Research Study

For my A2 coursework, I have to choose to whether I would like to create a short film or a film trailer. Therefore before I make my decision I have researched into short movies, movie trailers and also theories which are associated with the coursework I am going do.

I began my research looking at different theorists such as Vladimir Propp and Todorov.

Vladimir Propp analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify the narrative elements. He researched into the characters and functions of a narrative, however I mainly looked into his theory of characters. He concluded that all characters could be resolved into eight simple types in the 100 tales he analyzed. These are the eight character types he created:

1.       The Villian- struggles against the hero

2.       The donor- prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

3.       The (magical) helper- helps the hero in the quest

4.       The princess or prize

5.       Her father

6.       The dispatcher- character who make the lack known and sends the hero off

7.       Thr hero or victim/ seeker hero- reacts known and sends the hero off

8.       False hero- takes the credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

The second theorist was Todorov, a Russian theorist who suggested that all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with equilibrium (a balance) where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reaches a resolution when everything is restored.

During my classes I have researched short films, this has helped me think about what I will produce. The short movies which I have looked at, are, Dipper, Gravity and Sold.

I looked in depth into Dipper, as homework I wrote an essay the question being, ‘discuss the techniques used in ‘Dipper’ to create a sense of enigma.  In class , I watched the short film 3 times and made notes on editing, narrative, camera angles and sound/ mise-en-scene, then at home used the information for my essay.

Research on the trailer 'The Omen'

In this lesson I researched into the codes and conventions of trailers, in the genre of horror, in preparation for my advanced production. For part of my coursework at A2, we have to produce a trailer or a short film. I have taken it upon myself to research into trailers as I will have to decide whether I should do a trailer or short movie. I also thought it would be appropriate to research into the horror genre, as this is a genre I am particularly interested in. I specifically looked at the trailers for 'The Shining' and 'The Omen' as they are two different trailers which are associated with the same genre.

In ‘The Omen’ the significant techniques used in this trailer were:

·         At the beginning of the trailer there is a classification which indicates who the movie is appropriate for, this is then followed by the company the movie was produced by, for example ‘20^th century fox’ This is the production company which produced the film.

·         At the opening of the trailer there is an establishing shot which tracks to the boy on the screen, this is significant as it set the scene of the film.

·         The mis-en-scene portrays a simplistic scene, the setting being in a play area, enigma relates to the setting as a play area stereotypically shows happiness which contrasts in this trailer as the play area is portrayed as enigmatic through the use of lighting and sound to create the horror genre.

·         Uniquely, in this trailer there are no cuts or edits used in the trailer

·         The costume is a key signifier, as the outfit is red symbolising danger, eye-catching, this is a connotation of an evil side to the child.

·         Diagetic sound of the swing is enhance d to create a eerie sound giving off a sense of mystery. The composition of sound, parallel sound is used as there are three different sound effects occurring at the same time.

·         The  key sound  continuing throughout the film is the drumming sounds, there is a climax created in the music, at that point the boys head turn to address the audience

·         Lighting enhances the sense of horror in this trailer though the use of key lighting in the background. Through using lighting in the back, it creates a silhouette which mirrors the idea of the unknown. The lighting could also be classed as a signifier of hope as the light could portray a sense of goodness in contrast the darkness.

Code and Conventions of Trailers

In this lesson I researched into the codes and conventions of trailers, in the genre of horror, in preparation for my advanced production. For part of my coursework at A2, we have to produce a trailer or a short film. I have taken it upon myself to research into trailers as I will have to decide whether I should do a trailer or short movie. I also thought it would be appropriate to research into the horror genre, as this is a genre I am particularly interested in. I specifically looked at the trailers for 'The Shining' and 'The Omen' as they are two different trailers which are associated with the same genre.
In ‘The Omen’ the significant techniques used in this trailer were:

·         At the beginning of the trailer there is a classification which indicates who the movie is appropriate for, this is then followed by the company the movie was produced by, for example ‘20^th century fox’ This is the production company which produced the film.

·         At the opening of the trailer there is an establishing shot which tracks to the boy on the screen, this is significant as it set the scene of the film.

·         The mis-en-scene portrays a simplistic scene, the setting being in a play area, enigma relates to the setting as a play area stereotypically shows happiness which contrasts in this trailer as the play area is portrayed as enigmatic through the use of lighting and sound to create the horror genre.

·         Uniquely, in this trailer there are no cuts or edits used in the trailer

·         The costume is a key signifier, as the outfit is red symbolising danger, eye-catching, this is a connotation of an evil side to the child.

·         Diagetic sound of the swing is enhance d to create a eerie sound giving off a sense of mystery. The composition of sound, parallel sound is used as there are three different sound effects occurring at the same time.

·         The  key sound  continuing throughout the film is the drumming sounds, there is a climax created in the music, at that point the boys head turn to address the audience

·         Lighting enhances the sense of horror in this trailer though the use of key lighting in the background. Through using lighting in the back, it creates a silhouette which mirrors the idea of the unknown. The lighting could also be classed as a signifier of hope as the light could portray a sense of goodness in contrast the darkness.

In ‘The Shining’ the significant techniques used in this trailer were:

·         There is just one shot used for this trailer, throughout the

Personally, my favourite trailer would

First Time Blogging

Today, I created an account for my A2 Media portfolio, it was simple and i found to easy to do.