NARRATIVE ESSAY
In horror films and trailers, according to theorists Bordwell and Thompson, narrative is “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time”. Narrative can be organised in a sequence of events that are in chronological order, to create conflict or realism and mystery for the audience. I will be using my trailer, The Last Ones Left, to apply, analyse and evaluate how the narratives fulfil their purpose. The first narrative theory I will be applying is Todorov’s three act structure; equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution. However, in most trailers the resolution isn’t shown in order to create suspense and to coax the audience to wanting to see more by going to watch the film.
In the trailer, The Last Ones Left, we displayed the equilibrium through found-footage style editing to give the audience an idea of the plot and what the film would entail. The sounds of the sirens during those first ten seconds did lead into the disruption because in reality we associate sirens with police, ambulances and the fire brigade and the first that comes to our mind is danger so in a similar way those sound effects of the sirens tell the audience that something dangerous or life threatening is about to happen. The disequilibrium is conveyed through past paced editing and a montage displaying clips of a teenage girl shooting at something unseen which creates tension and anticipation of what is to come next for the audience thus making them want to go and watch the film to find out more. In comparison, trailers such as Rec use a similar structure; the trailer starts out as firemen and others looking through a dilapidated and dark building until screaming and a fast-paced montage is used to show that something is wrong. In my trailer think Todorov’s theory was used accurately in terms of the way it begun and lead into the disruption and it mirrored professional trailers by not showing a resolution.
Binary Oppositions is a theory by Claude Levi-Strauss which explains that in order for the plot to be simplified and moved forward, a film must have two opposing characters to create conflict. For example, good and bad, man versus woman or science versus religion. This theory is essential for our trailer because it’s intended to be a psychological thriller with the battle between good versus evil and this is demonstrated through the clips with a teenage girl shooting and the clips of the mutants coming down from the sky. The mutants are unnatural and no one knows where they came from and therefore they are perceived as evil. The teenage girl shooting using a gun, trying to save herself by taking on stereotypically male characteristics such as bravery exhibits that she is good. I have mainly seen binary opposites in vampire films and slasher films. In Cabin in The Woods, the binary opposites would be stock characters like the final girl and the slut, where one thinks logically and is an atypical teenager who doesn’t participate in anything illegal the other is promiscuous and irrational. In conclusion, I believe we applied this theory but not effectively because although theme is good versus evil the characters aren’t good enough reflections of each other. For this to improve or become clearer I think using a male in a costume or with make up to look like a mutant would be better or to not show the antagonist at all.
Barthes had a theory that encompassed five codes used in a film or trailer that make it more effective; action, enigma, semantic, referential and symbolic. The main code used in our trailer I believe is the enigma code due to the editing of the trailer. This is constructed through found-footage style and cuts between each clip along with the intense sound effects of sirens which almost makes the dialogue inaudible however I believe this fits the code because it creates mystery for the audience and reveals elements of the plot without revealing too much. Considering our trailer was intended to be supernatural I believe the enigma code is essential because in supernatural films, for example in The Exorcist and Poltergeist, the spirit that antagonises the victims is unseen and there are scenes of movement that defies gravity such as levitation which we have in our trailer.
The final is Propp who came up with archetypes that appear in stories based on fairy-tales such as; the hero, the villain, the prize/princess, the helper and the donor. Although not every movie includes all these types of characters, the fact they came from fairy tales is significant because fairy tales are stories of morality and being able to distinguish good from bad. In a similar way horror films can be perceived as fairy tales for adults, particularly thrillers because they are set in realistic and ordinary settings like a house, with a traditional nuclear family to make it surreal. Our trailer does make use of the archetypes hero versus villain however, again, it would be better if we had live actions monsters instead.
In conclusion, I think overall, we have made an adequate use of the rules of narrative, our strengths were mostly the 3-act structure in my opinion and weaker in showing binary opposites. I would say Todorov, Barthes and Levi-Strauss’ theories are the most applicable because they are simplistic and are more modern whereas Propp’s theory of archetypes is slightly outdated however the idea of fairy tales being adapted into horror films makes them more interesting because it’s as if you’re bringing fears to life and perverting innocent fairy tales to make them for fearful. These are all important when constructing trailers in order to appeal to the audience and keep them entertained with intellectual and visceral pleasure.
In the trailer, The Last Ones Left, we displayed the equilibrium through found-footage style editing to give the audience an idea of the plot and what the film would entail. The sounds of the sirens during those first ten seconds did lead into the disruption because in reality we associate sirens with police, ambulances and the fire brigade and the first that comes to our mind is danger so in a similar way those sound effects of the sirens tell the audience that something dangerous or life threatening is about to happen. The disequilibrium is conveyed through past paced editing and a montage displaying clips of a teenage girl shooting at something unseen which creates tension and anticipation of what is to come next for the audience thus making them want to go and watch the film to find out more. In comparison, trailers such as Rec use a similar structure; the trailer starts out as firemen and others looking through a dilapidated and dark building until screaming and a fast-paced montage is used to show that something is wrong. In my trailer think Todorov’s theory was used accurately in terms of the way it begun and lead into the disruption and it mirrored professional trailers by not showing a resolution.
Binary Oppositions is a theory by Claude Levi-Strauss which explains that in order for the plot to be simplified and moved forward, a film must have two opposing characters to create conflict. For example, good and bad, man versus woman or science versus religion. This theory is essential for our trailer because it’s intended to be a psychological thriller with the battle between good versus evil and this is demonstrated through the clips with a teenage girl shooting and the clips of the mutants coming down from the sky. The mutants are unnatural and no one knows where they came from and therefore they are perceived as evil. The teenage girl shooting using a gun, trying to save herself by taking on stereotypically male characteristics such as bravery exhibits that she is good. I have mainly seen binary opposites in vampire films and slasher films. In Cabin in The Woods, the binary opposites would be stock characters like the final girl and the slut, where one thinks logically and is an atypical teenager who doesn’t participate in anything illegal the other is promiscuous and irrational. In conclusion, I believe we applied this theory but not effectively because although theme is good versus evil the characters aren’t good enough reflections of each other. For this to improve or become clearer I think using a male in a costume or with make up to look like a mutant would be better or to not show the antagonist at all.
Barthes had a theory that encompassed five codes used in a film or trailer that make it more effective; action, enigma, semantic, referential and symbolic. The main code used in our trailer I believe is the enigma code due to the editing of the trailer. This is constructed through found-footage style and cuts between each clip along with the intense sound effects of sirens which almost makes the dialogue inaudible however I believe this fits the code because it creates mystery for the audience and reveals elements of the plot without revealing too much. Considering our trailer was intended to be supernatural I believe the enigma code is essential because in supernatural films, for example in The Exorcist and Poltergeist, the spirit that antagonises the victims is unseen and there are scenes of movement that defies gravity such as levitation which we have in our trailer.
The final is Propp who came up with archetypes that appear in stories based on fairy-tales such as; the hero, the villain, the prize/princess, the helper and the donor. Although not every movie includes all these types of characters, the fact they came from fairy tales is significant because fairy tales are stories of morality and being able to distinguish good from bad. In a similar way horror films can be perceived as fairy tales for adults, particularly thrillers because they are set in realistic and ordinary settings like a house, with a traditional nuclear family to make it surreal. Our trailer does make use of the archetypes hero versus villain however, again, it would be better if we had live actions monsters instead.
In conclusion, I think overall, we have made an adequate use of the rules of narrative, our strengths were mostly the 3-act structure in my opinion and weaker in showing binary opposites. I would say Todorov, Barthes and Levi-Strauss’ theories are the most applicable because they are simplistic and are more modern whereas Propp’s theory of archetypes is slightly outdated however the idea of fairy tales being adapted into horror films makes them more interesting because it’s as if you’re bringing fears to life and perverting innocent fairy tales to make them for fearful. These are all important when constructing trailers in order to appeal to the audience and keep them entertained with intellectual and visceral pleasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment