"The Strangers" Trailer- Initial Post.

I watched this horror trailer of 'The Strangers' and really enjoyed the content within it. I felt the trailer had 'jumpy bits' which genuinely made me jump.  The main aspect of this trailer that I thought really worked well was the music. I like how the soft gentle music at the beginning of the trailed almost connoted a sense of binary oppositions. The piece of music that appeared later which sounded like a record player jumper worked really well. I felt this matched up to the speed of the trailer, and helped to lead the trailer to a sense of suspicion. I liked the close-up shots of the main characters face's, which led me to gain an understanding of their emotions. Watching this trailer has definitely made me want to go watch this film.

How does the horror genre represent gender?

Within our media studies lesson, we watched three horror films, and compared them in terms of the way in which they represent gender. The three films we watched were the 1979 Halloween, 1982 The Shining , and the 2008 film Eden Lake. We noted to see whether the representation of gender had changed throughout the years, and how it had changed if so. We also looked at a theory, and compared it against each film, with the theory being that women were still represented in the traditional stereotypical way.

Firstly we looked at the visibility contrast of gender within the films. The first film we closely looked at was the 1979 original film, Halloween. We noted down each character that particularly had a speaking line in the film, and that were seen as they ‘main characters.’ We come to a conclusion that the women were equally visible on the screen to men, and gave us a 50:50 result. This then implied to us in terms of the theory we studied that women were not represented in the stereotypical way. We then went through, and again noted down the speaking characters from The Shining. We easily recognised that there were more males within the film to females, and that the main casting were 2/3 men, leaving us with a 60:40 result. Then lastly we watched Eden Lake, and we straight away recognised that there were many more males in the film to females. However, the lead female character Jenny takes up a vast majority of screen time, which enables us to see her ‘final girl’ route, but, there is still evidence that there is a lack of females within the film, approximately 3:8.

Next, we went on to look at the roles of the women in the three films. We decided upon whether their roles were domestic, sexual, consumer or familial. In the film Halloween, we discovered that Laurie, the main protagonist was domestic in that she was babysitting in the film for her younger brother and throughout the films she was cooking and cleaning. We also see two other characters Annie and Lynda being portrayed in a sexual way, therefore taking on the sexual role within the film. Lastly, the familial role is taken on by Annie, as her father is the sheriff within the film, and by the character Judith, who appeared for a short while at the beginning of the film, as she is a sister to Mike Myers, the main killer/creature of Halloween.  We then looked at the roles of the women within The Shining. Wendy is the leading female within the film, and also the final girl, and within this she is very domesticated in that her life consists of her being a housewife, and yet she is also familial as she is a wife and mother. She is also very submissive and weak, and this could possibly imply that she takes on a sexual role. When Jack enters room 237, he has the strange visual of the woman from the bath, who at first appears in a sexual and lustful way to the audience, although, as we see in the film, she forms into a dead body, however, this could also state that she takes on a sexual role. We can also relate to familial concept to the film in that Grady’s wife and twin daughters are shown within the film for this role to be expressed a little further. Lastly, in Eden Lake, Jenny is the main protagonist and takes on a domestic role due to her career as a primary school teacher, and also adapts the sexual role in that she is on a holiday with her boyfriend, and is going to become his fiancé, currently unknown to her. The woman that the couple meet in the cafe is also domestic in that again, her job allows her to follow this role, and she is also familial in that she refers to her son’s as “my boys.”

Next we focused on the gaze within each film, and whether the females were seen as being objectified or as being identified. In Halloween, on one hand, Laurie is seen as being identified as she has a gender neutral name, and she doesn’t wear any make-up, and doesn’t particularly dress girly. On the other hand, there is a male gaze aimed towards both Judith and Lynda, as Judith’s first scene within the film is her being objectified by her boyfriend, and Lynda is seen in the laundry room, not long before she is killed, in just a thin shirt over the top of her underwear, and is almost being watched by Mike Myers. In terms of the stereotypical theory, this seems to even out as we have two cases, with one implying women as being identified with, and the other that women are being objectified. In The Shining, the male gaze is again used with the scene of the woman in the bath. Relating back to my point made earlier, the woman is seen sexually by the audience, through Jacks eyes, and appears to be sexually appraised as she is being objectified. However, when she turns into the corpse, it almost undermines the objectification process, making the male viewer ashamed of the way in which he looked at her beforehand. Wendy is seen within the film as being identified as she is the final girl. This proves the theory correct and that women are seen as bring stereotypically objectified by the male gaze to men. Lastly in Eden Lake, there is a male gaze towards Jenny, in particular when she laid on the beach from a males point of view, but as she is approached by the gang, who are immediately implied as ‘bad,’ we understand that she is very uncomfortable, helping the audience to understand how she is feeling throughout the majority of the film. This again, proves the theory that there is a strong male gaze, and that Jenny is objectified in this film.

Lastly we studied the narrative of each film, focusing on the females in particular again. Within Halloween, 3 females die, and 2 males die, meaning it is relatively equal at 2:3, but the death of the females are more mainly focused on throughout the film, however the surviving girl is not, she is virginal and survives, so this implies that maybe there is a reactionary sexual agenda to Halloween. This leads the film to disagree with the set theory. Similar conclusions are applied with The Shining as 3 females die, and 2 males die. However, all of the main females shown within this film die, apart from Wendy who is the final surviving girl. Finally within Eden Lake, 2 out of 3 females die, which is the majority of them, yet 4 out of 8 males die, which is only half. There is not really a reactionary sexual agenda within Eden Lake due to the fact that the final girl does not survive.

In conclusion there was a great mixture of combination within each film, and each category to whether females are still applied in the traditional stereotypical way. The Shining is the film which received the majority of conclusions that it did not match the theory, implying that this is the film where the women are identified with more than being objectified. I would say that lastly Halloween wad the film in which the woman were mainly objectified with rather than identified with.

The Role Of The Distributor

Distributors have the job of gaining the largest possible audience for each film release that they are supporting and working for. This is in no way an easy job for the distributors as so many other entertainment options are open both in and out of the home. Distributors have to promote upcoming titles to the market place, and gain a higher interest in their film than others. They have to first find out what the possible amount is that the film could earn, and then they can prepare a budget to release it. The higher the production budget of a film is, the more likely that film is to have a distributor.

Distributors have to find out:

• Who is the target audience?
• Who can be convinced by the distributors to buy a cinema ticket?
• What sort of audiences have films of the same genre previously attracted?

The marketing plan of the distributors:

• First they budget the release of the film- covering both the launch and the sustaining of the film post-release.

They they organise the advertising:

• They create the poster, advertising the movie itself, which can they go on to lead into social construction of 'word of mouth' advertising.
• They then create the films trailer which is seen as one of the most useful advertising ideas.
• Then the distributors set-up the movie through online services for things such as trailers,galleries of stills, behind-the-scenes footage and much more.
• They then set out to gain an active, not passive approach to the audience for the sake of media advertising.

Publicity is then taken into consideration:

• The distributors publicity team arranges interviews to take place within the media, containing member's of the cast from the film, and also the artists attending premieres of the film.
• Publicists create a press kit for the journalists, containing things such as cast and crew lists, biographies, facts about the film and the production of it, and a synopsis.
• They then construct screenings for national critics and set visits for the distributors.
• Also things such as merchandise from the film is created, promotional partnerships, premieres and preview screenings.

To the right is an image of Harry Potter merchandise which has been released due to the success of the films. This also enables the film to be advertised.

Distributors also take it upon themselves to arrange promotional partnerships. They allow customers to interact with the film characters by entering a particular competition, or perhaps collecting premium items.

Teaser Trailers.

This is a teaser trailer I watched of Paranormal Activity 2. I found that teaser trailers are very different from the normal trailer. Normal trailers contain many clips from the film, revealing some idea of the plot and what is going to happen within the film. However, I found that teaser trailers literally do what they say, they tease you to want to know what is going to happen within the film. They do contain clips from the film, but nothing too much that gives away the storyline. I have seen Paranormal Activity 2, and I can say that from the trailer, I would have no idea what would happen within the film to what did. A teaser trailer it set to make you want to go and see the film. It gives away a vague idea of what the film, enough to persuade you to want to go and watch it. Most teaser trailers show the best parts of the film which also makes you want to watch the film.

Trailer and Horror conventions of 'The Grudge 2'

Me and my classmate Becci finally looked at the trailer for The Grudge 2.

Trailer Conventions. Within this trailer, the trailer sets out to captivate the audience with its long pauses and jumpy clips. The inter-titles of this trailer relate really well the idea of the film. Within the inter-titles, hair flicks across the screen before the words appear, and this could relate to the idea of the "grudge" as she is shown through small clips in the film with long hair.  The genre of this film is again implied very well as we can clearly understand that the trailer is horror themed. Sarah Michelle Gellar is also a main star of this trailer, which relates to the production values of the film as she was the lead actress in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.


Horror Conventions. The settings within this trailer contain abandoned houses, long white corridors and hospitals. These are all typical horror settings, which seem to be isolated from anything else, implying and creating a spooky effect. At the beginning of the trailer we just hear speech from the film which gives us an insight to the story plot. We also hear very high pitched scratching noises, and in opposition low sounds which create suspension and also are quite jumpy within the trailer. We also see many extreme close-ups within this trailer, in particular the eye is a main focal point.


We really liked this trailer in the way that it used light. We liked how it have very bright scenes, looking down corridors, and then how suddenly the "grudge" appeared alongside high pitched noises which seemed very jumpy! We also liked the cuts through the beginning of the trailer, how images of eyes appeared, whilst the camera was zooming in towards the female laying on the hospital bed.

Trailer and Horror conventions of "Creep."

Me and my classmate Becci secondly looked at the Creep trailer.


Trailer Conventions.The trailer for creep relates to its target audience, which is probably ranged to 18-30 years both male and female, by creating suspense throughout the trailer and by also having a female and male protagonist, both sides of the audience can relate to this. The majority of the sounds within this trailer are sound effects, such as breathing noises, sharp razor sounds, the flickering noise of broken lightbulbs and many more. These all contribute to the horror genre and relate to aspects of the film. In this trailer there are also inter-titles which are very clear in helping us to understand the basic outline of the film. There is also a lot of dialogue within this trailer by the characters within the film, also contributing to help us prepare for the 'jumpy' parts of the film. In terms of production values, the main female protagonist is well known for her role in The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy- Franka Potente. The inter-titles also ask the audience a question, which leads the audience to think about the question asked, and become more curious about the trailer.

Horror Conventions.
The film is set within an underground station, which is often known as a creepy place when quiet due to the long corridors, and plain surroundings. The train tracks and sounds of the train also give off a dingy effect. This trailer also relates to a typical horror setting as it is set at night. In terms of technical code, the trailer begins with a point of view shot, as it seems that we are in the character of the person walking towards the elevator, which helps us relate to the characters and how they are feeling as we see what they see. We also see a great deal of use of close ups, which help to relate with the characters as we see their emotions more clearly. The iconography within the film shows very high contrast lighting, which seems very unusual for a horror film, yet gives it an edgy feel, similar to perhaps a lab? The repitition of the use of hands is very important, as we repeatedly  see the use of hands before seeing the face within the trailer. For example, when the female protagonist is looking for help on the train, she stops at the open door and spots a pair of hands with blood splattered over them, the hands by a distressed man being pulled under the train by some unknown creature/object. Towards the end of the trailer we see a creepy doll, this can relate to childhood perhaps relating to the return of the repressed? This trailer gives us a sense of a classic hollywood structure, there is a "final girl" who appears to be quite "masculine" sure to the way she is dressed etc. In terms of character types the protagonists appear to be victims of some kind of attack relating to medical, as we see a person holding a pair of scissors in lab clothes. We think the theme for this film follows The Return of The Repressed theory, as we get an angry feel from the trailor, which signify the repressed feelings from young memories. At the end, with the doll, we get a sense of childhood which can also relate to the return of the repressed. Another possible option for themes could be science- out of control, as we see a person dressed in science/medical related clothes. 
We cold relate this trailer for our own work as we like the use of inter-titles, especially the questions leaving us questioning the film. The use of lighting,we think, is unique and this is something we would like to do in out trailer, also the setting is interesting and is not commonly used.

Trailer and Horror conventions of 'Sorority Row'.

Me and my classmate Becci firstly looked at the trailer for the horror film Sorority Row, and discovered the trailer conventions, and the horror conventions within it.

Trailer Conventions.
One element in which the trailer must contain, is that is must pick out aspects of the movie that can relate to the target audiences interests. Applying this to Sorority Row, the target audience would be mainly focused on teenagers, and in particular teeneage girls. The trailer begins with a typical American teenage party scene, which immediatly grabs the attention of the audience. The genre of the movie is then released as we gradually realise the plot of the film, which is horror. The film doesn't contain any voice overs, but the clips from the film help us to understand the basic plot. In terms of production values, there are a few high rated actresses such as Briana Evigan (Step Up 2) and Rumer Willis. (Hostage)

Horror Conventions.
The first horror convention is setting, and the main focal settings within Sorority Row are shown within the trailer. These include the house in which the party was held, the typical deserted, dark setting where the girl was killed. This deserted setting re-occours continuously throughout the trailer. We also see a great use of technical codes within the trailer, this includes close up shots, helping us to recognise the characters expressions and emotions, and also shots where we can see the body being dragged out of the camera shot. The sound within the film changes from average teenage music to quick, frantic music and sharp noises when the trouble occurs. In terms of iconography, we see the mist in the deserted setting, the car wrench in which is used to kill the female. The cross shape of the wrench almost represents religion. This is a classic American narative structure and follows the theme of the hidden evil inside. The character types of this film are that they are all stupid/immoral teenagers. However within this film, there is more than one final girl, who are the 'innocent' and 'manly' characters.
For our own trailer, we think it would be best for us to use inter-titles, as it clearly helps to reveal a taster of plot. Wheras in this trailer, they just use clips from the film, which wasn't as clear as inter-titles. We liked the combination of the typical teenage parties, and the opposing horror, and we feel we can relate to this more as its a typical teenage situation.

Applying Narrative Theory To The Shining.

In class we looked at four narative theories and applied them to the Horror film, The Shining.


PROPP.
Vladimir Propp constructed together 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.
The 8 character functions he came up with were the villain, the hero, the doner, the helper, the princess, her father, the dispatcher and the false hero. We then went on to recognise what character played what role. Jack took on the function of the false hero and also the villian and in some way, so did the hotel. Danny and his mother Wendy took on the roles of the heroes, and Dick Hallorann was the doner.

PROBLEMS with this were things such as there was not one particular character for each function, and some functions, eg. the father of the princess did not exist.

Todorov.

Tzvetan Todorov developed the idea that stories begin with equilibrium where opposing forces are in balance. The story of The shining relates with this theory. The story begins in normality, then the enigma is raised when they begin to start discovering things about the hotel and when strange things begin to occour. A pathway to resolution then happens as everything begins to really kick in within the film and then it comes to a closure as Jack dies and Danny and Wendy escape.

PROBLEMS.

It all seems to work, but maybe there is no clear ending to this story? It also leaves us with answered questions as it doesn't tell us much.

Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss focused on binary oppositions.For example, In the shining theres this whole idea of isolation (in the hotel) against the loss of connection with the community before enetering the hotel. We also understand the idea of innocence against evil, with Wendy and Jack. This is shown in the video below, which is a clip from the film.

PROBLEMS with this are that the film almost hints that something is going to go wrong from the start as they are moving away and danny already has no friends as it is.



Bordwell & Thompson.
Bordwell & Thomspon created the theory of a chain of events happening in a cause-effect relationship, occouring in space and time. The use of time is greatly used in the shining in that the films shows the black screen of each day passing by, and each day Jack is slowly becoming more mad. The days begin to have no meaning as we loose control with them. The film also shows the same shot of the hotel each day to show the days are all the same.

PROBLEMS with this were that it shows us the quickness of ths story and it makes us loose sense of time.

The Return Of The Repressed.

Sigmund Freud created the term of The Return Of The Repressed. The term explains the term of neurotic symptoms. He collected a theory that an unconscious feeling or thought would continuously approach the mind in order to be released. They seem to reappear in behaviour or conciousness. Freud explained how they seem to re-emerge in the form of what he calls derivatives of the unconscious. This idea is psychologically based.