Original story ideas

Original story ideas

Katherine: Meretta comes out of an asylum, having flashbacks and seeing things. Slips into a coma, gets dragged into hell. Sam tries to rescue her, but she gets dragged off into an eviler place. She dies.

Jason: Apocalyptic world, destroyed by a virus, very few humans remain. Robin hears a radio signal about a safe haven, goes on a journey to find the safe haven, along the way he finds many people but not all of these can be trusted.

Tyler: A secret pact between Dante, a vampire and the village he has a grasp on. A child and son move to the village after the death of the child’s mother, to start a new life. The villagers capture the son as an offering for the vampire, a tradition held over a number of years. The father’s journey begins in order to rescue him.

Jacob (chosen idea): Katherine is a goth who collects Victorian items with her and best friends Tyler, Jason and Jacob. Being adventurous, they go and look around the abandoned hospital outside of town. Katherine discovers a lovecraftian pendant within the rubble and adds it to her collection of gothic and Victorian items. She then realises she’s being stalked and as her friends are murdered, dissected and turned into Frankenstein-like mounds of flesh, she realises that the pendant is related to an ancient curse of a plague doctor.

Conclusion and selection: After discussion, the group decided to use Jacob’s idea, it already had fitting parts for the people available and suitable local locations which we could alter to our needs. Props and other required things were already in possession by various members of the group, to make the end task of creating the trailer much easier. It also seems to fit into more genres than the other ideas, meaning that the target audience could be slightly more widespread.

Heartless - DISTINCT

Don't Ignore Setting, Themes, Iconography, Narrative, Characters, Techinical codes

Setting

The setting for the film "Heartless" appears to be somewhere within London, due to the style of buildings and the accents that the characters have. Other more specific areas seem to be the main character's home, workplace and alleyways nearby. 

Themes

Heartless' trailer opens with what we discover to be the main character talking about the birthmark which stretches across his face, this is clearly a major issue for the main character and will be a big theme within the film. The trailer goes on to show gangs and "demons", meaning a variety of themes altogether, some relatively normal and some supernatural. 

Iconography

Flickering lights within the beginning of the trailer is stereotypical of horror trailers and usually represents something bad about to happen, it makes the viewer feel more uneasy. The hood worn by the main character shows that he tries to hide himself, mainly his face as he seems to be ashamed of the birth mark on his face. Another key prop seen within the trailer is the gun, which could be for either protection or for hunting the "demons" down. 

Narrative

The trailer allows us to see the basic outline of the story, because giving the whole story away would remove the need to watch the film. It tells us about the main character's birth mark and how he has struggled with it, and of the "demons". It briefly covers a deal in which he loses his birth mark, but gives no details of who it is that is offering him this. We can assume that he has been told to kill someone in return for the removal of his birth mark from the later part of the trailer. 

Characters

We follow Jamie, the main character who has a birth mark on his face, this has clearly affected him throughout his life. He himself says it feels like he is leading two lives, one where he is abused for his physical appearance and another where he feels "normal". Another character seen in the trailer is the one we see has been scratched and can assume is a friend of Jamie. There is also the one who makes him the offer in which he loses the mark, supposedly his girlfriend and also the man who "expects him to kill someone".

Technical codes

Camera angles are mostly showing the whole of Jamie's body, or at least shoulders and above. Perhaps this is to emphasise his birthmark with the rest of his face. Close ups are used in the peeling of the burnt flesh to reveal the new. Angles are kept constant throughout, without the use of canting. Lighting begins flickering, causing unease from the beginning, it continues to remain dark throughout, indicating the horror genre. 

Relate a trailer to the four narrative theories

"The Mist" trailer related to the four narrative theories

Relating a trailer to the four narrative theories is relatively difficult due to the length of the clip, and because of this it also means that some theories may be more easily related than others. The Mist's trailer is fairly stereotypical for a horror trailer and follows various conventions, this may be to inform the audience what genre the film is and so it attracts the desired audience. 

Todorov

The trailer begins showing a family (father, mother and son) standing at a window, staring out to a supposedly violent storm. The next morning they inspect the destruction to the nearby buildings and area, this means that no true balance exists to begin with as the storm is not an average day occurrence. The disruption to the balance comes when the mist pours through, taking over the town, we see this spreading and the people of the town hiding in their homes and in anywhere they believe safe. The trailer itself shows no re-equilibrium, no return to balance, this is because if we are told how the problem is resolved, there would be no reason to see the film.

Propp

Due to the short lengths of trailers, it would be very difficult to define characters, but from what we see it is possible to apply the role of the hero to David Drayton. He appears to be quite protective in the trailer, especially over the young boy. The villain could be the monsters from the mist, but the religious woman who tries to take control could also fit this role and a simple trailer makes it hard to define character roles.

Strausse

Binary oppositions require little information for defining and so many can be found within the mist. The most important of course would be the normality of clear air and the abnormality of the mist in which the monsters are. Other binary oppositions that can be seen within The Mist are light/dark, safe/unsafe, fear/courage, silence/noise, sanity/insanity. These are not all binary oppositions that can be found within the trailer, but just some of the most important to the effectiveness. 

Bordwell and Thompson

The chain of effects in this clip have been condensed to form the trailer, in the full film obviously they would be much further apart and have events between, the reason for this is to leave the viewer with a reason to still see the film. If all of the most interesting parts of the film were given, including the ending then there would be no reason to see it. This theory is difficult to relate due to this, however it is evident that the storm may be linked with the spreading of the mist and the mist itself is definitely connected to the monsters that lurk within it. 

Film Distribution and Marketing

The term Film Distribution is the process in which a film is distributed (sent to) the various locations in which it will be shown (in the cases of cinemas) or sold (retail stores). The cost of distributing a film will rise in relation to the area in which the film will cover, for example, a film which is getting a UK only release will have a much lower cost than a film being released worldwide. There are various methods for film distribution, previously the majority of movies sent to cinemas used a film reel, which degraded over time and with use and was much larger than anything using a digital format. Naturally, this resulted in much higher costs. In recent years other methods have been used in the distribution of movies to cinemas, this included digital version sent to cinemas on hard drives or discs as well as over the internet. The above image on the right is a hard drive much like those that would be used in digital distribution, whereas below that is the classic film reel.

What is the role of a Film Distributor?

Film Distributors are solely responsible for the marketing and distribution of a film, this may be a single person or a company of people. It is possible for a distributor to restrict themselves into dealing with specific types, such as only movies going "straight to disc" (without a theatrical release). Film distribution includes a number of areas, suitably placed advertisement at an appropriate time, possible settings for a release date and formats in which it will be distributed are just a few of these. Warner Bros. are the highest grossing distributors for films at this moment in time, with 532 movies and a total gross of $29,135,050,869. This gives them a market share of 15.25%, a whole one percent higher than their closest competitor, Walt Disney. Sources: http://www.the-numbers.com/market/Distributors/

Reach
The area that a film's distribution cover is referred to as "Reach". Bigger titles will have a larger reach while smaller ones may only have local releases, some films are released in just a single cinema while others could be shown in hundreds simultaneously. If a film is believed to be very profitable, then it will be shown for longer with a larger reach, "Avatar" is a suitable example as it was still shown over 30 weeks after release in a cinema. Obviously the takings from these showings declined as time progressed, but the total profit from the film counterbalanced this.
What is meant by the marketing plan?
 Marketing plans consist of advertising methods, the first of which is usually a trailer for the movie itself, which contains various key moments from the film to lure potential viewers in, though the trailer often resists giving away any of the main plot or how it is resolved. These trailers are tested in focus group like sessions to understand if the intended reaction is created. Another step in the marketing of a film is to create a website (often built as a teaser), this is released alongside the trailer or before. On this website, visitors will be able to download various wallpapers, theme songs and other goods which all build up to the interest of the film. Less noticeable forms of advertisement exist such as scattering movie posters in populated areas. There are also extreme formms of advertisement; publicity stunts. Some producers have been known to organise protests against their own film in order to raise awareness, it has proven to be effective as if a person is told by another that a certain film has shocking content, they will become curious. A marketing plan covers all of these areas and assorts them into when each will be produced and put into action.
What is meant by the distribution plan?
A distribution plan involves the sale of the movie itself, while some filmmakers may choose to distribute their creations themselves, it offers both advantages and disadvantages. Self distribution prevents any possible distribution companies taking a share of profits or other damages to income, but it also reduces spread. Distribution companies are dedicated to getting the movie to where it should be, and this means that they have contacts in various countries. Potentially, signing a distribution contract would mean that you could reach out to the majority of the major countries. Obviously these companies have standards, and so lower budget films often distribute themselves. There are however distributors dedicated to smaller films, naturally, they will not have as many contacts as the larger companies, but could still do a better job than the filmmakers (if they have no previous experience).
What is the difference between advertising, publicity and promotion?
Publicity is something is shown in the media; news, websites etc. This means that the owner of what is concerned has no control over what is said about it, the owners of the media companies control the thoughts on the product. This means that publicity could be good or bad for filmmakers, generally, they attempt to gain any sort of publicity as it gains interest. Publicity stunts are not unheard of, fake protests set up against the content of their own film are examples of this. The developers of a game called Dante's Inferno were accused of such a stunt: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/06/05/dante039s-inferno-protest-e3-was-staged-ea#.UPPSpx1FUuc 

Advertising is paid for by the owners of the film, they choose the content that is shown to the public, and so they can create the image they desire. It aims for the target audience specifically, catering to their interests and attempting to catch their attention. Essentially all forms of media will use advertising at some point, most even contain advertisements within (adverts for other films before the screening of the one you've paid to see).

Promotion is very similar to advertising, yet it includes more forms. Promotion can include giving free samples of a product and other similar promotional events. The core purpose is still the same, to raise awareness of your film and capture the attention of your target audience (hopefully for good reasons).

Altogether the main differences are that publicity can be good or bad but it is not controlled by the owner.
Advertising is content paid for by the owner to raise awareness, therefore they control it.
Promotion is similar to advertising, but comes in more forms.
Teaser poster, teaser trailer, main poster and main trailer for a horror film 

Teaser Poster

                                   

Teaser Trailer

Main Poster

Extended (full) trailer




Main Distributor (opening first on 2nd September 2012 in 2816 screens - released in at least 15 countries in total)

 

Film Distribution

Relate Halloween and The Crazies to the four theorists

 Halloween

The original “Halloween” can be related to all four of the main narrative theories, though some more so than others.

Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov’s theory would suggest that a story would start balanced, then an event would trigger a disruption, causing other events in a chain. The problems caused by those events would be solved to end the story in a balance. The problem with applying this theory to Halloween is that it is difficult to pinpoint one specific event to causing the chain. It could be early as Michael Myers being a child and his first murder, or it could be seen as the escape from the asylum. Even at the end of the film, where we are led to believe that Michael has finally met his end, he disappears, which means that no balance has been met. While they are temporarily safe, there is no final balance, no new equilibrium. This is the reason why Todorov’s theory is not very easily related to Halloween.

Propp

Vladimir Propp’s theory can be summarised into eight specific character roles; the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, her father, the dispatcher and the false hero.  While this theory may be better applied to other genres, some horror movies can still be related to it. Halloween has some characters which could possibly fit these roles, but most roles would be left empty. The villain and the hero are of course obvious but the other roles are more difficult to fill. Dr. Loomis (who was responsible for Michael Myers at the Asylum) could easily fill the role of the helper, but it would be indirect as Laurie does not speak Dr. Loomis throughout the film (until their encounter at the end). From this the conclusion can be made that Propp’s theory is not useful when related to Halloween.

Claude Levi-Strausse

Strausse’s theory was based around binary opposition; it did not depend on order of events but more on what themes the story used. For example good would be understood as the opposite of evil. This theory relates to Halloween easier than the previous two, some of the binary opposites contained within Halloween could be identified as good/evil, natural/supernatural, weak/strong, past/present and day/night just to name a few. This theory is more flexibly than other theories and so it is easily relatable to Halloween, whereas the others struggle to relate.

Bordwell and Thompson

Less of a full theory and more of an idea, Bordwell and Thompson’s definition of narrative can easily be applied to Halloween and seemingly every other film too. Their description stated that a narrative was “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space”. As it is an idea and not a full theory it can be applied to essentially any film, including Halloween.   
 

The Crazies

Just as Halloween was possible to relate to each of the narrative theories in varying degrees, The Crazies finds some of the theories more easily applicable than others.

Todorov

Introduction:  Chaos is introduced at the very beginning to engage the audience. This makes the audience immediately want to know what has caused this event. This goes against Todorov’s theory because it states that a balance is present in the beginning, clearly this is not the case. After showing the burning town, it continues to superimpose the text “Two days earlier” meaning that the majority of the film has already happened and the story is being told.

Disruption to the balance: We aren’t shown on screen when the plane crash took place. We are just simply told that it happened. The crash itself turns out to be an accident, the plane was carrying a virus which had been developed by the government, and this plane was on its way to be destroyed because it posed too big a threat. The first known person to be infected with the virus was Rory Hamill who approaches the sheriff with a shotgun; to begin with, alcohol was to blame for Rory’s behaviour. The disease continues to spread and the chaos with it, the balance between normality and chaos shifts immensely.

Re-equilibrium: No full re-equilibrium exists with this film, as a containment protocol that destroyed Ogden Marsh commences on the town that the couple approach. This is conventional of horror films but also means that Todorov’s theory does not apply. Along with this, we also get a small clip within the credits which uses a real local reporter to read the story of Ogden Marsh’s “chemical plant fire”, which destroyed most of the town. 

Propp

The theory which involved eight specific character roles is very difficult to apply to The Crazies, mainly due to the lack of long-term characters. We see many people killed off early on, making it difficult to find those who fit into specific roles. The three key characters seen throughout the film are David, Judy and Russell (the deputy), David is clearly the hero of the three and is determined to survive and bring Judy with him. This also means that Judy could be labelled as the princess, she needs to be saved from the infection and the contamination process. This leaves Russell with the role of the helper, who doesn't in fact give them and item which leads to their survival but he does help them along their way and once they reach a road block, he gives his life in order for them to escape. While not all eight character roles are easily applicable to the film, those that do apply are incredibly important.

Claude Levi-Strausse

Binary opposition is very easily applied to The Crazies, the most obvious of the themes featured within the film is the normality/chaos. The beginning shows the burning town and destruction, but after this we are able to see the town in its normal form, where peace and order is in place. It is also worth noting the destruction comes in the night which is common for horror films. The second most important of the oppositions would be the uninfected/infected, this is because we encounter both throughout and as the film goes on it seems more common to see the infected people of the town with very few survivors. Overall Strausse's narrative theory applies to The Crazies even more than it does to Halloween as we see so many oppositions and transitions in the film. 

Bordwell and Thompson

The theory stated here is more relevant to The Crazies than Halloween, as we see the film technically in a past tense as it starts at the end. The opening clip shows the town burning and then later it reveals the cause of the destruction. The cause-effect relationship of the events is blatantly clear in The Crazies, one event triggers another and the whole film leads from the crashing of the government plane. Following this an outbreak occurs which kills off or infects the inhabitants and finally the government initiate a containment, which two people manage to escape.

Chosen trailer and reason for choice

Grave Encounters 2

  

I chose the Grave Encounters 2 trailer because I loved the first movie and the second seemed just as interesting. The movies themselves are created in a way that they seem realistic which probably helps to intensify the fear. The sequel is based on reviewers of the first film imitating the original in an attempt to see just how real it was. The audio of the trailer is suited perfectly and creates suspense even in the trailer, let alone the movie. A particular part near the end shows two people looking through the grate of an air vent at an operation, you expect the nurses to look round suddenly in an attempt to make you jump but instead another rises up in front of the camera.