Applying Burtons Theory To Our Synopsis.

Below I have applied Burtons genre theory to our synopsis for 'The Possession':

 

Target Audience

Today we decided that the target market of The Possession will be people aged between 15-30. We picked this age group as we feel they will be the people that relate to and understand the film the most.
Below is collage of things people within our target market are interested in.

Screen Play

Below is our screen play for The Possessions trailer:

screen play - slideshow with music

Planning; creating our screenplay

Today in class me & my group began writing the screen play for our horror trailer, this is one of the most important parts of our planning!  Dialogue is extremely important in our trailer as it engages the audience and helps tell the story.  To write our screen play we used a software called Celtx. Celtx is a brilliant pre-production software designed for creating and organising media products like scritps, screenplays and  films etc.  While writing our screen play we found ourselves having to make decisions on several things such as locations, text, pace and sound effects, this is something that took a lot of thought and time as we had to ensure we made the best decisions. By looking at our character profiles we were able to identify how each of the characters spoke which helped us write their individual dialogues. After writing out each of the scenes we then arranged them into order, trailers are almost always in non-chronological order , this influenced our decisions here. Arranging the scenes enabled us to picture the trailer in our minds, this helped us judge the trailer and identify areas which needed editing.

The Possession - Character List

Protagonist:

Clarissa

Clarissa Campbell is an 18 year old female who lives in Hackney; she shares her home with her schizophrenic mother who is completely reliant on her. Clarissa’s mum cannot work; they are poor and depend on benefits from the government.
Clarissa goes to LaSwap 6^th Form College where she is a popular student amongst teachers and students. She has 2 best-friends (Ryanna & Mya) who are sometimes seen as her groupies.
Stock Characters:

Carol (Clarissa's mum)
Carol Campbell is the mother of Clarissa. She is a schizophrenic and is unable to survive without the help of her daughter. Because of her disability Carol is unable to provide for her daoughter, she spends most of her day in front of the TV rocking back and forth in her chair.

Edna Wallis
Edna Wallis is the owner of the antique store, she is 98 and has worked in the shop for most of her life. She is very weak and frail, sadly on the night of the riots she is knocked to the ground and killed. However her spirit is contained in a locket which possesses Clarissa in seak of revenge.

Ryanna
Rynanna is an 18 year old girl, she is best friends with Clarissa and Mya. She goes to LaSwap 6th Form College and lives in Tottenham. Ryanna's parents are very strict, at home she is the perfect daughter but when shes at school or with her friends her true personality comes out - shes rebelious and likes to drink and party all night.

Mya
Mya is another 18 years old girl that goes to LaSwap 6th Form College. Shes bestfriends with Clarissa and Mya, and like them lives in Tottenham.

Jayden
Jayden is 18, he is male and goes to LaSwap 6th Form College. He is in love with Clarissa but she sees him as a friend, because of this he has always been too affraid to tell her. Over the years Jaydens love has turned in to an obsession, he often stalks Clarissa without her knowing. After the night of the riots Jayden and Clarissa become a lot closer and together they try and figure out who's killing their friends.

Synopsis

The Possession
Clarissa is an ordinary 18 year old girl who lives in Tottenham; she shares her home with her schizophrenic mother who needs constant care and attention. At school Clarissa is very popular amongst everybody; she and her 2 best friends Mya and Ryanna are always having fun and getting into trouble. On the 7^th of August violent riots break out in Tottenham, police lose control and watch on as protestors destroy private property, steal from shops, and set fire to buildings. Clarissa and her friends decide to go out and join in with the riot in the hope of stealing goods they otherwise couldn’t afford. When Clarissa arrives she follows a group of people into an old antique store. Edna Wallis (the owner of the shop) tries her best to protect her antiques and chase away the looters; however she is knocked to the ground and killed. Clarissa sees Edna's body lying dead on the floor and notices she is wearing a large gold locket; she grabs the locket and runs away. From that moment on Clarissa’s life changes dramatically - one by one her friends and family are brutally murdered, and in a heart-retching battle against time she must figure out what’s happening and save her loved ones from the unknown killer.

Synopsis Background

The synopsis for my groups horror film is based on the London riots, this is a very recent and contreversial subject that many people can relate to. To help us write our synopsis we did some research into the riots, in this post I have gathered news videas and images.

Setting - The Void

To film part of are trailer we needed an setting that is destroyed and full of rubble. The void fits this desciption perfectly and is easily accessable to me & my group. Below are some images I took of the void:

Music For Our Trailer!

Today we had a meeting with a music artist called Awate. We explained to him the story line of our film and told him what themes we hoped to project. He then gave us permission to use his non copy-righted music and suggested a few songs that would help express our themes!
We decided to use Awates music in our trailer as he is from London - the same place we aim to set our film, and so his lyrics should help reflect the opinions of our characters.
Above is a video of Awate performing his song - 'Flame on'.

Themes In The Possession

We have now decided on the name of our horror film, and also on the themes which will feature in the film. These decisions should help us write our synopsis!

Name:The Possession

Themes:

• Stealing - Would you take it if you could?
• Revenge - Do 2 wrongs make a right?

Naming Our Horror FIlm!

We have now decided on a name for our horror film:
'The Possession'
We chose this name as we feel it represents what the film is about. In the film the protagonist is possessed by a locket, this relates to the title in two ways:

1. The locket is a possession originally belonging to Edna.
2. The locket possesses Clarissa after she steals it.

Applying Todorov's Theory To A Trailer!

In this post I will be applying todorovs theory to the Scream 4 trailer! Below you can watch the trailer:



Equilibrium: There is no equilibrium! As its a trailer there is no time to show the audience what normality is like, the audience needs to be sucked in straight away!
Disruption: The trailer begins with a phone call from the famous villain 'Ghost Face' - this is the first and most dramatic disruption as it signifies the return of the killer!
Recognition: After the phone calls people are murdered and the whole town is aware and fearful of the killer, at school the stock characters discuss the rules of a horror & how they have changed.
Repair: 3 of the main characters are desperatly trying to figure out who 'Ghost face' is in a bid to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Resolution: we are not shown the resolution of the film, this is because the purpose of the trailer is to create mystery and encourage people to go watch the film - and so if the trailer revealed the resolution there would be no need to watch the film. In this case we can we can estimate that the resolution will occur when they figure out who ghost face is.

Applying Todorov's Theory To A Film...

In this post I will be applying Todorovs theory to the film 'Bridesmades':

Equilibrium: At the start we are introduced to the main character Annie who is in a casual relationship with a man she likes. We are made aware of the fact that she is unhappy with her love life and career.

Disruption: Annies best friend Lillian announces that she's engaged and asks her to be maid of honour, Annie acts happy but is aware that her Lillian is moving on with her life and shes concerened about how things will change. Annie is then introduced to Helen, one of Lillians bridesmaids, there is immediate competition between the pair who are both jelous of eachothers friendships with Lillian. Annie breaks ends her casual relationship.

Recognition: Annie realises that Helen is setting her up and trying to ruin her relationship with Lillian and take over as maid of honour. So she tries pulling out all the stocks to impress the bride. Annie also meets Officer Nathan, and in her hour of need the pair hes exactly what she needs.

Repair: Annie realises that the competition is damaging her friendship with Lillian and ruining her wedding, and after a huge row with her she quits and lets Helen take over as maid of honour. Meanwhile Annie also realises that she wants to be with officer Nathan.

Resolution: Lillian disappears on the morning of her wedding and Helen has no choce but to seek help from Annie, she finds Lillian and talks her into returning home to get married. After saving the day Annie recieves an apology from Helen and the pair realize they have a lot in common. Officer Nathan turnes up to the wedding, him and Annie solve their problems and repair their relationship. 

Todorov's Theory

Todorov's theory looks at narrative structures within a movie.
His theory states that all narrative structures follow 5 different stages; equilibrium, disruption, recognition, repair & resolution. Below I have explained these 5 stages:

1. In the beginning of the film there is always a state of equilibrium, all is calm, normal and balanced, nothing is wrong at this stage
2. A disruption to the equilibrium would then occur, things begin to turn for the worst, and the equilibrium becomes distorted 
3. Then there is recognition of the disruption; characters realize that there is something wrong and that they need to do something about it
4. An attempt to repair the disruption is then made; events will occur to try restore what's gone wrong
5. Finally there is a resolution; all is restored and a new equilibrium is made

Testing Mulveys Male Gaze Theory

In this post I will testing Mulveys theory against two horror film trailers; Grave Encounters & Tucker Dale Vs Evil.

Grave Encounters:



This trailer supports Mulveys thoery in many ways. All the main characters are male, the female characters simply support the male lead. Throughout the whole trailer we can hear screams from the female characters, this shows their vulnerability and helplessness, which contrasts the male characters who contain themselves well in dificult situations.In the trailer we see a girl in her nighty, this costume is very revieling and the camera appears to stare at her for a short while from eye level, this is an example of how females are seen through the male gaze as sexual objects.

Tocker Dale Vs Evil:



This trailer supports Mulveys male gaze theory even more then  the Grave Encounters trailer does, this is because all the female characters are wearing revealing costumes whereas the male characters arent. One of the female characters also says 'did you see the way he was looking at us', this is ironic as the male gaze camera is constantly watching them throughout the film. Also, the male characters are alot stronger then the females who are passive to them, this emphasizes the females vulnerability and presents them as the weeker sex.

Mulvey's Male Gaze - Audience Theory!

In the presentation below I have explained Mulvey's male gaze theory:

Investigating common stock characters in slaher horror!

Films Cool - Plotting

Films Cool is a unique programme my media class is taking part in which allows us to speak to media industry proffessionals and get their feed back on our work. During this weeks session me & my group started planning our ideas for a horror film synopsis. Below you can see pictures of our ideas.

Observations Into Burtons Genre Theory!

In this post I will be testing Burtons theory against 3 films; Orphan, Scream 4 & Final Destination 5.

Below I have listed my observations of Burtons theory, examples of films demonstrating these observations can be seen in red:

• Most horror films take place in the private sphere which illustrates a danger within the home (a place noramly considered as safe). Down turn in society and a lack of hope at being saved increases vulvnarability. Examples that demonstrate this are: Dont Be Afriaid Of The Dark, Scream, Drag Me To Hell, Insidious, Orphan.
• Stock characters are always realted to each other in one way or another. Common stock characters are groups of young adults each representing positive or negative aspects of society. This mainly applies to slasher horrors like: Piranna, Tucker Dale Vs Evil, Scream 4, Final Destination.
• Some horrors explore the theme truth Vs deciet in the form of cover ups or new found tapes, for example: Rec, Quarintine, Blair Witch, Appollo 18, Paranormal Activity.
• Stock situations invole murder, torture, mind games, physical torture, revenge & sibling rivalry. These things mainly involve victims that have sinned. This applies to All Horrors.
• Often the hero protagonist uncovers the truth in an envirnment of non believers, for example: Orphan, Scream, Dont Be Affraid Of The Dark.
• The theme of voyerism comes through the use of being given access to areas we might not otherwise reach. This can be seen in all horror films.

Does Burtons Theory work?

My research into horror films has lead me to conclude that Burtons genre theory is true. By looking at lots of different horror films I am able to identify lots of conventional elements which are repeated throughtout the genre. This proves the theory of repetition and veriation and also shows how genres each have specific features(features of the horror genre can be seen above).
A balance between repetition and veriation is however vital towards the success of a movie, this is because each movie should try and bring something new to the table which hasnt been seen before, and at the same time include recognisable features of its specific genre. Without veriation all films belonging to a genre would simply be repeating themselves, and so nobody would want to watch them, this demonstrates why the balance is so important
Burtons theory looks at several key elements, all of these elements are equally as important, for example, it is impossible for me to imagine a horror film without stock characters.This alone is enough evidence to prove how correct Burtons theory is.

Looking into Burtons theory has helped me with my planning as I now have a much deeper understanding of what features make up the horror genre. I am also now confident that my trailer will express the theme of horror as I will be including all of Burtons key elements into my sypnopsis.