Story Board

Essay two: Narrative Theories in relation to Halloween

                       

What I have learnt form my research

History of Horror- Through looking at the history of horror I was able to see how horror films have

changed and expanded with time. But horror films have always been popular, people have always loved to be scared but in the comfort of there own home or local cinema. Form books about ghost to vampires to Dracula becoming a box office film and a house hold charter. I was also able to learn about the genre change and the charter changes. From prime animals like the werwolf who was based of Hitler and the Nazis to slasher movies and the famous production company Hammer Horror. I also learnt about the sub genera and hybrid genres like action horror, apocalyptic, slasher horror and sci-fi horror, romance horror and wester horror. Learning about these also allowed me to see and analyse the code and conventions of different sub/hybrid genres.

Narrative structure- Tzvetan Todorov suggested that that there was three point to a narrative structure. It starts with the initial equilibrium which is when any potentially opposing forces are in balanced. Then there is a disruption which is the disequilibrium this then send off a chain of event until the disruption is sorted out. This then causes a new equilibrium. This is called the 'classic hollywood' or 'classic realist' narrative structure. I have been able to recognise these three points in horror films and state if film follow or breaks Todorov narrative theory. I have also leant the different charter types in narrative structure from the theorist Vladimir Propp. He looked at old folk tales and from then he was able to identified 8 different charter types. I also learnt about Binary oppositions that are sets of opposite values e.g: Good vs Evil, Known vs Unknown, Earth/Space. The theorist Claude Levi-Strauss looked at the narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions.      

Representation of women- I have also learnt about the representation of women in horror films. We have research two main theorist and there theories the 'male gaze' and 'final girl'. The male gaze is stated in the famous essay 'visual pleasure and narrative cinema' by `Laura Mulvey. The male gaze is the way women are portrayed like objects in films for the male pleasure. The final girl is the female survivor in a horror film. The final girl has protocolar trait, she will be a tom boy and normally have a unisex name, be and virgin and have relations with the main male protagonist.

Trailers- Last we leant about the conventions of horror film trailers. By doing this research I am able apply these conventions to make my own horror film trailer. Trailers must indicate the genre, name and production values of the movie. Horror film trailers must attracted there target audience straight away by showing convention of the pacific genera. They must set a scene and show the main protagonist and their relationship but with out giving to much away. By researching all these things I am able to analysis horror films/trailers and use the research towards my own horror film trailer.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of my main product and ancillary texts?

Someone who marketed and advertised film is called a film distributor. I have made three different products a horror film trailer, poster and magazine all to promote and distributor my film. The jobs I have done also follow the ones of a film distributor. A film distributor would rather a bigger budget to me and would be distributing to a larger audience. They would also have better professional techniques then me and my group did.  For example there trailer would be distribute not only one youtube like our trailer, but  the cinema, on social media. There posters would be posted in outside camera and billboard and there magazines would be displayed and sold in thousands a shops. They also many chose to distributor films by using social media, blogs and other methods of materialistic advertisement. Using posters and magazines promote the film as people can just look at them and the title or images might stick in there head. This means the film gets to a wide audience if the products are made to a high stranded.  

Lots of trailers that are really popular go viral online which really increased the circulation of the campaign. Facebook is a common factor of this many trailers get liked and shared spending the around of people who know about the film. An  example of a film being well distributed is 'The women In Black' they distributed to the there main and secondary evidence. In label D there is a presentation on how the successfully made there film through the distribution of there film and knowing there target audience. A another example of this is the resent film 'Get out' it was circulated around face book due to the story line being different to any other horror film before as it hits racial issues as well as being scary. 

It is very important for a distribution company to make all the advertising products to a high stranded and portray the film in the best way they can. But they must also portray the film in the same way so the audience completely understand what the films is about and the genre. A good example of this is 'The Babadook' because the colour scheme of all there advertising is the same. In the trailer and poster you are introduced the the 3 main charters and the goos vs evil. In my poster I only introduces one charter as I believe it work effectively by only showing the evil/bad in my horror film. The Babadook posters and trailer always keep to the same isolate of the Babadook which is form the book within the film.

      

Films can also gain attention for there film review. This can be done in many way, film reviews on youtube many people look to film review to see where they should even consider going to see the film or not. This can also be done through premier night in which actors, directors, journalists and other media people go to watch the film before it is released to the public. They then spread the word on the film good or bad. These reviews get published in many way for the general public to see. These review can then be placed in the trailer, DVD cover, posters and magazines to be used as a persuasion technique  

Our film's target audiences demographics is 18-25 years old. We chose this target audience due to the contexts of our film would be stated a 18 by the BBFC. This is also is the common demographics for other horror films with the same genre like Paranormal Activity. This dose niche our target audience but my making our distribution products to the highest standard possible this should attract more people.

Evaluation Question 4

             

Horror Film Magazine

Evaluation Question 3