Narrative Theorists' Research

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Plot Pitch

https://youtu.be/_EV6oSBvWR8

3 Initial Ideas

Horror: ALONE 

A teenage girl is home alone watching a film, everything is as normal. She is in the kitchen getting a bowl of popcorn, when the phone rings, but nobody answers when she picks it up. She goes back to watching the film when the doorbell sounds. When nobody is at the door either, she starts to get suspicious and so she rings her friend to come around. She runs around the house to ensure that all the windows and doors are closed and locked, except she forgets just one door; the garage…A mysterious man enters her house through the garage door, without her knowing. The girls friend arrives at the door, but as she goes to answer it, a deep voice shouts “don’t answer that door”. She turns around to see that the mysterious man is standing at the top of the stairs, pointing a gun towards her. She comes away from the door and turns around to go upstairs after the man. She slowly creeps upstairs to try and find him and to see what he wants from her. She hears the floorboards creaking and then a door slowly swings open creepily. She runs into that room and the door suddenly slams shut behind her but when she goes to get out, it’s locked. The man quickly puts his hand over the girls mouth and drags her down the stairs and into the garage. He locks the garage door and then the trailer ends. At the end of the film, her family has to pay a ransom to free their daughter and then they get her back, report the case to the police, who then track him down. The film then ends as the police catch the criminal, the family watch it on the news and then everything returns to normal.

Crime: ON THE RUN...AGAIN
Two 20 year old men have been on the run from the police for years following a drug deal that went wrong and resulted in a man being shot. Everything is as normal, they are still on the run and the story continues. They only had a limited amount of money when they ran away, so the police know that they are still in the country. The men have been staying in old abandoned houses and buildings for years but haven’t left a single trace of where they have been, or if they have been staying with anyone along the way. The police get a new lead on where the men might be or have been – a witness comes forward and says she believes she saw the men at a local train station. The police of course follow up the lead and check out the CCTV footage from that train station and other train stations around there. They confirm that it is the two men they are after and they follow the CCTV around the station to see where they might have been heading, whether they were getting on a train or if they were just passing through. It turns out the men are only passing through the station building, but the police track them to another station near by and one of the men ends up getting caught by police on the scene. At the end of the film, one of the criminals is locked up, while the police are still looking for the other one and the story ends there.

Horror: GONE

A group of teenage girls are camping in a forest and are messing around and making noises to try and scare one another while they're telling scary stories. When they hear a mysterious noise form somewhere deeper within the forest, they get a little bit scared and creeped out. When they realise one of their friends is missing from the campfire after saying she was going to find signal, the girls think that she is messing around and playing practical jokes. They go back to the campfire and just forget about it, until they hear a loud scream. They all grab torches and the whole group goes out towards the scream and to look for their friend who had been missing for a while now. They don't find her, but it's starting to get a lot darker and so they all agree to go back to the camp and to look for her in the morning if she's not back yet. When they get back to the camp, their fire has been put out and BEWARE has been written in sticks on the ground. There is no site of their friend who went missing, so they have an early night and set out to look for her in the morning. When they wake up, the missing girl's jacket is placed on the ground and looks as though it has been ripped and has blood on it, so they look around the camp for more clues as to where they could be. When there is still no site for her, they pack everything up and set out to find her. At the end of the film, it turns out that the girl spent the night in an old abandoned shed because she couldn't find her way back to the camp but she lost her phone along the way. The girls find her the next morning and ask her what happened, she tells them and everything returns to normal as they set off home. Until they get home and hear that there was an old, escaped murdered on the loose in the forest where they had slept, and it turns out the police caught him in the early hours of the morning, before he could do anything dangerous to the girls.

They would all be rated 15 by the BBFC because of violent/scary scenes which have the potential to be upsetting to anyone below that age.

Todorov's Theory:
 Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory states that most stories or plots follow the same structure. There are 5 steps:

• Equilibrium - At the start, everything is normal and as it should be.
• Disruption - Something will happen that will disrupt the happiness and normality.
• Realisation - Everyone starts to realise the problem and there is chaos 
• Restored Order - The characters go about fixing the problem and restoring everything back to normal. 
• Equilibrium (again) - Everything is restored and everyone can go back to being happy again.

Strauss' Binary Opposites:
Levi Strauss' binary opposition theory states that every film has binary opposites (the characters). Binary opposites are very frequently used in films especially in horror genres. Good and evil is the most common binary opposition shown throughout the media on different platforms. 

Propp's Character Theory

Vladimir Propp's character theory states that every narrative has 8 different character types which are:

• The Hero: Leads the narrative in some way. Usually searching for something or on some form of quest to succeed. 
• The Villain: Struggles against the hero. Shown to be morally bad - drives the audience away from them, making them support the hero.
• The Donor: Gives the hero something special to help with the quest. Doesn't always have to be physical. 
• The Helper: The helper supports the hero - similar to the donor. Usually appears at critical moments and gives support and guidance like a sidekick. 
• The Princess: May take two forms - object/reward - deliberately done by hero. Could be seen as little in the film or may be an important character.
• The Princess' Father: Gives the task to the hero. Key figure for hero to persuade as father is protective of his daughter. Could also be in competition with the hero. (Propp said it was hard to distinguish.)
• The Dispatcher: The character who sends the hero on a mission - may be a family member and can also be combined with another role.
• The False Hero: Appears to act heroically throughout the film and can be mistaken for the actual hero. 

Existing Products Research - Skyfall and The woman in black

The first trailer has the song 'Skyfall' by Adele playing in the background which is non-diegetic sound. The music starts to pick up pace and gets more upbeat as the action within the film unfolds throughout the trailer. There are a lot of action shots and a lot of jumps inbetween these scenes to build up the drama and the tension. The music then quiets down again as the 'Skyfall' intertitle is displayed on the screen and the institutional information is shown at the very end. The 007 logo is also displayed at the end so that the audience know that this is a James Bond film . At the start of the trailer, it shows Bond being shot and killed, but this is far from the truth and the trailer unravels and reveals that he is still alive. This creates a sense of mystery for the audience as they're unaware of what happened to him until they watch the film, therefore it lures them in.
The second trailer starts with the green screen at the start, which states what audiences the film is suitable for. There is then an over the shoulder/long shot of Bond looking out over the city with the British flag waving high. There is then the sound of voices but you don't know where they are coming from, until it fades to the scene of Bond and another man. Bond then looks startled when he says 'Skyfall' and there is then a pull focus of the three agents looking on as the conversation continues. The focus ends on 'M' played by Judi Dench, which draws the audience in as she is a well-known actor and it suggests that she is a key character within the film. There is then a dramatic sound effect as the trailer jumps between action shots, including one of Bond shooting a gun. The trailer then starts to reveal the story-line of the film as the clips unfold. The music then changes to what sounds like a heartbeat 'dun dun, dun dun' which builds up the tension and implies that there are a lot of plot twists and dramatic scenes in the film. The title of the film 'Skyfall' then emerges from a dark black background as the music switches back to normal and we hear the men talking again. The music then gets really upbeat and fast as more action scenes are shown and there is a slam sound as 007 suddenly appears on the screen. The release date is then clearly displayed at the end of the trailer so the audience know when it comes out and when they can go and see it. The trailer then fades to black and again creates a sense of mystery for the audience because they don't know what is going to happen next.

These products all link together because they are all promoting the James Bond film 'Skyfall'. There is a combination of different products to do so because the audience like to see and read different things about the film, so they can gather lots of information before it comes out, so they are persuaded to go and see it. The audience benefits from this combination of products because the poster lets them know when the film is available for them to watch, the DVD cover reveals the plot of the film to them, the magazine covers let them know that they can find out more about the film and the actors featured within it if they read it. The trailers give the audience a sneak peak of what happens in the film, so they know a bit about what happens before it comes out, but not all of it is revealed, so they are persuaded to watch the film because they are more intrigued about what happens.


The trailer for The Woman in Black starts with a green screen which lets the audience know who the trailer is suitable for and why it has the certification that it does. Then, the screen fades to black and the institutional information appears from the darkness. There is creepy music playing in the background which is non-diegetic sound. The main character is in an old abandoned building and the floorboards creak so it relates to the action thriller genre because you know that something scary is about to happen next. The old, abandoned house is very deserted and the grass is overgrown, so it looks empty and mysterious. It is heavily raining in the scene, which is pathetic fallacy and again suggests that something bad is about to happen to the character. The audience is then presented with Daniel Radcliffe looking through photos which he found in the house. One of these has a mysterious figure looking through the window which could be the woman in black. In another one of the photos, the family's eyes look as though they have been scratched out. Then the audience are presented with diegetic sound, as the chair rocks back and forward by itself. As he is sitting down, looking through things in the house, a door opens behind him which builds the enigma code for the audience as they are left guessing what will happen next in the scene and more importantly what will happen to the character next. Then while it is raining outside, a little boy emerges from the dead, by the cross which suggests that he is coming back from the dead, as he slowly walks towards the house. The audience again hear diegetic sound as Daniel Radcliffe shouts 'who's there?!' As he walks down the corridors the lights start turning off, as though the woman in black is coming to get him. The colourscheme remains dark throughout the trailer, which connotes death and alludes to the action thriller genre. The audience then see lots of jumps between scenes, one of which where a fire breaks out, which again connotes danger and leaves the audience guessing. The inter titles within the film are written in a bold black font, which is also dripping. This alludes to the rain on the window, but it also connotes blood dripping and suggests that the woman in black is out to kill.
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Questionnaire

I have targeted my audience and got to know their wants and needs through a questionnaire. From my survey, I know that the majority of my target audience are aged between 15 and 25 so I will aim my film trailer towards them. I also know that most of my demographic are female and people are most attracted to a film through the trailer. They also believe that a good film trailer should be between 2-3 minutes long so they see what they need to be attracted to the film, yet it doesn't reveal too much about the film, so they will be persuaded to go and see it. My demographic go to the cinema mostly every 2 weeks or every month an the soundtrack of the trailer is important in making the film appeal to them.

Potential Target Audience

My primary target audience is people aged 15-24 years as this is the age group that like to watch a lot of films and enjoy doing so with friends and family. My film trailer will appeal to both males and females in this age category as both genders enjoy horror films and will often go to the cinema with their friends of the same age. Horror films may also mainly appeal to males as they prefer action films and scary films, whereas girls tend to prefer comedy and romantic films. A large percentage of my primary target audience will be students, who fall into the E category of the JICNAR scale because they are unemployed or the D category if they have a part-time job. 
My secondary target audience will be everyone else who views the film, such as those with apprenticeships or with full time jobs. They will fall into the C1 or C2 category of the JICNAR scale as they are employed and working full time. Some of my secondary target audience may also fall into the A and B categories of the JICNAR scale as they may have managerial, administrative, or professional, high paying jobs. Part of my secondary audience may be the parents who are persuaded to go and see the films with their son or daughter. 

Evaluation of video

Whilst doing this mini project, I have learnt to edit on iMovie. I have learnt techniques such as adding in sound effects and music, silencing the dialogue from the orignal clip and shortening the clips to get the content I needed from them. I also learnt how to create intertitles on Fireworks and then import them into iMovie to add to my trailer. I have also learnt how to set up a tripod and use it to film clips for my trailer. Whilst learning to use the tripod, I also learnt how to use the camera including zooming in and out and getting the perfect frame for my shot. I learnt to add filters on iMovie so I could make my film trailer look more Western and slightly aged. I followed a storyboard during this process so I knew which clips to film first, so that they were in order when it came to editing. I also used youtube to find a suitable soundtrack for my trailer and then add this to my clips. I did the same for the gunshot sound effect.
I am pleased with my trailer as it was my first time filming and editing clips and my first time using iMovie, I think the editing process went particularly well as I learnt how to use the software quite quickly. I have showed my friends and family the trailer and they all think it fits into the Western genre well because of the soundtrack and filter. However, to improve my film trailer, I would film in a different location so it looked more Western such as a patch of grass in the park.