Our group's ideas

Idea 1- Josh's idea...

A lady named Jennifer is being studied in a mental hospital. She is possessed by a demon, and whenever you are alone with her, it spreads like a virus. Slowly the demon gets further and further into the hospital, infecting both the staff and patients. After being in solitary confinement for years to prevent the spread of the demon and to keep her and others safe, she becomes more possessed, and ends up passing the demon onto her daughter, who appears to be normal, so no one realises she is possessed.



Idea 2- Livi's idea...

A new girl is introduced at college and immediately becomes attached to one of her classmates, who rejects her when she asks to go out together. She starts to become obsessed and follows him, manipulating things which happen to him and murdering girls who talk to him.



Idea 3- My idea...

A girl is studying at university and living in a student house with her friends. Being incredibly stressed, she starts to suffer from night terrors where she dreams her friends die. When she wakes up she discover that they are dead, and begins to become paranoid after seeing a shadow follow her everywhere she goes. She ends up dreaming that her best friend is murdered, and when he comes over to check on her, after they fall asleep, she awakens, covered in his blood and discovers she has been the murderer and is suffering from a multi personality disorder.

Film Distribution and Marketing

Film Distribution is an important process in the making of a film, as it responsible for the marketing of the product. This includes exhibiting posters and trailers to entice people to go and see it.

A film distributor will be responsible for identifying the audience, deciding the release date of the film and the method through which it will be exhibited, for example either for home viewing or theatrically. If they release it theatrically they secure a contract stating that the exhibitor of the film pays them back a percentage of the gross. They must also ensure that each exhibitor gets their copy of the film in time for the opening day, as well as monitoring its safe delivery and return. They also ensure that each exhibitor has a full line of advertising material to attract the largest possible audience. Distributors work with the physical production of film prints, and the creation of advertisements for newspapers and magazines, posters, television commercials and trailers. If they are distributing a foreign film, they will be responsible for dubbing the film and adding subtitles. 

Here are some examples of some major film distribution companies. The first one, Warner Bros, is owned by the conglomerate 'Time Warner', because of this it make distributing the film much easier, as Time Warner owns it's own magazines, cinemas, DVD companies etc. So this means it is easier to distribute all the films material.

The reach of a film is in relation to the way it reaches it's audience. For example, a huge Hollywood film such as 'Avatar' (2009) had a large worldwide reach and was released all over the world. It has since become the most successful film of all time, and this could be down to it's reach. However, films with a smaller reach, such as the niche film 'Colin' (2008), it won't have quite an impact. Colin was made using only £60, and ended up with a profit of almost £800, this just shows how even with Niche films, if you market them well enough even they can become popular.

Distributors also work with a marketing plan, which is basically to try and get as many people as possible wanting to see thew movie, so that when it comes out, it will make more money. They do this in several ways, such as releasing a teaser trailer up to a year before the film is even finished, just to get people talking. By doing this, people then become aware of the film, and spread this awareness through word of mouth. When it comes nearer the time of the release, the distributors create posters, trailers and any other forms of advertisement for the movie, such as pairing up with other companies to advertise it. For example, advertising on a cup from McDonalds, or coaster in a pub.

They also work with a 'Distribution plan'. This is where the distributors decide who their target audience are, and research them to find out how best to reach them and when to release the film. For example, they might do private test screenings of a film several times before hand to see how it reaches the audience best. They also might wait to release the film until a certain time which helps promote the film best. For example, if it's a Christmas film it will be more popular at Christmas rather than mid summer. Or a romantic comedy film around valentines day. Distributors must also take into account current events and the context of the film, as if something is quite large in the media at one point, it may be either perfect timing to release the film, or it could end in disaster as it is disrespectful to whatever happened. For example, movies,documentaries and TV programs about 9/11 were not released until several years after as it is a very sensitive subject.

Although very similar, 'advertising','publicity' and'promotion' each mean something different. They are all about making people aware of the film, but publicity is where the actors of the film, or directors etc, are seen everywhere around the time the film is released, for example interviews in every magazine and on TV. This adds subtle hooks to the audience who then want to see the film. Advertising is literally just advertising the film, through posters and trailers etc. Promotion is where other companies work with the distributors to promote the film, such as promoting the film on packaging at a fast food place, or the film sponsoring something popular on TV, meaning it'll get a a large viewing.

Original Film Idea- Individual

Jordan is a 21 year old girl in her last year of University. She is stressed from the deadlines and amount of work she has to do, but she is very smart and capable. Her housemates, Zoey and James are coupled up, and not making life at home easy. Her best friend Tom is also madly in love with Jordan, and would do anything for her.

One night before an important exam, Jordan is desperately trying to cram in as much revision as possible, but is rudely interrupted by the sounds of her housemates making love. To clear her head she goes for a walk around the city, and is convinced she hears footsteps following behind her. It’s raining, so in a puddle she sees a dark shadow following her.

She returns home to find Zoey and James in the kitchen cooking dinner, with music blaring on the speakers. Stressed she shouts at them and goes to bed for an early night’s sleep.

The morning Jordan enters the kitchen to find Zoey and James’ corpses on the kitchen floor, with blood everywhere, and the knife they were using to prepare their dinner with stuck in Zoey’s back. Convinced it was done by whoever she saw following her home, she tries to tell the police, who then start a manhunt.

Jordan tries to forget the ordeal and tries to get life back to normal at University. Sitting in her lecture, she sees a dark silhouette of a person sitting at the back, and is convinced they are staring at her. Stressed from the workload, she falls asleep, and has a nightmare about her tutor being slaughtered. She leaves the lecture late and follows behind her tutor, watching as he gets into his car.

That night she sees on the news whilst with her friend Tom about her tutor dying in a car accident after someone cut his brakes. She becomes increasingly paranoid and is convinced someone is after her and anyone she knows. She tells her worries to Tom, who appears to listen, but the next day signs Jordan up to a psychiatrist. Next we see Jordan at the psychiatrist, starting to look tired and more stressed, telling the psychiatrist about how she sees someone following her before the murders. She is confused when Dr. Cooper asks if she’s seen this man’s face, and answers that ‘No, just his shadow.’

That night, angry at Tom for making her see a psychiatrist, she has a nightmare about him being slaughtered, but wakes up in the middle of the night, panicked from it. She can’t sleep, and desperate to hear from Tom, she calls him up. He tells her he is on his way to see her. In hysterics, she sits on the sofa and waits, but hears a door slam in the apartment. Convinced she is not alone, she hides in the airing cupboard, and listens. She keeps hearing doors slam through the apartment and sees a shadow pass under the door. We hear a timer on the boiler clicking slowly as she puts her hand over her mouth to silence her crying. Suddenly the door slams open and Tom is there. He pulls her out and holds her close as she cries into his shoulder. They fall asleep on the sofa together, and she wakes up, stands over him as he sleeps, looking distracted, and walks to the bathroom. She tries to clean her face in the mirror after her crying, but she is so emotionally drained it makes no difference. As she looks down into the sink, her reflection in the mirror continues to stare at her. Seeing a dark shadow pass by the bathroom door she returns to Tom’s side and falls asleep on his lap. 

The screen is blacked out, but we hear Jordan whispering, and then muttering something angrily under her breath, we assume she is having a night terror again. Suddenly her eyes jump open, and we see an extreme close up of her eyes. As we slowly zoom out, we see she is covered in blood. Panicking she sits up and looks down at  her bloody clothes and hands. In one of her hands she is holding a knife. She doesn’t feel hurt, and then remembers Tom. He isn’t on the sofa with her, so screaming his name she runs around the apartment. She finds his body in the bath where he is sitting in his own blood. Jordan falls to the floor in tears. As she does her shadow doesn’t move from it’s position. She looks up and her eyes are black. She then smiles into the camera.

Narrative Theory and 'The Crazies'

Bordwell and Thompson
The image below illustrates Bordwell and Thompson's theory in relation to 'The Crazies'. As you can see, we have mapped it out so we can clearly show what information we see on screen, and what information we assume after getting clues (these parts are blue). The plot is the part of the film we actually see onscreen, and during this time we do assume lots of information. But in he time of the story, which goes on before the plot even begins, we assume some information, such as the goverment crashing the plane and infecting the water supplie, thus infecting Rory, which is where the film begins.



Todorov
Introduction- Todorov's theory states that at the start of the film there is equilibrium, however, 'The Crazies' introduces us straight to chaos which engages the audience, going against Todorov.

Disruption to the balance- Even though it isn't shown on screen, we understand that the plane crash causes the disequilibrium as it causes the first person, Rory Hamill to get infected and go crazy, causing the chaos to spread.

Re-equilibrium- Again, going against Todorov there is no re- equilibrium. We think the couple manage to escape to the next town, but because of a containment protocol which is shown at the end of the film, we understand that the same thing will happen in this new town, and that the virus will keepspreading. This also relates to Bordwell and Thompson's theory.

Levi- Strauss
Here area few example of binary opposition in relation to 'The Crazies'.

• Sanity/ Insanity-The sane characters try to survive and fend off the infected insane characters.
• Day/ Night- Night implies dangeras there is limited sight and shadows, and day can be equally as dangerous,but with better vision and confidence in the characters.
• Military/ Civilian- The military are seen as evil in the film, they are controllingand over powering civilians in large groups. At the time the time the film was made, The military inreality are busy at War, as so by making them the villains, it shows the attitude against war at the time, as there have been alot of conspiracy theories and cover ups.
• Fear/ Courage- Courage is held by the survivors and those who press on even when everyone else is dead, and those who sacrifice themselves to help the group i.e. Russell. Fear is heldby those who panic and allow themselves to be herded by the military.

Propp
Villain- The US goverment... as they are the reason the virus is in the community as they crashed the military plane containing the virus into the towns water supply.

The Hero- David... as he rescues his wife and several other people and escapes fromthe quarantie. He also survives the film.

Donor/ Helper- Deputy Russell... He qualifies as both donor and helper as he sacrifices himself so that Judy and david can sneak past the military withoutbeing shot.

The Princess/ Father- Judy... She is princess as she is Married to David as he is trying to save her and create a new life. I also feel she qualifies as princess as she is taken by the military, thus becoming a damsel in distress. She also takes on the role of the father, as she works hard to protect Rebecca from being killed, she also rewards the hero by carrying his baby.

The dispatcher- Rory... he is the first person in the town to become infected by the virus.

False Hero- The mayor...he refuses to turn the water off in the town, by doing so he allows the virus to spread to the rest of the town. Admittedly he was thinking ofthe wellbeing of the town, as being a farming community they need water for the crops to thrive.

Representation of Women in Horror films

I am going to be looking at the representation of women in Horror films to find out how audiences view the subject. I will do this by looking at horror theorists such as Carol Clover and Laura Mulvey and comparing them against four particular horror movies I have watched. I watched two films from the last five years; ‘The Crazies’ (Eisner, 2010) and ‘The Strangers’ (Bertino, 2008), and the other films I will be looking at are ‘Halloween’ (Carpenter, 1978), ‘Scream’ (Craven, 1996) and also ‘Nosferatu’ (Murnau, 1922).

 

First I will be comparing my chosen films to Carol Clover’s ‘Final Girl Theory’. ‘Halloween’ introduces us to character ‘Laurie’, a name that’s not traditionally feminine, an innocent, smart, bookworm; Which is what society expects a good role model to girls to be. The audience automatically identify with her through the film, as being ‘the final girl’; the audience want her to survive. Laurie’s friends aren’t virginal and pure, and so are killed. Clover argues that women who stray out of the bounds of conservatism are punished, such as engaging in sex, drugs and alcohol. Laurie participates in none of these acts, and so is saved. Her friend Annie drives to her boyfriends, to have sex, in her underwear and is soon slaughter. The same happens to Laurie’s other friends.

Another example of this in ‘Halloween’ is through the way Meyers appears to kill his sister in response to the fact she has sex with her boyfriend. We could say he is almost punishing her, and uses the knife as a phallic symbol of his repressed sexuality. John Carpenter apparently later stated that the reason Laurie wasn’t killed was simply because she was the only one to pay attention, unlike everyone else. This is seen at the beginning of the film where she notices him parked outside the school, and no one else does. This ultimately goes against Clover’s theory.

In ‘The Crazies’, the character Judy could also fit into the role of the final girl. Clover also states how women become empowered in Horror Films, rather than being shown as Damsels in distress. Judy begins as a damsel in distress, as it is her husband David who rescues her after she is captured from a psycho murderer in the hospital wing. Eventually she has to learn to fend for herself, and shoots a man in order to save herself and her husband. She doesn’t fit the conventions of the final girl as she is still quite feminine; however, she’s a Doctor, thus smart. She’s also pregnant, so we could say she is a protector. She doesn’t step out of the bounds of conservatism as she is happily married, successful and is dedicated to getting a family together.

In relation to Clover’s final girl theory, where she states that rather than men enjoying seeing the female killed and stalked, they actually identify with the fright of being attacked. So we could say that in ‘The Strangers’, while Kristen is being stalked around the house, the audience identifies with her. Ultimately, in the end it is Kristen who survives whilst her partner James is killed. They are both tortured whilst tied to chairs and stabbed, and where she normally should be dead, luckily she survives. She doesn’t fight back during the entire film; it is James who does, treating her like his Damsel in distress. Kristen doesn’t seem to fit the role of the final girl however, as we don’t find out her occupation or if she even has one. It doesn’t appear that she’s innocent as she lets James undress her. And instead of going along with the conservative idea of getting married, she turns down James’ marriage proposal.

Laura Mulvey argues that horror movies objectify women for the male audience, who are literally put into the eyes of the male in the ‘Male Gaze’ theory. We can see this in Halloween when the use of a point of view shot from Myers follows him as he watches his sister with her boyfriend, and then kills her. The audience only view his sister as a sexual object here as she is making out with her boyfriend and then leads him upstairs to have sex. We see how the killer takes a knife from the drawer then goes upstairs and stabs her repeatedly while she is naked. We see all this through Myers eyes, which puts the audience in the position of identifying with the murderer.

This goes against Clover’s theory that the audience identify only with the final girl, as they also appear to identify with the murderers. ‘The Strangers’ also feature techniques which objectify Kristen; such as tilts of the camera to show her figure as she stands in the kitchen, a close up of her back as James undoes her back and a shot of her as she sits in the bath. At the beginning of the film we see how James sits admiring her; he only notices her in the room. Because of this, the only people the audience can hear and see is Kristen, as despite her being in a conversation, everyone else is edited out, causing the audience to admire her just as James is. (Clip is here to show this... look from 7:30 onwards...)

Jeremy Tunstall argues that onscreen, women stick to four roles and are depicted as busy house wives contented mothers, eager consumers and sex objects and simply nothing else. I would say that in ‘The Crazies’ and ‘Nosferatu’ the women are indeed shown as housewives, more so in ‘Nosferatu’. In ‘The Crazies’ at least Judy has a successful job of being a Doctor, but I believe it’s like she’s a ‘wannabe’ homemaker but she doesn’t match it financially. This can be seen after they arrive home after escaping being quarantined and the first thing she does to restore normality is getting the laundry. (The link is to the whole movie, but from 53:26 to 54:48, you can clearly see Judy trying to restore normality...)

‘The media depicts males as the stronger sex and this is shown through the way men outnumber women on screen by 2:1, because of this, men are shown in their stereotypical role of having an occupation whilst the women stay at home. This can be seen in ‘Nosferatu’. It is the man who travels all the way to Count Orlok’s castle, whilst his wife is left to stay at home. Nowadays though, the media are more careful about the ratio of men to women on screen and try to make it more even, this can be seen during Advertisements, which still to the generic stereotypes. ’Nosferatu’, ‘The Strangers’ and ‘Scream’ all show women being stalked and tormented before eventually the villain (In Nosferatu and Scream’s case a male) has their way and kills them. This depicts women as weak and conforms to the stereotypical view of women that Tunstall argues.

In Scream, we could argue that Drew Barrymore’s character flirts with whoever is on the phone, and even lies about having a boyfriend, and so deserves to be punished. However, she seems like a fairly innocent girl, and the audience identify strongly with her. We begin by enjoying her witty conversation with the man on the phone, but eventually, when she realises she is in danger, we too fear for her life, and as she hides, there is high tension as the audience worries for her. This relates to Clover’s theory that the audience identifies with her.

I agree with Carol Clover’s theory of ‘The final girl’ as we can relate most horror movies to it. I also don’t agree with the idea that the only reason people watch horror movies is to see women in ‘their rightful place’ according to what Tunstall’s theory shows, or to just be appreciated by a male audience. As it turns out, girls are just as likely to go and see Horror Movies as groups of girls and boys go to see them as a social thing. A lot of couples can be seen at horror movies, young and old, and so it shows that ‘men don’t just go to see women be objectified’ which goes against Mulvey’s theory. Admittedly there are horror films out there purely made for the audience to admire the killings, such as the Saw movies. Even with todays ‘Gornography’ movies, where plots are just to get as much gore and murders in as possible, I don’t believe people get a kick out of watching women get killed, as there are actually just as many men killed on screen. I like how with the final girl theory it gives women power, whereas Mulvey and Tunstall’s suggest they are weak and that the ‘male gaze’ means they are only there to be looked at. This may be true in some cases, but I feel that in the majority of cases, the strength of the women is important to the plot.

Analysis of 'Haute Tension' (Switchblade Romance) trailer

The trailer begins by introducing us to the characters Alexia and Marie, as we see them driving in their car as they go to stay with Alexia’s family in their farmhouse. We are shown a clip of the sun setting over a farm and a car driving in the sunset, we can tell it’s a farm because of the iconography shown, such as the silhouette of a water tower and the cornfield. We assume the girls are very close by the shot of the pair in the car as they look at each other lovingly. Everything seems calm and relaxed at this point, as daylight connotes safety. They arrive at the house at night time and they soon settle in. We are shown clips of Marie getting ready for bed, and then a shot of a car driving in the dark, with only the bright headlights visible. Tension is starting to build at this point, as when we watch Marie get ready for bed, every sound seems louder, and creating an atmosphere that makes us feel very aware of her surroundings. As she enters her room we see an extreme close up of the curtains as the wind blows through them, at the same time we hear the wind quite loudly. We then have the creaking of the door and floorboard as she walks in, and the sound of the light turning on is also amplified. Because of the atmosphere created, when we see the shot of the cars headlights, we assume as the audience that something is about to happen. A close up shot of Marie is shown, showing her expression as she hears the car pull up, we then see a close up shot of someone’s finger repeatedly pressing on the doorbell, and then a dog barking angrily and scratching the door and the pet bird in its cage getting unsettled. We assume that whoever was driving that car, is now at the house, and that something awful is about to happen, which is shown through the animals reactions. In the background, we also hear the high pitched sound of metal, which also adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere. We are shown a shot of the Dad running down the stairs, and then an over the shoulder shot as he opens the door. We then see a close up of his face as he looks at whoever is at the door. We are yet to see this person, but the emotion we see on the Dad’s face makes the audience understand that he is not a nice character. We then see a shot from an upstairs window of the man murdering the Dad. As the murderer swings the blade forward, it then cuts to a shot of Marie upstairs watching out the window and then jumping backwards. We hear people screaming downstairs, so we understand that the killer is in the house. We see Marie rushing around the room trying to make it appear as though no one has been staying there. The series of jump cuts shows her packing up her bag, movie the wardrobe, making the bed, and cleaning the sink. At the same time, Parallel editing shows shots of someone slowly walking up the stairs. Having the killer slowly walking up the stairs contrasting with Marie rushing around, it adds tension. Marie stands in the bathroom, her back to the shower with the shower curtains shut, she then looks paranoid and spins around to shut them. We see a shot of the killer turning the door handle, and then another shot of him walking into the room. We are still yet to see his face, but we see a series of close ups of his hand, as he walks into the room carrying the blade, another as he checks the sink (I assume it’s to see whether anyone has been in that room, which also explains why Marie was desperately cleaning the room.) We hear him growl under his breath as we see the shadow of his hand getting closer and closer to the shower curtain. The audience assume at this point that Marie chose to hide behind there and so seeing him sneaking up to the curtain scares the audience and creates tension. As he opens it, we see a shot of him from behind looking into an empty bathtub. He then walks around the bed, and lifts the edge of the mattress. Seeing no one underneath, he slams it back down and walks off. We then see an extreme close up of Marie as she remains hidden under the bed with her hand covering her mouth. She is hidden is darkness, connoting fear. We then see Marie sneak down to the kitchen, fumble around in a drawer, and then slowly, pull out a sharp knife. We hear the sound of the blade as it creates more atmosphere. At what appears to be a truck stop, we see Marie hiding behind a wall, the knife raised above her head almost as if she’s waiting for the killer to walk past so she can stab them. This introduces us to a montage of clips from the rest of the movie, making it look action packed and scary. Such as a car chase where the car flips and crashes, an axe swinging, Alexia being chased, someone hiding, a gun, the killer with a chainsaw, and Marie stood there looking tough.

At the beginning of the trailer, the only setting seems to be the farmhouse, but we are then introduced to other locations that connote isolation, such as a forest, and a truck stop late at night. By having a truck stop though, it adds realism to the locations, making the audience feel more connected. Most of the locations all seem to be rural and out in the country, which also suggest isolation.

Camera work has been used a lot in this trailer, for example the way we don’t actually ever see the killers face, but only close ups of his hand or the weapons he is holding.

The character of Marie almost fits the idea of the final girl theory, as we assume she survives as most of the trailer has her in so she must be in the whole film. But she also doesn’t fit the conventions of a normal girl, again making her seem like she could fit the final girl role. She is more masculine than other girls with her cropped hair cut, and she wears boyish clothes. She also takes on the tough guy role by the end of the trailer, so we know she’s not as girly as other characters. However, normally, the final girl theory applies to girls who are innocent and unsexualised, however, by the way we see the girls looking at each other, we assume there is something going on between them, and so she appears to be very open with her sexuality.

Because it is only a trailer and not the entire movie, it is difficult to apply Narrative theories to it.

We could suggest that Tolorov’s ‘Equilibrium’ theory can work, as at the beginning of the trailer everything seems calm and normal, and then suddenly we enter the disequilibrium and things become out of control. The trailer doesn’t want to spoil the movie, and so we don’t know the ending, so we do not know if a new equilibrium is created.

We only see a limited set of characters in the trailer, and don’t actually know what’s going on. After reading up on the film, I discovered that Alexia is kidnapped and Marie goes to save her. This helps us with Vladimir Propp’s theory.

1.       The villain- is obviously the murderer.

2.       The Hero- is Marie as she is the one who goes after the killer.

3.       There doesn’t seem to be a Donor.

4.       There doesn’t seem to be a helper, other than the short clip we see of Alexia fighting the killer, suggesting she is aiding Marie is killing him.

5.       The Princess- Alexia is the sought after person who Marie is trying to rescue.

6.       Her Father- is a character, but he doesn’t really reward the hero as he Is murdered.

7.       There doesn’t seem to be a dispatcher.

8.       The false hero- We didn’t see many characters so we have no way to know whether there is a false hero.

There are lots of example of binary opposition that could be related to the movie, such as:

·         Good/ Evil- Marie appears to be a good character as she goes to rescue Alexia, whereas The murderer has no reason to be killing people.

·         Light/ Dark- At the start of the film in the daylight everything seems calm, whereas in the darkness that’s where the violence starts.

·         Known/ Unknown- We do not know who the murderer is, or why he is murdering everyone. Also this can relate to what we see in the trailer, as some parts are unknown to us.

The Bordwell and Thompson theory can help us in understanding the story. For example, we assume the girls are close and possibly even lovers from the way they look at each other in the car. From what we see, we know that there is a story behind them and that something has happened in the past. The trailer doesn’t give much away however so it’s difficult for the audience assume other things from the information we are given.

Because of the emotions we see on the characters face, Kuleshov’s theory of placing different shots next to each other helps the audience understand what’s going on. A key example of this is when the Dad opens the door and we have a close up of his face. If he has smiled, the audience would have assumed that this is a friendly character whom he knows, however, because of the tension building up to this point and his negative face, we assume that something bad is going to happen.

Narrative Theories and Halloween

Tzvetan Todorov

The film Halloween does follow the narrative structure of Todorov’s ‘Equilibrium’ theory, as it follows the structure of ‘Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and then New Equilibrium’. At the very beginning of the movie we see Michael Myers murder his sister, which does automatically cause disequilibrium, but this is only used to explain the story to the audience so that as the movie unfolds they will understand. In the film, a few scenes later, we see that time has changed to ’15 years later’. We could suggest that this is where the movie really begins. At this point we see the normal life of a teenager named Laurie, an innocent, smart girl, and her friends. They have normal lives, Laurie babysits an 8 year old boy, and her friends being more rebellious sleep with their boyfriends and smoke joints. This is all part of the Equilibrium. As the plot continues and the character of Michael Myers in introduced to the girls, things become more complicated as he begins to murder them. This is the Disequilibrium. At the end of the movie we see Michael Myers get shot by Doctor Loomis. Whereas this would normally become the New Equilibrium, as it is the end of the disequilibrium, in one shot we see Myers laying there dead, and in another his body is no longer there. This New Equilibrium acts as a circle and the theory begins all over again, leaving room for the next movie to begin. This theory inspired the “Classical Hollywood Narrative” of simply a beginning, middle and end. However in Todorov’s theory, we could argue that there are actually five stages. Firstly the state of equilibrium, where everything is as it should be, secondly a disruption of this order, which in Halloweens case would be Myers escaping the sanitarium, thirdly recognition of this disruption, e.g. the girls being stalked by Myers as they walk home. Fourthly, an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption, this can be where Laurie herself is desperately fighting for her life. And lastly, the restoration of the New Equilibrium, which is where life continues after we believe Myers, is dead.

Vladimir Propp

Propp’s theory follows the Morphology of the folk tale, where he discovered that each one followed the same structure of have 8 character roles.  It is difficult to link this to the movie Halloween, as there is only a limited set of characters, so it is possible in this case it doesn’t work:

·         The Villain- Obviously in ‘Halloween’, this would be Michael Myers, as he is a psychopathic murderer. At the beginning of the film, we see him as a child murdering his own sister, and then throughout the film he murders many other innocent victims.

·         The Hero- I would suggest that the hero is, although there isn’t an actual ‘hero’ type character. Dr. Loomis as it is he throughout the film that chases Myers across the country after he leaves the sanitarium and follows the clues in order to catch him in time. It is also him in the end that shoots Myers.

·         The Donor- Would normally provide an object with magic property.

·         The Helper who aids the hero-

·         The Princess- We could suggest that Laurie is the princess as she is the damsel in distress and appears to be a main victim of Myers as he stalks her throughout the day. At the end when she tries to be her own hero and fight him, she isn’t actually successful and ends up relying on Dr. Loomis to shoot him in order to be saved.

·         The Father- This character would normally reward the hero.

·         The false hero.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative theory in terms of Binary oppositions, for example, sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. We can use this theory quite well when it comes to Halloween:

·         Good/ Evil- Myers is obviously an evil character, which contrasts with the goodness of the other characters.

·         Past/ Present- In the past Myers as a child murdered his sister, and in the present as an adult where we see he has physically grown up, he is still a murderer.

·         Sanity/ Insanity- Laurie fits the role of a typically Sane character, whereas Myers is obviously Insane.

·         Virgin/ Sexually active-  Laurie is a virgin and innocent

·         Innocent/ Corrupted- This can be expressed in several ways: firstly, how Tommy, being a child is innocent, whereas when we see Myers as a child, he is obviously corrupted as it leads him to murder his sister. Secondly, we see Laurie is innocent and her friend Annie is corrupted sexually.

·         Known/ Unknown

·         Natural/ Supernatural

·         Human/ Monster

These binary oppositions almost comment on the Zeitgeist. Halloween was created at a time where Reagan was President of the United States and had caused uproar in the country. Because of this people were ironically finding safety in the horror films because of the threat of nuclear war at the time. The mask Myers actually wears is supposed to be the face of Ronald Reagan, though it is not that obvious.

Bordwell/ Thompson

The fact that Myers murders his sister causes a chain of events that leads to him being locked in an Asylum for fifteen years, these events we do not actually see, but we know about simply because of what Dr. Loomis tells us.

We can see examples of parallel editing where Laurie is sat in the house watching a horror movie with the children she is babysitting, whereas at the same time down the street her friends are being murdered.

Summary: Out of all four theories, the theory I find is most successful with the movie ‘Halloween’ is Levi-Strauss’ binary opposition theory.

'Sinister' Trailer Analysis

I chose to analyse the trailer for a new Horror Movie called ‘Sinister’ because I feel as a trailer, it successfully does its job of scaring the audience and making them want to see the film.

It begins with a shot of the house at night time and a voiceover from a news story explaining how ‘a local family was murdered.’ We then cut to an image of the family, with one of the children in the photo being circled in red with a question mark, suggesting unlike the family, she wasn’t murdered. It also cuts quickly to shots of a pagan symbol (which we later learn is important in the plot of the movie) and also to a child’s drawing of the family being hung from a tree. The child’s drawing adds a sense of shock to the trailer, as children are meant to be innocent, and for them to be drawing this type of subject matter unsettles the audience.

The words ‘9 Months Later’ then appear on the screen, and we see a shot of the same house, however this time in broad daylight and a moving truck out front. The contrast between the shot of the house in daylight and the one in darkness shows that time has passed, and also the darkness in the previous shot connotes evil and bad, which was obviously relevant.

We then see a series of shots of a family moving into the house. We learn that they had to move to this house because of money issues and also ‘the new story he’s writing is here.’ Everything seems happy and normal with the family as they do typical things such as sit around the table together for dinner and the Dad putting the young daughter to bed and the husband kissing the wife. The conversation has a positive tone as he says how ‘He’s gonna write the best book anyones ever read.’ And  he ‘has a really good feeling about this.’

Up until this point in the trailer, there had been music quietly in the background. But here is suddenly stops, and we are left with a drum beat and then more slow building music. This builds tension as the scene shows him climibing into the attic and discovering an old box of home videos left by the previous owner. The words ‘From the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious’ come up on the screen- both are very successful movies. We see a series of jump cuts of clips of him setting up the projector and eventually playing the home movies. As the home film plays a movie of the previous family in the garden playing, and a girl on the tyre swing, we see the man’s reactions as he watches. It suddenly cuts to a short quick clip of the family being hung from a tree. The music sounds like a tape breaking at this point and becomes loud, shocking the audience. We know as an audience that the family that was hung is the same one in the child’s drawing at the beginning. The man ­reacts to what he sees and suddenly jumps up, knocking the projector over.

It cuts to a clip where he is discussing with a police officer whether he thinks these are a series of serial murders. At the same time we are shown a clip of a truck in the 60’s being set alight with the family inside. A loud scream is played at the same time, adding to the shock of the clip. We then see an extreme close up of the mans eyes, showing his emotion as he watches, the reflections of the flames shown in his glasses. There is then a small montage of different clips throughout all the home movies, showing the pagan symbol that is found in them all. We discover this is related to the pagan deity named Bahgul, who supposedly eats and possesses the souls of children. This imagine adds a sense of supernatural to the trailer, which so far has been shock and mystery. The music builds up as we see a clip of a young boy climb into a pool, and then it stops suddenly leaving a high pitched noise. This again, is used to build suspense. As this happens, the boy transforms in the water and turns around, where his face is distorted into someone else. Suddenly the words ‘Once you see him…’ are shown, and then he zooms into a clip where he finds Baghul hiding in the bushes- with the same face the boy transformed into, showing how he was possessed.­

Knowing that the bushes in the photo are in his garden, he takes the photo over to the window and holds it up. The garden is mainly pitch black, apart from an area in the bushes which is lit up. As he takes the paper away, we see Baghul standing in his garden. The music jumps suddenly and it scares the audience.

“Baghul lives in the images themselves, and they are gateways into our world.” Thes words are echoed over and we see a photo of Baghul on the computer screen. As the man looks away, Baghul turns his head. Building up to this point, the clip if cut really quickly along with a drum beat, building suspense.

“Nothing Can Save you.” By using the word ‘you’ the trailer is talking directly to the audience making them feel as if they are involved with the story. “Children exposed to the images are particularly vulnerable”. At the same time we see a clip of the man’s daughter watching the movies…

In the next clip we see how his daughter painted a picture on the wall of the house, of the girl who previously lived there and went missing, Stephanie, the girl who was on the tyre swing at the beginning. The trailer begins to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and we slowly begin to understand what is going on. In the next clip we see the man walk down a hall, and then it cuts to a cardboard box, and then back him, then to the box etc, and then suddenly, out of the box, his son jumps out, screaming, as if he’s possessed, this shocks the audience.

The man then sets fire to the home videos, and we see a close up of the tape burning, suddenly there is a montage of different clips of the family running and packing up, as a voice over says to ‘Grab the kids, pack the car, they’re getting out of there.’

The trailer is then edited as if it is on one of the home projector tapes, and we hear the tape rolling and clicking. Between every click, a diferent clip is shown. And the clicks become faster and faster, building suspense and scaring the audience. Examples of the quick clips we see are them screaming, a child dragging an axe along the floor (The shot of the axe being dragged is at a tilted angle, adding to the madness at this point), the little girl laying in bed with a drawing of Baghul on the wall as she stares at some presence in the corner, but the clip cuts before we can see who it is. Another clip is someone walking down the hall way, the walls covered in blood,carrying a body. We don’t see whose face it is, and the only light source is coming from the far end of the hall, so everything is in shadows. This adds a sense of mystery, there is also a blue filter over the shot, making it seem more scary.

As the clips build up and become faster and faster, there is a drum beat getting faster and louder. Suddenly it stops, at a point where the man looks at lots of children, all with distorted faces like Baghul. The music is silent, building suspense. They all lift their fingers as if to say ‘Shhh.’ And then suddenly Baghul jumps out at the camera and there is a loud scream in the background. As the ending to the trailer, this will shock the audience, and leave them wanting to see more, as the build up of suspense and adrenaline is effective.