I timed myself so some paragraphs are not finished
My summer horror trailer is based on the supernatural genre. The trailer consists of a narrative which is a story that is created in a constructive format. There are two types of narrative: linear and non-linear. Most trailers are montages so it would be considered non-linear.
The first theory I will be talking about is Todorov's theory. His theory states that a narrative consists of 5 stages/acts such as the equilibrium, the disequilibrium, recognition,, attempts to & lastly resolution. In our summer horror trailer, only the equilibrium and disequilibrium is shown (when the friends are together and when the girl gets 'killed' ny an unknown figure). This is to get the audience wanting to know what happens next.
The next theory is Propp's theory. He decided that a narrative needs to include certain types of characters (e.g. hero, villain, dispatcher, princess etc). In my summer trailer, this theory was not present. You can clearly see that...
The next theory I will be talking about is Strauss' theory. According to this theory, it is a theory of binary opposites(e.g.good vs evil, boy vs girl, young vs old etc.) In our summer horror trailer, there were a few binary opposites. The obvious one is good vs evil. In the trailer, we have the protagonist getting assaulted by the evil antagonist. It is easy to tell as she was wearing white and the antagonist was dark in terms of clothing. Another binary opposite is the gender - the boy vs girl; the protagonist was a girl whereas the antagonist was a boy. This is important because the antagonist was way more dominant whereas the protagonist was submissive.
The last theory to talk bout is Barthes' theory. His theory states that every narrative has multiple codes (e.g. enigma, action, symbolic etc). In our summer trailer, there are enigma codes (for example, the mystery of the antagonist which will have the audiences wondering who killed the protagonist
To conclude, my summer trailer needs improvements as it doesn't have al the narrative theories applied
Thursday 28 September 2017
Tuesday 12 September 2017
Summaries of themes
Final girl:
This refers to the last remaining female survivor out of the whole batch of main charcters in a horror film. This type of character is more apparent in slasher films since the girl will most likely have a final battle with the aggressor at the end of the film. This could be seen as the girl not having to lose her virginity as this point and that she is still young so the aggressor would attempt to attack her with a sharp weapon like a knife to represent the penetration as it is a phallic object and it involves intimacy which is why the aggressor purposely doesn't have a ranged weapon like a gun for example.
For instance, in The Shining, a character called Wendy Torrace was the final girl during the scene of the antagonist cutting the bathroom down in order to get to her.
Male gaze:
This refers to male audience observing females especially if they are sexualised. In the eye of the straight male side of the audience, women are supposedly seen as sexual objects for their pleasure. In horror films, you see that the males are dominant whereas the females submit to that type of dominance. It could be protagonists to each other or in a slasher, where the aggressor appears to be a male and is chasing after the last survivor which happens to be a female.
Zombies representation:
Zombies are the undead that only live off of flesh and brains which is their only purpose. Zombies are basically lost souls and are not bright at all. But the idea of zombies is much more than that.
Zombies can be seen as a representation of the mindless consumerism that is present today like on Black Friday for instnace. This means that we act a certain way price has been lowered for certain materialist things whether we like it not; sometimes we don't question ourselves when we buy something or put thought into it. Some people just buy because of the price. Also, this could represent people buying luxury things and base their whole life on materialistic things. They buy these things to prove that they are better.
The evolution of horror
Horror has changed over many years. it originated from stories, tales, fables back in the ancient times. Then as it got to the 1890s, there were short films of supernatural events. During the 1920s, many horror films were being produced such as Nosferatu, The Phantom of the Opera, The Unknown and many more. Nosferatu was the first vampire themed movie to be produced.
Post-Modern Horror
This is often remixed, shaped in a different way to challenge what we normally see. Movies like Cabin in The Woods is an example of post-modernism in the horror industry; this movie was a big metaphor for the horror industry and how hard they work in order to please their target audience. Also, it was very exaggerrated especially at th ened where you all the monsters were set loose.
This refers to the last remaining female survivor out of the whole batch of main charcters in a horror film. This type of character is more apparent in slasher films since the girl will most likely have a final battle with the aggressor at the end of the film. This could be seen as the girl not having to lose her virginity as this point and that she is still young so the aggressor would attempt to attack her with a sharp weapon like a knife to represent the penetration as it is a phallic object and it involves intimacy which is why the aggressor purposely doesn't have a ranged weapon like a gun for example.
For instance, in The Shining, a character called Wendy Torrace was the final girl during the scene of the antagonist cutting the bathroom down in order to get to her.
Male gaze:
This refers to male audience observing females especially if they are sexualised. In the eye of the straight male side of the audience, women are supposedly seen as sexual objects for their pleasure. In horror films, you see that the males are dominant whereas the females submit to that type of dominance. It could be protagonists to each other or in a slasher, where the aggressor appears to be a male and is chasing after the last survivor which happens to be a female.
Zombies representation:
Zombies are the undead that only live off of flesh and brains which is their only purpose. Zombies are basically lost souls and are not bright at all. But the idea of zombies is much more than that.
Zombies can be seen as a representation of the mindless consumerism that is present today like on Black Friday for instnace. This means that we act a certain way price has been lowered for certain materialist things whether we like it not; sometimes we don't question ourselves when we buy something or put thought into it. Some people just buy because of the price. Also, this could represent people buying luxury things and base their whole life on materialistic things. They buy these things to prove that they are better.
The evolution of horror
Horror has changed over many years. it originated from stories, tales, fables back in the ancient times. Then as it got to the 1890s, there were short films of supernatural events. During the 1920s, many horror films were being produced such as Nosferatu, The Phantom of the Opera, The Unknown and many more. Nosferatu was the first vampire themed movie to be produced.
Post-Modern Horror
This is often remixed, shaped in a different way to challenge what we normally see. Movies like Cabin in The Woods is an example of post-modernism in the horror industry; this movie was a big metaphor for the horror industry and how hard they work in order to please their target audience. Also, it was very exaggerrated especially at th ened where you all the monsters were set loose.
Cabin In The Woods Analysis
Cabin In The Woods Analysis
Cabin In The Woods is a typical horror movie as it has the expected horror codes & conventions and has its its character types such as the dumb blonde, the intelligent, the 'innocent' virgin, the drug addict and the athletic person. This is to represent the teen stereotypes which means the target audience are teens and up. However, it's not what you would expect it to be and has a very unexpected twist at the end specifically. It is considered as a parody of horror movies in general
In the movie, you would see scientists watching the victims every move when the arrive at the cabin which is something I did not expect. This seems to be a metaphor for the people involved in the horror industry and are behind the works of a horror movie. Later on, you would see that they are trying to impress the Gods of their world (which represents the elites or the higher ups that no-one really knows about) but this idea has been exaggerated of course. Later on, you would see that everything is set up and that the characters deaths are premeditated.
Also, it blends some sub genres together such as supernatural, monster, splatter, slasher and many more. This is seen where all of the antagonists were released out of their cages and two of the main characters attempted to kill them all at the laboratory. You would see monsters such as massive snakes and you would see supernatural forces like ghosts and ghouls. The element of the splatter genre is seen when the monsters get killed which leads to blood bath. This also proves that this is a play on horror movies in general.
Cabin In The Woods is a typical horror movie as it has the expected horror codes & conventions and has its its character types such as the dumb blonde, the intelligent, the 'innocent' virgin, the drug addict and the athletic person. This is to represent the teen stereotypes which means the target audience are teens and up. However, it's not what you would expect it to be and has a very unexpected twist at the end specifically. It is considered as a parody of horror movies in general
In the movie, you would see scientists watching the victims every move when the arrive at the cabin which is something I did not expect. This seems to be a metaphor for the people involved in the horror industry and are behind the works of a horror movie. Later on, you would see that they are trying to impress the Gods of their world (which represents the elites or the higher ups that no-one really knows about) but this idea has been exaggerated of course. Later on, you would see that everything is set up and that the characters deaths are premeditated.
Also, it blends some sub genres together such as supernatural, monster, splatter, slasher and many more. This is seen where all of the antagonists were released out of their cages and two of the main characters attempted to kill them all at the laboratory. You would see monsters such as massive snakes and you would see supernatural forces like ghosts and ghouls. The element of the splatter genre is seen when the monsters get killed which leads to blood bath. This also proves that this is a play on horror movies in general.
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