Vladimir Propp's Narrative theory

    Propp is known for his theory of narrative, he studied old folk tales where he identified 8 characters that were repeated within every tale. His theory states that every narrative to a film includes these 8 roles.

These 8 character roles are:

1) The Villain (s) - Known as the bad people whose aim is to kill the hero by capturing the female lead (Damsel in Distress)
2) The Hero - Saves the Damsel and normally beats the villain
3) A Damsel in distress - Normally the target for the villains, needs rescuing by the hero
4) False hero - Takes credit for the hero's actions, could go after the Damsel in Distress
5) The Helper - Assists the hero at some point in the plot
6) The Donor - Prepares the hero for the quest, gives them something
7) The Dispatcher - Character who sends the hero on the adventure
8) Victim (s) - the characters who could get kidnapped, or killed depending on the genre

Trailers don't show all these characters as this leaves enigma's for the audience. In our trailer we include more of the victims being killed and running away as it's a horror. We left the killer/villain a mystery for the audience to figure out, we don't reveal any of the helpers that assist the hero because we also decided that we didn't want to give too much away. Propp's theory has allowed us to analyse media personalities through these characters and apply them to films, exploring whether each film uses these characters in similar ways or whether they create their own unique atmosphere to the film.

Evaluation Activity 3 - Audience Feeback on our Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/embed/EoW4_3Z36W8"

This is the audience feedback for our trailer, it shows what the audience thought of specific elements in within our trailer such as camera composition, enigma's and so on. It also shows us what we could have improved on to make the trailer even more effective. We did audience feedback for every group so that the class could all see what things could have made a difference and what was effective for their genre. We found it useful doing this audience feedback as it has allowed us to all understand more about trailers and that there are always elements that could be improved and it also allows us to be more analytical when evaluating trailers. This is due to the questions asked about the trailers, we were able to give detailed responses and the feedback was positive and negative stating ways in which each group could of added more. With the rest of the class responding to our trailer it allowed us an insight to what the target audience thought and we were able to understand how we had attracted them and what they liked best.

These were the questions asked:

1) How have they adhered to conventions of the genre?

2) What did you think was effective about camera composition and what could have been improved on?

3) What do you think was effective about the editing and use of titles and what could have been improved on?

4) What do you think about the narrative structure of the trailer?

5) Do you think this trailer was conventional?


Question 1 - This question showed us that we have created a horror trailer, that included many elements that the target audience expected to see such as people dying and screaming, the pace of the trailer kept the audience intrigued. The use of blood - cutting of the throat stated the genre to the audience. These were effective elements that were genre indicators for the audience, they added to the atmosphere of a horror.

Question 2 - The audience feedback we got on this question was mostly positive, such as the close-up shots of the feet running, the throat being cut. These shots were the most effective creating atmosphere, however one criticism was that we didn't use enough of a variety in our trailer. They would have liked to of seen more camera angles and shots, this would have added more to the trailer, creating the overall horror effect, as the audience would receive a different approach. From this response and looking back at our trailer, i understand how much more effective it would have been to use a variety of camera shots as it would have created different effects that would add to the tension and build on anticipation.

Question 3 - The way we have darkened the footage adds mystery to the trailer, the way we edited the shots together such as the jumping between deaths and people running. All these editing techniques worked well together and created atmosphere for the audience, the titles being negative and the use of words made the audience think about the what was happening. This response has shown us that we have improved on our editing skills since last year. We managed to use more special effects and due to us having more knowledge on how to use Adobe Premier Elements were able to experiment with different editing techniques such as splitting clips and making them shorter to add effect.

Question 4 - The narrative for our trailer was clear, the audience understood that it is about a group of people being chased by a killer who is on the loose. It's about the people finding the person at the end and maybe dying who knows. We can tell from this response that although the narrative was there, it was simple for the audience to figure out. I know that our trailer left some enigma's such as do you they find the killer and who will survive, however it was effective for the audience as they could tell what was going on. We wanted the audience to have a brief understanding of the scenario and not be left wondering what is actually going on because that would not intrigue them into watching the film.

Question 5 - The title 'Twisted Pictures' indicates to the audience that the trailer will be a horror as they are mainly associated with that genre. This is exactly what we were aiming for, we knew that Twisted Pictures were famously known for producing horrors and if we used it then this would automatically intrigue the audience into wanting to watch more. They said that the music helped with the pace, starting slowly, then increasing in pace and then slowing back down, this was conventional as most horror trailers want to build on the tension and anticipation, so that when the action finally hits it really stands out. The intertitle's such as 'You are never alone' and 'Death' show it's conventions to the genre as they are negative and people associate horrors with creepy titles that make you think. The special effects of the camera shot where Abby runs through the puddle, because it is blurred it creates to the effect of a horror and conventions of using special effects to build on the atmosphere.

Overall we had positive comments and we can see what we could have improved on, we are happy with the feedback given as it shows that we have created a conventional horror trailer that our target audience were intrigued in. From these questions it was easy to see where we could have improved and what elements were effective for our horror genre. The audience feedback we received was positive and negative, we have more of an insight as to what other factors the target audience would have liked to of seen within our trailer.

Slenderman trailer feedback

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KtZKt_dOTfE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Process of creating the poster for The 13th Killing

We started by analysing trailers and looking into the features that create a poster such as the taglines, the title, main image, colours and the unique selling point.



 Once understanding how to analyse each feature we started looking into what horror posters include, how they portray there film to the audience, for example through the use of colours or the main image. We looked into the horror posters that we found inspirational from trailers, so we analysed the Thing and other relevant horrors like Sinister, Possession and The Strangers. We noted down all the common features that they included things like dark/dull colours nothing happy or bright, this is to correspond with either a dark force or the evil killer. If they used happy colours such as yellow the poster would not have the same effect on audience members they would not be intrigued into watching a horror that seems happy. The main image fills the page and this is usually the unique selling point that intrigues the audience because it shows suggestive death or something creepy for example the Possession shows a hand coming out of the girls mouth this makes the audience want to see the film as they can already tell that it is going to be scary and creepy. Other horror posters like Cabin in the Woods, represent a place revealing to the audience that the film will be revolved around this area and bad things will occur.


 After looking into horror posters we picked out the main aspects and tried to create an image in our head of what we could have on our poster. I analysed some posters with there trailers to see if i could spot the main image in any part of the trailer or something that linked the two together. For a film to be successful all the advertising products have to link to each other, showing signs of the genre and bits that will appear. If the poster fails to link to the film it therefore does not intrigue the audience as they will be confused after watching the trailer. The poster needs to reveal information about the film to tell the audience something about it otherwise they would have to work it out from the picture. The tagline has to be effective as this reveals the information to the audience if the tagline is not detailed or intriguing then people ignore it and they might not watch the film. During our research we found that many people are intrigued into watching horrors if the poster says it's based on a true story this is because it suddenly becomes more scary as you know it's happened before and it's not just been created.

We waited until we had finished the trailer before creating the poster this is because we screen grabbed some of the footage to create the poster. We looked through the trailer and found parts that we thought would interest audience members and show part of the film, without giving too much away. We screen grabbed too parts and blended them together in the poster, we placed the screen grabs on Microsoft Publisher as this was easier to crop them and change the colour. We placed one screen grab on top of the other and changed the contrast so that they fitted together. During this process we came up with the layout design, we created a tagline there and then by watching the trailer. We went for a more personal tagline then one that referred to our film, we reached to intrigue the audience by saying 'This could be you'. We copied the font for the title and placed it on the poster, along with the names of some of the actors that appeared in it. Next me and Kellie transferred it onto Photoshop so we could save it as a Jpeg, we then uploaded it to our blog. We took the images from the footage we had from the snow shots, this was to create the unique selling point that part of our film occurs in the snow, this is because many horrors happen at dark and dingy places so no one expects to see a horror in the snow.

The Process for creating THE 13TH KILLING

• When deciding on what our trailer should be on me and Kellie discussed what genre we wanted it to be, we looked at many different genres such as Romance, Comedy, Horror and Action. Eventually we agreed on doing a Horror trailer as we felt more confident in this area and we understand more on this genre and what aspects should be included in the trailer. We compared horror trailers to see what makes them different and unique, from watching all these trailers we picked up on things that we thought would be effective and achievable. At first we wrote down notes on the characters, setting and any ideas that we had, we then created an Animatic that was based on our notes. Once we had created the Animatic we looked into what we wanted to keep and what could be changed, this helped us decide on the characters and a brief synopsis for the trailer. Kellie looked into make-up ideas that would be appropriate for a horror genre and would look effective.

 It ranged from: 
Eye Make-up designs                                                  Scars on the face maybe from something clawing her

Zombie make-up

• The next planning idea we created was a mood board on Prezi consisting on different horrors such as Scream and Nightmare On Elm Street. We talked about the plot, the unique selling point, we also talked about the killer and how the Mise-en-scene creates the character. The Prezi goes from old films like the original 1984 version of Nightmare On Elm Street, to almost present time with Smiley released in 2012, from this mood board we could see how horrors have improved over the years and that these killers are well known in the media for the way they look mostly a recognisable face even if they wear a mask. This is because the media's aim in a horror is to intrigue the audience with the killer, by making them look evil, scary and sometimes even there weapon of choice can intrigue the audience to watch the film. We looked into specific aspects such as the Intertitles and what they reveal, they are mainly related to the killer for example an Intertitle in the trailer for Smiley is 'Evil Wears A Smile' this corresponds to the title and what the character looks like as he has a smile that looks like it has been cut with a knife. 

http://prezi.com/bfvvwgto4n_5/mood-board/

• We created another Prezi with more ideas on it that we discussed after analysing the other horrors, they were only briefly explained as we still weren't sure what we exactly wanted to include in the trailer. 

http://prezi.com/zbxpezu0xalo/trailer-mood-board/

• After discussing more ideas, we made another attempt at an animatic. In this animatic we incorporated some ideas that we had seen from our research such as our mood board and idea's page, we looked into horrors such as the Thing, the strangers and Smiley. The trailer for Smiley inspired our weapon as they used the knife effectively and it was also an inspiration for our killer as we wanted him to look creepy with unique facial characteristics. The poster for THE THING gave us the idea of a normal setting that is portrayed as something that the audience should fear, the lighting bolt on the poster influenced the way in which our killer will appear on screen. In our animatic we didn't want the killer to be seen straight away which is why we  included him near the end, this was to build up tension for the audience and i think when we create the final teaser trailer this will become an effective killer as the audience anticipate there arrival on screen. We also made it so that you can't see the killer's face properly therefore it leaves some enigma's for the audience as they wonder what the killer actually looks like. We analysed our animatic afterwards and found things that we could improve, adding extra techniques and thinking more in depth about the pace of the trailer.  We created a prop list which was very simple consisting of three items; a Knife, fake blood and alcohol. 

• We came up with the title for our film in the early stages, this was interesting as we began coming up with ideas as to what we could include, we knew that it had to be different to other horrors and people would wonder who the 13th Killing is and how will they die. We looked into the type of font we wanted and what looked like it belonged in a horror, we were set on using a knife as the weapon since we saw Smiley. We came up with a production schedule to help us plan the trailer, we tried to stick to this as much as possible although some things got completed quicker than other parts. 

• We researched soundtracks that we could use, we had to find non-copy write music, we picked a few from a load and then narrowed it down to 3 which in our final trailer we managed to incorporate all of them as they all fitted with our footage. Me and Kellie looked into possible actors and took photo's, at this point we had decided on a list of character we wanted to include. We analysed costumes for our Killer looking into famous movie killers such as Freddie Kreuger, Scream and so on. These characters are mainly focused on there facial features, which is when we realised that the what they wear is not the eye catching feature, it's the weapon they possess and what there face looks like. Killers like Hannibal Lector wears a white shirt with blood stains on this shows he is the killer, although the audience are intrigued because it represents that he has killed someone they are mainly focused on the mask he wears. We then looked into costumes for our other characters and came up with the idea that they could be dressed as normal teens, they didn't need to have a distinct outfit to make them stand out. 

• We created a film treatment, took some photo's of the location where we hoped to film, looked into making a splatter gun filled with fake blood that the actor could use and fake blood would appear on there clothes. When we first chose to do a horror we automatically wanted to use Twisted Pictures as the institution as we knew they were known for mainly do the horror genre and have produced great films. We created a run through on paper with shot by shot, we wrote down what type of shot and the length the shot will last. Me and Kellie in a lesson made a Storyboard for our trailer, including added scenes and all the information on shot type, the music etc. 

• We made a final Animatic for our trailer which at the time we were set on the idea, however when it got close to filming we had problems with actors making the days and the weather made it difficult to do some of the shots. In the end we filmed at school, using our friends who had time to act in the trailer, at our point of filming it was snowing so we worked with snow and used the fake blood and a knife to create our final trailer. The shots worked well with the snow and we filmed some shots in places where there was no snow, as it was a trailer it didn't have to be all in one place. We used the giant puddle we found to our advantage and had a friend run through it giving the effect of the grey blurry vision. The knife we poured fake blood on it and slit my throat, we darkened the footage to make this more effective, so that it looked like the blood was not fake. 

 Our planning was inspirational to how some of our shots came out, we still included the idea that you couldn't see the killer's face properly leaving it as an enigma for the audience. We added deaths to the trailer as when we watched our animatic we decided that because it is a horror it needed to have a death, we included a shot where Shelly was crawling away. This was to leave an enigma for the audience, will she survive? 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/1oFGHvd7NMo" 

Evaluation Targets

Well done Jasmine - excellent work so far. To be aiming towards a high band three or even band four you need to be much more analytical. Explain what you actaully did in the editing process using some technical terminology. You need to include some audience feedback and also a director's commentary. Revisit your screen grabs and try to analyse the mise-en-scene and your use of camera shots and angles. Explore exactly how your three pieces compliment each other. Well done.