Digital Technology Essay.

By digital media technology, we mean the digitalized content that used to be on paper, can now be transmitted through different software’s on the internet. This has developed majorly over the years into something quite advanced and helpful in many peoples lives today. Due to digital technology, it has allowed our creativity to explore new paths that they haven’t tried before and we have been able to create new ways to show our media. Experimentation has been a major factor with digital media technology because people needed to know what worked well and what maybe didn’t work so well in order to use it in their future work. Digital technology has helped created a more hyper-reality internet world that is more popular and realistic to the target audience. It has also allowed the creation of media and the access to social networks be more creative and unique again. It has continued to allow people to try new paths of creativity with media and created a new type of media that other people can try in their own work. In my AS year, I found digital media technology allowed me to really come out of my comfort zone for the post production stage of my music magazine, this was especially with the editing side to creating the magazine. It allowed me to create well known and useable skills that people need when they edit. For example how to cut a photo perfectly so it doesn’t look too bad or unrealistic on the magazine page. These skills have occurred through experimentation of my work in the software’s, practice was really a key factor of my music magazine that helped a lot. Having these skills also made my magazine a hyper reality so it was more realistic to the viewers and people knew that I tried to make it like that. Finally these skills have allowed me to gain a better access to the social media that is now out there and become more creative within my work. From my AS year, my skills have developed majorly in my prelimary task with my research. Last year I didn’t really take my research seriously and therefore didn’t understand why I really needed to do it.. On the other hand, this year I have really been opened up to the importance of research before I make the product and the different effect it has on my work, that is why I see my work this year more effective and too a higher level then last years could have ever been. This has allowed me to create thorough skills of contingency and research before I do anything In media. Now having these skills through experiment has allowed me to gain them fully and use them to then the best of my ability throughout the years of being in a level media. It has also allowed my creation of media to have more of a depth and hyper reality to it when the target audience look at it. I know that without this sort of experimentation, my work I have created this year for my horror would not be as effective as it is today. I can see a major effect and different from last years prelimary to this years trailer, Looking back now I see all of the aspects of research and planning was so important to make the final product as effective as this years final product has been. I feel gutted that I didn’t try as hard as I could this year and it has allowed me to see how important this year has been to me in my stages of development and learning. I am thankful to have realised how important research is now before the production of the work that I do and therefore much easier the post-production is now when it comes to my A2 year. The skills I have gained this year has allowed me to be able to develop as a media student and get the higher grades that I wanted to get last year. My product has become more of a hyper reality due to my pre-production and I am so happy that this year has opened my eyes to the importance of every stage of a level media. In conclusion I feel I have matured majorly with my work this year compared to how I was in AS, I now understand the importance of every stage of planning, before and after production. I am so happy that this has opened my eyes to how important all he aspects are. If I was to do it again, I would know the exact things I needed to do in order to achieve a better grade in AS.

Questions to answer.

What do we mean by digital media technology? Digital media is digitized content that can be transmitted over the internet or computer networks. This can include text, audio, video, and graphics. This means that news from a TV network, newspaper, magazine, etc. that is presented on a blog etc. What is the relationship between creativity digital media technology? Over time, a lot of digital media technology has evolved and progressed in this generation. This has allowed for people to come more creative and create more ideas and things in the digital world that hadnt been created before. Also if things had become already done then it allowed them to be done more uniquely and in a different yet creative way. Experimentation - i have tried different methods and ideas whilst planning my production work, this allowed me to see what went well and what didnt go aswell, as well to adjust this around my production work. Hyper- reality - i have attempted to create this feeling by following the conventions of horrors and what needs to be included in them in order to be a good horror Acess to social medias - I have been able to use many social medias to do my research background, this allowed me to get more of a outside view on what people think about the ideas i have for my horror. Creation of media - i have used different media programmes to allow a horror trailer to be created that fits in the conventions of the post modern generation today.

Conventions Essay.

Conventions are seen as rules to follow therefore the conventions we have learnt in as to a2 are seen as the rules to follow when making our media products. It is seen that we can either deliberately or unconsciously break these rules. In As I unconsciously broke them, this is due to the last year I had a lack of understanding on what the conventions of a rock genre was and even though I did understand why certain conventions where there I continued to ignore that and create an unrealistic rock magazine, this may also be the product of not doing enough research and planning and not understand what I did research. On the other hand due to four weeks prior to the summer before A2 I learnt about the conventions of horror in a deeper aspect and this allowed me to shape a realistic trailer that didn’t break the conventions. I found A2 easier to get the hang off because I was my own target audience. As I was fond of horrors, I knew what I liked to watch and how to make my own target audience on the edge of their seat. In my AS year, a lot of my research and planning was done from popular rock magazines like Kerrang and NME. I focused on conventions of the magazine so I knew the sort of things I needed to focus on putting in my own rock magazine. For example the dominant image of the majority of the rock magazines were a main focus of a single person as a mid-shot that show the costume and props they are wearing. This helped me identify that I needed to focus my shots as a mid-shot focus on a single person. On the other hand when it came to actually taking the shots I realised that I was swaying from the conventional shots that I was supposed to have taken and that was downfall of my magazine. My shots were not as strong as they should have been and therefore brought my final product grade down. When it came to audience research for my rock magazine I was very lazy. I understood that I needed to create a questionnaire to extend my planning before I started creating my own product. However through evaluation now I realise that I didn’t find and ask the right people in order to get valuable results to follow the correct rock conventions. In my A2 year, my research and planning has improved and developed dramatically. The fact that this year is group, it has enabled me to become more motivated and positive in order to achieve the best grade for my team. Due to the fact that we learnt about horrors a month before summer, I feel it benefited my summer trailer majorly. This is because I knew there was certain conventions that I had to follow in order to make it an affective attempt of a good summer trailer. Through this month of deep research before summer, I found out that a lot of different aspects of horror have a deeper meaning that I originally thought. Especially as a lover of horrors I found it very creative the way horrors are analysed and deeply thought about before actually being filmed. For example instead of a dagger just being a weapon against a protagonist, it is seen as a phallic object sexually abusing the protagonist, normally connoting male power domination over women. I found the research I found out so interesting, it allowed me to become more creative and clever when it came to planning my own summer trailer. I think interest was what I was missing in my AS year the most, I didn’t find myself interested in music magazines, especially rock as the genre. From my planning and research I understood fully all the different aspects and conventions of horrors and now know how I can attempt to interpret them in my own trailer. From AS to A2 I feel my research and planning has improved majorly. In A2 my research and planning has been a lot more successful, I understand the need to do all of that work before I go on and create the final product in this case a media trailer. I feel because my research and planning wasn’t done as in-depth as it should have been, it affected my first year majorly and led me to be less creative and a lower grade. On the other hand in A2 I feel research and planning has really affected my work in a positive aspect and made me more prepared for making my final product. If I was to go back into my AS year I would defiantly make sure I’m more focused on creating more reliable research and planning that I know will affect my work in a positive manner and provide me a higher grade. This year I have been able to relate a lot easier to my audience and their needs and this has made my work better. Another thing that I have developed since last year was becoming more aware of not breaking the conventions of a horror film, this helped me to remain focused and allow my work to be conventional of that type of film genre. Overall I feel I have developed as a post-modern media producer in my generation today. For example I make sure I get as creative I can with the technology that I have to use. This helps improve my work and keeps me as a post-modern media producer. In this generation pretty much anything is seen as creative however it is difficult to make it original because everything has already been done, because of this I make sure I am always as creative as I can possible think of because if I don’t try to do that then my work will be boring. In conclusion over the last two years my work has developed sufficiently and effectively with the generation we are in and my research and planning has developed alongside it. This year has really opened my eyes to how helpful research and planning is and how it helps me to become more creative then I was in AS.

How much was your own production influenced by existing texts? I should have adapted my work to the other rock genre magazines more. Why follow conventions? Because this is what the audience are used to, its what they enjoy and know so well. If different music magazines didn't follow the conventions then there wouldn't be a set genre difference in magazines. Which conventions did you follow? I made sure I focused on having an dominant image, the masthead being striking and there being strap lines and cover lines aswell. To what extent did you not following existing conventions? I didn't focus on the rule of thirds enough. There wasn't enough space on my magazine. My other photos on my main page was not ordered and sectioned off enough and my selling line wasn't clear or conventional. Was this intentional and if so why? No this wasn't intentional, I think if I was more conventional my grade would improve majorly. To what extend did following conventions limit your own creativity? It was hard to be conventional and creative at the same time because making sure you have the conventions of a music magazine is impossible. Conventions are another way of us copying other music magazines.

Analysis over example essay.

Point - The more analysing I done of previous and popular magazines, the more I became aware of conventions of this genre. Evidence- NME and Kerrang! always had their masthead on the top third of the page. Explain - This stood out to the consumers eye and reflected the genre of the magazine. Point- Even though I had done previous research, the concept was new to her so she conducted further research in order to get a better understanding. Evidence- Andrew Godwin was a major research element as he conducted his own theory into the conventions that make up a music video. Explain- This allowed her to develop particular conventions that she didn't know about before for example video imagery which improved her grade.

Research and Planning essay.

Conventions are seen as rules to follow therefore the conventions we have learnt in as to a2 are seen as the rules to follow when making our media products. It is seen that we can either deliberately or unconsciously break these rules. In As I unconsciously broke them, this is due to the last year I had a lack of understanding on what the conventions of a rock genre was and even though I did understand why certain conventions where there I continued to ignore that and create an unrealistic rock magazine, this may also be the product of not doing enough research and planning and not understand what I did research. On the other hand due to four weeks prior to the summer before A2 I learnt about the conventions of horror in a deeper aspect and this allowed me to shape a realistic trailer that didn’t break the conventions. I found A2 easier to get the hang off because I was my own target audience. As I was fond of horrors, I knew what I liked to watch and how to make my own target audience on the edge of their seat. In my AS year, a lot of my research and planning was done from popular rock magazines like Kerrang and NME. I focused on conventions of the magazine so I knew the sort of things I needed to focus on putting in my own rock magazine. For example the dominant image of the majority of the rock magazines were a main focus of a single person as a mid-shot that show the costume and props they are wearing. This helped me identify that I needed to focus my shots as a mid-shot focus on a single person. On the other hand when it came to actually taking the shots I realised that I was swaying from the conventional shots that I was supposed to have taken and that was downfall of my magazine. My shots were not as strong as they should have been and therefore brought my final product grade down. When it came to audience research for my rock magazine I was very lazy. I understood that I needed to create a questionnaire to extend my planning before I started creating my own product. However through evaluation now I realise that I didn’t find and ask the right people in order to get valuable results to follow the correct rock conventions. In my A2 year, my research and planning has improved and developed dramatically. The fact that this year is group, it has enabled me to become more motivated and positive in order to achieve the best grade for my team. Due to the fact that we learnt about horrors a month before summer, I feel it benefited my summer trailer majorly. This is because I knew there was certain conventions that I had to follow in order to make it an affective attempt of a good summer trailer. Through this month of deep research before summer, I found out that a lot of different aspects of horror have a deeper meaning that I originally thought. Especially as a lover of horrors I found it very creative the way horrors are analysed and deeply thought about before actually being filmed. For example instead of a dagger just being a weapon against a protagonist, it is seen as a phallic object sexually abusing the protagonist, normally connoting male power domination over women. I found the research I found out so interesting, it allowed me to become more creative and clever when it came to planning my own summer trailer. I think interest was what I was missing in my AS year the most, I didn’t find myself interested in music magazines, especially rock as the genre. From my planning and research I understood fully all the different aspects and conventions of horrors and now know how I can attempt to interpret them in my own trailer. From AS to A2 I feel my research and planning has improved majorly. In A2 my research and planning has been a lot more successful, I understand the need to do all of that work before I go on and create the final product in this case a media trailer. I feel because my research and planning wasn’t done as in-depth as it should have been, it affected my first year majorly and led me to be less creative and a lower grade. On the other hand in A2 I feel research and planning has really affected my work in a positive aspect and made me more prepared for making my final product. If I was to go back into my AS year I would defiantly make sure I’m more focused on creating more reliable research and planning that I know will affect my work in a positive manner and provide me a higher grade. This year I have been able to relate a lot easier to my audience and their needs and this has made my work better. Another thing that I have developed since last year was becoming more aware of not breaking the conventions of a horror film, this helped me to remain focused and allow my work to be conventional of that type of film genre. Overall I feel I have developed as a post-modern media producer in my generation today. For example I make sure I get as creative I can with the technology that I have to use. This helps improve my work and keeps me as a post-modern media producer. In this generation pretty much anything is seen as creative however it is difficult to make it original because everything has already been done, because of this I make sure I am always as creative as I can possible think of because if I don’t try to do that then my work will be boring. In conclusion over the last two years my work has developed sufficiently and effectively with the generation we are in and my research and planning has developed alongside it. This year has really opened my eyes to how helpful research and planning is and how it helps me to become more creative then I was in AS.

Media Language Essay

Media language essay. Media language does not refer to the words spoken by and actor in the text, but the language and codes of the medium. Semiotics is a major topic when exploring media texts in horror films. They are used to describe how meaning is constructed through language and codes for example a sign is anything that carries meaning, it can be explicit icons, implicit symbols or iconic signs. I will be exploring different theorist’s beliefs and theories on media language in horrors. The first theorist is a man called Ferdinand de Saussure, he explored the signifier and the signified. He stated that the signifier is the physical form of the sign, the signified is the idea that the signifier produces and the referent is the real thing it stands for. Regarding my summer there are many elements that relate to Ferdinand de Saussure’s theory. For example in my trailer we use the weapon of a knife to stab and harm the protagonist. The referent would just be that it was a weapon used against someone to hurt them. On the other hand the knife is also seen as a signifier used against the protagonist to signify penetration. Instead of stabbing the protagonist, the antagonist is penetrating the protagonist sexually. It explores the idea of male dominance and power that they have over someone usually a woman. Symbolic codes are also explored through the media language of a horror. A theory was created in regard to symbolic codes, this was that mise-en-scene is a way the media language is shown through. These are things like costume, props and setting and lighting. Lighting was explored through my media summer trailer extensively, it is a very important aspect of films as different lighting helps to establish setting, characters and moods. I made sure I filmed at night in a setting that didn’t have a lot of light. For example a lot of it was filmed in an alleyway next to a field. This only had street lighting and the occasional use of a camera torch, I found this effective because the darkness behind the main subject of the scene created enigma and suspense. This is because no one knew what was happening and therefore was scared in suspense. Technical codes are also explored through the media language of horror films. When describing movement with the camera in a film we consider the primary and secondary action. For example the primary being the movement of the characters and the secondary being the movement in the camera relating to those objects. The camera shots and angles we use is very important in horrors because it lets us create different scenes that are effective in different scenes of a horror. For example in my summer trailer we used multiple tracking shots of the protagonist in things like chases, this is an effective camera movement because it creates suspense and puts us in the point of view of the antagonist. I will defiantly be using this camera movement in my actual teaser trailer because I know its effective and will help achieve the way I want my trailer to look. Editing is widely effective and explored in filming too. A lot of the important work for films and their pre-production is done in the editing suite and can be broken down using a range of language. When my summer trailer was being created we filmed a lot of long scenes and therefore felt we needed to edit them. This was great when we wanted to do shorts clips that helped create a montage. Instead of filming short clips we just edited long ones down to short and smaller ones. This was very effective and I know for certain if I hadn’t edited the trailer before presenting it then it would be nowhere near as good as it was as its final product. Finally audio codes are used to be explored in horror films, this is sound. Sound refers to the strong relationship between dialogue and visuals and the effect sound has to a text. A main type of sound that is explored in horrors are diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Non diegetic sound was widely explored in my summer trailer. I used a soundtrack that fitted my horror genre and scenes well and it was therefore really effective in my final product. I will definitely be using it in my real final product. In conclusion media language has been explored by many theorists that created different explanations about the horror genre. After analysing their theories against my own summer trailer I feel it has helped me improve on my previous work in time for my future work. I now won’t make these mistakes that are identified through the theories and it will therefore improve my grade for the future.

Audience Essay

Audience essay. Every media company wants to target a particular type of audience, therefore, media companies produce texts that target a particular “type” of audience. Therefore in this essay I will be exploring these different types of audiences, these are normally analysed by different theories that theorists have created overtime to explain why the audience of horrors are the audience. The first theory that is used to explain audiences in horrors is called “The Hypodermic Model” This is the belief that the texts are injected into the audience by powerful media. The audience is powerless to resist and therefore the media works like a drug that the audience is addicted to. Another model that is explored in relation to audience is called “The Effects Model” This model is the consumption of media texts has an effect upon the audience. It is normally considered as a negative effect. Audiences are powerless to this theory and that makes them not easy to prevent the influence of the model. The power is always in the message of the text in the horror film. Due to the fact that my horror trailer had the sub-genre of slasher, may suggest that people could start to act in a violent manner in the future after watching the film. Because of all the violence in my trailer it may continue the bad effect on the audience that we have targeted at. A theorist called Stuart Hall developed an active theory titled “encoding and decoding model” that analysed the relationship between the producer and the audience of the horror. He identified three types of audience readings of the text, the one that relates to my summer trailer would be “negotiated” this is where the audience accepts, rejects or refines the elements of the text in light of previously held views. For example to further this explanation I can relate it to my horror trailer that I created over the summer. Because it was a slasher there was a defined audience that we aimed at to achieve. We chose a similar audience that other slashers would have chosen. This is how it fits into the negotiated section, due to it being a similar audience to other slashers, they are used to the elements that are highlighted in media texts like my trailer. They are then used to the elements because they have seen them before and are less likely to have a strong opinion on the elements. A psychology theorist called Mary Jones created the theory that talked about desensitisation. She believed that the more violence that the viewers of the horrors are exposed to then the less sensitive they will come to it and therefore the violence no longer seems to bother them in the sense as it did before. This was a major negative factor towards my summer trailer. Due to the situation it was in and the way we did it, it was full of desensitisation elements. For example we used conventional and stereotypical weapons with a stereotypical story line. This would have been viewed as boring to the audience because it’s what they are used to and therefore wouldn’t come out of the film happy because their needs haven’t been fulfilled. On the other hand this is a positive because in the future I know to think outside the box on how to go around the conventional elements of horrors. Another theory regarding horror audiences would be the copycat theory. This is when audiences will copy what they see in a media text. It refers to how the media can influence and affect the audience’s behaviour. I don’t believe that my horror trailer would create the copycat theory to happen. This because it wasn’t an as effective trailer for a well-known theory like that to occur. On the other hand, because of the stereotypical aspects we have in our own horror, I believe that we in a way copied other slasher films and it made our own horror less effective. In conclusion audience has been explored by many theories that created different explanations about the horror genre and its audiences. After analysing their theories against my own summer trailer I feel it has helped me improve on my previous work in time for my future work. I now won’t make these mistakes that are identified through the theories and it will therefore improve my grade for the future.

Representation Essay.

Representative Essay. Representative is a typical class, group or body of opinion, in regard to horror it is the typical groups or people that appear in conventional horror films. A lot of the time media theorists explore the subtext behind different characters in a horror that unlocks a whole new underlying truth to why the horror storyline is the way it is. I will be exploring a wide range of theorists like; Berger, Mulvey, Clover and Dobbs. A theorist called Berger believed “ men act and woman appear, men look at women and women watch themselves being looked at” to further explain this they believed that defining genders is a biological classification but if we think about it the words “masculine” and “feminine” creates the social construction we have today. Males in horrors are seen as dominant and strong however women are seen as submissive and passive. The way that gender is represented through the horror genre are shown through the subgenres of horror, however the cons of gender are represented through my summer trailer. It is clear that my horror trailer follows the theory of Berger quite vividly. The protagonist (a woman) is shown as a very passive character in my horror trailer. She is shown easily giving up in the middle of an attack between her and the antagonist. The antagonist is also shown as dominant throughout the trailer having a special control over the protagonist especially in the attack. The subtext beneath this may be the reoccurring issue with the inequality between men and women and the fact that the women in my trailer are not going against this inequality and are just admitting defeat. Another theorist that goes by the name of Mulvey focuses very strongly on “the gaze” in the horror genre. She stated that when a woman’s body is displayed on the screen, the men get exotic pleasure from seeing this and therefore controls the woman. This is done by camera angles and shots used throughout the film that shows them as decorative objects for the men to gaze at, this is called “the male gaze”. We as a audience are then forced to this objectifying of women whilst identifying with the male. Mulvey identifies that the cinema is a largely male dominant based industry so therefore men are in control of the cinematic text, especially in a horror film, particularly slashers have been criticised for being the product of “the male gaze” since most directors are men. Recently men have been portrayed as the decorative or sexual objects that the woman or homosexual men of the target audience can now look at, this is now being called “the female gaze” However on my horror trailer there is only use of “the male gaze” throughout the trailer. For example in the scene where she wakes up attacked from her dream, there is a close up shot of her chest area showing the objectification of women and allowing men to view her as a decorative object. Due to this, it is clear that Mulvey’s theory s widely active throughout my summer work creating many analyses that I can go deeper into in my conclusion. A theorist called Clover create a theory about the last girl standing in a horror film, she called them “the final girl” normally she is left to confront the killer/ antagonist. In horrors, the viewer begins by sharing the killer’s perspective but then experiences a shift of identification with the final girl towards the end of the film as she keeps getting away from being killed. She is stereotypically a virgin, with a more masculine look and sometimes a unisex name. She is normally seen as pure by the killer and therefore he doesn’t kill her because the antagonist has no reason to. She becomes masculine when in front of the killer because she takes on masculine features in order to defeat the antagonist. Audiences often identify with the male protagonist however Clover argues that the horror is popular with males as they identify as not being on top of the “macho hierarchy” for example every male has been intimidated at some point. Clover argues that for a horror to succeed, the survivor must be a female experiencing terror as viewers would reject this being a male. I would say that my horror trailer has a attempt of a final girl without the masculine features, for example she has more feminine features then a final girl should have, this may be due to the fact that I didn’t know about this key convention in a horror and therefore couldn’t incorporate it into my trailer. I know to do this next time. Finally the last theorist I will be exploring relating to the horror genre and my work is Dobbs, she explore feminism in the horror genre. She stated that horror has confused relationships with woman, you are likely to have a women victim in this genre or a romcom and they are frequently seen as decorative objective. She continued this statement by explaining that the most famous women in horrors are actors, she creates the opinion that it would be nice to have a more common interest of females included on the other side of the camera. Dobbs also said that there is no reason why horrors should have a gender preference, you don’t need to be a male to enjoy being scared, horrors allow audiences the thrill of the unknown and females are allowed to feel that. She also continues adding her part on the final girl, she believes that there is a problem with the frequent final girl, she asks if there is really a need to have a final girl in every horror. On the other hand there is something wonderful about it to, the fact that she survives. No matter what happens to her in the film, she gets her revenge in the end by killing the antagonist. After learning about Dobbs and her opinions, I found it hard to be able to link it to my summer work, this is because I never knew about her way of analysing horrors and therefore couldn’t apply it to my own work. However I think this is a good thing because its helped me be able to plan my future trailer and how to make it more effective. In conclusion, it becomes clear to me that there are many media theorists that explore the representation side of the horror genre. After analysing their theories against my own summer trailer I feel it has helped me improve on my previous work in time for my future work. I now won’t make these mistakes that are identified through the theories and it will therefore improve my grade for the future.

The collector analysis from oliviacolgate

Narrative Essay

Narrative Essay. Narrative is a written account of connected events, also known as a story. Todorov believed that Narrative is a line with a beginning, middle and end also known as equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution. There are two types of narrative; linear narrative, this is a simple approach to understand, it is conventional so you don’t get your intellectual pleasure the audiences are after. The other type is a non-liner narrative, this is not knowing anything about a film for example the characters. Due to this it creates an intellectual pleasure for the audience to guess the unknown conventions of the film that are not revealed. In this essay I will be exploring different theorist’s ideas about the narrative of a film, in this case it will be of the horror genre. A media theorist called Domaile believed that every story told can be fitted in one out of eight narrative types. Each of these types have a source, an original story which others have been based around. Out of these eight types, it is narrowed down to three that apply to the horror genre. These are circe, faust and orpheus. Regarding my horror trailer, I concluded that circe was the type that connected the most. Circe is the battle between the good and the bad in a film, in a horror genre case it would regard to the antagonists and the protagonists in a film. In my trailer the protagonists also known as the final girl fights against the antagonist and escapes from his grip. Looking deeper into the meaning behind this type it inherits myths that we tell our generations to teach those values and lessons in life. Circe teaches people that you need to fight off the bad people in your life and show them how strong you are. This could be in any case for example bullies in your school or people who are jealous of you. On the other hand another theorist called Levi Straus belonged very strongly in binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are the are two things that are completely opposites from the other, for example; love and hate. Regarding the horror genre, he believed that conflicts are based around these binary oppositions. He states that they are always the central of a climax in a horror film. To further explain his theory on binary oppositions he continued to explain that characters in a horror are either good or bad and situations are with wrong or right. There is never any middle, it is either one or the other. Linking my summer trailer to this theorists idea, i believe i did go along with what he believed was to be included in a horror genre. My characters had either a good agenda or a bad, even if they seemed good at one point, they always in their mind knew they were bad. Also my trailer agrees with his idea that binary oppositions are always the central of the climax. This is due to the fact that the climax e.g. the jump scares always happen when there is a fight or close accountancies between the antagonist and the protagonist in a horror film. Another media theorist called Propp believed that narrative in the horror genre needed 7 types of characters to make it a successful horror film. A example of these are characters such as a Villain, hero, agent or princess. A princess in a horror would be the character threatened by the Villain in the horror. Regarding my summer trailer, it shows signs as Propps theory. A few of the characters he believed needed to be in my horror genre were, for instance; the villain in my horror was shown from time to time and the princess was the main character filmed throughout the trailer. Although I have a few of these characters in my trailer, I don't have a lot of them. This is due to me not knowing about the theory and therefore not being able to fully apply it to my trailer. I believe this does make my trailer a little less effective but on the other hand I think it is a positive thing that I didn't show all seven of these characters on my trailer because it would show too much, too fast and therefore would make the target audience less eager to want to watch the film when it comes out. The last theorist that I will be exploring in regard to narrative is Barthes. He believed in three codes that need to be included in a horror; Enigma, action and symbolic. Enigma refers to the mystery within a text, Action refers to how the writers create the suspense and symbolic is the symbols within the text of a horror film. Linking Barthes theory to my horror trailer, without knowing it I included a few of his codes that he created. For example there is a lot of symbolisms in my horror trailer and the storyline, to explain this further there was a lot of deeper subtext to the meaning of this horror, for example; my protagonist being stalked by the antagonist and sticking up to him is a subtext that every teenager should stand up to their bullies. In the future for my next group trailer I will be sure to include them in my horror genre to make it more conventional. In conclusion narrative has been explored by many theorists that created different explanations about the horror genre. After analysing their theories against my own summer trailer I feel it has helped me improve on my previous work in time for my future work. I now won’t make these mistakes that are identified through the theories and it will therefore improve my grade for the future. Looking into these theories it has also helped me realise that I may not need to do all of them to keep it at a high grade and creative horror.

My chosen script idea.

Genre Essay.

Genre Essay. 

Genre is the categorisation of different films into different groups, these are usually based on similar narrative concepts from a wide range of films. This is usually done by regarding three concepts; settings, themes and moods. This is seen as a good thing for films because it allows the production companies to create a specific target audience that they know will watch the films making their films more successful and popular. In this essay I will be analysing my summer teaser trailer against different horror theorist’s ideas surrounding genres relating to horror films.

A media theorist called Graeme Burton created an idea that we can understand horror genres by looking at key concepts of a horror, He recognises “types, recognisable and familiar characteristics” All of these elements are a part of the “genre formula”. For example one concept of this would be the icons used throughout a horror. These could be weapons used by the antagonist e.g. axe or knife, on the other hand they could be things like props used, a common one is a mask to hide the antagonists identity.  Applying Graeme Burton’s idea to my summer trailer I believe it shows reoccurring signs of it being a slasher horror. For instance the icons in our trailer were a mask to hide the antagonist’s identity creating enigma and a knife as the main weapon used against the protagonists. Using a weapon like a knife is also seen as a phallic object so instead of stabbing the dumb blonde, the antagonist is seen as penetrating the dumb blonde sexually, this gives the action more of a deeper subtext behind what you can just view on the screen. A connection between Burtons work and my summer trailer may also be background/settings of the trailer. A lot of it was situated in an isolated park late at night. This is a very secluded area and therefore sets the tone of the trailer.

A second media theorist called Steve Neal believed that pleasure has been given to the audience by constant repetition of conventions of horror. By looking at the conventions of a horror, it gives us pleasure to watch it. This is agreed by a man called Warren Buckland who stated “Genres create expectations that condition our responses. It sets up hope and promises that it will bring us pleasure if they are fulfilled.” To continue this pleasure, Neal believes that we have to change how the conventions in a horror genre happens as if they weren’t changed regularly then the target audience will come away from the film disappointed because they have become decentralized to the stereotypical times horror conventions occur, for instance there is regularly a jump scared when the music of a horror hits a climax, instead of putting in a jump scare there they do it a minute or so later when the audience becomes more relaxed and less likely to expect it. They do this so the audience are still on the edge of their seats when watching a typical horror movie in the cinema and therefore come out of the cinema satisfied. Neal also states that horror film fans are now enjoying hybrid genres of a film. A hybrid genre is a mixture of two genres to create a film, for instance in the film Warm Bodies romance and horror has started to become a mix sending horror films down a different path and making them more unique again. This has been done because people were running out of ideas on what type of storyline to do without repeating themselves because everything had already been done.  Regarding my summer work I struggle to create a connection between Neal’s work and my own. My summer trailer is full of the conventions of a horror that audiences have now become decentralized to. It is also only considered as a slasher in the horror sub-genre and therefore is not in a hybrid genre.  Due to this it continues to go down the same route other stereotypical horrors have. Due to this I believe my horror trailer could be possibly less effective than it would have been if it had a connection with Neal’s theory, on the other hand it still has many conventions of a horror film and is still effective in its genre.

Another theorist that analysed horror genres is a man name Christian Metz, he believed in the four different stages of creating a film in a genre. The first stage was the experimental stage, in this stage there are no rules and therefore the genre would have no name, this is where the production companies are testing out all sorts of ideas that may be included in the genre films. The second stage that some genre films may be in are the classical stage of films, this stage is where the films have followed the rules, in this case the horror rules and therefore has become a classic horror film that the audience know and love well. The third stage is the parody stage, this is the comical side of films. In the case of horrors it is the films that analyse and make fun of the conventions of a horror film, an example of this would be the film Scream. Finally the last stage is the deconstruction stage, this is the final stage. This stage is a different type of ways to go around making a horror film, for instance instead of going along with the stereotypical side of horrors they go against these conventions and create a completely different type of horror that hasn’t commonly been seen before. These are commonly used in this day and age because it’s something different that people aren’t used to and therefore come away from the film satisfied that they have enjoyed the film. Regarding my summer trailer, I would place my work in the classical stage of Metz theory. This is because we worked solely on the conventions of a horror so we knew that horror fans and the audience of our trailer would want to go and watch it.

The last theorist I am going to analyse against my work regarding genre is a man named Rick Altmann. He believed that there is three ways of getting out pleasure out of any type of film. Regarding horror he believed there is a pleasure side, this would be guessing who the antagonist is throughout the film. An example is Scream, every audience member would be analysing who the antagonist could have been throughout the horror because of the way the film was set up. Creating a horror like this gives the audience an intellectual puzzle that they feel they need to resolve before the end of the film happens. This is almost seen as a chase to the end. The third pleasure is the emotional side, regarding horror it should make you feel scared all throughout the film, and you should feel as an audience member on the edge of the seat throughout. This is because this is what the purpose of a horror is and therefore if it doesn’t achieve that for you then it isn’t a conventional horror, feeling these emotions will make you enjoy the film even more. If a horror makes you laugh at what they have created as the climaxing parts that are supposed to scare you then it isn’t conventional horror. You are supposed to laugh at comedies, not horrors. Lastly the third part is the visual pleasure, regarding horror this should create an animalistic desire for you. For example in an action you should feel happy and like the fact that the hero gets to kill the antagonist. Horrors are supposed to make you feel cringed out and hide from the screen, which is their function in the genre of films. Horror genre fans expect this. Regarding my own summer trailer it doesn’t show the visual pleasure that it should. I feel this is because it’s only a short clip and you don’t get to see all the climaxing parts therefore it doesn’t make you want to cringe and hide. On the other hand I believe it does give you the intellectual pleasure because it leaves you wondering who the killer is behind the mask, one mistake we done was briefly show the antagonist to the audience. I know this was a mistake because it reveals too much to the audience and they are already satisfied without actually watching the film. This wouldn’t appeal to the audience as much and therefore when I do my trailer this time I’m going to make sure I don’t reveal that.

In conclusion Genre has been explored by many theorists that created different explanations about the horror genre. After analysing their theories against my own summer trailer I feel it has helped me improve on my previous work in time for my future work. I now won’t make these mistakes that are identified through the theories and it will therefore improve my grade for the future. Looking into these theories it has also helped me realise that I may not need to do all of them to keep it at a high grade and creative horror.

Summer movie trailer

Treatment of own film.

Trailer content analysis.

Timeline of Conjuring 2 trailer