Narrative Theory

I have looked at 11 trailers to see if they use narrative theory. I agree with Vladmir Propp's theory as you can see the different types of characters as you watch trailers, there might be different variations of the character but they have the same basics of the:

• Hero The person who sets out to restore the equilibrium. Victim Hero the hero who is the centre of the villain's attention. Seeker Hero who aids others who are the villain's victims.
• Villan the character who creates the narrative disruption.
• Helper aids the hero in the task of restoring the equilibrium. 
• Donor gives the hero something it may be an object, information or advise to help the hero.
• Princess/ Victim usually the character most threatened by the villain and has been saved, at the climax, by the hero. The father's (who in fairy tales was often the king) role has usually to give the princess away to the hero at the narrative's conclusion. 
• Dispatcher sends the hero on her or his task. (typically can be the princess father)
• False Hero appears to be good but is revealed, at the narrative's end to have been bad.

Here is what I found:

Smiley

Killer- known by everyone as ‘Smiley’ scaring all the character and going after one girl in particular- masked so no one knows his real identity.

Victim- Smiley is going after her and keeps almost getting her but not quiet, she keeps just getting away.

Shane Dawson- the donor- he tells her a bit about the killer.

Police man- donor/ helper, telling her about ‘Smiley’ and trying to help her out.

Annoyed friend- getting annoyed that she is bringing ‘Smiley’ to them and putting tem all in danger.

The collection

Stars off with the popular girls going to a club

Killer- masked so no one can see his identity- gets the pretty girls to use them. See him putting on his mask, shows he has a lot of weapons and new ways to kill people- he uses sharp rakes that stretch the perimeter of the club to get people.

Hero- trying to save them but he get’s caught up with the killer as well.

House at the end of the street

Victim- trying to get away from the killer but he finds her- trapped by killer

Killer always gets her back every time she gets away.

Mum- trying to find her daughter and get her back

Killer and killers helper- working together to get the victim.

Mystery of the house- daughter killed her family which is why its so cheap for the new family to get it.

Sinister

Victim is the father- he finds out about the killer and the killer wants to get rid of him.- watching movies the old

Man online- donor- tells him about the symbol he has found.- tells him about how the pictures are gateways for the gules 

Killer- seen from a distance- living in the pictures- videos- when they are watched she is brought out.

Daughter- victim- children are more likely to be taken by the killer- she gets possessed by the killer.

Tall man

Children go missing in the area the family now live- infers her young son will be taken

‘The Tall Man’- the killer- no one knows who he is, they just know he takes children

hero- trying to find and save her son.

Trapped in Abyss

Donor- news woman talking about mysterious disappearances.

Victims are stuck in the shop- druggies- trying to get away but are trapped.

They slowly get killer odd- killer not seen but we see him getting to each person.

V/H/S

Victims are people going into house trying to steal a VHS tape.

Killer- masked and living in house they are going to.

Helper- on Skype with victim as she tells him about how her house is haunted

See a ghost running out her door

Killer puts knife to girls stomach as she sleeps.

In their skin

Killer finds people and shoots them

First victim is man running with killer following him in their car.

Crazy family let in by the new family

Killer slowly killing people off between the two families

Hero- takes in family and then tries to help them- false hero as it turns out he’s the killer.

The Possession

Young girl is the victim- her body is taken over by the ghost

Mum and dad are victims as they are attacked by daughter when she is possessed

Older man who looks at boxes an tells them about it- donor- telling them about the box ‘once the box is opened people die’

Helper- man praying over her to try and get the spirit out of her.

Rec 3

Bride and groom are victims of killer

One by one guess become killers as they become zombies.

Bride is hero as she gets a chainsaw and kills the zombies.

Texas Chainsaw 3D

Victims set up going to a house in the middle of nowhere together- they beome his latest victims

Killer- masked to hid identity- shows the ‘birth’ of the killer.

Police officer- hero? Trying to save people and see what’s happening.

Now that I have looked at the Narrative Theory I will use it in my Trailer to have the different characters people expect so that it sticks to conventions. In most Horror trailers however they do not use all of the conventional characters, they mainly stick to the Hero/ False Hero, Princess's, Donors and Helpers.

Playing with Camera focus- Binary Opposition

We spent part of the lesson trying out different focuses and how to use Binary Oppositions by having one person blurry and the other in focus and trying out different ways to pull focus. We used a DSLR camera EOS 550D.

We also learnt about how changing the F stop changes the distance of focus. If the F stop number is small there is a deeper focus and if the F stop if big its a shallow focus. To do a pull focus you have to have a small F stop and use the focus ring around the outside of the camera to change what is in focus.

Other ways of showing binary opposition is through clothes, lighting, facial expressions and body language.

Binary Opposition 1 from Ellie on Vimeo.

Binary oppostition 2 from Ellie on Vimeo.

Binary Opposition 3 from Ellie on Vimeo.

Propp theory

Film as Fairy Tale

Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic, active in the 1920’s, published his Morphology of the Folk Tale in 1928. While the Soviet cinema was producing excellent films, Propp was essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales. He noticed

Folk tales were similar in many areas. They were about the same basic struggles and they appeared to have stock characters. He identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions.

Characters, according to Propp, have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text. 

Characters that perform a function

The Hero – a character that seeks something

The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

  The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

  The Helper – who aids the hero

  The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

  Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

Actions as functions of narrative

Preparation

A community/kingdom/family is in an ordered state of being

A member of the community/kingdom/family leaves home

A warning is given to the leaders of the community or a rule is imposed on the hero

The warning is discounted/ the rule is broken

The villain attempts to discover something about the victim of the broken rule

The villain tries to deceive the victim to gain advantage

The victim unwittingly helps the villain

Complication

A state of disorder

The villain harms a member of the community/kingdom/family

One of the members of the community/kingdom/family desires something

The hero is sent to get what is desired

The hero plans action against the villain

Transference

The hero leaves home

The hero is tested or attacked/ he meets the test and is given a magical gift or helper

The hero reacts to the donor

The hero arrives at the place he can fulfill his quest

Struggle

There is a struggle between the hero and the villain

|The hero is branded

The villain is overcome

The state of disorder is settled 

Return

The hero returns

The hero is pursued

The hero escapes or is rescued

The hero arrives home and is not recognised

A false hero claims rewards

A task is set for the hero

The task is accomplished

Recognition

The hero is recognised

The false hero or villain is unmasked

The false hero is punished

The hero attains the reward (princess/ kingdom)

To Propp events are not just about character and action but also about progressing the narrative.

CRITICISMS

Propp’s theory of narrative seems to be based in a male orientated environment (due to his theory actually reflecting early folk tales) and as such critics often dismiss the theory with regard to film. However, it may still be applied because the function (rather than the gender) of characters is the basis of the theory. E.g. the hero could be a woman; the reward could be a man.

  Critics argue that Propp’s strict order of characters and events is restrictive. We should rather apply the functions and events randomly as we meet new narratives. E.g. the hero may kill the villain earlier than Propp expects. Changing the traditional format will change the whole way the text is received.

Some critics claim there are many more character types than Propp suggests and we should feel free to identify them. E.g. the stooge in a sci-fi film, who is usually nameless and usually killed early on to suggest the power of the alien force, is a typical modern character type.

AS Level examiners have grown to HATE Todorov- because everyone learns the lists & tries to apply it to any narrative they are discussing.

 It applies to Fairy Stories and to other similar narratives based around 'quests' It does not apply to all narratives.

WHY THE THEORY IS USEFUL

It avoids treating characters as if they are individuals and reminds us they are merely constructs. Some characters are indeed there just to progress the narrative.

Research based on “Media Studies” by Stuart Price

Found on: http://www.adamranson.plus.com/Propp.htm

This links in with our trailers as it shows that we show all the characters but not all the sides to each character and what will happen to them at the end to keep the audience interested and wanting to know what will happen next. If we showed the entire character of the killer there wouldn't be much point in seeing the film because you can tell what will happen at the end.

E.g. In 'Scream 4' we see Jill Roberts as a sweet, innocent girl but at the end of the film she ends up being the killer, trying to kill her cousin Sydney.

Binary Opposition

In critical theory, a binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. It is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as on and off, up and down, left and right. Binary opposition is an important concept of structuralism, which sees such distinctions as fundamental to all language and thought. In structuralism, a binary opposition is seen as a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture, and language.

Binary opposition originated in Saussurean structuralist theory. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the binary opposition is the means by which the units of language have value or meaning; each unit is defined in reciprocal determination with another term, as in binary code. It is not a contradictory relation but, a structural, complementary one. Saussure demonstrated that a sign's meaning is derived from its context (syntagmatic dimension) and the group (paradigm) to which it belongs. An example of this is that one cannot conceive of 'good' if we do not understand 'evil'. In post-structuralism, it is seen as one of several influential characteristics or tendencies of Western and Western-derived thought,[citation needed] and that typically, one of the two opposites assumes a role of dominance over the other. The categorization of binary oppositions is "often value-laden and ethnocentric", with an illusory order and superficial meaning.

Found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_opposition

This might relate to our horror trailer as it is talking about how Binary opposition is a fundamental organiser of human philosophy, culture and language with would suggest that the killer in a horror thinks killing is right.

Representation Theory

Media Representation Theory Representation refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity: Class

·         Age

·         Gender

·         Ethnicity

Representation involves how identities are represented or constructed within the text and also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities are also differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. For instance, the issue of 'the gaze'. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women? A key in the study of representation concern is with the way in which representations are made to seem ‘natural’. Systems of representation are the means by which the concerns of ideologies are framed; such systems ‘position’ their subjects. Semiotics and content analysis are the main methods of formal analysis of representation.

• Reality is always represented - what we treat as 'direct' experience is 'mediated' by perceptual codes. Representation always involves 'the construction of reality'.

• All texts, however 'realistic' they may seem to be, are constructed representations rather than simply transparent 'reflections', recordings, transcriptions or reproductions of a pre-existing reality. • Representations which become familiar through constant re-use come to feel 'natural' and unmediated.

• Representations require interpretation - we make modality judgements about them.

• Representation is unavoidably selective, foregrounding some things and back grounding others.

• Realists focus on the 'correspondence' of representations to 'objective' reality (in terms of 'truth', 'accuracy' and 'distortion'), whereas constructivists focus on whose realities are being represented and whose are being denied.

• Both structuralist and poststructuralist theories lead to 'reality' and 'truth' being regarded as the products of particular systems of representation - every representation is motivated and historically contingent. Key Questions about Specific Representations

• What is being represented?

• How is it represented? Using what codes? Within what genre?

• How is the representation made to seem 'true', 'common sense' or 'natural'?

• What is foregrounded and what is back grounded? Are there any notable absences?

• Whose representation is it? Whose interests does it reflect? How do you know?

• At whom is this representation targeted? How do you know?

• What does the representation mean to you? What does the representation mean to others? How do your account for the differences?

• How do people make sense of it? According to what codes?

• With what alternative representations could it be compared? How does it differ?

• A reflexive consideration - Why is the concept of representation problematic? Comparisons with related representations within or across genres or media can be very fruitful, as can comparisons with representations for other audiences, in other historical periods or in other cultural contexts. Television is... the most rewarding medium to use when teaching representations of class because of the contradictions which involve a mass medium attempting to reach all the parts of its class-differentiated audience simultaneously... Its representations of class can perhaps best be approached by teaching how class relations are represented and mediated within different TV genres and forms (Alvarado et al. 1987: 153). Media Semiotics By David Chandler (2006) defines Media representation as:- “Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of reality such as people places objects events and cultural identities. The term refers to the process as well as to its products. For instance into the key markers of identity (class, age, gender and ethnicity) representation involves not only how identities are represented within the text but also how they are constructed in the process of production and reception.”

Information found of: http://www.slideshare.net/Tomaskas/media-representation-theory

Todov's Theory

The theory is simply this:

•                The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything is as it should be)

•                It then suffers some disruption (disequilibrium)

•                New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative


 
Seems simple enough and easily applicable to all films! But theories can never be THAT easy!
 
There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

•                 A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be)

•                A disruption of that order by an event

•                A recognition that the disorder has occurred

•                An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium
 
Here narrative is not seen as a linear structure but a circular one. 
The narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium.
 However, the equilibrium attained at the end of the story is not identical to the initial equilibrium.
 Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption.
 The disruption itself usually takes place outside the normal social framework, outside the ‘normal’ social events.
 E.g. a murder happens and people are terrified
. Someone vanishes and the characters have to solve the mystery

information found on: http://www.adamranson.plus.com/TODOROV.HTM 

Malvey's Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey and her theory of the Male gaze influenced by the works of Freud, is key to the Feminist Film theory movement and has been of great influence since the mid 1970's.

Mulvey argues that in classic Hollywood films in particular women are merely represented to provide visual pleasure to men, and the audience is constructed in a manner where they are all expected to be men. This male gaze is both voyeuristic and fetishist.

Her concept of "to-be-looked-at-ness", exemplifies that women were merely shown on screen in classic Hollywood in order to provide men with visual pleasure and have an erotic impact. Mulvey argued that the typical key protagonist within a classic Hollywood film was male and the audience members where similarly typically expected to be men.

The typical male audience member is aligned with the films protagonist, by identification, admiration or aspiration. Therefore the audience member gains narcissistic pleasure from identifying with the films protagonist, placing themselves "in the shoes" of the films hero. Further the influence of Freud an influential psychoanalytic theorist to Laura Mulvey's theory is the idea of castration anxiety which is what a person unconsciously thinks. For example if a woman was not objectified in the way she was in classic Hollywood or placed in a position of lower authority a male would not feel as powerful.

This unconscious idea is that a male’s power and dominance over a female is his penis, and his dominance is threatened by a woman if she does not arouse this.

Explanation found on: http://virgin-research.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/laura-mulvey-and-male-gaze-summarised.html

Stock Characters

There are many different types of characters in horror films. the main 6 are known as the 'Stock Characters' these are: the Wanderer, the jock, the popular girl, the final girl, pandora and the pervert. Each one of these Stock Characters playsan important role in the horror film, keeping it to the conventions of all horror films.

The Wanderer

The one who disappears into the middle of no where alone, usually to check out what’s going on in the area when suspicious events occur or to find other locals for refuge. Example: Kirk from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Kirk wanders off to ask a nearby house for gas, when he receives no answer he discovers that the door is unlocked and walks in. Upon walking in, Leatherface (the villain) kills him while the rest of the group remain unaware of his whereabouts. Example: Ned from Friday 13^th (1980) follows a mysterious dark figure into a cabin where he is then murdered. The rest of the group are unaware of his whereabouts.

                                         (Kirk- Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

                                         (Ned- Friday 13th)

The Popular Girl

The final girl’s ‘best friend’, usually more sexually experienced (often with a boyfriend in the plot), mean-spirited and wealthy. The popular girl is usually one of the last characters to die. Example: Jenna from the following Friday 13 th (2009), Helen from I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), one of the last characters to die. Overly dependent on a male accomplice and uses her looks and popularity to get by.

                                          (Helen- I Know What You Did Last Summer)

                                           (Jenna- Friday 13th)

Jock

The stereotypically handsome, athletic male who usually resides as a boyfriend or an obnoxious friend. The Jock is useful for teasing audiences’ beliefs that the strong, alpha-male will survive due to their physical superiority. Usually one of the first to mid characters to die. Typically dating the popular girl character. Example: Barry from I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) an arrogant womanizer, who dates the popular girl despite feeling no real affection for her. He fears being tied down young, and repeatedly cheats on her with other women. He was a star football player before his high school graduation. Example: Blake from The House of Wax (2005) is a typically athletic jock character, focusing on sexual encounters with females.

                                                (Barry- I Know What You Did Last Summer)

                                          (Blake-The House of Wax)

The Final Girl

The one girl who survives at the end having either killed and/or escaped from the killer. She is the last one remaining who is able to tell the story. Example: Alice from Friday 13th is the last member of her group to be alive (unknowingly). She meets a woman named Mrs Voorhees where shortly after she tries to kill Alice by coming at her with a knife and then chasing her, where Alice then decapitates the murderer. Example: Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street is the last teen alive to defeat Freddy Krueger in her dreams.

                                          (Nancy- Nightmare on Elm Street)

                                         (Alice- Friday 13th)

Pandora

This is often a female character who appears to be innocent and is usually very attractive and good-looking however the character at some point realise that she is the exact opposite. She is very evil and usually either the killer or helps the killer. Like in the movie Jennifer’s Body

The Pervert

The pervert will usually go through any lengths to sleep with the girl he chooses. The pervert is shown in a negative light. The fact that the pervert harasses the girl leads him to be targeted by the villain. The pervert is usually one of the first stock characters to be killed by the villain.