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Completed:
 ALL TASKS up to 12 (excluding ones not for our group)



To be completed
Textual analysis: Differences/Similarities between Hollywodd studio logos
Embedding your studio logo/title sequence
Analysing BFI data on genre & Audiences
Any scripting/Drafting/Storyboard planning evidence

12. Media Theory:Stereotypical Represenations of Horror/Thriller Genres/Characters

Representations that are pre established exist in genres such as Horror/Thrillers so the audience can know what to expect before they watch the movie. Certain representations have now become the stereotypical expectation which enables the production of Horrors to be continuously remade. In the horror classic Dracula, the Archetype of the protagonist remains the same in the current era of Film

Originally the story was wrote by Bram Stoker in 1897 but was made into film in 1922 titled "Nos Faratie" directed by F.W Murnau. This set future adaptations with the representation of Dracula remaining the same as its original form. These include; Always being a white male, upper class, Eastern and European accent who speaks broken English whilst wearing a long black coat and associated with bats and Gothic imagery such as grand castles. The age of Dracula is usually middle aged between the region of 40 to 50 years old. It is important for film makers to maintain the stereotype  of Dracula as audiences relate to previous films and stories told so understand the concept. To change the appearance or the ethnicity of Dracula would not conform to audience expectations and is too risky for Hollywood producers to invest in as viewers may be disappointed with an altered Dracula. In other famous Horrors there is a stereotypical representation of the character such as Hannibal Lector,  Mike Myers in "Halloween" The clown from "IT" and Norman Bates from "Psycho". These are known as dominant representations. White men who may appear solitude and middle aged often are these characters which fits in with Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho where Norman Bates is this representation. The victims are female whom are conceived to appear weak and vulnerable. The archetypal victim is a single, white female (virgin) who is alone and cannot find help so has to fight the killer off themselves. However, this convention is slowly being broken as females are not stereotypically the victims in some horrors in more recent times. Resident evil depicts a strong woman and in Tomb Raider which are shifting the perpetrator roles. In the era horror films such as "Halloween" was published, society had more sexist views and portrayed women to be less independent making it easier for them to be the victim and susceptible for danger.

                                                                                                         
                                                                                                       

Thrillers are dominated by white male protagonists within the key roles. Many of the actors and directors have been white and rarely of black ethnic minority who play minor roles. Hollywood's roots are white centric and meant ethnic minorities suffered in starring major roles in the thriller genre. David Finchers Se7en was revolutionary to thriller as it's major role as a detective was played by Morgan Freeman who is of black ethnicity. Because of this, in films and dramas today those of black ethnicity star the main roles such as Will Smith in "I am Legend"  and TV drama "Luther" with Idras Elbar. This cultural bias has decreased in Hollywood since it begun but is not equal in all aspects. Gender bias meant females were restricted to playing the victim role or the femme fatale, (seductive and can't be trusted) along with Homosexual bias which didn't allow for homosexual/lesbian protagonists. Even in the most recent of films, it is rare for a protagonist to be openly gay or express a sexuality other than heterosexual in thrillers.

5. Textual Analysis:Se7en Textual analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2gsEI34CE

"Se7en" includes an unconventional opening opening to a film in it's time (1995) which would re establish the pre title sequences in future cinema. The dark eerie tone helps to set  plot of the film.

The opening begins with page being turned  and an out of focus hand in the background. As we are unable to see the hand or the writing, the identity of whom this belongs to is not known which creates immediate suspicion. A short lasting explosive sound begins the sequence which is followed with syllables played to a beat. Extreme close ups show the skin of a fingertip carefully being removed by a sharp knife/file which conveys secrecy as this is most likely to avoid detection through fingerprints; It also distracts us from who the antagonist is. In between the brief shots the cast names appear momentarily  in bold white but the font is distorted and exits as the next cut takes place. These jump cuts create uneasy viewing. Meanwhile the routine syllables continue to play amongst a white noise, (there are layers of sound which do not have a pattern) similar to the erratic  jump cuts.

A drone sound begins and the music begins to increase in volume at which point the mystery of all the meticulous actions intensifies. Close ups on faces and words being crossed out could suggest the tracks are being covered or that the person strongly disagrees with the words and their meanings on the pages and who they belong to .Midway through at 1:14 the focus draws on words written in black ink. However the ink is bold and doesn't appear to be for professional purposes due to the jagged appearance It is therefore more personal and handwritten solely for the intent on the person writing it. The non digetic sound increases in tempo and when combined with sequences of paper being layered down with photos and the threading of needles in the paper, the unknown process is like a puzzle to be solved by he audience with time running out. This could also reflect the plot of the film as it is crime orientated.  Transitions remain fast and non linear but slowly come to and end. A heavy focus on sharp objects such as tweasers (1:54) demonstrates intricacy but also emits fear as the purpose is deliberately masked by the camera angles which are so close, only part of the sentences or pages are shown. Part of a dollar bill is extracted, (the word God) which suggests a religious reasoning to the characters work. It is accompanied by a man saying "You get me closer to God" which is the only narration in this sequence which could show his only reason for all this was to be associated with God. At this point all the background music comes to an abrupt end and cuts to an establishing shot of buildings. The religious connotation of "Only god can judge" is employed through this phrase which could reflect the ending of the film as the man is or isn't brought to justice for his actions.

MR JUDGE FEEDBACK

Kurt, you are well behind on your blog posts. You need to act more urgently in geting the tasks given in lessons completed for homework

1.   TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE OPENING OF SE7EN WITH IMAGES AND VIDEO EMBED FOR SE7EN

2.   CHRISTIAN METZ MODELS OF GENRE DEVELOPMENT – HORROR (12D ONLY) + IMAGES

3.   FILM NOIR & HISTORY OF GENRE (HSR) + IMAGES/VIDEO EMBEDS

4.   STEREOTYPICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THRILLER/HORROR GENRES/CHARACTERS

5.   TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF OPENING OF A HORROR FILM – WOMEN IN BLACK/SCREAM etc.

11. Film Noir

Translated literally into "Black Film", the primary moods of classic Filmnoir are melancholy, bleakness, pessimism, and corruption which can be morally too along with desperation and paranoia. These are powered by the theme of evil and guilt. Far-fetched ideas and superpowers do not exist and instead a corrupt world is presented by commonly using a male detective and a female in distress (femme fatale) which is a metaphor for the Spider and the fly. Typically,low key lighting is used to enforce ythe underlying tone of corruption and unpleasant times which was made possible due to advancment in lighting in the 1920's. Crime novels also helped to form the basis of Filmnoir.

In the 1920's and 1930's, Noirs were made  through German expressionism  such as  Metropolis (1927) and You Only Live Once (1937).A German film director Robert Weine used shadowy lightning and stark camera angles which were used later in the genre.  Also, the crime/gangster and detective/mystery from the 1930's  but had different characterisation as there were no character requirements in Filmnoir. The stories originated from across Europe where film makers came to Hollywood and produced the ideas into films.After the second world war, there was social insecurities and anxiety. A lack of purpose and injustice meant there were rarely joyous endings as the themes often reflected the hardship and little optimism in society. The disillusionment and lack of trust were a common theme.

Between 1930 and in the 1940's sprung the Golden Age of Hollywood where B movies popularity increased."Block booking" enabled  movie theatres to purchase a large selection of films often before they were produced from studios which were A films and B films ( the latter were the less desirable but this cut down costs). Hollywood and trips to the films by the public had become a way to escape the harsh economic times so to make more money more genres were made.

Horror, Sci-fi and genres that hadn't been seen before such as Mary Shelleys Frankenstein became popular. Gangster portrayed a stereotypical view on America and helped audiences explore more genres.

Attracting audiences was made easier due to the release of Filmnoirs arriving in a time of post-war and even before in the 1930's when the Great Depression hit. A social bleakness and paranoia made the films theme relatable as well as the pessimistic mood the films portrayed, (contrast to Hollywoods musicals). Also, audiences favoured the dark natured plots to Filmnoir and grew to like the Iconic conventions they were now seeing in the genre.

The Woman in Black Opening Scene

Mr Judge

Complete the following tasks ASAP 2. NO PRELIM TASK VIDEO EMBEDDED FROM YOUTUBE 5. NO BLUE VELVET SCREEN GRABS IN PLACE 6. NO BLUE VELVET VIDEO EMBEDDING IN PLACE 10. NO work on GENRE from Mr Rutherford

3. Textual Analysis: Blue Velvet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDEzzFtrCTs

At the start of this film we are presented with an idealistic Utopia of life in America during the 1950’s. In the first shot, a pan shot from the sky shows white picket fences behind a bed of tall Roses that stand out in front of the clear blue sky; all these colours are symbolic of the American flag. The backing track is calm and from the era and the digetic sound of birds tweeting helps to establish a calm atmosphere, which is nature orientated. This is continued with focus on yellow tulips. After the red Roses, a slow smooth transition reveals  a red bus driving past where a dog accompanies a man wearing a blue shirt standing on the side of the bus which gives the sense of friendly community and again uses the trio of colours to signify America.  Following this  a set of school children cross the road adding to the sense of security in the neighbourhood which cuts to an establishing shot  of a stereotypical sub urban house. The background music is noticeably soft and in harmony with the slow fading of the cuts. Inside of the house a woman is calmly watching an old black and white TV where a gun is being held moving across the screen. This forebodes the distressing scenes of a man having a stroke shortly after but is at first harmless as the danger of a gun is only on the TV which is like the neighbourhood appearing safe at the start of the film.

The scene starts to build tension when after the digetic sound of a hosepipe watering the plants can be heard, the tap begins to in case in volume as the hosepipe is strained by a branch; it about to burst. The physical tension of the hosepipe becoming stuck arrives immediately before the man using it has a stroke and is  left on the floor in pain. Meanwhile, the Blue velvet soundtrack continue to play creating a contrapuntal effect as the music is slow and can drift in and out with ease where as the suffering of the man is visibly intense and not peaceful to listen to. An out of focus shot creates a blurred vision effect as the camera tilts downwards towards the ground which could show the view the man has before he hits the ground or a metaphor for life not always appearing to be what it seems as the man is not shown during these few seconds as he is below. A medium shot shows a dog jumping on the man drinking water from the hosepipe which is still shooting water into the air and a baby who walks to the man. The innocence of the baby shows he helpless as no one is around to help and almost mocks the situation he is in as there is no one to help him in such as drastic situation. It could also symbolise life carrying on despite what is happening and that ant any point life can stop abruptly and in times of life saving moments there is no safety blanket as the fire engine, which is used save lives, passed by earlier. A close up shot of the dog adds an element of disbelief as the main concern of the dog is the enjoyment of drinking water from the shooting hosepipe. The irony is he is watering his plants to give them life but he is in a life threatening situation whilst doing so. From this  the background music begins to fade and a mysterious sound with a similar effect to going through a jungle/grass intensifies as we are brought directly to ground level to a point of view shot of potentially a bug or snake crawling through the grass.Visibility is limited and the atmosphere has changed to an unnerving feeling as we are unaware as to what/who the viewpoint is and the unfamiliar surroundings which contrast to the familiar stereotypical 1950's America we observed earlier in the scene.

1 & 2. Video embedding & Writing: Preliminary Task Evaluation

The 180 degree rule is when the camera has to remain on the same side of a persons viewpoint throughout the scene; If the camera ever moves to the other side the rule is broken. A match on action shot is when the camera cuts to a different shot of what has just taken place but shown differently. When the picture is handed back to the girl we used a match on action shot. A shot reverse shot is when a character is seen looking at another and we then see the other characters viewpoint looking back at them. We used this throughout the conversation between the two main characters in the scene.
We ensured the person operating the camera was always filming from the same shoulder on each character so we wouldn't break the 180 degree rule. For the match on action shot we filmed the handing over of the picture and in editing combined the two shots to make it flow.

We decided on using the staircase to start the scene off and found an open space away from classrooms so we were not disturbed in the college. We planned a storyboard which had the camera shots we needed and used this as a check list when filming.

Video editing required us importing the relative content onto the computer and into Adobe Premiere. The clips were too long and much of the footage could be cut out of each take so we didn't go over the time limit and the action happened within the scene and not including content that didn't need to be in the film such as getting ready to walk. When cutting the markers were useful to cut segments off each clip that could be stopped within points of a second and the timeline below which showed the order. Transitions were added later on in editing and we included a fade in effect. There were no sound effects; However, there was diegetic sound of books dropping on the floor loudly which symbolised an abrupt entrance. To finish the titles were selected which were white for the characters names and "So Cliché" and a pink that wasn't bright as the film would not be aimed entirely on a female audience. There were various background tracks available on Royalty Free Music -Incompetech to download for free so we used this for the music at the start of the scene. By searching through genre/feel we could find suitable music to create the atmosphere we wanted which was quirky but relaxing to begin with.