THEORETICALRESEARCH

GENREGenre theory is used in the study of films in order to facilitate the categorization of a moving image. Usually, a films Genre can be analysed based upon various factors such as what the story line is about, whom the director is and what are the expectations of the audience. Of which, during the course of planning our production the three of us have carried out research into different types of Thriller films, distinguishing common conventions in which should help us in the making of our moving image. This is because, it will allow our audience to view our piece and instantaneously establish that it’s a Thriller Film which allows them to later work out what the sub-genre is.

GENRE In order to understand Genre we may need to look, at several examples. When an individual references to a Western film, we know that within this collection of films we may expect to find gun fights, horses, Indians, the solitary cowboy and to some degree the actors and directors of such moving images. Another example would be a horror films where by it is conventional that everybody is likely to die except for one, who is normally represented as the protagonist with in the film. The audience whom go to view these films expect to see zombies, wear wolves and more. They also expect certain content and a certain style of film, with elements of low key lighting being apparent. In terms of the thriller genre we found that there are many stereotypical conventions and element to the majority of thriller films which includes dark locations and low key lighting as well as the use of violence to create fear and tension for the audience.

HOW THIS IS GOING TO INFLUENCE OUR FINAL PIECE?This research will be useful to our final piece because we are intending to use the genre of a thriller in our final piece. This research will help us because it helps us understand how we could show a clear genre as well as how best we could use the genre in order to make it look more like a realistic thriller film in the crime thriller genre. One specific thing we are considering using that we found during this research is using low key lighting within are piece to create a dark atmosphere.

AUTEURThe Auteur theory is a theory of whereby when a film is created, it reflects the director's personal creative vision. To apply this theory to our own work, as a group we aim try and encompass some of our personal and individual preferences in relation to our production piece that fits with the story line. Likewise, our intention is to make a somewhat personal and recognisable production piece, not just another quintessential Thriller film. As watchers of Thriller films, despite our limited knowledge, all of us can recognise the typical main conventions enabling us to understand how our production should look.

AUTEURWhen it comes to distinctive style, there’s probably no better modern example than Wes Anderson, the director of Moonrise Kingdom, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Grand Budapest Hotel. The writer and director is one of the best examples of a modern auteur, with a whimsical visual style with all his own and narrative tendencies remaining consistent across his body of work. With a distinct colour palette that links everything from the production design to the outfits, Anderson adheres to a meticulous set of visual flourishes that give the director’s film the specific fantastical feeling that all Anderson films have. Corresponding to framing, Anderson is known to keep his camera mostly stationary, preferring to shoot scenes in straight-on fashion, something most directors avoid because it prevents the scene from taking on a three-dimensional feel. This is what Anderson prefers, and the net result is a series of a shots that often feel as if they are part of a painting rather than a three-dimensional, moving image.

HOW THIS IS GOING TO INFLUENCE OUR FINAL PIECE?The auteur research will be useful because for our final project because we believe that it helps us see what effect the director has on the piece stylistically. Therefore making it more personalised to us. One way we can achieve this is always starting a new locating with transition to make something specific to our company and director.

AUDIENCE THEORIESTwo step flowThe Two Step Flow theory, was a hypothesis introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet. The theory consisted of two steps:• 1. Opinion leaders get

information from a media source• 2. Opinion leaders then pass the

information, along with their interpretations, to others, such as friends, family or acquaintances.

AUDIENCE THEORIES Two step flow continued:The opinion leaders are people who pay close attention to mass media and what message they are putting across. They can also be influential figures who a similar to the people they influence. The people who receive the information from the opinion leaders are not really informed by the media and look up to the opinion leaders. For example, in elections, the opinion leader would be the politician or MP who is an influential figure to people. They will use the media to influence others to follow them and vote for them in the upcoming election.

HOW THIS IS GOING TO INFLUENCE OUR FINAL PIECE?This is going to influence our final piece by showing us how movies gain their audiences, which will help us when we come to look at our audience in more detail during our audience research as well as seeing the different types of audience the film is most likely to have. This will also help us make sure we have the correct target audience as well as making sure are style of thriller is something that would interest the audience we attract.

REPRESENTATION THEORIES

This relates to how people of different, ages, genders, ethnicities, cultures etc. are presented in the media. The most common things that are represented are age, class, gender and ethnicity, because, they can be presented in ways that the public will recognise. This also links into stereotypes because many films use stereotypical characters and non- stereotypical characters to show a contrasts within the film. For example, in horror films, women are usually presented as weak and inferior, by the way they scream all the time and often get killed rather quickly into the film. Class is usually represented in historic films. There is usually a great divide between rich and poor, this is often presented through the way characters speak or dress.

HOW THIS IS GOING TO INFLUENCE OUR FINAL PIECE? This is going to influence the way in which our production uses stereotypes to show the different characters throughout the narrative. As well as looking at how other films used stereotypes e.g. Gender to portray different character to make them seem more realistic to everyday life. An example of how we are going to use stereotypes both stereotypically and stereotypically because both the antagonist and protagonist are female.

NARRATIVE THEORY Narrative theory is the term given to a typical storyline or the structure of a storyline in a particular genre.

Todorov's Theory

An example of this is Todorov’s narrative theory. This is where the narrative starts off at equilibrium with the story starting off at a balance or showing everyday life for the characters at the start of the film. After that the equilibrium is disrupted by something in the story such as obstacles that the characters have to overcome and then the narrative concentrates on the repairing of the damage in the narrative cause by the obstacle to end the story in equilibrium

Equilibrium(start)

Disruption of the Equilibrium

Attempt to repair Equilibrium

New Equilibrium

NARRATIVE THEORYTodorov’s TheoryTodorov’s theory is used as a structure for many well known films. This includes the cartoon film Up.

The equilibrium at the start of this film is normal life for Mr Fredrickson and his wife, until her death.

Disruption of the Equilibrium is when people try to take his home he shared with wife and put him into in an old peoples home. At this point he meet Russell and he decides to attach balloons to his home in order to fly to Paradise Falls. Although he doesn’t realise that Russell is still their and is flying with him.

Another disruption of the equilibrium is when they meet a colourful flightless bird that he names "Kevin". As well as a Golden Retriever named Dug. The group is set upon by a pack of aggressive dogs led by Alpha, a Doberman (who is also looking Kevin), and are taken to their master, who is a elderly Charles Muntz.

NARRATIVE THEORYTodorov’s Theory continued: Attempt to repair the damage is when Carl and Russell reunite Kevin with her chicks, then they fly back to the city.

The new equilibrium is when Carl presents Russell with his final badge for helping the elderly as well as grape soda cap that Ellie gave to Carl when they first met. The two and Dug then enjoy some ice cream together.

NARRATIVE THEORYPropp’s character type narrative

Propp’s narrative theory is based upon the belief that certain characters or character types appear in most film or story narratives. These include:The Hero (protagonist)- who is on a quest,The Villain (antagonist) - who works against the Hero, The Princess- who or what the quest is for, The Dispatcher- the person who sends them on the quest,The Donor- who gives the Hero something to help on his journey,The Helper- assists the Hero,The Father- who rewards the Hero,False Hero- someone who appears to be a Hero but is actually a Villain

Propp’s character types

An example as to where Propp's character types are shown to be present is in most fairy tales which follow a similar structure to this theory. Although many of the characters including Hero, Villains and False Heroes' are found in many modern narratives as well.

NARRATIVE THEORYBinary oppositionIs a key concept created by Claude Levi- Strauss which is found in the structure of many films. This concept involves a narrative which contains two contrasting elements for example winning and losing or heroes and villains.

The reason why this structure is called the classical Hollywood structure because it is the most common narrative structure used in Hollywood films.

ACT 1- Set up, which is where main characters and objectives are established.

ACT 2- Development, where the main characters encounter obstacles until the climax.

ACT 3- Resolution, is where the main conflicts are resolved.

Classical Hollywood Narrative Structure

HOW THIS IS GOING TO INFLUENCE OUR FINAL PIECE?In the way that we structure our opening sequence in order to make it seem professional as well as making sure that the opening makes sense and fits with the genre of a crime thriller. It will also influence the way in which we decide that are characters will react to certain parts of the openings narrative.The structure we believe that we would use for our piece is based on Todorov’s theory because we aren’t having too much build up at the start of the thriller film because the disruption of the main equilibrium is the protagonists death which happens in the opening to the film, although we would have lots of smaller disruptions through the film until the resolution when the antagonist is finally uncovered and caught. We also intend to use binary opposites within the piece because we have both a victim and a perpetrator which are binary opposites and we also think it represents opposites in terms of good and evil.