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Media Theories

The document summarizes various media theories that will influence the production of a horror movie trailer. It discusses using Todorov's four act structure of equilibrium, disruption, overcoming, and new equilibrium. It will show characters initially in a peaceful state that is disrupted by supernatural events, leading them to try and resolve the disruption. Propp's concept of the protagonist and helper will also be used, with the overconfident protagonist leading the naive helper into danger. Other influences mentioned include Chekhov's use of isolating settings like fog, Giroux's portrayal of adult anxieties about unsupervised youth, and Carroll's emphasis on threatening normalcy and creating attraction-repulsion in viewers. Binary oppositions of natural vs supernatural

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44 views8 pages

Media Theories

The document summarizes various media theories that will influence the production of a horror movie trailer. It discusses using Todorov's four act structure of equilibrium, disruption, overcoming, and new equilibrium. It will show characters initially in a peaceful state that is disrupted by supernatural events, leading them to try and resolve the disruption. Propp's concept of the protagonist and helper will also be used, with the overconfident protagonist leading the naive helper into danger. Other influences mentioned include Chekhov's use of isolating settings like fog, Giroux's portrayal of adult anxieties about unsupervised youth, and Carroll's emphasis on threatening normalcy and creating attraction-repulsion in viewers. Binary oppositions of natural vs supernatural

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© © All Rights Reserved
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MEDIA THEORIES

TODOROV
Todorov uses the four act structure, where stories follow a particular pattern. EquilibriumDisruption- Overcoming- New equilibrium. I aim to use this in my horror movie to create a
response the the supernatural events, furthermore show my characters in a equilibrium where
they are just two teens exploring a derelict building in a farm, then follow this by weird
supernatural happenings. This will build up until these happenings are obvious and offer a threat
to my characters, causing them to notice the disturbance and realize that something isn't right.
Finally they attempt and resolve the myth and mystery of the place where they experienced these
happenings. My protagonist and antagonist will then proceed life as normal being the same
teenagers that they were.

TODOROV STORY TIMELINE


Equilibrium

Realization

Disruption

Characters exploring
through woods,
protagonist leading
helper to a cool area.

While at the site


characters start to
notice weird
things changing
and moving.

Supernatural
occurrences become
too extreme,
injuring character
causing realization.

Establishing shots;
Tracking shots, high
angle shots/ low angle
shots/ Pan shots to
show they are in a
empty rural area.

Sequence of characters
going into different rooms,
objects falling and finding
weird things, quick blurry
camera movement to
imitate characters moving
their heads .

Zoom Shot of wound


or broken object, then
close-up of
characters face to
show realization.

Attempt to
resolve

One character does


research to find the
myth of the
abandoned are and its
backstory.

Overhead shot of
characters
reading book or
looking at
website, close-up
of a key word.

New Equilibrium

Character now
understands
that it is
cursed, warns
others and
authorities.

Voiceovers of
police reports
and
conversations.

PROPP THEORY
Protagonist or The Hero, the character
that seeks excitement, adrenaline and the
need to explore to keep his perception of
the world interesting. The protagonist will
lead minor characters with less importance
into his world, despite him being infused in
excitement, the minor character will be out
of his depth, thus being in more danger
when the danger appears. However the hero
will not be rewarded in my trailer and the
monster will remain unknown, this what
I'm not using from Propps theory.

The helper, a character who aids the hero


in is actions and follows him through out
the story aware that he is not the dominant
person. The helper will be dragged into the
Heroes ambitions when he is scared
however still follows to aids the protagonist
hero. My helper will be injured due to the
hero and protagonist leading him astray,
however the helper will always remain loyal
to those who are more dominant and those
who he is following.

In early sequences hero is cocky


and overly confident, he pushes
the lesser characters into uncomfort. He explores scary
building despite danger.

Exploring
Sequence

Danger brings confusion to the


hero/ protagonist. The
audiences sees his confidence
diminish and see his true colors.

Unnatural
occurrences

Main character learns the


overall moral lesson of
previous experiences, becomes
a better person.

Overcoming

Helper/ second character


begins being nave and proceeds
with the heroes commands,
despite showing his worry
through questions in a trebly
voice.

Helper is inflicted with injury helping


the protagonist. At this point the
helpers courage is emphasized over the
protagonists cowardliness . Helper
then takes control of situation.

Helper has taken control of


insecurities and no longer needs
the hero/protagonist by his side.

ANTON CHEKHOV
Believes bad things happen in bad weather. My trailer will be set in a dark
foggy setting in a remote field by a farm. Not only is this isolated but the
darkness and the fog emphasizes the fact that the characters have little places
to run.

Giroux (1997)
My main character will be portrayed through this theory because it represents adult
anxieties and presents kids like him to be a empty category. For instance, having their child
get lost in a isolated zone, where they are faced with danger with no responsible adult to help
them. All adults explored as kids and it is a worst nightmare for something horrible to
happen i.e. attacked. My main characters attitude will also reflect adult anxiety towards the
youth, due to his big headed approach to scary things in the story.

Noel Carrol
A philosopher who focuses on the aesthetics of Horror. In order to create art horror, there
must be a narrative that involves a threat against normalcy, a breach of impurity in the very
nature of being and a monster who embodies that breach. My monster in the trailer will
embody the breach in the equilibrium. Noel Carrol talks about the Attraction- Repulsion
Complex. This is the simultaneous push and pull, used in several formal elements of horror.,
such as POV shots; identifying the victim and the killer. This is a reason I am using a range
of POV shots in my trailer as well as steady shots, this makes my audiences more familiar
with the actions and presence of the protagonist, helper and monster. These aesthetic
features that I will use are to create a string of emotions, to achieve this, I will be using
filming/ editing techniques. These include : framing, dark or chiaroscuro lighting, jump cuts,
variations in pacing, unsettling music cues and sound effects- this is to trigger the emotion of
the audience.

My trailer will also follow the traditional narrative structure that Noel Carrol describes. I
will have the Onset Phase, where the disorder is created, by the supernatural being. This is
followed by the discovery phase, where the characters realize that the disorder/ disruption
has occurred. The final phase is the Disruption Phase, where the characters will attempt to
realize what has happened and fix the disruption to restore the narrative back to normal and
create a new equilibrium. This is similar to Todorovs theory.

TODOROV CONTINUED
According to Todorov, the fantastic lies in the audience's uncertainty where they cannot discern
whether the events are natural or supernatural and experience the discomfort of not attaining a
resolve. My trailer will have supernatural events, the uncertainty of whether a action is natural or
supernatural means my audience will pay closer attention to the mystery and the discomfort will
connote the sinister nature of the monster.

Levi- Strauss
The concept of Binary Oppositions will be used in my trailer,
the themes which will be used will be, natural vs supernatural,
real vs unknown, good vs, evil. These Binary Opposites give
the protagonist and the helper a clear enemy, however due to
the fact that the disequilibrium is unknown, it implies that it
isn't known how to restore the narrative to a new equilibrium
and back to normal.

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