'Nightmare Endings' final trailer

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Some of the responses we received

In order to receive audience feedback for our main product, we screened our trailer to our Media Studies class,consisting of people who all fall within our target audience (15-25 year olds). We asked the group what they liked about our trailer, and what they felt could have been improved on. Some of the comments we received can be seen below.


Camerawork/Editing
We received mostly positive feedback related to our camerawork and editing on the trailer. The group felt there was a good range of shots, and liked some of the interesting angles we incorporated. Some shots in particular were repeatedly mentioned as being effective, these included the pan shot of the house (Example), the slow zoom of the door, the swings close-up, and the girl on top of the stairs.

The editing was also generally praised. Most people felt the pace of the trailer worked quite well, in particular how the tension was built up towards the end. Our use of special effects on the face morph at the end was complimented as it showed we were willing to take the risk and learn new skills on different software.

However we received some comments from people who felt that not enough narrative information was given away, but luckily they also said that there was still enough to make them interested. As a group we decided not to include much narrative in our trailer as our audience research suggested that our target audience didn't want too much of the story to be revealed in a trailer.


Mise-en-scene
The audience felt that use of CCTV was very unique and effective in our trailer as it allowed for a change in pace. They also felt that the use of a normal house being the setting of our trailer to be effective as it allowed the story to seem more realistic and closer to home (the horror is within the family).


Sound
Praise was generally given about our use of sound in the trailer. The most common comments made were about how the trailers sound was mixed well, with the voice overs being clear over the music. The crackling sound used with the static tv effect was praised as it made it seem more realistic (Example). The audience felt that the music worked well with the video to help build pace and tension particularly towards the end. Another good point made about the soundtrack was talking about how there were no bad transitions between different pieces of music.
However despite the mostly positive feedback about our use of sound, some people felt that we should have included more voice overs to explain the story better. The audience understood that the girl was changing and strange things were happening, but they had no idea why these things were happening. Also, someone criticised one voice over in particular which is supposed to be a doctor saying that the girl needs to be watched day and night.They said that the voice sounded quite funny, which detracted from the tension and horror of the rest of the trailer.


Overall
Overall, I feel that all the comments made about my groups trailer are fair, and provide some interesting thoughts on how we could have improved it. Looking back on our main product now, I can agree with the  constructive criticism made, and if were to make the trailer again, we would take these views on board.
All in all, I believe that my group and I have succeeded in making a good horror trailer based on the feedback we received.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning, and evaluation stages?

1. Final Cut Pro: This piece of software was vital for my group to be able to create our horror movie trailer. It is a piece of editing software which includes a vast amount of tools and effects that are useful in making a modern professional looking video. We used this program for the vast majority of our editing. Although my group and I were largely unfamiliar with this software to begin with, we quickly learnt how to operate the tools available to us, and found the large amount of effects to be very important in allowing us to create a professional product. The tools we found particularly useful were the built in effects. We used an effect called 'Bad-TV' numerous times to create the static/CCTV effect. We also found the colour, contrast and saturation controls to be very useful. They allowed us to alter the look of our original shot, which was very useful in creating the CCTV section in our trailer. Click the image below to read a summary of the basics of this complicated, professional software:




2. Adobe After Effects: This is a piece of digital motion graphics software that my group used to achieve the face morph effect seen at the end of our trailer. Although at first we found it difficult to understand the vast amount of tools this software offers, we eventually were able to create the desired effect needed to make the main 'scare moment' in our trailer.


3. Blogger: This website is key to the presentation and management of all my A2 media coursework.  It is a free blogging website which is flexible due to web 2.0 allowing it to have multi-media connectivity.This allows anyone to create a simple blog in which they can create separate posts consisting of various media types e.g. text, images, video, and links. Overall I found creating posts very simple to do. The website offers an array of tools in order to change the look of your posts which are all simple to use, and you can also customise the look of your blog to make it unique to yourself. However sometimes I found that creating posts could be frustrating and limiting, particularly when trying to re-size, and position images amongst text.


4. Flickr: This is a free website used for uploading and storing images online. I used this predominantly to highlight and add captions to certain parts of an image,which would be harder to explain in an essay format. I used this website predominately for my analyses. All the images I uploaded to this website could be linked to blogger so it was very convenient in helping me keep my work in one place (my blog).


5.Slideshare: This is a very useful website that allowed me to upload my Microsoft Powerpoint presentations to the internet. I wanted to include presentations of this format on my blog to make it more interesting to view. The main use of this website was for the audience research section, in the research stage of the coursework. The website allowed me to embed the uploaded presentation onto my blog, so once again, it was very convenient in keeping my work in one place.


6. Photoshop CS5: Photoshop is a piece of image editing software developed by Adobe Studios. I am widely familiar with this software after using it a lot in my AS media studies coursework last year, although I feel my skills with using this programme have been enhanced  since then. The programme offers hundreds of tools which can edit an image in practically any way you want. The main use of this software for me was in the creation of my anciallry texts (film poster and magazine cover), where I used some of its fairly basic tools such as the text tool, paint bucket, eraser, and colour filter tool. Photoshop also allowed me to create some of the other images seen on my blog such as the banner heading.


7. Youtube: This is widely popular, user based video sharing website that allows people to upload and comment on videos. It was very helpful to me in the research stage of creating my trailer when I needed to find real horror movie trailers to analyse on my blog. The site was helpful as it allowed me to embed the videos I found onto my blog. Eventually this website was used to upload my own trailer. The liking system and comment section available on the video open up the possibility of further audience feedback in addition to the feedback received from my class screening.


8. Digital Video Camera: We used a  video camera for all the filming on our trailer. The camera was very simple to use and recorded film in full HD quality, allowing us to create a professional looking product. I feel that the quality of the camera we used vastly contributed to the professional feel of our trailer.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In order for my film 'Nightmare Endings' to be successful, the distribution company would need to devise a marketing campaign that would effectively target the films target audience to attract the most attention to it as possible. A marketing campaign can include many different strategies including, trailers, posters, websites, set visits, merchandising, and film festivals. A successful marketing campaign usually consists of three main components: advertising, publicity and promotion.


My main product (trailer) and my film poster are both part of the adversing campaign, designed to create a 'buzz' about the film, and create interest and awareness. In order for both of these products to work together as part of a promotional package, they need to show a degree of coherency. I have ensured my trailer and poster are coherent in a number of ways.

One of the most obvious ways in which I have done this is through having the only image on the poster be of the main character in the trailer. This makes sense to do as she has the most screen time in the trailer, therefore the audience can make a connection between the trailer and poster. The image on the poster is taken from the main 'scare moment' in the trailer which ensures that the coherency between the trailer and poster is maintained. If I had decided to take a new photo for the poster, the audience could become confused as the image is non-diagetic, meaning it cannot be seen in the film. In the two images below you can see how I have used the shot from my trailer, on the poster.

Original still taken from my trailer

Film poster including the still from my trailer



Another way that my main product and poster work together as a promotional package is through including the same tag line. The tag line "New beginnings... can sometime lead... to nightmare endings" is shown in various inter-titles in my trailer. I decided to quote this tag line on my film poster as I felt it succeeded in giving part of the story of the film away to the audience, but only enough to just 'wet their appetites'. The repetition of this line in the advertising campaign (trailer and poster) would ensure that it becomes memorable to the target audience.


The film poster I created refers to a website, which allows the target audience to go online to find out more information if they wish. This also allows for the opportunity of viral marketing campaigns, such as the one created by Warner Bros. for 'The Dark Knight', with their website www.whysoserious.com 

Viral Marketing Campaign for 'The Dark Knight'

All in all, I feel that the trailer and film poster I have created work well as a promotional package to advertise the film. However advertising a movie isn't the only job for the distributor, they also need to generate favourable publicity from other sources. Publicity from different sources is very important for the success of a movie as the general public may find that the opinions of others will give a more reliable source of information about the movie. One main way of obtaining this publicity is through front page, and main article appearances in 'big name' film magazines i.e. Empire, Total Film and Sight & Sound. The distributor will attempt to gain this type of publicity through sending out press packs to the magazine company, and arranging interviews with actors and producers, as well as organizing press screenings.


I have created a front page for the magazine 'Total Film' featuring a main article for my film 'Nightmare Endings'. One problem with this type of publicity is that the distributor has little or no control over creating the magazine front cover, therefore the films distributor needs to ensure that they give the press a good impression of the film so they will write favourably of it, and hopefully in return generate more interest and widen the films potential target audience.

Original photos and stills for ancillary texts

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge formsand conventions of real media products?

Please click on the image below for the annotations Flickr. The images on the left are stills from my own groups trailer 'Nightmare Endings', the images on the right are stills taken from real media products.

ALL, a photo by AlexSopp on Flickr.

Real horror trailers are used to attract an audience, and create excitement about a movie before its release. They often incorporate many quick excerpts from the movie, which aim to give enough information away about the film to create a 'buzz' around it, but not enough that it will spoil the movies story.

My trailer incorporates many typical conventions of the horror genre in that it gives away some of the story to create a fear about the 'monster'.

One way my trailer uses forms and conventions of real horror products is through the use of Freuds theory of the return of the repressed.

We wanted to include the idea of a past force returning, as it would give an explanation for the events that are occurring now. This would make it seem more realistic for the viewer.

Horror often focuses on a character becoming increasingly mad, to show how an innocent person has madness within them.

The image on the right (top) shows the main girl in my trailer rocking in a corner connoting madness. The confined space of the corner helps to accentuate this.

The idea of a hidden madness within this girl is developed later in the trailer with the image on the right (bottom) showing her staring into the mirror. The character has realised she has become a 'monster'. The reflection of her in the mirror also suggests a split personality, which is another stereotypical feature of a horror monster.

The use of sound in our trailer is also very typical of a real horror trailer. We used loud booms (stings) to accentuate certain shots, as well as a scream sound effect when her face morphs to show that she has become a monster.

One recurring theme of horror is the use of a female protagonist. Carol Clover has written in her book 'Men,Women & Chainsaws', about the topic of the female representation in horror. Our trailer also features a female protagonist, however the audience is made to identify with her through various close up shots which contrasts the theory on the "Male Gaze". However, as the trailer progresses it becomes harder to judge whether the girl is a protagonist or the antagonist, so we see a variety of long shots also, allowing the audience to seem detached from the character.

One way my trailer challenges typical conventions of a horror trailer is how it mainly features just one character in it. Because we have created a teaser tailer we wanted to focus predominantely on the main girl and her descent into madness. We felt this would be the main selling point if this was a real film.

Drafts For Ancillary Texts

Storyboards

Nightmare Endings Storyboards

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Ancillary Texts

Total Film Magazine Cover Analysis

iron man, a photo by AlexSopp on Flickr.

Empire Film Magazine Cover Analysis

the dark knight magazine, a photo by AlexSopp on Flickr.

The Orphan Film Poster Analysis

The Orphan Film Poster, a photo by AlexSopp on Flickr.

Paranormal Activity Film Poster Analysis

Paranormal Activity Poster, a photo by AlexSopp on Flickr.

Initital Production Meeting

Things we want to include in our trailer:

• CCTV footage
• Face morph at the end
• A young girl playing the main character
• Paranormal/psychological genre

Initial props needed:

• Fake knife
• Fake blood

Initial shot ideas:

• Medium shot of girl on swings
• Slow zoom on girl rocking in corner
• Various long shots of girl in corridor/on stairs
• Close up of girl staring out of window
• Panning shot of house

New Horror Movie Idea

A teenage boy called Josh has just moved to a new town with his family in America. Having been ruthlessly bullied in his previous school, Josh’s parents move away to allow josh to attempt to lead a normal school life. However, being such an outcast, this doesn’t succeed and soon enough Josh is being bullied once again by a group of boys, older and bigger in size than he is. The only person Josh feels he can talk to about his problems is his ‘imaginary’ friend Jason whom he’s had since a young age.

One day, josh notices that one of the bullies isn’t at school. That evening on the news a report reveals to him that the body of the bully was found, mutilated in his own bedroom. Slowly one by one the bullies are killed in seemingly unknown, and increasing brutal circumstances.

Eventually Josh realises that his imaginary friend, may not be imaginary after all, but in fact a supernatural monster. Jason, realising he knows the truth, turns on josh who must now run for his life, or face his own bloody death by the thing he once called his only friend.

Gender Representations

To what extent do you think horrors representation of gender challenges dominant representations?

Note: Links to other websites are in yellow

Many media studies research into a wide range of media texts have reached similar conclusions about how gender is represented in the media. They have generally shown that males and females are usually presented in terms of stereotypes in the media. Males are generally portrayed as dominant, strong, active, independent, intellectual and authoritative. On the other hand females are generally shown in a submissive or passive role and are often defined through relationships with men, with a focus on physical beauty. Jeremy Tunstall (The Media in Britain 1983) argued that the existing research found that representation of women in the media emphasised women's

·         Domestic

·      Sexual

·      Consumer

·      Marital

activities to the exclusion of all else. Clearly by looking at these studies, we can see how vastly different males and females roles in the media can be.

When looking at examples from study texts in my own classes work, it’s clear that even in horror the stereotypical roles that women play in mainstream media are mostly evident. For example in Halloween (1978) the female characters apart from Laurie are all shown in sexualised or domestic roles. Linda, Annie, and Judith, are all shown in states of undress throughout the film cementing the idea that women are generally shown as objects in mainstream media. Although the main protagonist Laurie isn’t portrayed in an objectified way, she is still shown in a domestic role, either cleaning or babysitting throughout. The same applies to other texts we studied such as The Shining (1980) with Wendy portrayed in a domestic and marital role, and Eden Lake (2008) with Jenny also playing a marital role.

However what differs the above mentioned characters in the horror genre, with other typical female roles in mainstream media is how the narrative plays out. Wendy in The Shining, Laurie in Halloween, and possibly even Jenny in Eden Lake can be described with a term that the theorist Carol Clover coined as the “final girl”. These characters all turn out to be the main protagonist despite other on screen male characters and are shown to fight, or even defeat the ‘monster’ in the film. This is a very interesting occurrence, one that’s not seen in many other mainstream media texts where a female is shown to have the most strength and will power.

1992 research has shown that on screen, men outnumber women by two to one therefore it is clear that visibility is an issue in itself when studying media texts. According to this study men have a lot more time on screen solidifying the idea that the audience are generally made to identify with males more as they are more likely to be the main protagonist and the subject in a narrative.

In addition to women’s roles in the media and their visibility, another important area is to do with how the camera “looks” at the woman. It has been argued that in mainstream media texts the camera objectifies women, thus denying any subjectivity or identification with the character who in turn becomes an object to be looked at by the subject, who is almost always male. This is called the “Male Gaze”.

Many theorists, particularly Laura Mulvey in her famous essay “Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema” have suggested that in most commercial cinema, the spectator is put in the position of an ‘appraising heterosexual males’ by adopting certain technical camera techniques to objectify women characters through the eyes of the male subjects. Some cinematic techniques used to create a “male gaze” include:

·         Use of CU, POV, and reaction shots which encourage the identification of the male as the subject.

·         Use of long shots and tilts up on the body help to fragment the body (i.e. only seeing the legs, then body, the face) and are often from the point of view of the male subject; helps to encourage culture to view women as objects for male pleasure.

Through her research Mulvey claims that mainstream media is part of the sexist regime of viewing which denies women subjectivity in the roles they play. The male gaze is a sadistic and voyeuristic way of objectifying and controlling women.

From analysing my study texts in terms of their use of the ‘male gaze’, I have come up with some very varied findings. In all three of the texts, there are examples of the male gaze such as the POV shot of Judith Meyers at the beginning of Halloween, however the results aren’t as simple as that. In some cases the male gaze is undermined. For example in The Shining, a scene occurs where a naked woman in a bathtub is portrayed in an objectified way with a POV shot from Jack, the subjects, perspective. This is later undermined however when this woman suddenly transforms into an older dead version of herself. This leaves the audience questioning how they could have ever gotten pleasure from viewing the woman to begin with. Similarly in Eden Lake, Jenny is objectified as a sex object from Brett’s perspective through a pair of binoculars, but again the gaze is undermined when Jenny covers herself up as she is actually the subject of this text.




However, the view that all women are portrayed in such a negative way in mainstream media isn’t shared by every theorist, especially when it comes to studying the horror movie genre. Many people argue to what extent does horror reinforce or depart from these classic representations? Carol Clover is a theorist who has been particularly vocal about the roles and representations of gender in the horror genre in her book “Men, Women, and Chainsaws”. She believes that the typical identification/objectification of women in many horror texts is much more complicated than in most other genres. Clover argues that instead of the “sadistic objectification” of the woman which occurs in many mainstream texts, horror provides a point of “masochistic identification with her”. This is achieved when a woman is portrayed as a victim like main protagonist in a horror movie, a role Clover calls the “final girl”.  This raises a very interesting issue because it makes the genre of horror one which differs from the “regime of representation” of almost all other mainstream media texts aimed at men. She suggest a theory about why adolescent males, the core target audience of horror, are willing to identify with a female protagonist. Essentially, because all males are acutely aware of their position in a “hierarchy of masculinity” they can relate to the experience of being dominated by a stronger male force, much like a child being bullied on a school playground.

Overall I would say that in many ways, horror does challenge the dominant representations of genre in mainstream media. Carol Clover’s ‘final girl’ is a prime example of this where a female character is the subject of the audiences viewing, portraying typical masculine traits such as strength at the same time, a role rarely seen in any other genre of film.

Audience Research

Introduction and Methodology
In order for my group to better understand the target audience of our trailer, so we could make something that would appeal to them, we conducted audience research. We did this by creating a survey on the free website SurveyMonkey, consisting of short and concise questions that would leave us with an array of quantitative data e.g. age, gender, favourite sub genres of horror, and hours spent watching horror. We decided to just use closed questions so the information we received would be simple to sort and understand. Our survey was posted on various social media websites to reach our target audience such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Results from our questionnaire

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Evaluation
Overall the survey was a success as it made us realise that the sub-genre of horror which we wanted to imitate in our trailer would attract our target audience. The survey could have been improved by including more questions to give us a greater range of data, as well as giving a 'other' option on some questions to give us some qualitative data.

Role of the Film Distributor

Note: words or phrases coloured in yellow are links to different websites.

The role of a film distributor is a very complex one. Without them, a film will never become successful in the mainstream market, so it is their job to identify the target audience, develop a distribution plan, and to develop a marketing plan.

A film distributor needs to deliver the largest possible audience for a new film release as it needs to try and make a profit, however this is no easy task considering that there are over 500 new films released to the cinema every year, as well as the other entertainment options available to people both inside and outside of their homes e.g. games, television, and social media. In order for a film to be successful the distributors need to decide on a good distribution and marketing plan.

The distribution of a film involves releasing and sustaining it in a marketplace. In order to do this, the distributor must first develop a release strategy, consider the release date, and take delivery of a master print of the finished film. After this they will then present the film to exhibitors and negotiate bilateral agreements to have it shown in cinemas. This is a crucial stage in releasing film because after this is done, distributors can then begin to create a marketing plan to create a 'want to see' buzz about the film.

The UK has around half a dozen major distributors (Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Universal PIctures), however there are many more independent distributors releasing anything from just 1 or 2 films a year, to 25-30.

Every film has its own distribution plan tailor made for it. The distributor hopes to be able to re-coup all of the costs spent making and marketing the film, and return a profit. The most important decision the distributor will make is when and how to release a film to optimise its chances of doing this.

A detailed understanding of the films target audience is needed. This includes:

• Age group
• Gender
• lifestyles
• social networks
• media consumption patterns

This information can help inform the subsequent decisions on how and where to promote the film. Although it is important to never lose sight of a films core audience, the distributors biggest challenge is always to attract as wide a spread as possible.

Other factors that are considered in the distribution plan are:

• What competition from other films will there be at the time of release?
• Will it appeal to a mass market, or a more discrete audience?
• Is there any star power amongst the cast?
• Is it a film with hopes for award nominations?
• Is it a film for a holiday period?
• What certificate will the film gave (BBFC- British Board of Film Classification)

Complementing the distribution plan, every film has a detailed marketing plan. The objective of this is to create visibility, raise awareness, and engage interest. This is done a huge variety of ways. Word of mouth is important for distributors as a personal recommendation form a friend etc could be the most powerful stimulus for a cinema visit. Posters are used, containing its stars names, genre, credits, and often a tagline to whet the audiences appetite. Another way is the films trailer which is probably the most cost effective marketing technique as its usually uses clips from the film that have already been recorded so little money is needed to produce one. A forth way is through the use of an online website, allowing the film to create more of a buzz on the internet.

Publicity also plays a huge part in the marketing of a film. Independently written news stories/reviews are more readily believed by public as the distributors don't pay to have them written.   

An example of a real-life successful marketing campaign is 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' from the distributor New Line Cinema. Their film poster and trailer worked successfully together to 'sell' the film to the general public.






  

Groups Initial Horror Movie Idea

Our story starts of with a normal family, with a young child who is known to sleep walk every night. Because of this the family decide to put a CCTV camera in her room so they can see what she does at night. However, weird things start to happen around the house such as her waking up with a knife in her hand and her writing in blood on the wall the parents can't explain why these things are happening.

Upon finding a diary hidden in the little girls room under the floorboards, of a previous family who lived in the house. They discover that their little girl is repeating events that happened to the previous family, however they can't piece together the full story as some pages are missing from the diary. They begin to panic, relying on the diary to figure out what might happen next, but with some pages missing they don't fully know what that might be.

Horror Mood Board

Things that I find scary include dark isolated places, such as forests, as well as creepy girls. I hope to be able to include a character like this in my own groups trailer.

Horror Trailer Examples

I have chosen this trailer as I really like some of the editing techniques used, in particular how it syncs the sound of a heartbeat with a different shot and flashing lights midway through. Another interesting shot shown in this trailer is when the mans head is grabbed by some hands above him. The sudden on screen appearance of the hands, coupled with a close up of the character beforehand would be effective in making the audience jump.

I believe this trailer could be useful for my groups coursework project as it achieves its horror through the use of a handheld camera. I would be interested in incorporating this shooting technique in our own trailer as it can create a sense of disorientation for the audience thus allowing them to relate to the on screen action in a much more realistic way.

Sound also plays a key role in this trailer. Using long peiods of silence, with loud bangs punctuating every edit point builds tension, and could be an interesting technique to use.

Some of the techniques portrayed in the 'insidious' trailer above could also be incorporated in an effective way in my groups work. The use of moving objects such as the rocking horse scares the audience as they can't see what's causing it to move. Sometimes not being able to see the monster can be scarier than seeing it on screen itself.

Silhouettes like the one seen in this trailer could also work in my groups work as its a relatively easy effect to achieve. They allow the stories protagonist to know the monster is near them, but because they can still see them in person suspense is built.

Narrative Theory

We applied the theories of four narrative theorists to the horror movie 'The Shining'. One of these theorists was Vladimir Propp who devised a list of narrative functions, and character types shared by 100's of folk tales which he believed were the basis of all stories. However, after applying his theory to 'The Shining' we realised there wasn't much of a correlation between the plot of the film and his list of 31 narrative functions. Some of the functions were present  in the film, but tended to be out of order to how Propp said they would be. On the other hand, his ideas on character roles in any story did tend to fit with those in 'The Shining' for example: a villain, donor, helper, hero, and victim were all present, however some characters tended to fit with more than one role such as Halloran.

Another theorist we attempted to apply to the film was Tzvetan Todorov who's ideas on narrative structure suggest that all stories begin with an equilibrium which is quite quickly disrupted by an event, setting in a chain of events.

A visual representation of Todorov's narrative structure theory

He said that problems are then solved so that order can be restored to the characters world. I would argue that this theory doesn't correlate with the plot of 'The Shining' however. The story line of this film plays out in a way where there isn't a one single event that majorly disrupts the status quo of the characters. Instead we see a steady decline into madness from Jack, which eventually leads to the climatic finale played out in the maze. Instead of seeing a series of problems being solved to restore equilibrium, I believe the situation in 'The Shining' steadily gets worse and worse, finishing with an abrupt solution to restore the normality back into the characters lives.

The third theorist we discussed was Claude Levi-Strauss, a French Anthropologist who in his theories, wasn't interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He instead looked for the deeper arrangement of themes in a story in terms of binary opposites. I believe his theory allows us to understand the meaning of the plot of 'The Shining' more so than the previous two theories as it allows us to consider the underlying themes in the story. The binary opposites expressed in this movie are:

• Good vs Evil (Jacks family and Jack himself)

• Past and Present (Past horrific events in the hotel, and the current story)

• Sanity and Madness (Wendy and Jack)

• Normal and Abnormal (Real life and Premonitions)

• Community and Isolation (The isolated hotel, or Jack isolating himself from his family)

By listing these themes, I can instantly see which characters can relate to which theme for example Wendy is shown to be good, and sane in 'The Shining', whereas Jack in stark contrast is portrayed as evil, and insane.

The fourth and final theory we discussed, in my opinion, best allows us to understand the narrative structure of this film. Bordwell and Thompson, two theorists who looked into the narrative structure of stories define narrative as "A chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space". This is a very interesting observation as for them narrative typically  begins with one situation, followed by a series of changes according to a pattern of cause and effect. However if we apply their ideas on time to 'The Shining', we can begin to fully understand the plot a lot more. The film appears to show the breakdown of time as the plot progresses. One way this is shown is through Jack's premonitions. He always appears to be talking to a figure from the past such as Delbert Grady, suggesting that the order of time has disappeared and the past has come crashing into the present. Whether this is actually happening, or just all in Jack's imagination is never fully suggested in the film. The audience is asked to determine what they believe to be reality as Jack can't for himself. Did Jack's Premonition really let him out of the locked pantry?

Jack's insanity reaching a whole new level

The intersecting titles showing when the events occur also show the breakdown of time in the film. To begin with we are given a definite order of events with titles such as '1 month later' and '1 week later', but later on we simply get given the particular days of the events such as ' Tuesday' and 'Saturday'. The audience begins to lose track on the connection between days and time, just as Jack is sinking further and further in to insanity.

Sigmund Freud 'The Return of the Repressed'

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis, and whom is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the mechanism of repression. He argued that traumatic memories can be hidden, buried deep in the unconscious mind. The repressed contents are out of the subjects control and are deemed as primitive instincts. He believes that repressed memories can explain numerous phenomena, being driven by an unconscious desire seeking to return to conscious awareness. He described his theory of 'the return of the repressed' as an explanation to why we often have horrific nightmares, or "Freudian slips" (slips of the tongue). Freud taught how we don't necessarily know what a repressed action could be, as we may unconsciously react to a situation because a certain bad memory that's been blocked, and hidden in the unconscious mind.

 What's interesting however is how the genre of horror has taken this theory and used it to explain the reasoning behind a serial killer in a movie. 'Halloween (1978)' is a prime example of this where Mike Myers returns to his childhood neighbourhood to kill innocent victims, based on the repressed memories of his traumatic killing of his sister as a child. This type of killer is depicted in many horror movie's, and by understanding Freud's theory, audiences can begin to understand how the mind of the movie killer works.


Although the narrative of a horror film can be explained using Freud's theories, another issue is raised. Why would an audience be willing to pay to scare themselves watching a horror film?
Freud suggested some ideas that could help explain this. His first idea toyed with the idea that throughout our adult lives, our repressed anger will try to escape and 'wreak havoc' in society. He suggested that by deliberately scaring ourselves, we are are in essence 'letting off steam' that has been building as this repressed anger tries to escape. Another idea he had said that our minds can relate to the fantasy world created in horror because similar feelings are trapped deep in our sub-conscious. We are drawn to the themes portrayed in horror at a primitive level.

In 'The Shining', Jack also appears to show a return of his repressed anger as he becomes insane



Horror Trailer Analysis

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) demonstrates a whole variety of typical conventions of the horror film genre. The setting's shown in the trailer are an example of this.

At the start we see a scene taking place in a warehouse in a very run down area. Warehouses are commonly used in horror because of the large, unfamiliar spaces they provide. Most of the trailer is also set a night time, which creates atmosphere by allowing for strange shadows and silhouettes to emerge and create suspense. The majority of the trailer is set in a suburban community which creates a sense of isolation, as well as inside the homes of the victims. Whats different about this film however is that the settings are often inside the dreams of the victims, allowing for surreal sets.

The use of technical code also helps to establish this as a horror film. Use of close ups on the victims faces are very common throughout and allow the audience to identify with the horror.The occasional long shot on a character is also used to make them seem isolated and alone. An interesting use of colour saturation is used occasionally to darken the mood of the film, for example in this graveyard scene low saturation is used:

Sound in this trailer is used subtly, and adds to the atomosphere created by the setting.

Expressive lighting is used in abundance in this trailer and helps create unfamiliar shadows, as well as sillohuettes of the murderer. By not showing the murderer on camera to begin with, tension is built and allows for a bigger scare to occur further along the road.

Other lighting techniques are used, such as the  direction of light is often from unexpected angles, for example in one scene candles cover the floor, and are the only light source, creating a dis-orientating ambience in the room. The iconography of childhood innocence is used throughout the trailer. For a great portion of it the only music is of some young girls singing a nursery rhyme. Also there are often quick takes of an array or young children which seems very creepy in the context of the film. These aspects all help to support Barthes struturalistic narrative theory of binary opposites.

The narrative structure of this film also seems very formulaic of a typical slasher movie: A past psychotic event, creates a killer who returns to a location in the future to kill a group of (usually stupid) teenagers. A 'final girl' is left at the end to fight the killer.  The 'final girl' is unambiguous, and is more of a victim/hero, rather than a simple hero.

Other character types include the main 'monster' who's been made psychotic by a past event, as well as a police force who are ineffectual. The useless police allows for the victims to seem even more isolated than they already are as they are without any help.

The themes expressed in this film are also typical of a horror movie. The film predominately is an example of binary opposites as it shows good vs evil, as well as the natural vs the unnatural as the main antagonist freddy krueger can haunt a victims dreams. Freddy is a prime example of the 'hidden evil inside'.