Genre Essay Prep

Intro- Genre refers to the recurring use of conventions which then becomes recognizable as a category or style. Horror is a genre of film however within the horror genre, there are seven sub-genres which each have different sets of conventions which differentiates them. Sub-genres are subdivisions of a genre with different recognizable elements. The seven sub-genres of horror are slasher, splatter, werewolf, vampire, supernatural, j-horror and thriller. Although the seven sub-genres are different, they can be combined creating a hybrid genre of two or more sub-genre. For my trailer, we combined the J-horror genre with supernatural genre to create a new and modern type of horror trailer. This is effective as it gives the audience an element of surprise which prevents them from getting bored of seeing the same set of conventions multiple times.

Theory 1- This relates to Steve Neale's theory of familiarity with innovation which states that the audience derives pleasure from repetition and difference therefore without difference would not get pleasure from repeatedly watching the same set of conventions. In my trailer, I ensured that the audience would be familiar with the sub-genre of my trailer in order to fulfill audience expectations, to clearly convey the j-horror genre, I ensured that the main antagonist was wearing a long white gown and had long hair covering her face. This is a popular convention as the long white gown represents the fact that the antagonist is a ghostly figure, also known as a 'Yurei'. Yurei are ghosts who are still stuck in the mortal world for reasons such as revenge or unfinished business therefore incorporating this convention in my trailer reinforces the narrative of the trailer as well as clearing fulfilling audience expectations of what they expect to see in a j-horror trailer. To ensure that the audience derives pleasure from the trailer, I manipulated some of the typical conventions to give it a modern twist, for example, the Yurei usually has long black hair which can be observed in popular j-horror films such as 'The Ring' and 'The Grudge' however this is done as black hair is feature of Japanese people where the j-horror originates from therefore to make the genre more universal and modern, I decided to give my Yurei blonde hair. This will not only allow my trailer to appeal and relate to a wider audience, but will also challenge the audience's expectations which will give them more pleasure as they are given an element of surprise. The use of a hybrid is also an innovative convention which will contrasts with the audience's expectations, for example, I incorporated elements of the supernatural sub-genre in my trailer such as................

Theory 2- The manipulation of conventions in my trailer relates to Christian Metz theory that states that film genres go through certain stages during their life as they develop through time. He believe that there are four stages that film genres go through, the experimental stage, the classical stage, the parody stage and the deconstruction stage. The classical stage refers to the stage the when the conventions of a genre have been established and are easily recognizable,

How well does contemporary media regulation protect the public?

The two media regulators I will be using to answer this question are OFCOM and BBFC. OFCOM is a statutory regulator responsible for regulating content broadcast on British television and radio. OFCOM  stands for Office of Communication and has been regulating British television and radio since 2003. As a statutory regulator, OFCOM must consider the rules and regulations of the Government when making decisions on what they will and will not allow to be broadcasted to the public. This means that the political party in power will have a profound affect on the content that OFCOM allow to be broadcasted on television and radio. In contrast, the BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification which is a film regulator that is an independent, non-statutory body which means it is not under government ownership and therefore self-regulates all of the content in films. The BBFC has exercised responsibilities over cinema for a hundred years and subsequently over video and DVD since 1985 after the Video Recordings Act was introduced. The BBFC was first introduced in 1912 and was initially called the British Board of Film Censorship however this was changed as they believed the term "censorship" seemed to restricting which highlights there more liberal viewpoint in comparison to OFCOM who have a more "right wing", conservative approach to regulation.

It could be argued that the BBFC is effective at protecting the public, for example, the human centipede 2 was banned in 2011 after containing content that was deemed as posing "a real risk of harm" if viewed by the public, however the BBFC later granted the film an 18 rating after 32 cuts were made. However, it could also be argued that the public has become desensitised over the years as the gruesome and graphic content in the human centipede 2 greatly surpasses the content in films such as "The Evil Dead" which sparked a moral panic in the 1980's when 'video nasties' were being blamed for violent behaviour in children. The controversial case of Jamie Bulger, the film 'child's play 3' was linked to the brutal murder of the 2 year old by two 10 year old boys. It was assumed the boys had accessed the film rated 18 and had imitated the behaviour displayed in the video. This then created a moral panic as the public were concerned about the effectiveness of regulations which led to the introduction of the Video Recordings Act 1984. This links to Mary Cover Jones' theory of desensitisation which suggests that the more violence and horror viewers are exposed to in the media over a period of time, the less sensitive they become to it. This can be evidenced by films such 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' which was banned in 1974 but is now available to be viewed due to social change. If Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in the present day it is very unlikely that it would be banned which shows that the BBFC has become more lenient with regulation due to social change and audience becoming less sensitive to violence and gore.

It could also be argued that OFCOM is effective at protecting the public, for example, the BBC was fined a total of £150,000 in 2008 after an incident on 'The Russell Brand Show' which aired on BBC radio 2. On the episode, Brand and Ross called Sachs as a guest to interview on-air; when Sachs failed to answer the telephone, they are heard leaving a series of offensive messages on his answering machine, including comments about Brand's relationship with Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. The incident escalated into a media and political storm, the two presenters were criticised by a number of members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said "this is clearly inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour, as is now widely recognised,". Following the complaints, Brand was suspended from the BBC without pay for being offensive and lewd and also invading Sachs privacy. OFCOM then fined the BBC £150,000 for six underlying flaws about the case, one of which was the BBC having a lack of clarity about who at the BBC had editorial oversight of the series. This proves that OFCOM does take appropriate action to protect the public from harmful content.

Despite these regulators being put in place to ensure that consistent censorship and classification standards are imposed on Television, Radio and Film in order to protect the public, especially children from being exposed to unsuitable content which could have a harmful effect on them; some people argue that these regulators are becoming less effective due to the rapid development of modern technology which allows unlimited access to restricted or censored content without parental permission or age verification.

For example, the use of online media sites such as YouTube makes it difficult for regulators to successfully prevent the public from viewing inappropriate content. For example, On May 22nd 2013, British Army solider Lee Rigby was brutally murdered by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in Woolwich, South East London. The attackers claim that they killed the solider to avenge the killings of innocent Muslim's by the British armed forces. One of the passers-by managed to interview one of the attackers, Micheal Adebowale in a video recording in which he has the blood of the victim on his hands and is also holding the weapon he used in the attack. This video was then posted on YouTube for the public to access for free, with no age restrictions. OFCOM are unable to regulate this as they are not responsible for regulating sites such as YouTube, which made it all the more difficult when the footage was broadcasted to the public on ITV new at 6:30pm, it was then broadcast on several other news channels such as BBC news, Channel 4 news and Sky News. OFCOM who is responsible for regulating content broadcasted on television and radio received over 700 complaints as they believed the graphic footage was unsuitable to be broadcasted before the 9pm watershed. This case was particularly difficult for OFCOM to regulate as not only was there a debate on whether the footage was in the pubic interest but also the fact that the footage was free to access online therefore even if the footage was no longer allowed to be broadcasted on television, it would still be available for children to access online.

Woolwich Terrorist Attack Top Trump

Woolwich Terrorist Attack Top Trump

On May 22nd 2013, British Army solider Lee Rigby was brutally murdered by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in Woolwich, South East London. The attackers claim that they killed the solider to avenge the killings of innocent Muslim's by the British armed forces. One of the passers-by managed to interview one of the attackers, Micheal Adebowale in a video recording in which he has the blood of the victim on his hands and is also holding the weapon he used in the attack. In the video, Adebowale gives a detailed explanation on his reasons for committing the attack claiming "The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers. And this British soldier is one … By Allah, we swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone.". The graphic footage was first broadcasted to the public on ITV new at 6:30pm, it was then broadcast on several other news channels such as BBC news, Channel 4 news and Sky News. OFCOM who is responsible for regulating content broadcasted on television and radio received over 700 complaints as they believed the graphic footage was unsuitable to be broadcasted before the 9pm watershed. The watershed is considered one of OFCOM's most important and effective regulations with 93% understanding why the watershed regulation has been put it place. It restricts any material unsuitable for children from being broadcast before 9pm and after 5:30am, this includes sexual content to violence, graphic or distressing imagery and swearing - expect when it is justified by its context. This rule is what made the case so controversial, as a statutory regulator, OFCOM have the duty of maintaining the public interest. It was argued that broadcasting the graphic footage of the Woolwich Terrorist attack was justified as it was within the public interest to broadcast the footage in order for them to understand the reason behind the attack. Because OFCOM is a statutory body, there political and social factors affecting their decision to continue to broadcast the footage on television before watershed. One of these factors is the fact that the attack was a terrorist attack. Terrorism has had a substantial effect on society since the 9/11 bombings in 2001 and is a re-occuring issue that is always stereotypically depicted as only being an Asian, Islamic issue. It could be argued that broadcasting the footage was legitimised as it can educate children on the true reality of terrorism which can occur in any race or religion as the footage changes the stereotype of the typical terrorist as it features a young black man born and raised in Britain rather than an Asian man from the middle east. This links to another factor which may be another reason why OFCOM decided to allow the footage to be broadcasted

Evaluation questions

My group trailer rough cut

My individual trailer rough cut

Location recce and risk assessment

Character Profiles

Essays

Question 1B: Genre

The media production that I am going to write about is the theatrical horror trailer ‘Carrie’. The genre of the trailer is horror which has been established using Graeme Burton’s theory. His theory states films from a particular genre will contain all the recognisable key conventions that have been continuously repeated to create a formula for the particular genre. In the trailer ‘Carrie’ recognisable elements such as the protagonists, stock characters, stock situations, icons, background, and themes have all been used to establish that the genre of the trailer is a horror. Although it is a horror trailer, it falls under one of the 9 subgenres of horror which each have different conventions which differentiate them from one another- in this case the sub-genre is supernatural/psychological horror. In this trailer stock situations such as religious prayer, levitation and possession are all seen in this trailer; for example an extreme close up of Carrie’s mother’s feet is framed which shows that she is levitating. These are all key elements seen in most supernatural horrors and will therefore establish the genre of the film to its target audience. Body transformation, in this case puberty is also seen which will appeal to a teenage audience and also establish the genre of the film. The stock characters include the jocks, teenage girls who are more superficial than Carrie and engage in sexual activity and drugs, for example Sue Snell and her boyfriend are shot kissing in the trailer which already identifies her stock character as one of the girls who engages in sexual activity and is therefore going to be punished; these are all conventions which will make the genre of the trailer immediately recognisable as a supernatural horror. However this trailer also subverts the conventional elements of a classic supernatural horror trailer. According to Christian Metz, film genres go through different stages and develop through time; the experimental stage, where conventions are first introduced to an audience before they have been fully established, the classic stage where the conventions have been repeated various times and has now been made into a formula that is recognisable to the audience, the revisionist stage where some of the conventions of the genre are challenged and finally the parody stage and finally the post-modern stage where the genre is used in a parodic fashion. In this trailer classical elements have been used such as the final girl, however the classical attributes have been revised, for example, conventionally the final girl is a girl with masculine qualities who does not partake in sexual activities or drugs. In this trailer however, the final girl is very feminine, this can be interpreted through her appearance, she has long blonde hair and blue eyes; as well as this she has a boyfriend and takes part in sexual activity, she also becomes pregnant. This completely subverts the classic features of a final girl and could be conveying a social message which is empowering females and subverting Laura Mulvey’s theory that women in film are only defined as man or ‘not man’. In addition the protagonist is a young teenage girl who is around the age of puberty, she is isolated and different from the other girls in the sense that she does not go to party, have sex or take drugs; this is usually the attributes of the final girl but in this case, the young girl becomes to the threat which takes a revisionist approach to supernatural horrors. According to Metz, genres have to go through these different stages in order for the audience to stay entertained and not get bored, this links with Steve Neal’s theory that pleasure is derived from repetition and difference, he argues that there would be no pleasure without difference which makes revisionists elements essential in the making of an exciting horror trailer. This trailer also follows classical conventions of the role of a female in supernatural films, Carrie is a young woman who possess telekinetic powers; this theme of possession links to puberty and has sexual connotations suggesting that teenage girls having sex is wrong.

Question 1B: Narrative

Narrative refers to the way the story is told in the film using different devices. Todorov came up with a narrative theory; he states that every trailer is made up of an equilibrium which is the state of normality, dis-equilibrium which is when normality has been disrupted, and the resolution when the state of normality is re-introduced, which suggests that the narrative to all horror films is going to be told in a similar way.This is clearly demonstrated in my chosen trailer; at the beginning of the trailer, an establishing shot of a normal looking house is framed which reflects the normal everyday lives of the average person. The equilibrium is further established in a wide angle shot of a normal school and a two person shot of Carrie and her mum which suggests that they have a normal mother-daughter relationship. Later in the trailer, the disequilibrium is introduced, this is shown through quick cuts between Carrie and the door she is locked behind, a close up shot of the door is framed and a crack appears in the door which is when Carries telekinetic powers are introduced and the state of normality is disrupted. In the trailer, we do not see the resolution as the viewers will  be persuaded to watch the movie as they will be intrigued to see how the story plays out.

Horror genre research

Film crits

Trailers

What is a trailer?

Giving advance publicity to a (film, broadcast or proposal) by releasing extracts or selected details. Originally, trailers were shown at the end of a feature film screening however this didn’t last long as the audience often left as soon as the film ended therefore trailers are now shown at the beginning of feature film screenings/DVD’s or they are released separately online. They show exciting elements of the film however they do not give too much away or show the ending to avoid ruining the overall plot. Most trailers tend to be less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds (maximum time allowed by the MPAA), this is just enough time to show the audience a brief summary of the film and capture their attention. Most trailers are made up of a three part structure:
Part 1: A beginning that introduces the story-line to the audience
Part 2: Drives the story further and usually ends with a climax
Part 3: Is usually a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments from the film often featuring a strong, recognisable piece of music and key actors and actresses.
A voice over will often be used to give a brief, necessary explanation to what is happening.

What is the purpose of a film trailer?
The overall purpose of a film trailer is to make the audience want to watch the film, which is why trailers feature the most exciting points of the film without giving too much away. Trailers also make it obvious who the target audience is (e.g. sci fi fans, rom com fans etc.) and is tailored to capture their target audience’s attention.

Codes and conventions of a film trailer:
1. Within the first part of the trailer, the film production company’s logo will be shown. The production company’s reputation can benefit the film trailer, for example if people have seen and enjoyed a Warner Bros Picture’s film then they may see the logo on a new trailer and decide to watch it because they enjoyed the last film they created. It also gives the audience an idea of the type of film being produced, for example if the film is produced by Warner Bros, the audience will expect a family friendly, superhero related film.
2. The title of the film is in every trailer so you know which film it is that you want to watch. It usually placed at the end of the trailer so that the audience will remember the name. The font, colouring and the background of the title is usually bold and recognizable and has synergy with the posters and magazine cover of the film. The title is also a clue to the genre of the film; for example horror films such as The Ring will usually look more dark and gothic because of their use of black, grey and white and ominous font whereas comedy films such as Kick Ass will usually have a bright background and bubbly font.
3. Any film released in the UK is awarded an age certification by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification). The age rating is shown at the end of the trailer and provides a guideline for the target audience of the film and also the suitability for certain ages. For example if the film is rated ‘U’ it suggests that the film is family friendly and suitable for people of all ages. If the film is rated ‘18’ it suggests that the film has content such high levels of violence, scenes of a sexual nature and bad language. This means that the film will not be suitable for a younger audience and they will not allowed to watch the film in a cinema or buy the film over the counter without ID.
4. An important convention films is character introduction, it is important that the main characters are highlighted in the trailer in order to appeal to the target audience. For example if the main protagonist is a young teenage girl, the target audience will be young teenage girls as they will be able to relate to the main character.
5. Finally, one of the most important features of a trailer is the music and sound effects, they establish the genre, add drama and control the pace of the film, sound counts for 50% of the effect that horror films have on the audience. Sounds and music can include diegetic and non-diegetic sound and music as well as dialogue and external voice overs.

With the research I have done about trailers and their conventions, I can now include this information in the making of my own trailer and create a trailer that will appeal to my target audience and include all the conventions such as fonts and sounds of my chosen genre.

Timeline of a horror trailer

Here I have researched the structure of a horror trailer by analysing what is shown at different points of the trailer. Using this research will give me knowledge on how to structure my trailer in a way that will attract the audience.

Horror shots

Mood Boards

History of J-horror

My horror poster

My horror treatment

My horror treatment from madelinemonae

9 Sub - Genre's of Horror Films