Moodboard 4: Enviroments

There is quite a lot of similarities in environments in this genre, as you can see from the use of light in the areas, but also by the use of furnishings, tables, chairs and fireplaces are also very dark so you cannot see much in the environments that they are in, apart from if the camera shot wants you to see it in which the furnishing would stand out more. 

Moodboard 3: Make-Up and Costumes

Looking at make-up done in the genre of film, the use of eye make-up is highly used, be it to change the colours of the eyes or to have darker colours around them to make them stand out. The use of costumes are more varied to the accompanying genre, so if you look at fantasy / romance, they use lighter colours such as pastels. However if you look at fantasy / action, the costumes are darker and more layered with a small part of colour, usually in the make-up. 

Moodboard 2: Actors/Actresses

In this moodboard I was focusing on actors/actresses that show in the genre of film, fantasy-fiction, when looking at them in groups depending on gender, you can see many similarities, the girls are mostly brunette or blonde, they are all have quite a 'good looking' image. They are all very similar, you then go to the males, and you can split the men up into age grouping, so we have a few that are older than the others, for example in one group we have Robert Pattinson and Chris Hemsworth in the other we have Ian McKellen and Jeff Bridges, all able to do the same genre but of different ages. 

Moodboard 1: Overall look at the Genre

When I started to plan my moodboard I started with having one overall moodboard to show the genre on as a summary, I then will go off this into each sub-section.

4th September - 19th September 2014

Blog Entry 1: Week One to Week Two

This week in media lesson, I have started to look at different genres of film and have chosen my set genre which will be fantasy. In class we have been looking at both film trailers and music videos and seen how the genres differentiate. I have then started to look at theorists relating to film trailers, and found that since researching them I can go into more detail, for example on narrative in film trailers, Tzvetan Todorov, after reading about his theory in summary I then went to look at his structure on narrative, which is included on my blog. Within lessons I started to look at other theorists in certain areas of film trailers such as audience theorists and character theories.  

When I then started to look at different trailers, I then went to look at the actors in more detail, and found that some actors are used more in certain dramas, that they are more skilled in, but then I also found that actors such as Chloe Grace Mortex, has a more talented wider range of genres, and as used in my trailer analysis, is not only in a horror film but also in a teen romance film. I found that since I was looking at the trailers, it might help to go further in research and to look at their website, posters, and if they had any other type of media exposure. 

After looking at theorists I then wanted to go into my genre of film more, and have started to create moodboards for different aspects of a film trailer. Such as costumes, make-up, lighting, colours used and actors that in the trailers of that genre. 

Withing the next few posts I will have all of my analysis' up on my blog, and then am going to go further into analysis on the genre I am planning to do. I am also planning on setting up an A2 media Twitter account and get followers to comment on the questions I will put up (will be putting screenshots up on my blog when this is up and running). 

Timetable of Tasks

Genre Theory: Tom Ryall, John Fiske, Steve Neale and Rick Altman

Tom Ryall in 1978 believed that Genreprovides a framework of rules for structure, in the shapes of patterns/forms/styles and structures, which act as a form of 'supervision' over the work of production of filmmakers.

John Fiske defines genre as 'attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meaning that circulate in our culture for the convenience of both producers and audiences'. 

Steve Neale in 1990 argued that Hollywood's generic regime performs two inter-relate functions:

1. to guarantee meanings and pleasures for audience
2. to offset the considerable economic risks of industrial film production by providing cognitive collateral innovation and difference.

Rick Altman also argued that genres are usually defined in types of media language (semantic elements) and codes (in Western films for example: guns, horses, landscape, characters and stars like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood) or certain ideologies and narratives (syntactic elements) and example would be in a zombie film and the main characters surviving, or two love interests coming together at the end of the film. In some ways this enables the audience to have an idea of what will happen by the end of the film, however when some directors make the trailer look like the genre won't fit or the genre is a mix, some audiences are more interested due to not knowing what is likely to happen. 

Understanding Claude Levi-Strauss Narrative Theory: Binary Opposition

Prezi Presentation on Levi-Strauss's Binary Theory

Above is the link to my Prezi presentation on Binary Opossitions by Levi-Strauss.

When doing my first presentation on understanding Propp's character theory, I decided to try something different to using Powerpoint, so I decided to use Prezi, something I have used before for other subjects that I study, I like the use of being able to move around the presentation and seeing the overall look of presentation. There are many different themes you could get as the background and text, I have decided to use something creative for this one, but when it comes to other presentations and I may use this again, I will try to link the theme to the topic I am writing about. After using this once, I will most likely use it again, but not too often and try something else. 

Understanding Propp's Character Theory

 

Charater Theory: Vladimir Propp and Erving Goffman

Vladimir Propp's Character Theory:

Propp suggests that every narrative has eight different character types:

1. The Villain 
2. The Dispatcher 
3. The Helper
4. The Princess or Prize
5. The Donor 
6. The Hero 
7. The Princess's Father
8. The False Hero

The Villain - a character who struggles against the hero, typically they have quite a scarring past, the choice of costumes in films for villains are also chosen to juxtapose the difference between the hero and the villain, so for example the villain would wear dark clothing, with mysterious colours and also typically not considered very attractive, whereas a hero might have a quite clean-cut look, with bright colours and possibly a uniform, like for example Captain America (image on the right)

The Dispatcher - is a character who invites the hero to eliminate the evil threat. They may been seen as not the leader of the hero/ group but he is the one to send them in the right direction. So for an example of a dispatcher would be characters such as 'Nick Fury' in the film 'The Avengers Assemble'. He is the character who goes to collect each 'hero' to send them to fight the evil that is threatening the World.

The Helper - is a character who helps the hero fight evil, often seen as 'the sidekick' rather than the helper, they are not as important as the hero and never the main character, they are often seen as humorous and loyal to the hero. In some films the hero and the sidekick are very easily separated and the audience knows who it is that we are meant to follow as the hero, in other films it may not be as simple. For example in Kick-Ass we know that the main character is going to be Kick-Ass however, the 'sidekick' Hit girl is given a back story and her own scenes just as much as Kick-Ass is, so we see them as nearly equal to each other. (Images on the left) 

The Princess/ Prize - is a character who the main protagonist needs to save or rescue from evil. Sometimes the princess or prize can surprise the audience by 'holding up their own' also meaning that they deny the help off the main protagonist, which does not normally happen in films. For example going against this theory is the film 'Hunger Games' where the main protagonist is a female and she is the one who 'saves' her male leads and who the audience also look to, to save what we see as the evil. A great example which agrees with this theory is 'The Amazing Spider-Man' where the main character's girlfriend is always threatened by evil, and to be honest this is quite an obvious stereotype, as most of the films like this always have the main character's love interest under threat. However you could also say that this depends on the type of genre you are watching, films like these where they have that essence of Rom-com are likely to have the main protagonist saving the love interest, whereas in genres such as horrors the love interest is not so blatant. (Images on the right)

The Donor - a character who provides some sort of help to the hero by providing an object(s) that will help the hero in their fight/ quest. An example of this is 'M' from 'James Bond' who is in-charge of Bonds' jobs and also is the one to give him, his list of glamorous cars and gadgets. They are often seen by the audience as humorous, however they uphold a sense of authority.

The Hero - this is the most common character type, they have the role of eliminating the villian/ evil and saves the princess or gets the prize. An example of this would be 'Spiderman' the original trilology is a great example of this theory. 'Spiderman' defeats evil and marries his love interest. In the genre of film that I will be doing, the role of 'hero' is not quite as present, so for example in a film trailer analysis I have started, you can't really name the main protagonist as a 'hero' however she is the character we want to get her love interest, and her mother is the evil, however some can say that she is also the evil in the film. So in conclusion the 'hero' character really depends on what type of genre film you are watching or analysing.

The Princess's Father - this is the character who gives the task to the hero and sometimes identifies the false hero. Propp came up with the idea that the princess and the father can sometimes be hard to identify. Protective over the princess.

The False Hero - a character who pretends to be good and turns out to be evil. An example of this can be the Winter Soldier in 'Captain America: Winter Soldier' in the first Captain America film he was seen as a good character and then in this follow-on film he is the 'evil' character that the hero has to fight

Erving Goffman:

1959, his character theory suggests that there are four main types of characters:

1. the Protagonist
2. the Deuteragonist
3. the Bit Player
4. the Fool

The Protagonist is the leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel ect. 

The Deuteragonist is the second person of importance to the protagonist in a media. 

The Bit Player is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue, in British Television they are referred to as under sixes (fewer than six spoken lines) also used to describe an aspiring actor who has not yet broken into major supporting or lead roles. 

The Fool can be defined as a person with poor judgement, however it can also be defined as a person who fools other people into believing they are someone they are not. So for example if you are fooled into thinking someone is very nice and kind, and it turns out they are really horrible and mean. 

Star Image Theory: Richard Dyer

The Star Image Theory by Richard Dyer, he proposes that 'a star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines etc as well as films)'

By definition, his theory is the idea that icons and celebrities constructed by institutions for financial gain and target one specific audience/ group of people.

His theory can be broken down into 5 sections:

1. the making of a star
2. constructions 
3. audience and institutions
4. hegemony (cultural beliefs)
5. character and personality 

If we were to use Lady Gaga as an example for a star image, she was constructed to have a uniques selling point, which was her sense of style, most remember her meat dress which she wore to the MTV Music Video Awards. 

Lady Gaga's image changed dramatically after she was signed to her record company and got a manager. 

As you can see the change from before she was signed to after in the images above. 

Lady Gaga's ideology and culture, because she has such a unique fashion sense, it makes any every day person hard to copy it, however you could say that this makes her fan base still popular, she is still portraying someone that some people would one day want to be like, copy and some idolize her for it. 

Some have to keep in mind when it comes to celebrities like Lady Gaga that they are created, before she was Lady Gaga she was Stephanie Germanotta, but everyone has come to know her as Lady Gaga, it is a persona that the industry has created for her. 

Narrative Theory: Tzvetan Todorov and Claude Levi-Strauss

Russian Theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a four part structure:

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. a reinstatement of the equilibrium (new to the beginning)

Equilibrium:
When in a state of equilibrium everything is balanced.

Disequilibrium:
A situation where external and/or internal forces, this causes the state of equilibrium from being reached or it will cause the lose of balance again.

Claude Levi-Strauss:
He was born in Brussels, his father was a painter. He grew up in Paris and he was named after the artists Claude Lorrain, who Claude Levi-Strauss admired and wrote about in later life. During World War One he lived with his grandfather who was a rabbi for the Synagogue of Versailles.

Levi-Strauss looked at binary opposition in narrative, these are sets of opposite values. An example would be Good and Evil, we know what comes of being good and we understand that evil is the opposite. Levi-Strauss looked at the arrangements of binaries in films, for example in a science fiction film:

• Earth and Space
• Good and Evil
• Humans and Aliens
• Past and Present
• Known and Unknown

Audience Theories: C. Wright Mills, George Gerbner, Denis McQuail and Stuart Hall

Audience Theories is the idea that any form of media has to be analysed on 3 levels:

Production - Text - Audience

• Hypodermic Needle
• Cultivation Theory
• Two-Step Theory 
• Semiotics
• Uses and Gratification 
• Reception Analysis

The idea of the Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that the media 'inject' ideas in to the audience, like giving a patient a drug.

When commercial television was introduced and especially adverts, the idea of 'injecting' the audience with a message was expanded further with the thought that advertisers could get an audience to purchase a product by simply repeating the message often and very 'in your face' to know what the product was and make sure the audience would not forget it, known as the 'hard sell' approach.

C. Wright Mills in 'The Power Elite' 1956 suggested four ways that the media perform for audience:

1. to give individuals identity
2. to give people goals and aspiration
3. to give instruction on how to achieve these goals
4. to give people an alternative if they failed, escapism.

The Cultivation Theory gives the idea the the higher the amount of television an audience member watches the more susceptible to the media messages given and the belief that they are real and valid. This theory can also be said to affect how the audience sees fantasy films, and this helps me because that is the genre of film I have chosen to do. My genre of film will mainly be aimed at those who have watched and like fantasy films, so linking that to the theory, those who watch fantasy films are more likely to believe the film has real events in. 

For example, according to this theory, while it does not automatically make you change your behaviour or feelings straight away, years and years of watching violence on TV will make you less sensitive to violence. Like those who play Grand Theft Auto, this may not make you want to run over people in the street, when children overuse a video console it starts to damage the brain development.   

This approach was developed by a professor called George Gerbner, he began the study in the mid-60's, and to study if the events which were seen on the television influenced how viewers saw everyday life. He argues that the mass media cultivate attitudes and values which can already be seen in a culture.

Two-Step Theory is based on the idea that whether or not we have a direct link to a media, if we discuss it with other people, and we respect their opinion on it, we are more likely to be influenced by it.

If for example, we saw a critic review of a horror film and it showed that it was good, this would influence whether or not the audience would see it or not, whereas if it showed as not as good, this would also influence you but not in a good way. Some influence can be from gossip from friends, if someone said to me how good a film was I would be more inclined to go and see it.

Semiotics and audience readings: this is the way that a sign is shown in media texts and how an audience sees those signs. Although texts are made to be understood by the majority of the audience, they can still decided how they take the message and these can be taken in two ways:

1. Dominant or preferred response - 'the dominant values of society are accepted by the audience.'
2. Subordinate or negotiated response - 'the audience accepts most of the dominant values but may be critical of some aspects' 

Uses and Gratifications: this approach focuses on why people use particular media rather then for it's content. 

Denis McQuail suggests the following reasons for media use: 

1. Information

• finding out about events or conditions going on in society
• seeking advice on certain matters
• general interest in something
• self-education
• gaining a sense of security through knowing something

      2.  Personal Identity

• finding reinforcement for personal values
• finding models of behaviour
• gaining insight into one's self

      3.  Integration and Social Interaction

• gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy
• identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging 
• finding a basis for conversation and social interaction
• having a substitute for real-life companionship
• helping to carry out social roles
• enabling one to connect with family, friends and society

      4.  Entertainment

• escaping, or being diverted, from problems in your own life
• relaxing
• getting intrinsic cultural or visual enjoyment 
• filling in the time
• emotional release

These different reasons can vary with the type of media you are using, for example with horror films, those who go to see it are mostly there to be scared, for some it gives them a thrill. 

Reception Analysis: carries on with the idea from uses and gratifications, that once you know people you media in different ways, the next thing to do is to look at how or why this happens. The basis of the theory is that the text  does not have only one meaning. 

Stuart Hall is one of the main theorists of reception theory, he believes that a 'text' be it in a book, movie or other media, is not simply accepted by the audience, but the audience interprets the text based on their individual lifestyle, their cultural background and their life experiences.  

Movie Trailer Analysis 2: If I Stay

If I Stay
Directed by Heitor Dhalia
Genre:Thriller, Drama and Supernatural
Certificate: PG-13 (for thematic elements and some sexual content)

Plot:
Mia Hall (Chloe Grace Mortez) thought the hardest decision she would ever face would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at Julliard or follow a different path to be with the love of her life, Adam (Jamie Blackley). But what should have been a carefree family family drive changes everything in an instant, and now her own life hangs in the balance. Caught between life and death for one revealing day, Mia has only one decision left, which will not only decided her future but her ultimate faith.

    Movie Poster:
The image above, also used as the font cover of the book, is quite helpful for the audience on its own, we see that the character has a relationship with a boy, that the main character is the girl that takes up the majority of the poster, there is also the image on the left, the poster shows more of the love side of the film, the light shining through the middle, and the mix of the faces, one showing the supernatural side of the film and the other looking towards the audience, I as an audience member if I was going to see this film would probably wonder why she is looking away from the boy staring down at her and the other supernatural character located behind her is looking up. The text in the middle of the poster shows up through the light background, and the text from the title, is also very easy to spot, and very recognisable. The audience that will be seeing this film, possibly teens and girls, this being said that the audience are wanting to see the love between them and this picture adds a little mystery to their 'love story' and they want to know what happens.

Trailer:

Mise-en-scene:

• The first shot shows a span of a theatre, the span of it shows that it is dark and only shows colours of dark bronze and brown, we then come across the main protagonist playing an instrument so we feel as though we are there more for purpose, many films in this genre are like this.
• Costumes in the trailer are again consider 'normal' to present society, I believe it is like this because that want the audience to feel like they are, not too out there and quite relaxed, and normal people, this changes a little with change of environments.
• We can see flashbacks or memories when the screen is a little darker and the camera moves a little and with less purpose.
• Not use of many environments and they are ones that an audience can recognise.
• The main character is shown at different ages - seeing more of a story - more of a life story.

Editing:

• The rhythm from the beginning is slow and the shots on scene match the speed of the instrument that is being played, an instrument that the main character is seen to be playing, the speed of the music and the speed of the scenes being seen, with the black shots breaking them up, create a sad feeling on the audience, however when the dialogue mentions the main characters love interest, the rhythm quickens and brought to a climax, and more instruments quicken. After this the tragedy happens, and a song is introduced 'say something' this brings the trailer to a close, however with dialogue over the top of the instruments and the song throughout, keeping the audience informed on emotions and what is happening, this technique is quite unusual in this film genre with not using any text.

• Looking at the use of shots, the use of spanning, and pace to match the use of instruments in the non-digetic sound, it is calming, also the audience are shown different reactions from different parts of the body, so we see how the main characters face shows her emotion, then shown the shot of how her hands are playing with the instrument to match the emotion shown on her face. When the dialogue is talking about a boy in the film, it shows him in slow motion, suggesting a memory possibly.

• The film is split into two parts I say this because we have before the tragedy and after the tragedy, before we can assume how the events that the audience is shown happened, after the tragedy the scenes become more mixed and varied and the audience is never certain.

Sound:

• Like I mentioned earlier we first hear the simple notes of an instrument, we also hear the dialogue of who I assume to be the main character, her voice is calming, having a female voice is considered calming, and matches the atmospheres that we are shown at the beginning. With a break of the non-digetic dialogue, we hear the words of a few main characters, but not the main character herself. As the instruments gets faster and the overall speed of the trailer increases, the main dialogue ends with 'and just like that...' the song 'say something' then takes over and we see everything slower. 

• 'Say something' by A great big world and Christina Aguilera lyrics include...

                                          And I will stumble and fall
                                           I'm still learning to love
                                            Just starting to crawl

                                 Say something, I'm giving up on you
                                  I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
                                   Anywhere I would've followed you
                                 Say something, I'm giving up on you

Camera Shots:

• Throughout the trailer we see a vary of shots, including spans, medium shots, close-ups, the use of zooming in. All which are quite ordinary for this genre, they are each used to show a reaction or body language, also used in the beginning to show a discussion between the main character and the love interest, we are shown a wider shot at first to show who the conversation is between and then medium shots of each character whilst they are talking. 

The still image on the left is showing us mainly the girl, we can see the boy slightly the side of his face, we are unable to see all of his face, however the angle of his face is showing the audience that he cannot see the main character,

The image on the left, with the use of the camera being slanted the idea of it being supernatural/fantasy shows through this use of angle, however the lighting is kept normal and we still know what type of location it is.




The lighting in the image on the left is used well to only show the two characters they want you to, we know that there are people in the background but as an audience member your attention goes straight to the boy and girl.

If I Stay Movie Website

Looking at the film website it is quite simple, and the use of colour has the same type of pallet as the film poster and book front cover have (pinks and purples) these colours can be used to show the link between them, we know that they are all connected, if we see the film poster then we go on to the website, we know, they are on the right website due to colour and possibly font.

Movie Trailer Analysis 1: The Giver

The Giver
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Genre: Drama/ Sci-Fi
Certificate: PG-13 (for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence)

Plot:

In a perfect world where there is no conflict, racism or sickness, every member of society has a specific role, and 16-year-old Jonas is selected to be the Receiver of Memories. As Jonas uncovers the truth behind his world's past, he discovers that many years earlier his forefathers gave up humanity in order to have a stable society.

Movie Poster:
Like other films such as 'The Hunger Games' and 'The Avengers' this film has other various posters that have the main characters on with a small amount of text along with it in white, to stand out, this shows the audience what the character is feeling or what their character is like, and it also makes the audience question what it is about, and the use of interest in the film.

I really like the use of different posters to show the different characters, this film poster in particular shows the setting of the film and with one strip of colour and then the use of the title being in red, really stands out to the rest of the poster.

Trailer:

Mise-en-scene:

• In the trailer we see a vary of environments from a dessert, a rain forest, to a utopia where everything is perfect (which is also when the text comes up on the trailer saying 'within this perfect world') the utopia does not make the audience feel safer because we as an audience cannot relate to a 'perfect world' where there is no crime or evil, but this does not make us think that there is no evil in the films, it makes us not know who it is that is the evil. 
• with clothing, we see a difference in the type of uniforms and colour options, to show the difference in character role and hierarchy in the film. This is shown in a lot of films, in different genres, for the audience to see who is in which position of society.

Editing:

• At first the rhythm of the trailer is quite slow and calm, keeping the audience calm, we see scenes such as children playing and a couple and a baby, something that the audience would find settling, however expecting a change. Our thoughts of this 'perfect world' is immediately questioned when we see text across the screen showing 'there is a dark secret' then we are shown shots that are not so focused around calm characters, but show tension. When we switch to black and white, the beat gets faster and shots a lot quicker.  
• The very quick shots and the showing of the same shots but with a shattering to them, can show the change in atmosphere or the ruin of calmness. The majority of shots would show the main character, and I assume it is the teenage boy, however the title of the film is 'The Giver' and when we find out who the giver is, and older man. 
• We also have a change of coloured scenes to black and white, therefore the audience never knows what time everything is happening. 

Sound:

• At the beginning we can hear quite a simple and calm notes on an instrument, there is also the sound of guns being fired, which is contradicted to the constant voice that we are hearing over the top.When the voice of a woman has a pause (having the voice be a woman, is considered to be calmer than if it was a man, so the audience is matching what they are hearing, so they would most likely react calmly) the notes are then dragged out, waiting for the audience to react to what the shots are showing them.
• We are then hearing small parts of conversations, again they are conversing about matters that are contradictory to what the shots are showing. After we are shown the very quick paced montage of life throughout history the notes are very far apart, then after a character says ' there is something missing from our lives, something that has been stolen' the notes come together and have pauses, and also are high pitched giving the audience quite an uncomfortable feel. 

Camera Shots:

• There are a few establishing shots showing the different locations that the trailer is set in. However, there are also a lot of close-ups to show emotion of the characters, one in particular is when we are shown quite a futuristic (what looks like a prison) cell, we are shown the worried expression of a teenage girls face as she says that something is missing. 
• Spanning is used once or twice, I believe it is showing their effect on their 'world' or society that they are living in. The use of different and unexpected angles, for example we see the main character from underneath a glass table, this being that this situation that the character is in can be interpretated differently to different audience members. 

Analysis of Screen shots:

The image on the left, shows a lot of the background, when you look at the screen shot, you notice the surroundings, look at what they are wearing, also the use of positioning, we are to the side of the boy, so we are seeing more of the girls face, seeing her reaction possibly to what the boy has said or to show us the audience how she is around him possibly.

Again you can see the background in this image, we see how small the characters are compared to the large walls, filled with books, possibly to show intelligence. The film has got black and white moments but it also has colour, noting the contrast of the two, you can still very clearly see the props that are used, the books, the lamp on the table and the stairs on the right of the still.

I really like the use of lighting in the shot, the lightness of the sun shows through as well as having the light beam from the 'plane' the edited in beam stops mostly when it reaches the body of the boy. The lights that come off the 'plane' are easily seen. The dust which is moving across the scene at the bottom of the screen, take up quite a bit of the screen, however, enough to show the environment of the scene, without looking at a clip of this scene, we know that it is most likely to be in a desert, due to the sand, and the wide space.

Whilst looking at the trailer and posters, I also wanted to look at the title ending, so the image on the left shows the sign that would be recognisable, they also show this on their website.

The simple use of the title, and the one letter that stands out more than the other, with the plain backgrounds and only some light coming through, brings the attention straight to the title of the upcoming film and is easily memorable.

The Giver Film Website

Looking at the trailer, the use of changes in music tempo adds to the tension of the trailer, the use of fading in and out to show different environments and when the camera focuses on one thing then changes to another 'pull focus' to show the reaction of the characters. Overall I really like this trailer and I think it will help me out in getting ideas for my final piece.

The History Of Film Trailers

Prezi Presentation on The History of Film Trailers

Why might Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' be considered as a Post-modern film?

The 1994 film by Quentin Tarantino in which he writes, directs and acts. The amazing casting features stars such as Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Bruce Willis, Amanda Plummer and many, many more.

The film which follows the lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

The use of intertextuality in 'Pulp Fiction' is used highly, and I believe that this shows Tarantino's knowledge of film and how he adds it into his work. Even the character Mia Wallace, played by Uma Thurman is an example of intertextuality, her hair is styled after Louise Brooks who stars in Pandora's Box in 1929 (originally titled 'Die Buchse der Pandora')


   Other examples of intertextuality include the scene where Butch (played by Bruce Willis) is choosing what weapon to kill Marcellus (Ving Rhames) with, at first he goes to a hammer, which links to 'The Toolbox Murders' 1978, directed by Dennis Donnelly and written by Neva Friedenn. Secondly he goes to a baseball bat, links to 'Walking Tall' 1973, directed by Phil Karlson. And thirdly he goes for a chainsaw, which links to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' 1974, directed by Tobe Hooper. This clearly shows Tarantino's keen knowledge for film.

The use of confusion over space and time, by which means, when we follow the lives of different people there is no given time period for certain characters, so to follow the story of each character the scenes go back and forth between them.

The use of the audience not knowing what time period it is, also reminds the audience that it is not real life, which happens chronologically, it stops the audience from thinking that this is a reality. The narrative is also non-linear which means that it also, jumps from one period of time to another, making it somewhat playful, another example of a felling of playfulness is when Mia (Uma Thurman) is drawing a a square on a screen, which reminds the audience that it is a film you are watching. All of these are showing you that it is post-modern, other films would not use such techniques.

Another example of a post-modern technique is the random killings which feature in the film, and the bizarre ways those killings come around, for example when in the car Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) have a man in the back seat, when Vincent starts a conversation with him, he accidentally shoots his head off and  blood splatters everywhere in the car, showing the random way in which he was killed and the almost funny way in which it came about.

Evaluation of First Media Video

After finishing our first attempt at making a trailer for a movie, we planned, organised and edited our video. The things I think went well were the actors that we asked to take part in our trailer, the use of the school's drama room, which added to the atmosphere we wanted in the trailer. The actors helped mostly because they were able to listen to directions that we gave them and were able to go off the notes that we provided them with and create a type of character we originally had the idea of.

The things I also thought well we the use of location, at first we were contemplating going outside of school, however after walking around the school and getting permission off the drama teachers and our media teacher, we were able to use the dance room, which created the atmosphere of an abandoned warehouse. We started off by learning how to use the lighting in the room, since it was already a dance room, the lights and props were already in there. The lighting worked well as they had quite a few spotlights, which served well for the action we wanted to show.

I think the music could have been improved, or the speed or the music towards the end, where the scenes start to get faster and flash across the scene. The speed should have matched the transition speed. When we showed our video to our media teacher and the other classes' media teacher this is what they picked up on, and I agree that whilst we used great music and it fit the genre we were trying to portray I think it could have been used better to match the atmosphere of the trailer.

Overall I think that the video trailer is a good place to start from, regarding being able to work from it and work with the advice and criticism we were given, and now we have an idea of what work needs to be done to successfully plan, film and edit a video to a good standard.