Todrov's Theory applied to our production "The Disturbed"

Todorov's theory states that a film and a trailer can be broken down into five sections. These sections are an equilibrium at the start, a disruption of that equilibrium, a recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair the disruption and the final stage of where the equilibrium is restored. In our film we applied three parts of this theory. The first section of the trailer focuses on the character of Cory in his house, which seems to be an uneventful scene as he seems relaxed. Then Cory is followed and murdered in the woods-showing the disruption of the equilibrium. Other characters in the film recognise the disappearance of the victim and are then targeted themselves. The trailer then ends with a bloody hand print on the door suggesting our protagonist, Rachel, is in trouble. This flouts Todrov's theory as the equilibrium is left un-restored and instead an enigma is created, leaving the audience with more questions than answers. 

The Cultivation Theory applied to our production "The Disturbed"

The theory states that repeated exposure to the same message, such as an advertisement, will have an effect on the audiences attitudes and values. A similar idea is know as desensitisation-which suggests that long term exposure to violent media makes the audience less likely to be shocked by violence and more likely to behave in that manner. We apply George Gerbner's Cultivation theory to our film by using a black hooded murderer as the main antagonist. We also use the idea of a girl home-alone and being vulnerable in her own home which has a horrifying effect on the audience; they believe it could easily happen to them, even in the sanctuary of their own home. The mise-en-scene of the antagonist is another way we incorporated the theory into our film as the antagonist wore a black hoodie-creating a negative perception of those who wear hoodies, causing the audience to see them as dangers. The black hoodie could also be associated with gangs which could make the audience fearful of gang culture.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory applied to our production "The Disturbed"

Our film also makes use of the Uses and Gratifications theory which states that there are five reasons why audiences consume media products-to be informed and educated, to identify with characters and situations, to be entertained, to be able to socialise by discussing the film and to escape from everyday life. Four of these are applied to our film but we do not inform or educate the audience as the purpose is to frighten and entertain them.  Our audience will have many reasons to watch our film, one of which would be to identify with the characters. In our film, the characters have day to day lives that our audiences could relate to. They also offer different vices and virtues that, we like to think, our audience can relate to. The opening "Based on a true story" also allows the audience to relate to the film; it was a true event that could possibly happen to them. Another reason why our audience would enjoy our film is because its' main focus is to terrify and entertain the audience as they are left trembling in their seats. The third reason would be to offer escapism as our film allows the audience to follow the lives of other people and see how they deal with the terrifying situation they have found themselves in. It also allows the audience to immerse themselves in a world distant from their own-allowing to forget their problems and enjoy the film. The final reason of socialising and discussing aspects of the film can also be applied; there are many enigmas established throughout the film, leaving the audience with more questions than answers which could prompt a discussion to see the views of others.

The Male Gaze Theory applied to our production "The Disturbed"

The Male Gaze theory states that films are from a male perspective and objectify women, such as in Cabin in the Woods. This theory can also be applied to our film as we use two women in our trailer, in which one of them wears provocative clothing. However only one of the women has a main speaking role whereas the other is only there to fulfil the satisfaction of the male viewers. The plot does, however, focus on the female character of Rachel as she is the main protagonist and the character to solve and stop the killings in Surrey. This subverts the theory as the woman plays a bigger part than the male characters, which allows the film to appeal to both sexes as it does not, solely, focus on one gender.

Research and Planning

What real media and audiences did you look at?

We looked at a variety of different horror films such as 'Cabin In The Woods', 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. We looked at these films because these all adhere to many of the typical conventions of a horror film. This meant we were able to take on board what we have seen in these films and work them into our film. This would mean that our film would be more recognisable as a horror film to our audience. This would make our film more enjoyable for the audience.
We also looked at our target audience. We looked at individuals who had a keen interest in horror films. We did this because they would know the typical conventions in a horror film. This meant when we questioned them about what they would like to see in our film it would be reliable and accurately similar to real horror films, therefore making our film similar to successful well known horror films. We used the same media and audiences for both AS and A2. We did this because we chose horror as the genre for both our media productions which meant all our research was relevant to both our productions. For our AS production we had to construct a two minute opening, so we looked at successful horror film openings. However, for A2 we needed to construct a trailer so we looked at horror film trailers such as House At The End Of The Street.



How did they inform your thinking about your media production?

The real audiences we looked at informed us about what they would like to see in our horror film.
This helped us with ideas for our 2 minute opening and trailer as they would be our target audience so we wanted to include things they most wanted to see. Also, if we made it appealing to the small sample of people we looked at, it would most likely appeal to a much wider audience.


How did you record all that research?

We recorded our research for our AS production by analysing two minute openings and making a note of what conventions the openings have adhered to. We could then use these conventions in our own film to make it more appealing to the audience. For A2 we used the same method, however instead of analysing two minute openings, we analysed horror film trailers. These informed us about what we should included in our trailer, therefore making it more conforming to the horror genre.

What primary research was undertaken?

AS: The primary research we undertook for our AS production was a questionnaire that we distributed to a number of people. The type of questions we included were about where they would most like to see the location for the film set, which murder weapon they preferred and if the murderer should have an iconic costume. The purpose of this questionnaire was to get an idea about what our typical audience members expected to see. This meant that we were able to adapt our opening two minutes to live up to the audiences expectations which, in turn, would make our film more enjoyable for our audience.

A2: The primary research we undertook for our A2 production was the same as what we did for AS. We kept the same method for extracting our primary data as it was the most effective way to reliable results.



How did it inform the production?

AS: We were able to understand what our target audience most wanted to see in our film e.g. murder weapon, location etc. So, as the most popular location was a woods we set the location for our film in a woods. This meant the audience would be most likely to enjoy watching our film as they would prefer the location.

A2: Similar to AS it meant we were able to include what the audience most wanted to see into our trailer. We changed some of our ideas in order to cooperate with the audiences preferences. E.g location.



What is the effectiveness of these kinds of research?

For both AS and A2 this research was very effective as it provided us with up to date information about our target audiences preferences. This meant we were able to adapt our production in order to suit our audience which would make it more enjoyable for them.



What quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were employed?

For both AS and A2 the quantitative analysis methods we used were questionnaires. We used closed questions in our questionnaire which meant the individuals answering the questionnaire had to chose one of the answers we had written on the page. This meant we were able to get a quantitative result which made it easier for us to understand what are target audience's preferences are.

The qualitative analysis methods we used were interviews with target audience members. This meant that we were able to get unique answers from each individual but could also be relatable to other target audience members.

How did the results from these inform the production?

These results informed the production as we were able to determine what our target audience would like to see, which allowed us to successfully modify our film ideas to adhere to what the audience wants to see.



What is the effectiveness of these kinds of research?

These kinds of research are extremely effective as it means we were able to successfully adapt our film to suit the audiences tastes. This means that they would be most likely to enjoy our film. It also means our film is likely to be successful as we know that from our research we are including things the audience wants to see. This lessens the risk of failure for our film.

Evaluation Activity 4

Adobe Premiere Elements 10- We used Adobe Premiere Elements 10 to edit our film. We decided to choose adobe because it was fairly simple and easy to use. Our film was only just after one minute long so we didn't need to use really complicated software to edit. Also because our film was relatively simple we didn't need anything too complicated. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 was best suited to our film. The group and I have no experience in editing as we have never edited before so we also didn't want to use anything too complicated otherwise it would of taken us too long to edit which would have pushed back our finishing time. Despite Adobe Premiere Elements 10 being fairly simple in our editing process, it did offer a variety of different effects and transitions. This was good because it allowed us to choose between different effects and transitions which would best fit in with our film to make it the best it can be.

Blogger- We used blogger to upload everything we have done throughout the year. Blogger was an effective website that we used as we were able to document our progress and keep a track of everything we have done. It has showed our journey right from the very start up until now so it allows us to see the progress we have made over the past few months.

Camera- The camera we used was a DV1 camera. This was the most important aspect in the making of our film because it was the item that captured our film. It was a decent camera as it did the basics (take pictures, film etc.) however it was not as good as we would have hoped. The picture was fairly clear however we had issues with zooming. Throughout our film we needed to zoom in during one of our shots however we were not able to do this. This was because when you zoomed in during one of the shots it was very jumpy which resulted in a very bad quality clip. This therefore meant that we could not zoom in during our shots.




Youtube- We used youtube to share our finished product with our audience. It is very simple to use so did not cause us any problems when it came to sharing our film. Youtube also played a big part in our research. We were able to watch other openings to films of our genre and get ideas from them and also see the conventions they follow and if they subvert any of the conventions. This helped us establish what we needed to do to make our film successful.

Evaluation Activity 2

Our poster, magazine and trailer all compliment each other as they are part of a consistent and recognisable advertisement campaign. Each one was unique and had a different format-allowing our audience to see the film from a different aspect.

The main, and most obvious, link between them is the establishment of its horror genre. Each of the pieces included the props from the film,including a knife and dark hooded clothing-which is a clear indication to the genre. It was most difficult to make the magazine cover look like a horror magazine as we had to use various pictures, a mix of original and existing pictures, to compliment the final picture. We also had to make it look as sinister as the poster and did this by creating a fogged out background-setting the scene for the trailer. We gave prevalence to the main antagonist in both the poster and the magazine because we wanted to create an idea that this antagonist would not disappear and be every where you look. This made it clear that the main focus of the trailer would be the antagonist and this is evidenced in the trailer as we have various POV shots from the antagonist-to allow the audience to experience the antagonists side instead of the protagonists side, like many other horror films do. This gave the campaign its own unique feature; films usually focus on the protagonist and aim to make the audience feel for them where as we aimed to make the audience become, a sort of, detective in order to work out the mystery-viewing from the perspective of the antagonist and from a neutral perspective. At the same time we also focused on the main protagonist, Rachel, in the trailer by showing her to be different to the other characters and was also given prevalence in the trailer. This follows Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary oppositional forces; the stories focus on the conflict between opposite forces, in this case it is between good and evil. To make this binary opposition clear we had the the main protagonist wear white casual clothing and the main antagonist wear black hooded clothing-which makes it easily recognisable for the audience. The trailer supports this theory as the first half focuses on the antagonist, including POV shots, and the second half focuses on the protagonist and how she will survive this masked murderer.

The next obvious feature that links our campaign together is the title of the film; it is on all three pieces and is, hopefully, one of the main focal points.The titles on all three pieces is big and bold-with the most obvious part being the blood splatter behind the white text. This allows our audience to identify our advertising campaign and understand that they are all related. On the magazine front cover, the viewer will recognise the antagonist and the title as it is shown on both the poster and the trailer-making it the main feature of our advertising campaign, making it feel like the antagonist is following them around. In the trailer the title is shown right at the end, with the rest of the credits, making it very obvious and recognisable as it takes up the whole screen. This conforms to the conventions of a horror trailer; if the title was at the beginning the audience may have forgotten it by the end, whereas it the title is at the end the audience maintain their interest and are more likely to be interested in the film. Overall the title is another main focal point as it is reinforced throughout the campaign-making it very clear for audience to identify.

Another way that our advertising campaign successfully works together is through showing the film in different ways. This is highlighted in the differences between the poster, trailer and the magazine front cover. The trailer focuses more towards the storyline of the film whereas the magazine is more informative and focuses on the behind-the-scenes side, This allows the audience to get to know the film on multiple levels as they see the film from behind and in front of the camera. It also allows the audience to see how each scene was created-allowing to feel involved with the experience. The poster, however, aims to give as little away as possible-creating many enigmas. The "Enigma Codes" theory, devised by media theorist Roland Barthes, states that the purpose of the author of a media text is to keep the audience guessing through establishing enigmas for the audience to work out. Our campaign conforms to this theory as the audience are left guessing and trying to work out the motives of the antagonist and who he is.

The magazine front cover offers a slightly different perspective as it includes five star reviews and interviews with the actors-which gives the audience another reason to watch it as the film is highly rated and successful. This conforms to the "Uses and Gratifications" theory by Blumier and Katz (1970), as it fulfils the need to interact with others- as it allows the audience to watch it and talk about it with others. It also gives information that the poster nor trailer have as it has the feature of behind-the-scenes interviews, allowing the audience to understand the film and gives them something to discuss with their friends-again conforming to the "Uses and Gratifications" theory. The trailer on the other hand also conforms the "Uses and Gratifications" theory; offers a different perspective into the world as our film is a true story-creating a sense of fear and causing the audience to reinforce themselves.

Overall each part of the campaign works both individually and together to create a successful marketing campaign that is easily recognisable and is appealing to our target audience. There are many enigmas established and we have used many theories to help boost the impact of our campaign. Despite the different parts of our campaign having their own unique techniques and using different features, they all still clearly link together and make a strong, successful marketing campaign for our film.