Conventions essay

Conventions are a set of rules that can be followed or broken. They are followed so that the audience is able to identify what they are and why the are getting used in this particular way. They are sometimes broken, however, and can be turned into a bricolage in order to create something new from the old. They are broken because audiences sometimes become tired of watching the same sort of thing over again. Also, they come to expect certain things in the film or trailer, therefore there is no longer the element of surprise for the audience.

In AS, my brief was to create a music magazine, of the genre of my choosing. For the research part of it, I had to look at conventions commonly found in real music magazines, such as the main image, the masthead and the general colour scheme of the magazine. I analysed real magazines, focusing on rock magazines as the layout and structure of these should be quite similar to the product that I would make for my AS task. This is because the audience would be looking for something like existing rock music magazines as these are what they are interested in. I noticed that in rock magazines, the colour black is always used, whether it is for the text, the background, or for the actual image. I wanted to follow this convention in my magazine, so the main colour used within my magazine was black, which meant that the audience that this magazine is targeted at would recognise it as a rock magazine, because the colour black is iconic within the rock genre. This, however, did not show my understanding of conventions as the only reason I used them was because they were in similar places as the ones I looked at in the real music magazines.

In A2, my brief is to create a horror teaser trailer. My genre is supernatural, and in order to create a trailer of this subgenre, I had to research the conventions found in the supernatural genre, such as priests, low key lighting, religion, and child possession. Horror movies such as The Exorcist and Carrie showed me what is typically in supernatural horror trailers. This then allowed me to know what the audience should expect in my teaser trailer, and what it should look like. These conventions should in someway be incorporated into my trailer to make the product actually seem like a supernatural horror teaser trailer, with all the proper conventions seen in existing trailers.

In conclusion, I believe that my skills in the use of conventions has improved as I am able to not only identify key conventions, but actually understand why they are used, and use them as part of my own work.

Research & Planning essay response

My understanding of why we must do research and planning has developed from the tasks I completed in AS to what I am currently doing in A2. I also now understand how research and planning is a very important part of doing a task as you have to know about it, to know what the audience is looking for, and to know what you are actually going to do when it comes the proper task. Also, my understanding of making a product to meet the expectations of a target audience has improved from AS to A2 because I now know that I am actually making it for the audience, and by doing research, I have found out what they want out of it and what they are looking for.

I did not do much research and planning for the AS preliminary task. Instead of carrying out the research and planning stages the correct way, I just researched some magazine front covers to see the typical layout of one, and then went ahead to put in my own images relating to the task, and my own text. Therefore, there was no planning involved, as I just put in the conventions in their places without planning out each one before. This task involved basic skills. I copied the positioning of conventions seen in real magazines, such as the masthead, the cover lines and the main image. This means that I did follow conventions of a magazine, however, I did not understand why these conventions were used and what impact they have on the audience. As I was not very skilled at this time, it limited my creativity because I just copied the conventions and didn't use my own imagination.

My AS music magazine was an improvement from my AS preliminary task. Furthermore, my skills had developed. I did more research and planning for this task than I did for the preliminary task. I researched the genre of music my magazine was about. I looked at lots of different rock music magazines, to see the sort of colour schemes they use and the general layout of them. Also, there was a lot of planning involved in this task. I completed rough cuts and dummies for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread. I then did my proper versions on Adobe Indesign. I put conventions in my magazine again. I understood how they are used in magazines, but I was not aware of why the are used in the way they are. My lack of skills once again limited my creativity as I just copied the positioning of conventions in actual music magazines again, although it was more developed than the preliminary task.

By the time I did my A2 Horror trailer, I understood the reasoning behind why certain conventions are used and how to use them in certain genres of horror. Before filming the trailer, I researched many different existing horror trailers of various sub genres, such as slasher, supernatural and zombie. This allowed me to see how they are played out and what are the typical conventions that are seen in those. I found that most horror film trailers of the same sub genre have many similarities in them. For example, in slasher films, we always see a knife held by the killer in the film. This knife is a phallic object, and it represents the dominance that the killer has over the victim, and it demonstrates he power difference between them. Therefore, I now understand why conventions are used in horror film trailers, and what these conventions are trying to get across to the audience. Also, this has shown development across the two years as I have an understand of why conventions are used, which I previously did not have in AS.

There was some planning involved when creating my AS music magazine. I did rough cuts and dummies for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread. I then did my proper versions on Adobe Indesign. These rough cuts and dummies allowed me to see how things would look when it came to the proper one, therefore giving me a rough idea of what it will look like, and whether or not anything needs to be changed before going on to Adobe Indesign. There was more planning involved in the making of the A2 Horror trailer. This is because I now understood that we were making these trailers for others, not ourselves, which is what we thought when making our AS music magazine. Also, the fact that I did much more research for this task meant that this could be incorporated into the planning stage of it.

In conclusion, I feel that I have developed as a Creative Media Producer in the Post Modern Age through research and planning. In AS, it was more to do with copying the conventions given, rather than using our own imagination and creativity. However, in A2, there is more creativity involved. Also, there was significantly more research and planning that went into the tasks for A2 than for AS. I not only understand how research and planning is carried out, and how conventions are used, but also why it is important to carry out research and planning, and also why conventions are used, and their effect on the audience.

Audience theory essay

In audience theory, there are two different viewpoints. These are mass audience theory, which is passive, and active audience theory. Mass audience theorists say that everyone reacts to texts in the same way. On the other hand, active audience theorists say that individuals can interpret media texts in different ways, and that they respond differently to the same texts.

The effects model suggests that the consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience. This effect is usually negative. Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent this influence. The power lies with the message of the text. However, the hypodermic model says the opposite. It states that the messages in texts are injected into the audience by powerful syringe-like media. The audience is powerless to resist this, therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience become drugged by this powerful message.

One theory within audience is the reception theory, created by Stuart Hall. He said that the text is coded by the producer and decoded by the audience. One reading he came up with was dominant/preferred. This was when the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to and agrees with it. Another of his readings was negotiated, which is when the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of a text in light of previously held views. The final reading is oppositional. This is when the message is recognised by the audience, but is rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons.

Another theory is the cultivation theory, created by George Gerbner. He talked about how media affects people's attitudes rather than their actions. He also said that overexposure to films and television shows can blur audiences sense of the real world. He found that heavy media users have an attitudinal misconception called mean world syndrome. He said that the more exposure to TV overtime, TV will eventually cultivate viewers perceptions of reality.

The final theory I will talk about is the copycat theory. This theory was introduced by Mary Cover Jones. She believed that the audience will copy what they see in a media text.  It refers to how the media can influence and affect the audiences behaviour and how they think. A strength of this theory is that parents are able to monitor the media that their children use. A weakness however of this theory is that the preconception of danger varies from person to person. An example of this theory is the Jamie Bulger murder case.

Camerawork Prep

Depth of field:

• Distance between the nearest and furthest objects that are in focus.
• Subject in focus and the background is blurred - directs attention of viewer.
• Deep focus works better for wide shots when you want to keep everything in focus.
• To control depth of field, adjust the aperture - f-stop value - low f-stop value means a wider aperture and a shallower depth of field, high f-stop value means a smaller aperture and a deeper depth of field.

Composition & Framing:

• Composition = how elements are arranged on screen.
• Framing of your shot and filling the frame within that shot to make it visually interesting.
• Simplicity - don't make shots too busy and complex.
• Balance - be aware of weight of each frame.

Rule of thirds:

• Composition rule of thirds:

Focus on:

• Foreground
• Background
• Spacing
• Symmetry
• Can emphasise mood

• Subjects placed on vertical lines.
• Background placed on horizontal lines.
• Appealing look to the shot, point of interest easy to follow, and balances shot.

Head Room & Lead Room:

• Head Room = distance between top of your frame and top of your subjects head.
• Lead Room = camera following a moving subject - panning.

180 degree rule:

• Where you position the camera on set.
• Establish where characters are on the screen.
• Invisible line drawn between these two characters.
• Angle reverse-angle sequence - camera staying at one side of the two characters - characters facing each other and looking at each other's eye line.
• If we cross the line and place the camera at the other side of the characters, they end up facing in the same direction.

Exposure & Focus:

• To control exposure, change ISO setting.
• Picture may be overexposed in bright daylight at the lowest ISO when the aperture is wide open - reduce aperture to maintain proper exposure.

Representation essay

How does the concept of representation apply to your trailer?

The first representation theorist I looked at was Laura Mulvey. Her theory was ‘The Male Gaze’. She researched the representation of women in film, where she found that women were controlled by a ‘masculine’ audience through ‘The Male Gaze’. The theory is concerned with a woman’s body being on screen, and the male viewer experiencing erotic pleasure from seeing her. This makes the woman an ‘object’ of gaze. We as the audience watch the film through the gaze of a heterosexual male. In my trailer, I did not include shots that show ‘The Male Gaze’. Furthermore, my trailer didn’t have many shots of females at all.

Another theorist I looked at was Carol J. Clover. This representation theory concerned ‘The Final Girl’. ‘The Final Girl’ is seen in a slasher horror film. They are the last protagonist left to confront the killer. They are typically virgins, and they avoid drugs as well. They usually have a unisex name, and sometimes have a shared history with the killer. Throughout the film, ‘The Final Girl’ becomes more and more masculinised, and by the end of the film, when she confronts the killer, she has become a ‘man’. This is also why she has a unisex name, to make the transition into a ‘man’ more believable for the audience. I didn’t have a ‘Final Girl’ in my trailer. Although there were some females in it, they were not the last surviving protagonists. Instead, all of the protagonists died at the same time.

Finally, I looked at Charles Derry, whose theory was to do with ‘The Human Monster’. He believed that in every human, they had an inner evil, and that there was some monster in them. Also, in some horror films, the antagonist portrays society and the problems that lie within it. In my trailer, I did include aspects of ‘The Human Monster’. This is shown by the antagonist, who is a killer and is murdering teens. The antagonist is not visibly a monster, and from what we can see, he is a human. However, he has an inner evil, and he has a monster in him, which is what is causing him to become a killer.

Overall, I believe that in my trailer, I did not really follow the representation theories. The only one that I did include is ‘The Human Monster’, which is one that is typically seen in slasher horror films. However, I feel that I should have included more of these theories, and in particular either ‘The Male Gaze’ theory or ‘The Final Girl’ theory. Including one of these in my horror teaser trailer means that it would have been more conventional and it would have followed these representation theorists more.

4 Audience theories

Reception theory:

• Stuart Hall
• Text coded by producer, decoded by audience.
• Dominant/preferred = when audience decodes message as producer wants them to and agrees with it.
• Negotiated = when audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of text in light of previously held views.
• Oppositional = when message recognised, but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons.

Cultivation theory:

• George Gerbner
• How media affects people's attitudes rather than actions. Overexposure to films/television shows can blur audiences sense of real world.
• Heavy media users has attudinal misconception called mean world syndrome.
• The more exposure to TV, will cultivate viewers perception of reality.

Desensitisation:

• Mary Cover Jones
• The more violence viewers are exposed to in the media, the less sensitive we become to it. The violence no longer bothers them.
• Behavioural state.
• Viewer can become immune to general shock of these actions.

Copycat theory:

• Mary Cover Jones
• Audience will copy what they see in media text. Can influence and affects audiences behaviour and how they think.
• Parents monitor media children use.
• Preconception of danger varies.
• Jamie Bulger murder case.

History of Iconic horror films timeline

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/699617/History-of-Iconic-Horror-Films-timeline/

Iconic horror characters

Concept Script - The Call / Hide by Adam Boiselle

4 Representation theories

Laura Mulvey - 'The Gaze'

• Representation of women = Male Gaze
• Women's body on screen = male has erotic pleasure, women is object
• Gaze of heterosexual male
• Male directors
• Men are now 'sex objects' = Female Faze

Carol J. Clover - 'The Final Girl'

• Last female alive to confront the killer
• Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream & A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Typically virgins, avoids sex and drugs, unisex name, sometimes shared history with killer
• Final girl is investigating consciousness of film

Sarah Dobbs - Feminism in Horror

• Female protagonists = Rom-coms
• Most women are actresses, not directors, producers or writers
• No need for the Final Girl in so many horror films

Charles Derry

1. Hauntings & Demonic Possessions

• Exorcist & Paranormal Activity - fear of unknown, superstition, evil exists
• Religion, gender and sexuality
• Spiritual presence - witches, ghosts, demons
• Characters fall prey to evil force
• Sexual connotations to 'possession'
• Evil force wants to corrupt its victims - 'The Shining'
• Good and evil, temptation and sin

2. Apocalypse

• Mankind threatened with extinction by inhuman creatures - sometimes virus or plague
• Sometimes from harmless creatures
• Set structure - sudden appearance of creatures
• No explicit reason for rising of creatures

3. The Human Monster

• Psychopathology and insanity - mind of a killer or insane person
• Monster in human deals with propensity for evil
• Sympathetic monster

Narrative Essay

Narrative Essay

I feel that my trailer follows Todorov's theory partly. The narrative theorist, Todorov, said that there were three main stages that should be shown in a teaser trailer. These are the equilibrium, the disequilibrium and the resolution. My teaser trailer shows the equilibrium. This is the introduction of it, and it shows the setting of the horror trailer, which is what the equilibrium should do in teaser trailers. There is also a disequilibrium, which is when the antagonist is introduced to the audience. The disequilibrium is a disruption in the trailer, and when a thing goes wrong in it, so this follows that particular convention. However, there was no resolution in my trailer because I believed that it would be more complex and intriguing if it included more of the disequilibrium.

My trailer also follows Levi Strauss' narrative theory. Strauss believed that everything had a binary opposite, and in my trailer there were protagonists against an antagonist. There was also a hint of man vs. nature, when there was a shot in my trailer of the killers’ knife stuck in a tree. I followed Levi Strauss' binary opposition theory as it is conventional and also it is quite simple for the audience to understand and know what is happening in the trailer.

Another theorist that I will talk about is Vladimir Propp. In his narrative theory, he said that there are key characters that should always be in every horror trailer. These are the protagonist, the antagonist, the donor, the false hero, and the princess/prince. In my trailer, I partly followed this theory, as I included the protagonist, which is a group of teenagers, and the antagonist, which is the killer with a knife. However, in my teaser trailer there wasn’t a donor, a false hero or a princess/prince.

Finally, I am going to talk about Roland Barthes’ structuralism approach. Barthes said that there are three main codes that should be included in all horror trailers. These are the enigma code, which concerns the mystery within the trailer, the action code, which creates suspense, and finally the symbolic code which tells the meaning of the trailer. I didn’t follow the enigma code as in my trailer, there were lots of shots of the antagonist, and they were full shots of him as well, instead of just parts of him. In my trailer, I followed the action code and symbolic code, as the audience could get the meaning of the trailer from watching it.

Overall, I believe that in my trailer, I followed most of the narrative theories. However, I also feel that my trailer should have consisted of more conventional aspects in it, such as including a resolution. Although, changing it up a bit and doing something unconventional can be good for the audience, as it keeps them guessing, and they are not watching the same sort of thing over again.

Summer trailer evaluation

My summer horror film trailer was for a slasher, and it was about a killer murdering some protagonists in a graveyard.

The equilibrium introduces the setting of the trailer, and also introduces only a few characters. This follows the convention of the equilibrium of many horror film trailers, as their purpose is to introduce some things to the audience, such as the location and some characters. The equilibrium should not reveal every character because there will be no surprise for the audience when they watch the full film.

The disequilibrium reveals the killer, who has a knife, and is chasing one of the protagonists through the graveyard. It is conventional for something like this to happen in the disequilibrium as something has to go wrong. However, the killer is never fully revealed in trailers. Instead, only parts of the killer is revealed, so that it is still quite a surprise for the audience when the killer does eventually get completely revealed. But in my trailer, the killer is fully revealed so this does not follow this typical convention.

The montage involves seeing the knife stuck in the tree. Also, we see the killer again, and the protagonists . We then see the killer walk past all of these protagonists, each one of the dead, as a result of this killer. The montage should be the longest part of a teaser trailer, and my trailer is. It should also show the most scary parts, and this one does.

A stock scene in my teaser trailer is a killer with a knife. This is one of the most common stock scenes to see in a slasher horror film, so this is very conventional. Also, the killer is chasing a protagonist, which is another stock scene in my trailer.

The tone of my summer teaser trailer is very good, because it was filmed at night time, and also it is set in a graveyard, which is a good setting for a horror film because of the scary and tense atmosphere of it.

The Call (Hide) by Adam Boisselle - Script

The Call (Hide) by Adam Boisselle

Tagline: Be Careful Who You Call…Your Life Could Be On The Line…

Characters: Brett, Kayla, Jack, Rebecca, and the Killer

·         “Prank Calls, I mean we can’t get caught now can we?” – Key plot point for trailer

·         ‘The girl screams one last final scream; we see the knife covered in blood’ – Key horror moment and key plot point for trailer

·         ‘Rebecca is walking up the road, she looks back at the house and suddenly she hears footsteps. She looks around, scared’ – Key horror moment and key stock scene

·         ‘We see a figure appear in the Glass Window, perfectly seen. We go from looking at him to passing over to the knife, which is still out’ – Key horror moment and key plot point for trailer

·         ‘The teens are now asleep, and the TV is still running. Suddenly Brett begins to wake up, he lazily walks over to the TV and shuts it off, suddenly there’s a loud noise from within the house, Brett whips around looking towards the Hallway’ – Key horror moment

·         'Kayla, still pinned against a wall is standing there. Suddenly the Killer brings the knife up to her neck’ – Key horror moment

·         'The teens all run out to the Driveway, and begin running away. Suddenly Brett trips and falls to the ground, as he does this the Garage Door opens behind him. He slowly begins to get up, when suddenly the Killer begins to walk out’ – Key stock scene

·         'The teens run around Brett’s body, and over the small wall, Rebecca jumps down right into the Killer’s arms. She screams in fright and kicks him, he buckles over and she runs’ – Death scene

·         'The Killer raises his knife, and turns and slams it into Rebecca’s abdomen! She screams in pain, and he rips the knife out and slashes Jack’s side. He falls to the ground in pain, but gets up, Rebecca falls, coughing up blood; she falls to the ground and dies’ – Death scene

·         'Suddenly the door they came in swings open, revealing the Killer’ – Key horror moment

·         'The Killer raises his knife, kicks Jack onto his stomach steps on his back and begins stabbing the knife into him, over and over and over. Jack soon stops moving’ – Death scene

·         'She gets to her feet and looks at the mirror to see that it reads: I Saw What You Did. Kayla gasps and from behind her the Killer rises up from the bathtub. He grabs her from behind and we… CUT TO BLACK: On the sound of her screaming’ – Key horror moment and possible death scene

How does the concept of genre apply to your Trailer? - 30 min essay

How does the concept of genre apply to your Trailer?

Films are categorised based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed, their genre. One way of categorising film genres is by the target audience. In horror films, certain things often happen, including a death near the beginning and frequent scary scenes and jump scares. These are some of the conventions of horror films. Some examples of sub-genres of horror are Slasher, Splatter, Zombie and Supernatural/Psychological. There are some horror films that combine the genre of horror with another genre. ‘Warm Bodies’ is a film combines the genres of horror and comedy. ‘Shaun of the Dead’ also does this. When watching horror films, the audience will have expectations regarding the content of the film they are watching. Therefore, repetition and predictability in the film can excite them. In contrast, audiences may take pleasure when there are differences, such as when two different genres are combined in one film because this isn’t what they would expect to see.

One genre theorist is Daniel Chandler. He believed that “conventional definitions of genre are based on the idea that they share particular conventions of content, eg. themes or setting”. Another is Steve Neale. He believed that “genres are instances of repetition and difference; this is what pleasure for the audience is derived from”. The comedy-horror film, ‘Warm Bodies’ is a good example to use. The film combines two genres that you wouldn’t usually expect to see together. This is done to gibe the audience something new and different, and so the typical things that happen in horror films are not repeated in every one. The audience could get pleasure from this, as it is unique. However, they could also be left disappointed because they are fans of the horror genre and were only expecting to see horror in the film. Rick Altman was a genre theorist who proposed a semantic/syntactic approach. Finally, the genre theorist, Graeme Burton, argued that films from a certain genre will all contain recognisable characteristics and key elements. These are the protagonists, stock characters, stock situations, icons, background and décor, and themes. In Slasher films, there will be protagonists and small characters who get chased by the antagonist, and always fall over when trying to get away. This is called a stock situation. Icons in Slasher films include masks and knives, used by the killers.

Media Horror Teaser Trailer