Enigma Codes & Todorov's Theory

Todorov's theory explains that a film and a trailer can be broken down into five sections, an equilibrium at the start, a disruption of that equilibrium, a recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair the disruption and the final stage is where the equilibrium has been restored. In our trailer we use three of the stages. The first section is the scene in the house as it seems to be a mundane situation where two girls are watching TV. However when the first murder occurs the audience are introduced to the antagonist, showing us the disruption, he is wearing black with a mask on which leaves the audience speculating with an enigma as suggested by Roland Barthes narrative theory, this emphasises the disruption but also leaves us an enigma because we don't know who he is or why he is murdering people.

Evaluation Activity 1

These are some screenshots from our trailer which I think are worthy of evaluation as they show some conventions an audience should expect from a trailer.

Screenshot 1: The first screenshot introduces the only character we see speak in this trailer, this character provides the basic story and background, but not enough to tell the audience everything,giving rise to an enigma code as we aren't told everything like the antagonists name but we are told he's dangerous. This screenshot is also located on scene and would appear more believable as we were going for a realistic news report, as the costume we used were smart clothing that an audience would expect to see from a news reporter. The camera was set up at a low angle to give the reporter a dominant view of the audience giving him the power.  

Screenshot 2: This second screenshot introduces a couple of other characters and at this point we are not shown the antagonist, leaving his appearance an enigma, the setting seems rather normal which could suggest the trailer is conventional as it starts of with a normal setting and then something disturbs the equilibrium. The camera angle is a long shot, which gives the setting and location to the audience it also enables us to see all the actresses on screen,also with female protagonists we are being conventional to horror films as normally in modern horror films we have seen an increase in female protagonists as it appeals more to the female audience, it can also appeal to a male audience as the 'Male Gaze' theory suggests.

Screenshot 3: This shot is a part of our story set up, as we want to make the audience believe that this film is based on a true story. The font we are using is orator it is a very basic font, but this is because we want people to be able to read the font, The background is black to make the text stand out, and black can also represent death and mystery, we also made the text white which can represent safety and innocence, which can represent the victims the audience see's in the trailer.

Screenshot 4: This high angle long shot, gives the audience the power, as unlike the victim on screen, we are able to see the antagonist behind him, this shot also introduces us to the third victim in the trailer. The audience at this point should feel a sense of fear as they should know what is about to happen. The victim is wearing just casual clothing suggesting he is not important, it also suggests the film could be a horror/thriller because a lot of this genre will take the normal and change it, we have taken a normal walk and made it slightly more spine-chilling. We also leave an enigma by not showing what actually happens. It is the first time we see the antagonist and it appears very threatening in all black which could represent evil, he also has a mask on which means the audience don't know who he is and it leaves the audience thinking what happens.

Screenshot 5: This screenshot is a low angle long shot, unlike the high angle we use to show the victim, we use low angle for the antagonist to walk past as he holds the power and looks imposing on the audience, this adds tension to the trailer. The location of this part of the trailer is in broad daylight and in a remote part of a town, this means very few people are likely to see the murder happen.

Screenshot 6: This image is a high angle shot, we have placed this scene in black and white, this is suggests the image is from a CCTV camera, which is what we wanted it to look like, this image also surprisingly gives the audience the power over the antagonist which is something we wouldn't expect, however it could suggest that there is a vulnerability in the antagonist, as we are able to view him from the high angle. 

Screenshot 7: This shows a birds eye view of the antagonist, it is one of our most effective shots because it is very menacing to the audience, because we can see the antagonist enter and exit the scene, we are also left with an enigma because we don't know how he got into the house. The music at this point has built up a lot of tension and the audience would believe a climax is coming.

Screenshot 8: Is a threatening close up, tracking shot, this shows the antagonists intent to murder and gives the audience some clues to what he is going to do, it is also menacing to the audience as the camera is only tracking slowly and we can't really see what's in front of him, leaving an enigma as to where is he going.

Screenshot 9: This shot was important because it really should have an impact on the audience as they have just seen the lights go out and the scream, the lightning suggests something bad has just happened and we thought it would be a good background cover to show our title, the title is also white, however this is primarily to make it stand out on the black background.

Actor Interviews

This is our actor interviews, in this we asked three of the main cast members a series of questions, which are based on movie production and there role in our trailer. From Left to Right we have Jack Nunn,who plays one of the victims, Alex Morgan who plays the main antagonist and Chloe Young, who plays another victim/protagonist.

Audience theory evaluation

Our trailer is in the thriller/horror genre, this provides a lot of instances where the audience could be frightened especially as the film has such normal locations such as a pathway or a house used in it, the idea that a murder could potentially escape and break into peoples houses could make people fearful of there area and could make people remain indoors and become very shaken by the idea. This idea relates to George Gerbner's Cultivation theory, especially his Mean World syndrome, this idea suggests that violence seen in the media is mirroring the real world, making the real world more dangerous than it actually is. Our trailer conforms to this idea as we have a hooded murder, which could relate to gangs, this could make people scared of hooded people, this is also the case as later in our trailer we have the masked murderer enter a house at night, and terrorise the residents inside it, this could make the audience fearful of the dark and being alone in the house and suggests anyone could enter their home at any time.

In our trailer we aimed to promote a fearful depiction of the world in which the main antagonist, the murderer/escaped convict is able to go anywhere, as well as this we feature a new report and the lines "Based on a true story" which could potentially lead some to believe the idea. As suggested in the Hypodermic needle model in which an audience is fed information or shown something and they immediately start believing its true/or accept the idea.

Our trailer also makes use of the Uses And Gratifications Theory, this theory suggests the audience is not passive, but is actively involved in interpreting the media shown to them, from this it also suggests that the audience is responsible for choosing the media to suit there own needs. In relation to my trailer, I believe that people would watch my trailer for a number reasons which are: Entertainment, because as a horror/thriller it is meant to frighten, but as a film its primary use is in entertainment, the trailer also provides a kind of escape from the real world, as the murderer appears to have free reign, but it provides a worst case scenario for a person being trapped inside a house with a murderer. A audience member my also be able to relate to some of the characters in the film because they are based on ordinary people doing normal things like watching TV, this humanises the characters, and while they might not be people to aspire to be, they are likely to reflect the audiences life.

Our trailer does include a couple of female leads, this may suggest to some that the 'male gaze' may be used in this trailer, 'the Male Gaze' is a media theory produced by Laura Mulvey in 1975, the theory suggests that an audience has to view a film from a heterosexual male's point of view, this theory suggests women on screen are objectified, in our film we did not want this idea to come across, there are several films in the horror genre that do but they are normally comedy as well as horror, examples include: Piranha 3D and Scary Movie. Our film features the female leads sitting in a long shot watching TV, this takes the attention away from them and focuses the audience on the developing story and the TV, which is what we want.