2. 1.Textual Analysis
What genre is your film, and how is it defined in your trailer/poster/magazine cover?
My film is a thriller; this is defined in my poster and magazine cover via the dark
colouration of the picture giving it an almost mysterious feel to it also with the house
style I have chosen black and reds. Reds symbolise danger and aggression whilst. It can
also be associated with fear and unknowing. All themes that I wish to explore
throughout my film trailer. I have chosen to use an almost scratchy looking font, this
font looks like I could have been carved with a knife or scratched with finger nails. I
have chosen to use this font to almost mirror ‘Hanna’s title; It also adds to the strength
of the film- It also visually shows the audience what to expect from this film without
seeing any of it already. The image on both my magazine and film poster will have
direct mode of address as the protagonist will be looking directly at the camera helping
to stimulate an interaction between the image and the audience.
In my film trailer I am highlighting the thriller convention by my fast pace editing and
constant switching of various powerful camera angles e.g. extreme close ups, mid shots
etc.; this will ‘keep the audience on their toes’. I will continue the dark colouration that
I have in my magazine front cover and my film poster; this is through the use of
shadows and an evening/night time shooting. My trailer follows the classic thriller
convention, it starts off slowly then as the equilibrium breaks (In the case of my
film, the government shows up to try and get her) the pace really fastens. Music will
also follow this layout of slow pace- relaxing peaceful music then speed up to a more
aggressive past paced song to highlight the action and tension of the trailer.
3. 2. Narrative
Setting:
I have chosen to set my film trailer in my local woods- this is because
it is unrecognisable to audience members also outside gives the film
a more natural feel and I do not have the fund to hire out a set that
would look real/ authentic enough for my film. A lot of thrillers start
off set outside for example Hanna and Deadfall. I have chosen to
follow this thriller convention.
Binary Opposites:
My main protagonist- Nina VS. the government
Nina VS freedom
Purity VS. corruption
4. Characters:
I am trying to steer away from the stereotypical character types that Vladimir Propp stated- He concluded
that all the characters could be resolved into 8 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed:
The villain — struggles against the hero.
The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their quest.
The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of
an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the
princess, thereby beating the villain.
Her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during
the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father cannot be clearly distinguished.
The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess
I am trying to steer away from these characters in the conventional sense for example the princess will not
actually be a character in my film but Nina’s freedom and knowledge of her past. Nina is my protagonist
and it is quite rare for a female to be the protagonist in a thriller film, but in these modern times where
feminism is taking a higher effect than it has in the past it is becoming more acceptable for a female to star
in a thriller this has been made acceptable by films such as Salt. I surveyed a 15 people and all fifteen
stated that they wouldn’t be against watching a film like mine but they did agree that having a male cast as
the protagonist in an action/thriller is the norm especially as the female in thrillers are normally killed off
first. I think it adds to the shock of the film to show the strongest almost ruthless character as a young
female as it has rarely been done.
5. Equilibrium – disequilibrium/disruption – new
equilibrium
My film sort of starts out with a disequilibrium missing out the
equilibrium section so I have altered it to show Nina prior to the killing
of her friend just running free in the woods having fun like an innocent
young girl would. I think creating an equilibrium to start with allows for
a bigger impact when the main events occur rather than everything
being action, action, action.
Equilibrium – Her life before the government come after her
disequilibrium/disruption – Government come after her.
new equilibrium- She ‘gets rid’ of those chasing her so she can now live
her life in peace.
6. Themes
• Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological
themes, stalking, confinement/death-traps, horror-of-personality, and obsession.
• Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in
paranoid thrillers.
• Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and
electronic surveillance in spy thrillers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#Themes_and_character
s
In my thriller I have merged psychological thriller and spy thriller
themes- both of these are sub-genres of thriller.
The themes that I have chosen to explore in my film are:
-The loss of Childhood - Illusions
-Stalking - Portrayal of females
-Assassins
-Trust
7. Emotion content
My films due to the genre it is doesn’t portray
happiness, heartbreak or any of those typical chick flick
emotions. I do not even have a very emotional crying scene as
I want my girl to be shown as very strong.
I want my film to be packed with thrills rather than emotion
without alienating the audience by them not being able to
connect so I do need to incorporate some key emotional
moments. I do not want them in my trailer though as I want
to advertise the action elements rather than the entire story
but if I was to create the entire film the ‘emotional’ moments
would be:
- Seeing a flash back of her isolation in the woods- how she
got there/why she’s there
8. Enigma codes
Enigma codes intense the audience members whilst
also driving the story forward. The enigma codes for
Bellatrix are:
• Where are her parents?
• Why is she like this?
• Who trained her?
• Why is it only now she is a threat?
• Are the threats over by the end of the film or will
there be more and lead to a sequel?
9. 3. Representation
• In your film trailer/poster/magazine cover how have
gender/race/age been represented?
In my film I am trying to steer away from the stereotypical sweet innocent
young girl image where they are so helpless and need to be rescued by a male
character, so I have made my protagonist a young female. This may be a shock
to the older generations but I think that in these modern times it is becoming
more the norm. and I wish to contribute to that but at the same time I am not
a radical feminist I do not want to show men as all evil so I have got my leader
of the government group against Nina as a female.
I have cast Nina as a young female as I think younger generations can possibly
connect more with her more as they will be of a similar age but also having a
young character adds to the shock of the horrible things she’s doing and having
to go through at such a young age.
My casting choice has meant that Nina is played by a white British female, this
is due to the fact I knew no willing actors of other ethnicities. I do not think
that this will alter the way that audience view my protagonist and I do not
think that they will empathise more or less with her due to her ethnicity.
10. 4. Audience
Who is your target audience?
I would say my preferred audience would be young females 12-20 years of age. This is
because any younger and they wont be able to view the film due to some of the
language used and scenes of violence but also as the protagonist is of the same gender
and similar age they might be able to connect with the story a lot better than any
other age group/gender.
I would say my negotiated audience would be young males as although they might not
really connect with the female protagonist they might find her attractive enough to
watch the film and also when I surveyed 10 males aged 17-54 they majority said that
their favourite type of films were action or thrillers.
I would say that my oppositional audience would be ages under 12 as it will be rated a
12 and also the elderly. I think that it would be too shocking for the elderly. Also
middle aged people may find it boring or just not their cup of tea. I asked a female
aged 42 and she stated ‘I really like the concept and as thrillers go I would actually be
interested in watching it but thrillers aren’t my cup of tea in general I’m afraid.’
11. How does your film trailer/poster/magazine cover
target that audience?
• My trailer will indicate that the film contains a lot of
action without showing too much of it- I will do this
with over the shoulder shots, fast pans, fast tracking
etc.
• My magazine will help to target my audience as it
will contain a free poster of Nina and it will also
contain a perfume sample. The perfume sample is
to entice in the female audience and the poster is
for both genders.
