpower to evade his crazy father AND get them off of a deserted hotel. Gender is stereotypical within this film as Jack clearly has the power throughout most of the film, his wife is constantly running away from him and the bath scene is an accurate reaction of what a man would do if there was a woman like that subtely flirting. This stereotype of the man having the power in the relationship is challenged when Wendy takes Danny away from the hotel, well tries to, representing her instinctive nature to protect her son, this is often the role of the male. However the combination of his own insanity and muddled perception causes the woman to break down and decompose, he reacts accordingly, but at this point it doesn't make him see the error of his ways but instead he goes more insane and tries to kill his family.

Supernatural occurences and children are a common representation within horror films, the belief here being that vunerability and innocence is exploited through means of another realm, a horror story for any parent and also making it relatable to just about anybody who can imagine themselves in that situation. For example in the film Mama, two girls are kidnapped by their father who takes them to a cabin, but what he doesn't know is that there is a supernatural force inhabiting the area. 'Mama' kills the father and takes care of the two girls, it's this idea of an unknown entity within physical grasp and creating emotional connections whether they be positive or negative that horror normally represents in a terrifyingly real perspective that makes it really suspensful for the audience. As tense as it would be if your own child or sibling started seeing close to insane and impossible things and telling you to believe it, out of mere shock I think the way horror uses age to play with the audiences emotions is very accuareately represented, even in elderly people. Elderly people especially as this usually creates room for a countertype, you wouldn't expect a frail old woman to hurt anybody until her eyes roll to the back of her head, she's laughing uncontrollably, speaking in some ancient demon Latin tongue and climbing the ceiling with a crab walk.

This film is an excellent example of determining how real the media world is in terms of movies, because in this film it is all about challenging the sterotypes, but also reinforcing some of them. It presents our capabilities as humans, without judgement and the innermost battles with insecurities, urges and desires on our human condition.

Genre Conventions

What is genre?

A genre is the style and narrative of the film which the director follows by portraying this in the lighting, costume, cast, setting, story and camera. Every genre varies in the way they portray their genre but only subtely because there are specific codes and conventions that genres follow to show the meaning behind the genres.

What are codes and conventions?

Codes and conventions are certain aspects of the visual representation which speak to the narrative, giving you clues as to what the genre will be and what might happen. Genres usually follow these codes and conventions to give meaning.

There are two types of codes and conventions, technical and symbolic.
The technical codes is how the equipment is used in the media context to tell the story, for examle how the camera is used and the type of angles/way it's filmed.
Symbolic codes are the emotion and meaning behind a characters action or what they are wearing, this refers to a deeper inference of the narrative and builds connection with the characters.

Six types of genres and the codes and conventions that you typically find in each one

1. Horror - Low key lighting, suspensful and dark music (maybe operatic), possible gore. Weak protagonist, frail clothes. Setting depicts symbolism of isolation and death, juxtaposes with happy and open scenes for a contrast. Perhaps paranormal involved. Camera techniques: Birds eye view angle (to make the victim seem powerless), close ups (portrays the distress of emotions in the character's face), tracking (builds suspense, good for jumpscares as you don't know what the camera is going to show next) and the tilt shot (could be used to show the audience the victims point of the view as they crawl away for dear life).

2. Action - High key lighting, high octane music to fit the pace of what's happening. Usually involves guns and violence, fast cars and explosions. Heavy onset characters, strong protagonist. Camera techniques: Slow motion (showcases a really cool action or stunt to impact on the drama of a particular scene), quick cuts (increases the feeling of high stakes that makes an action film become more effective) and shaky cam (creates tension by bringing the audience into the action through erratic movements).

3. Thriller - Often low key lighting, however high key lighting is probably used in the intro. Unpleasant, suspensful and dark music, normally fast paced apart from when it's suspensful, good for use of a slow bassline. Characters are seen as vunerable victims that fall prey to a psychopath's game, or ciminal activity. With this in mind the costumes are dark, layered if set in a cold environment but still susceptible to being victimized. The protagonist is represented as willful and determined to find out the truth or apprehend the antagonist. Horror and Thriller genres have more or less the same camera techniques.

4. Romance - High key lighting, gentle and happy music unless there's a dramatic breakup in which case it would be sorrowful and blues kind of music. The characters wear bright, vibrant clothes that relate to their social situtations. Camera techniques: Close up (detail in the scene), over the shoulder shot (makes the audience feel like they are involved in the conversation) and two shot (demonstrates a relationship between two characters).

5. Sci-Fi - High key lighting, technological sounding music, goes with the idea of being in space and facing extraterrestrials. Futuristic style clothing to represent the time period. Camera techniques: Long shot (gives an overview of the setting, immerses the audience so they can identify with home planets of characters and associate different species), and high angle (suggests a person with a authority or certain race is more powerful).

6. Comedy - High key lighting, funny and joyful music. The characters have bright and vibrant costumes, relates to living humorous family lives and the silly events that take place.

For an action movie like Fast and Furious will have high key lighting, urban costumes to fit the lifestyle of speed racers/criminals such as dark, lightweight clothes, tough-looking cast (Vin Diesal, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson), the setting varies in each of the movies but it's generally set in a open sub-urban environment with a lot of manuverablity for the cars. The story follows different characters throughout as the main protagonist, I'd say this represents the variety in the cars they use and how exotic or different characters are adapted to those cars and the camera combined with fast-editing keeps the pace going, this means a lot of cuts and tracking also high and low angles to determine the more powerful racer, giving them the authority in a relationship between other competitors. A film similar to this is 'Gone In Sixty Seconds', featuring Nicholas Cage and Angelina Joline (high-grossing action characters) where the main part to the story is that Cage is to steal (criminal activity) 50 exotic cars in order to pay back the criminal he got into prison.

In a horror movie such as The Unborn, there is low key lighting which symbolises the dark undertone of the story and mysterious yet suspensful nature of a demon that takes possession of humans as it tries to be physically born through the main character Casey. This in itself represents a pure horror feel, a paranormal entity trying to be born into the physical realm through a human being. The costumes are reaveling on the women, and white clothing to suggest Casey's innocence but together this symbolises her vunerablity and inability to do anything about the force that's chasing her. Set in a sub-urban environment, The Unborn makes even this scary, bringing the horror to our neighbourhood so to speak with a very dark tone of possesive intent and surrealistic nightmares coming to life in reality. There is one particular scene where mid shot is being used and it stays still with Casey in the frame sorting herself out in the bathroom at which point it goes to a close up of the mirror she is facing. After closing the cupboard where the mirror is on twice, the second time a figure appears and she freaks out but the camera never moves out of place. The ending of this film is quite typical of a supernatural horror, a ritual of some kind to banish the evil spirit, this goes horribly wrong and you guessed it, they all die. A horror similar to this one is 'Mirrors', in this thiller/horror Bruce Willis is the security officer of an abandoned building. He starts noticing that the mirrors have some sort of entity on the other side, Willis puts his hand on one of this mirrors expecting to rub of a hand mark made on it (with use of a close up) but little does he know that he just touched the other realm of supernatural spirits which now begin to follow him into the normal world. To rid himself of these evil spirits Willis goes to a priest, again turning to religion like The Unborn however also like in The Unborn you think it worked and then there's a twist, which makes way for Mirrors 2.