Inital Ideas For The Film Poster

These are the 3 layouts we have thought of. From my own knowledge of the horror genre I have found that using a whole image to cover the entire background to be typical. We have taken this into consideration and made up 3 ideas that surround this. In layout number 1 we was thinking of having the actors names across the top, so that the audience will know who is starring in it. However i have noticed this is more typical in the comedy genre and we have decided not to use this layout. The layout we have chosen is layout number 2. I feel that this is the best choice for my film poster as it follows the typical conventions of the horror genre. I am looking forward to seeing the final outcome of this poster.

Final Storyboard

For our final storyboard, me and Jess have decided to combine our own inital ideas together. We have chosen to use the opening sequence of Jess' storyboard and the idea of my montage style ending. However due to some of the difficuties of getting most of the shots we would have needed, we had to go back and rethink some of our orginal ideas. We used the opening of Jess' storyboard as we thought that it will help to add tension and suspense, because of the slow pace, and by using the fast editing and various shots of the 'film' it will help keep our audience interested and give them a slight insight on what to expect without revealing too much.

Theory of Genre

John Fiske develops Barthes semic code:
A representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation to all the others we have seen - after all, we are unlikely to have experienced one in reality, and if we did, we would, according to this model, make sense of it by turning it into another text, which we would also understand intertextually, in terms of what we have seen so often on our screens. There is then a cultural knowledge of the concept 'car chase' that any one text is a prospectus for, and that is used by the viewer to decode it, and by the producer to encode it.
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Jacques Derrida proposed that:
'a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without... a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text' (1981)
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Claude-Levi Strauss developed the concept of bricolage.
Levi-Strauss saw any text as constructed out of socially recognisable ‘debris’ from other texts. He saw that writers construct texts from other texts by a process of:
Addition
Deletion
Substitution
Transposition
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Gerard Genette developed the transtextuality and developed five sub-groups, but only 4 apply to film:
-Intertextuality quotation, plagiarism, allusion
-Architextuality designation of the text as part of a genre by the writer or by the audience
-Metatextuality explicit or implicit critical commentary of one text on another text
-Hypotextuality the relation between a text and a preceeding hypotext - a text or genre on whichit is based but which it transforms, modifies, elaborates or extends (including parody, spoof, sequel, translation)

Theories Of Narrative

Vladimir Propp examined hundreds of fairy tales in the generic form 'the folk wonder tale'. He identified: 8 character roles and 31 functions which move the story along. An example of the 31 functions would be, the punishment of the villian (usually at the end of the story) and the ban of action (eg. if sleeping beauty touches a spinning wheel she will die).

8 Character Roles ...

-The Villian

-The Hero: A seeker character motivated by an initial lack.

-The Doner: Who provides an object with some magic property.

-The Helper: Who aids the hero.

-The Princess: A reward for the hero and an object of the villians scheme.

-Her Father: Who validates the hero.

-The Dispatcher: Who sends the hero on his way.

-The False Hero: The one who gets credited at first and then found out.

Propps theory is a form of structuralism, which is a view that all media is inevitably in the form of certain fixed structures. Propps theory can be applied to generic sturctures is western cultures, such as popular film genres- Thus genre structures form expectation in the mind of an audience, that certain rules apply to the narrative. However, cultural change can force structures to change. For example, the hero can now be a women.

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Tzvetan Todorov was a bulgarian structuralist in the 1960's. He developed the theory of disrupted equilibrium. He identified that stories follow a typical pattern of:

-Equilibrium: The 'status quo'. Where things are as they should be.

-Disequilibrium: The status quo is disrupted by an event

-Equilibrium: Is restored at the end of the story, by the actions of the hero.

There can be several moments in the plot where resolution of equilibrium takes place. For example, the pieces of the detectives puzzle fall into place. Todorov later developed his theory into a five stage pattern:

1) A state of equilibrium at the outset.

2)A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.

3)A recognition that there has been a disruption.

4)An attempt to respair the disruption.

5)A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

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Roland Barthes believes that there are 5 action codes, that enable an audience to make sense of a narrative.

-Hermeneutic (narrative turning-points) - We know where the story will go next.

-Proairetic (basic narrative actions) - Eg. The detective interviews suspect or femme fetale seduces the hero.

-Cultural (prior social knowledge) - Eg. our attitudes to gender or racial stereotypes.

-Semic (medium-related codes) - intertextuality.

- Symbolic (themes) - iconagraphy or a theme such as 'image vs reality'.

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Claude Levi-Strauss was a french structuralist in the 1970's. He is most noted for his theory of Binary Oppositions. In order to find those oppositions, Levi-Strauss was less interested in:

-Syntagmatic relations i.e.how events line up in the narrative structure to develop the plot.

-Paradigmatic relations i.e. those events and features that belong to the theme of the piece, especially within genre based texts.

Levi-Strauss used the 'western' film genre to develop his theory of Binary Oppositions.

Homesteaders ---> Native Americans

Christian ---> Pagan

Domsetic ---> Savage

Weak ---> Strong

Garden ---> Wilderness

Inside Society ---> Outside Society

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The theory of Diegesis applies to narrative events, just as it does to sounds. Diegetic narrative events take place before the audience, within the field of vision. Non diegetic narrative events take place off-screen- before the movie started, between scenes, simultaneously but in another room. Diegesis is the Greek for the ‘narrative world’. However, to understand this term, we need to know the difference between the plot, the story and screen time.

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Victor Shklovsky was a russian theorist in the 1920s. Shklovsky attempted to distinguish between the plot, which he defined as the events we actually ‘see’ in the narrative; and the story, which contains all the information or events affecting the characters both on and off screen. He gave them typically difficult names:

Fabula = the story i.e. the whole world of the story before during and after what we see.

Hearsyuzhet = only the events that we see or hear within the field of vision.

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David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson are american Film Studies theorists from 1990. Bordwell and Thompson gives three different time zones for film narratives in their book 'Film Art (1997)'.

Story ‘the set of all the events in the narrative, both the ones explicitly presented and those the viewer infers, compose the story’.

Plot ‘the term plot is used to describe everything visibly and audibly present in the film before us’.

Screen Time ‘the time taken to broadcast the film’.

Diegesis is therefore the Greek for the ‘narrative world’ of the plot during the screen time.

Audience Feedback On My Initail Ideas

Before creating our film trailer I decided to sit down with a couple of people from my target audience and see what they thought about some of my own ideas. Overall I had some very postive feedback and I will try and alter somethings which they thought would be needed. I think that I will need to get some more feedback once a first draft of out trailer has been made. Some comments were:

1.'Very good ideas, although it seems as if the begining scene would drag'
2. 'Interesting storyboard, nothing much needs to be changed'
3.'Would like to see more action and drama going on'
4.'Liked the short captions, I think they would be very effective'

Audience

Before releasing any film, there is many things that need to be taken into consideration when targeting an audience. For example their age, gender, race and income etc. As we are making a horror trailer it will be aimed at people 18 and over, both male and female of any race. We have chosen to make the certificate of our film trailer an 18. This is because some scenes may not be suitable for all viewers.Each film has a Unique Selling Point or USP, this helps to attract an audience. The most common audience is between the ages of 15 - 30, however familes are also becoming more of a frequent audience within the film industry.

From looking at the table below, the audience we will be aiming towards will be C1 and under, this is because i feel that the age range of our audience would fit into these catagories and are more likely to visit the cinema than those in the higher catagories.

Focused Analysis: Mise-en Scene

The mise-en scene for the trailer of The Strangers is very dark and gloomy. Alot of dull colour tones such as beiges and blacks have been used. This helps the audience to identify the genre of this trailer. Using dark colours is a typical convention of the horror genre as it adds a sense of mystery and gives it a whole dark and scary atmosphere. By using the correct location aswell can also help to add to this effect. As they are in the middle of nowhere, its gives the audience an illusion that they may not survive until the end of the film, becuase it reinforces the idea that no one would be able to help them. This should hopefully help draw in and keep the target audience on the egde of their seat.

Story Board

1. Establishing long shot of an empty house, a couple have returned from a trip. This helps set the location of the film. Pleasant music will be added in to the background, suggesting a calm atmosphere. The shot will last around 3-4 seconds, before fading to a black screen with a caption.




2. Caption will fade in to a black background reading: 'HOW WOULD YOU FEEL, COMING HOME...'
The next shot will fade in around 2 seconds after.

3. Medium long shot of a couple walking away from the car, up to the house. The weather should be sunny to tie in with the music. Shot ends by fading into black to reveal the next caption.






4. Caption will fade into a black background reading: 'TO AN EMPTY HOUSE? ' ('empty house should be in a bolder font to emphasise a sense of danger to the audience). Next shot will fade in around 2 seconds after.

5. Close up, showing a note left by a friend, who had came by to check the house. The note reading 'Everthings fine' is ironic because the audience is expecting something to happen. I have found this to be very typical within my chosen genre. Pleasant music slowly fades out, and the shot then fades to black with the next caption.

6. Captions fades onto the black background reading: 'THEN REALISING ....' The next shot should fade in around 2 seconds after.



7. Medium low angle shot of one of the main characters (the man) putting his jacket in the closet. The music should then changes to have a more eerie tone, as the 'killer' is seen roughly out of focus holding some sort of a weapon. By seeing the killer out of focus it helps to hide his identity, so that it doesn't give too much of the plot away. Fades to black with the next caption.


8. Caption fades into the black background reading: 'YOUR NOT ALONE' (Not alone should be seen in a bolder font, to again emphasise the sense of danger, and to draw the audience further into the trailer). The next shot will fade in around 2 seconds after.


9. This is a the start of a montage, with different shots from the 'film'. The first shot is a long shot of the women running through the lounge of the house. The music will have changed to a fast paced more thrilling song, to fit in with the rapid editing.





10. An extreme close up of the 'killers' knife, seen with blood on. The audience at this point doesn't know whos blood this is. Again there will be quick editing and fast paced music.







11. Close up of the man tuning his head quickly with a shocked expression on his face. The audience will automatically know something shocking has happened. This will draw them in to see the film.





12. Long shot of the girl running up stairs, with the killer walking behind her. The lighting should be quite dark, but still light enough to both actors clearly.






13. A medium long shot of the girl, leaning up against a door, breathing heavily. The killer can be seen at the side of the screen. Again the lighting should be dark, but light enough to see both the actors.









14. Medium close up of the killer walking and then he stops. The music will slowly starts to fade as the shot fades to black.










15.The title and the release date will then fade onto the black screen in a red coloured font. This will then fade out around 2-3 seconds after.

Focused Analysis: Sound/Music

The music in the begging of the trailer starts of with a peacful tone setting the scene of an ordinary life. The birds that can be heard could emphasise the point that they alone, with no one around. However when they hear the bang outside, the entire mood changes. This again links to Todorovs theory. The bang is the start to the equlibrium being disrupted by a sudden start of events. The creaking swings again add to the eerie effect. The music starts to get more dramatic towards the end on of the trailer. When the record player starts playing it starts repeating they same section of a song. When this is combined with the right atmosphere it can also help create the 'creepy' and eerie kind of atmosphere.

Focused Analysis: Characters

For my first focused analysis i will be looking at characters. From my own knowledge of horror films, i know that in this genre is that alot of masks are used, to help hide the true identity of the killer. We can clearly see which characters are being portrayed as this, from this simple yet typical convention of the horror genre. The colours of the clothes they are wearing are very dull colours, for example her dark green dress or his dark red jacket. The style of their clothes are very normal, despite them being killers. The man killer, is shown as being the more dominant of the three because of the fact we assume he is a man. This proves Vladimir Propp's theory, that genre stuctures form expectation in the mind of the audience. It also shows that in every media text that there is 8 character roles. Looking back on all of my research I can clearly identify at least three common ones (Victim, Villian & Hero). The Victims in this film can be clearly seen as they are an average american couple. The clothes the women is wearing are very basic, she is perhaps being portrayed as a typical american women, stay at home to cook and clean. And the man is wearing a suit, this gives us an insight on his possible job, or his status in society (important bussiness man). He is shown as the provider, which is the typical sterotype of how men should be.