ADVANCED PORTFOLIO

TO PRODUCE A PROMOTION PACKAGE FOR A NEW FILM, TO INCLUDE A TEASER TRAILER (DVD), TOGETHER WITH 2 OF THE FOLLOWING:

-A WEBSITE HOMEPAGE FOR THE FILM-A FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER, FEATURING THE FILM (A4)

-A POSTER FOR THE FILM, (NO LARGER THAN A3)

Media Studies A2Media Studies A2

Genre theory Genre theory

Genre is the French word for ‘type’ or ‘kind’, it is used in media as categories for film, print and games.

Definition open to debate, genre also includes sub genres and hybrid genres, for example; horror comedies or Blaxploitation films.

A clear genre (western, horror etc.) follows certain conventions & codes in the narrative, cinematography, representations etc..

Postmodernism in film

Postmodernism is…

Postmodernism challenges ‘modernism’, it is the idea that almost everything has been tried out now in the media, so the only thing left to do is to experiment with the techniques and experiments already done. An example of this is a key postmodernism term called intertextuality, this is where a media text is referenced or paid homage to in another text. A good example of this is in the television programme The Simpsons where they are always referencing other texts in their episodes, such as the character Bart wearing a costume featured in the film ‘A Clockwork Orange’.

Key terms & techniques

Challenging and non-linear narratives: where a story is told in an odd order such as back to front or flashbacks.

Anti narratives: where a narrative is interrupted by a freeze frame, for example in Sherlock Holmes where a fight scene is described in slow-motion before it is shown properly in normal speed and resumes the narrative.

Intertextuality: where a previous text is referenced in another text, my previous example of ‘The Simpsons’ explains this.

Bricolage: intentionally stealing very recognised and usually high art elements from other texts to create new meanings and connotations, paying homage to the text that it came from. A good example of bricolage is in ‘Kill Bill’ where the main character’s costume is the yellow jumpsuit from Bruce Lee’s cult film ‘Game of Death’.

Dystopian film genre

The word ‘dystopia’ means an imperfect world, the opposite of ‘utopia’. Filmmakers have played around with this word and made a film genre out of it, it works as a genre because people want to see what an imperfect world would look like. Whether it be a zombie apocalypse, natural disasters, nuclear holocausts or even a world run by corruption, the public want escapism or to gain a sense of security through knowledge.

Dystopian films

- The Matrix (1999, The Wachouski Brothers) The Matrix conveys a dystopian future where reality as perceived by most humans is

actually a simulated reality called ‘the Matrix’, where intelligent machines control the human population and everything humans know is a lie. The disruption in this film is the main character discovering that he is living a lie. There are narrative themes such as love interest, futuristic confrontation.

- The Day After Tomorrow (2004, Roland Emmerich) The Day After Tomorrow is a natural disaster dystopia, the narrative consists of a

tsunami/ice age striking across Europe and the U.S.A. Environmental scientist character Jack has to trek across America to find his son who is stuck. The disruption in this film is obviously the natural disaster, the narrative themes conveyed are separation from family, survival and there is a love interest for main character Jack.

- District 9 (2009, Neill Blomkamp) This is a film that makes reference to the apartheid in South Africa. It is set in South Africa

and is a metaphor for the segregation of the people in South Africa where the ‘aliens’ (black and coloured people) live in a shanti town where poverty is immense and there is drug crime and violence. The disruption in this film is when the main character (Wikus Van De Merwe), a journalist from the rich half goes into district 9 (the poor half) and gets a disease and the only things willing to help are his only two new ‘alien’ friends.

The Matrix (1999) trailer analysis

In this analysis I will be looking at the official film trailer of The Matrix (1999), describing different elements of it and how they relate to things like genre, conventions, connotations and more. The Matrix is a science fiction dystopian action film, the narrative consists of a computer hacker (Keanu Reeves) coming into the knowledge that the life that he and his fellow citizens live is a lie, he learns this from a group of rebels that are fighting against this system and they also inform him that he plays a part in the war against its controllers. The trailer leaves me feeling excited and wanting to be part of this extreme situation that will unfold throughout the film. The trailer does this by introducing the scary idea of a false reality that is run by agents in black suits, this references the ‘big brother’ theory in the media, the fear of technological advancements for evil and constant surveillance.  At the very beginning of the trailer we hear long sustained minor chords which already bring uncomfortable connotations of grief and upset to it. The first thing we see onscreen is a title reading “in an ordinary world” in block capitals, the colour scheme is a black background with green writing. This title is establishing some sort of equilibrium, the fact that this is the only screen that does establish the original equilibrium tells us that it won’t last long and we will soon reach disruption. The conventions of the green hue on black are those of technology and computing, this gives us an idea of some of the narrative themes in the film. We then see a very low level, low angle shot of tall ‘cityscape’ buildings with a helicopter flying over, this conveys the ‘big brother’ feel of the film, pushing connotations of being watched or surveyed, this shot has a very dystopian feel to it. Next we see another title screen with the same scheme saying ‘you do your job’, we have now realised these title screens link and make a sentence. We then see a moving image that describes the title, of a man sitting at a computer desk in an office; this gives a feel of order and regiment. After a few more titles have come up, it reads “in an ordinary world, you do your job, you go to parties, you pay your bills, you live, as a slave!”. In between the titles there are more dystopian feelings I get from the mise-en-scene such as uniforms and suits in the costumes, which contribute to the regimented society connotations, there is also a very mild green hue filter over all the shots which conforms to the colour scheme in the titles. Just before the title screen that reads “as a slave!” a medium close-up shot comes up of Neo (main character) waking up with wires and machinery all around him and suddenly the green filter over the screen is gone, this suggests that this is a shot of the alternate world in the film, the real world. We then start to see action shots and shots that give us clearer ideas of the narrative and the characters in the film. We here dialogue from one of the main characters (Morpheus) saying “have you ever had a dream Neo, that you were so sure was real, what if you were able to wake from that dream, how would you know the difference between the dream world, and the real world?”. This dialogue gives us a big clue about the narrative and establishes some of the ideas and elements that will be expressed throughout the film. We then see some shots with rain and lightening in them, showing ‘pathetic fallacy’, which is representing the narrative as the situation the Neo is in gets worse and worse. We get more dialogue from the same character saying “you are a slave born into a prison, for your mind”, this quote references the ideas expressed in the ‘1984’ movie, where motifs such as ‘free thinking is bad’ and ‘everybody has to be the same lifeless drones’ are conveyed. We then see a over the shoulder following shot of Morpheus walking down a busy street with hoards of people all wearing similar black suits and uniforms, reminding us of this mundanely regimented world that they think is reality. In this scene Morpheus says “the matrix is a system Neo, that system is our enemy”. The next section of the trailer introduces us to the antagonist, a character called Agent Smith, who is one of the main controllers of ‘The Matrix’. The first shot we see of him is a close up of his face, talking down to a subject, his body language is very demining and dominant. We then see him, again, looking very dominant when the camera comes towards him starting low at his feet then coming up to look up at his face, with a helicopter in the background, referencing the first shot of the trailer with the helicopter flying over the buildings.  The final part of the trailer indicates the resolution to us, this starts with a shot of one of the protagonist rebels saying “so your here to save the world” to Neo. Then we are shown a shot of Morpheus training Neo, according to Propp’s character functions theory, Morpheus is acting at the ‘helper’ character here who aids the hero (Neo) on his quest. We then see Morpheus giving Neo further advice and action shots of Agent Smith punching through walls and dodging whole clips of pistol bullets, this suggests the sci-fi genre to us using unreal, ‘superhuman’ abilities. Next we get a look at the postmodern elements of the film, like its experimental shots such as the 360 degree video of one of the characters doing a flying kick, and the bullet time shot.

The Book of Eli (2010) trailer analysis

The Book of Eli, released in 2010 was a dystopian apocalypse film starring Denzel Washington as the main character (Eli), the film saw Eli trek across a dangerous, post apocalyptic America to the West coast to deliver this ‘Book of Eli’ to a safe destination.

In the first shot of the trailer we see a tracking shot of tall trees in a forest, there is a natural looking turquoise light coming through the forest that almost looks like mist, it is very dusty and it looks like there are ashes or debris falling from above. The sound is eerie and in a minor tone, from this shot and the sound that comes with it we can already see dystopian conventions shining through. The ashes in the sky suggest fire and destruction, the fact these woods look very vacant suggests that there’s not much life in this landscape, and the sound being in a minor key right from the beginning hints that there are negative elements to come. Next we see the industries behind the film, Warner Brothers, Alcon Entertainment and Silver Pictures, all mainstream Hollywood producers. This tells us it will be high budget and will most likely follow typical Hollywood narrative and cinematic conventions and theories such as Propp’s ‘character functions’ theory or Todorov’s ‘classical narrative structure’ theory. Next we get another shot of the forest with some broken branches and rags on the floor then the camera tracks forward towards a tree stump with a gas mask sitting on it, the gas mask is a universal symbol of war and unrest, this gives us an insight into parts of the narrative. In this scene we hear a voice over from Eli saying “They say the war tore a hole in the sky, only a few survived”, this gives us an even clearer indication that there will be/has been war or conflict in the narrative. As the camera tracks closer into the gas mask it focuses in on the left eye and we see a town in the reflection, this may be a very covert clue of the narrative. We then see shots of Eli in a torn apart highway landscape that features damaged roads with big metal supports sticking out of them, surrounded by wrecked cars and lorries, no buildings or civilisation to be seen. The sky in these shots is very cloudy and grey but with a turquoise tint to it, this gives it a sad, depressing feeling. We get more voice over dialogue throughout these scenes from Eli reading “That was thirty winters ago, I have been walking ever since”. This dialogue suggests Eli will be the protagonist in the film, pushing the narrative on by walking with a goal and trying to get somewhere.

The next section of the trailer starts with some shots of the problems Eli will encounter throughout the film, the first being an over the shoulder shot of three very sinister looking men wielding weapons, this proposes disruption in the narrative. We then see a quick shot of an ugly cat hissing at the camera, this may symbolise anger and strife. Then we get a shot with a postmodern feel to it, it sees an arrow (bow and arrow) flying past the camera in the forest, but as it comes past the camera we see the editing technique of time remapping. We then see a few more shots of desolate petrol stations and empty desert-scape and more dialogue from Eli saying “Our only hope, is in my hands”. In the next few scenes we are introduced to the antagonist, this character wants the book that Eli has to protect. We see a shot of slight civilisation, a small town with a few shops and people carrying around bare essential possessions. We see a shot of the antagonist and a few of his henchmen walking out of a bar then a shot of someone firing a rocket propelled grenade into a house, these two shots being right next to us give us the hint that this character is an enemy and links him with destruction and conflict. The shot of the rocket is very interesting and quite postmodern again, when the shot comes on screen all audio is suddenly muted, the rocket is fired and the camera follows it to the window of this house and only when the rocket hits we here a loud explosion. We next see a shot of a federal defence looking van blowing up into the air then a close up of Eli’s face walking towards the camera with the exploding van behind him, showing that he blew up the van and it had antagonist characters inside, this suggests that authorities in this film is represented as bad characters.

Next we see a series of action shots of Eli fighting enemies and protecting his treasured book, and a shot comes on screen in the middle of this of a woman with a sword the same as Eli’s, this proposes a love interest in the film. But this female character is obviously not represented as a mere love interest as she has a sword and may play an active role in the repair stage of the narrative.

District 9 (2009) trailer analysis

District 9 (2009) is a sci-fi dystopian film, it features an extraterrestrial race that landed their ship on earth in Johannesburg, South Africa. The ‘Prawns’ (the nickname for the alien race) landed in 1982 and since have lost their original welcome from the humans and what used to be a refugee camp for them is now a slum-like shanty town. The film stars Sharito Copley as the protagonist called ‘Wikus Van De Merwe’, his character is the operative in charge of the eviction of this extraterrestrial race from their refugee camp.

In the first scene of the trailer we see a fade from black into a shot of a sunset creating a red sky over a city. This starts to establish the setting to us; it indicates that it will be set in a city and somewhere hot, due to the warm red and yellow colours. The sound is in a minor tone, it sounds like chimes or bells of some sort, it has negative, distressed conventions. Next we see a shot of a woman saying ‘nobody comes back late and night anymore, there is more security’, this piece of dialogue suggests there is danger around that is intensified at night. We then see a shot of military forces protecting and patrolling, there are barbed wire fences around, suggesting elements of segregation or confinement. There is then an aerial shot of slum like buildings, crammed close together, all made of scrappy materials like corrugated metal and PVC plastic sheets. Next a title comes on screen saying ‘They are not welcome’, this suggests a disruption in the narrative, possible invasion themes in the story, we then see fake news reports with Johannesburg citizens saying things like “they don’t belong here” and “they’re spending so much money to keep them here, when they could be spending it on other things, at least they’re keeping them separate from us”. This clears up who’s this opinion is, and confirms the segregation motif in the film. We are already seeing the film’s social commentary on the South African apartheid which was executed in the 1960’s, this was when the National Party of South Africa enforced racial segregation across the country, pushing all black and coloured inhabitants into poverty and slum-like conditions, just like the alien race in District 9. The makers of District 9 were not trying to label the unfortunate black and coloured residents of 1960’s South Africa as an ‘alien race’, instead they were trying to exploit just how extreme and appalling the conditions were for these poor people at the time.

Next in the trailer we see another title reading ‘They are not accepted’ followed by clips of fire and smoke over Johannesburg, military forces and riots, proposing this disruption is ongoing and getting more serious. We then see another dialogue shot of a woman in a sharp suit, giving her connotations of being an important figure, she says “we’re at the breaking point, people are living in fear” this further suggests that disruption has been ongoing and getting worse for a while. We then see a title screen reading ‘They are not human’, the words ‘They are not’ come on screen first then when the word ‘human’ comes onscreen the sound comes to a sudden halt, after building up in tone throughout the whole trailer prior to this, conventionally speaking, this suggests that we are about to see something very important and significant, or something scary that might shock us.

Next we see a shot from a helicopter following other military helicopters towards the aliens’ giant space-ship hovering over Johannesburg, the sound is back now, still in a minor, mysterious tone. Another title screen comes up here that says ‘Peter Jackson presents, A film by Neill Blomkamp’, this tells us that this sci-fi is made by two very renowned sci-fi film makers so will most probably be a good sci-fi. The final scene of the trailer is of someone interrogating one of the creatures, it is an over the shoulder shot, low key lit, with a light shining down onto the subject. It is quite unusual for a trailer like this to actually fully reveal the ‘monstrous creatures’ at the end, after the build up and all the hints given about the narrative, usually I would expect to not be shown the antagonist and the producers to leave me waiting excitedly.

Timeline of historical & social Timeline of historical & social contexts, dystopian films & how contexts, dystopian films & how they relate.they relate.

Pre War (1920s)

Post War

70/80s

90s and now

Fear of mass production, totalitarianism, governments, big brother style themes.

Metropolis (1927)- Futuristic city, division between classes.

Blade Runner (1982)- Futuristic science fiction.

Cold war fears

Fear of invasion

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Fears of technological advancements

The Terminator (1984)

Robots & A.I

Akira (1988)

Fears of cloning, genetics, environmental disaster, using postmodern ideas of hybrid genres and pastiche.

Zombie horror hybrid genre

28 Days Later (2002)-conveys postmodern elements

District 9 (2009)- References South African apartheid

British Crime film genre

British crime is just a crime film that is produced or made by British, they usually contain conventions such as cockney characters, football elements, set in capital cities, an anti-hero character & gangsters. There are very dominant directors & actors in this genre that are known for they’re styles & techniques. Guy Richie is probably the most famous director in the field, he directed British Crime films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch & Rock’n’Rolla.

British Crime films

- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998, Guy Richie) A film set in London about four men falling into a £500,000 debt to an East London ‘hard

man’ and having to commit extremely illegal crimes to gather up the cash. The cast features Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones, two renowned ‘skin head’ crime actors. The disruption in this film is when the four main characters end up in big trouble from gambling with the East end gangster.

- Sexy Beast (2000, Jonathan Glazer) Sexy Beast is a British crime drama where retired hard man ‘Gary Dove’ is confronted

in his luxurious holiday home in Spain by brutal gangster ‘Don Logan’. Don grills and harasses Gary into taking one last ‘job’, Gary refuses but Don is relentless and becomes

an intimidating threat to Gary and his wife. The disruption in this film is Don entering the blissful peace at Gary’s holiday home and causing stress and tension throughout the rest of the film.