Theoretical research

1. THEORETICAL RESEARCH

2. L O T T I E S E AT O N
AUTEUR THEORY

3. WHAT IS AUTEUR THEORY
• Auteur theory is the distinctive creative influence the director has over the
creation of the film. Some directors are often known as auteur as opposed to
a director they are also known as the “author of the film” because of their
distinctive creative control.

4. EXAMPLES OF AUTEUR THEORY
• An example of auteur theory would be Alfred Hitchcock who is also one of the
best thriller directors as well.
• This is shown by his ability and tendency to build tension up to the point it is
expected by the audience but then also carry that on in till a later point in the
film create an a shock to the audience as they didn’t think the tension would
be released in that point of the film.
• Also Hitchcock’s views are often shown through his use of plotline and
characters

5. HOW WE WILL USE AUTEUR THEORY
• We will use Auteur theory in our final production by using the characters we
use in our production to reflect the view of the directors and reflect society
the way the directors views this following the conventions of the thriller genre
and some unconventional elements of our film.

6. L O T T I E S E AT O N
GENRE THEORY

7. WHAT IS GENRE THEORY AND EXAMPLES
• Genre theory is a characterisation of a certain subject (film) due to its themes
or conventions. Examples of genre’s are horror, thriller and comedy etc.
• Conventions are elements you would expect to be in a certain type of film
such as blood in a horror film. But some films can not follow the conventions
of there genre and are considered unconventional of there genre.
• Many films can fit in certain sub-genres of films such as thriller horror,
psychological thrillers or crime thrillers or sci-fi to name a few.

8. HOW WE WILL USE GENRE THEORY
• We will be making a film in the genre of thriller, most likely in the subgenre of
crime thriller or a psychological thrillers.
• At this point I believe we will most likely mainly follow stereotypical
conventions of the thriller genre.
• However we may later decide to go away from stereotypical conventions to
make our film different and unique from other films in the thriller genre.

9. R E P R E S E N T A T I O N T H E O R I E S
S T O R M A D A M S
THEORETICAL RESEARCH

10. THE THEORY
• Representation theory includes how media sources – whether they be
newspapers, magazines, television shows, or movies – convey to the
reader/viewer things about certain stories, whether they be about society or
about a piece of technology.
• Something presented through media sources is, rarely, the same as seeing it
for yourself.
• Representation can change, depending on race, age, gender, creed, religion,
political adherence or social class.
• Representations can differ depending on who is viewing the representation
(e.g. a man looking at a naked woman may have different feelings to the
same image being seen by a female).

11. THE THEORY
• Media audiences view these representations in different ways; some are
passive, and so receive information without knowing it – this is known as the
Hypodermic Model.
• The two-step flow theory will see a representation spread via information
from one person receiving it from the media source spreading it to their peers
(with two steps). This is more common.

12. FOR EXAMPLE...
• Soap operas are presented as being in real life, and the audiences are made to
believe that this could happen in real life. Despite the high volume of disaster
experiences, such as explosions, murders, and assaults (mental and physical), as
well as the lies, deceit, sex, drugs, alcohol and other such events, the audiences do
become one with the story, and talk about it as if it has actually happened (e.g. What
do you think X is going to do in Y?')
• In terms of the news, the stories we receive are dictated to us as the most
important, despite the fact that this is subjective; stories about local charity events
may get more coverage than a natural disaster in Southeast Asia, and this is down
to those who decide what we see and they are the ones who decide how things are
represented and how we should perceive the world around us.

13. REGARDING OUR PROJECT
• With regards to our project, and how we are going to represent the world and
characters in our media piece, the general aim is to present a world that is not void
of reality and real-life events.
• The events that occur in our opening will be reflective of real life (e.g. if it is a
disaster film, the set and characters would be representatives of the world that we
currently live in - i.e. characters and locations we can identify with).
• The storyline will also be linked with real life events. For example, we will avoid
extraterrestrial plots and opt for a disaster or a murderous story (e.g. a nuclear war
or a serial killer on the loose). These stories would resonate with the audiences
more; they can feel more included in the story as they know it could and
has happened. This will allow us to put forward our representations and make
audiences feel a certain way.

14. REGARDING OUR PROJECT
• We will also do this by taking advantage of audience gratifications; we know that
audiences get gratification from seeing events and/or locations that they know of or
have been to. As a result, we will try and replicate familiar events and/or do these in
places where people have been to.
• The resulting effect is that the storyline is a lot more hard-hitting; people can
personally make a link with the characters in the storyline and be able to put
themselves in that position. Any event that occurs may influence the audience to
think in such a way (e.g. if someone needs to kill another person, the audience may
feel sympathetic because they think they would do the same thing in that situation;
they are aware of the location and/or character types and can make a reasoned
judgment as a result – this will be our way of influencing people's perception of the
world around them).

15. S C O T T B RYA N
AUDIENCE THEORIES

16. THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY
• The model was one of the earliest audience theories and was based on very limited
knowledge of how audience's would react to a piece of media.
• This simply describe the form of media and the information it gives being directly
taken in by an audience with little to no mediation on their part, this lead producers
to believe that an audience would take in information or an opinion that is presented
in a media will be believed without question.
• During the 1920’s and onwards this theory would have been used mainly in radio
and the newspapers in order to sway the publics opinion on certain subjects, these
would most likely have been about the ‘enemies’ of the corresponding countries. For
example the UK and US reporting on ‘The Red Menace’. However this theory
should hold little bearing over the direction of the final piece due to it being old and
redundant.

17. TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY
• Upon the realisation that the Hypodermic Model was wildly inaccurate. Instead it
became believed that a media text was mediated through people known as ‘opinion
leaders’ whom would filter their opinions down those who are less aware, thus giving
the opinion leaders influence over them.
• This would then lead to audiences mediating information given to them by their
respective information leader, hence giving it a ‘Two-Step Flow’
• This could be utilised during our production as it would narrow down the audience
we would need to cater to and allowing them to pass a mediation of that down to the
rest of the audiences. However this theory , like the Hypodermic Needle, has
become obsolete given that more is now know about how audiences take in
information and again, will not be used in relation to the final piece.

18. RECEPTION THEORY
• This theory extends the idea of an active audience, this time it is done through the
use of what is called ‘preferred reading’ this means the audience accepts the
information in an uncritical manner. However, of course, some audiences will partial
or wholly disagree (reject the message based on individual circumstances
(negotiated and oppositional respectively)).
• This leads to the use of audience expectation shown within a specific genre based
on or the use of certain film stars in order to maximise the chance of a ‘preferred
reading’.
• This theory would be usable for our final piece as we would need to use the
audiences expectations of our specific genre (Thriller) in order to increase the
chances of achieving a preferred reading from our audience and decreasing the
chance of the audience rejecting the intended reading.

19. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
• Uses and gratification theory describes four sub-sections, these being: Social
Solidarity, Surveillance, Division/Entertainment and Personal Identity.
• We would also need to bear this theory in mind when making our production
as we would need to analyse what a section of an audience is needing to get
our of our piece of media, dividing each of these up into their respective
categories.

20. S C O T T B RYA N
NARRATIVE THEORY

21. PROPP’S THEORY
• Propps Theory describes 7 types of character types that are found most
commonly within most films. It is used mainly to allow audiences to easily
identify with the motivations of each character and is mainly used within films
that follow a generic plot structure.
• In my opinion it would be a better idea if we were to subvert this genre and
blur the lines between certain character types given that our film is centred in
the thriller genre and many other films in this genre have done the
same(“Memento”) in order to use the audiences own expectations against
them.

22. TODOROV'S THEORY
• This theory describes the balance or equilibrium of a certain storyline and the
subsequent disarray that appears to be out of the protagonists hands, this is
then resolved and equilibrium is returned.
• This is a very basic theory but finds itself in every film that does not contain a
misleading or ambiguous ending and, given that we are only filming the
opening, should be followed due to the fact that given the short time frame it
may confuse audiences.

23. BARTHES’ THEORY
• Within this theory the narrative conventions are split into five separate sub-
section, these are: Action, Enigma, Symbolic, Semic and Cultural. Each of
these are incredibly important to a narrative storyline with action and enigma
being obvious, Symbolic and Semic being what is connotations and
denotations respectively, with Cultural being one of the most important as it
will allow an audience to associate certain elements or lines of dialogue to a
certain genre.
• This will be an important element with our final piece as it will allow
audiences to associate our film opening with its corresponding thriller genre.