Emma Fitchett - A2 Coursework

Audience Theory and Genre Research

The Hyperdermic Syringe Theory

According to this particular theory, it is said that the media we consume is actually like a syringe that 'injects' certain views, attitudes and beliefs into us, therefore causing us to carry out particular actions. For example films such as Straw Dogs and The Evil Dead have both been banned because it was believed that people would copy the crimes that were shown, however, many people still consider this as a rather simplistic view, because it doesn't take into account a person's morals or self-control. Despite this, politicians in particular still use this theory to support their views and find reasons why their is so much violence and injustice within society today. A good example to support this theory would involve the serial killer Jeffery Dahmer who watched a clip from his favourite film in order to inspire him and generate enthusiasm for his murders. However, this film was only Star Wars and even though it may have inspired him, for the rest of us we still view the film as an extremely harmless product of the sci-fi and fantasy genre.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory

This particular theory, which was created Bulmer and katz, simply suggests that media consumers play an active role in choosing and using media, rather than being a passive audience like the Hyperdermic Syringe Theory suggests. It is said that all media consumers only choose to watch a piece of media if it appeals to their needs and interests which I think we could all agree, is relatively true. This also means that when it comes to the genre of a fim, it is up to the individual to decide whether they will continue to watch it or not, therefore presenting media in a much more positive way, because the audience, which is seen as more active, is given the freedom to choose what they consume.

The Reception Theory

The Reception Theory, which was presented by media theorist Stuart Hall brings foward the idea that we all decode texts we encounter in individual ways which may be caused as a result of our upbringing, the mood and place we are in and also the time. In basic terms, the Reception Theory seems to argue that contextual factors, rather than textual ones, tend to influence the way the spectator views the film that they are watching and therefore supports the Uses and Gratifcations Theory, that the audience is more active and can make decisions themselves over what they watch and whether the film is enjoyable to watch. The Reception Theory therefore takes into account all of the various factors that might influence how the viewer will read and create meaning from the text.

Conventions of Genre and Targetting an Audience

We all know that cetain trends and conventions in a film immediately tells an audience what type of genre the film falls under. I remember from my own media piece that the conventions presented were typical of a thriller and my group and I therefore successfully targetted our audience of thriller lovers aged 15 and over. The setting throughout most of our piece was usually very dark, which instantly portrayed Barthes theory of signs, consequently suggesting that something bad was going to happen. The shadowy firgure that walked passed the door also implied that there was a risk of danger, because the figure was so mysterious and as a result thrilled the audience. Levi-Strauss' theory of Binary Oppostions also showed our target audience that our piece fitted into the thriller genre. There was a clear contrast between light and darkness throughout, with the hooded figure dressed in black and the girl upstairs always in the light. This therefore portrayed a clear sense of opposites, involving good vs evil and men vs women, presenting the two girls as the princess-type characters, and the figure as the villain.

The Truman show: Genre and Narrative

Genre

Although the genre appears to be quite difficult to identify in The Truman show, there seems to be elements of different genres. For example, you could say that the film is a comedy, because of the utter absurdity of the plot and also because we all recognise Jim Carrey as a comic film star, who is well known for his wacky movements and funny facial expressions. However, we could also say that in some ways, The Truman Show is more of a fantasy because we are presented with an extremely unusual world, which we later find is truly a world of fantasy and make-belief. There is also a sense that as a result of this, the genre might also be classed as a drama, especially when realisation hits Truman that all is not what it seems and he feels that he must do everything in his power to escape the fake and fantastical world in which he is trapped in and therefore, it is easy to understand why the genre of this particular film is so hard to define, although, we could say that because this movie doesn’t fall into any particular category, a wider audience is attracted and consequently engaged, proving that an indefinable genre can be an advantage .

Narrative

It is obvious that the Truman Show is a non linear narrative, especially when there are flashbacks to different parts of his younger life and in some ways; the fact that the film possesses a non linear narrative is a successful way in showing the confusion when it comes to unfolding events and the discovery Truman makes of realising that the ‘perfect world’ he lives in really isn’t perfect at all. In nearly every film narrative, Todorov’s theory of equilibriums is normally present. As an audience, we expect a problem that affects normality to occur and then to later be solved and when looking at The Truman Show, this theory does seem to be proven. Therefore, because we expect a problem to occur, we could also say that Roland Barthes theory of deconstruction from signs is also apparent. In my opinion, I believe that this ‘perfect world’ we see at the beginning, of bright blue skies and happy, robotic people are all actually underlying signs that in order to maintain Todorov’s theory of equilibriums, may not be completely what they appear to be, because everything really is so ‘perfect.’ It could also be hard to distinguish who is the main villain in the film as well, however, following Levi Strauss’s theory of Binary Oppositions; you could say that because the director of the show, Christof often wears dark black clothes and keeps Truman trapped in this world, he is the villain. Another clear opposition to prove this is the fact that Christof films The Truman Show whilst in the false ‘moon,’ which contrasts from the bright sun, presenting the opposites of light and dark and therefore, good and evil.

Final Film: Hotel Road

Using Technology

How have I used technology in my coursework?

Technology played such an important role in the success of our whole film opening project and throughout the whole duration of the creating process, we had to learn how to use the technical equipment to our advantage, eventhough we faced some problems.
The video camera was of course the most important piece of technology, because we had to use it to film all of our opening. We used the camera to capture scenes, including specific shots such as over the shoulder and match on action shots, which, when edited, made our opening more edgy and impressive.
After capturing all of the required shots, we used the computer programme, 'Pinnacle,' which enabled us to upload and edit our film. Pinnacle was an editing programme that my group and I were quite new to and it was something that we all had to experiment with. There were many features of the programme that benifited us, especially when we had to cut certain scenes and add typical thriller conventions, such as spooky music and titles. However, at times it could be rather temperamental and as a result, hindered our progression.



We used the computer a lot throughout our film making, taking advantage of video uploading websites and programmes such as powerpoint to present our work on slides in preparation for our group presentation. We also used the computer to view popular thriller films and to research the certification of films and collect pictures of costumes and various elements that would enhance our film.

How had this helped my Director's commentary?

With our project complete, it was now time to record our Director's commentary. We achieved this by using an 'Edirol,' a recording device that allowed us to reflect on the overall project. This certain type of technology helped greatly when it came to explaining what we had done to our audience.



Overall, we used a wide range of technology to form and enhance our film opening. At times there were problems we faced because the technology could be quite temperamental, however, it was all part of the creating process and the technical problems we had were things that we could reflect on during out commentary. For me, the project was all about experimenting with different types of technology and learning how they all play an important part in the media industry.

Audience Feedback

My group and I felt it was time to get some feedback from our target audience in order to see what they thought about our film opening overall. To acheive this, we decided to put together a series of questions that we thought would be extremely useful when finding out our audience's opinions on the different aspects of our opening, including the thriller conventions and the overall storyline. We then summarised the answers to our questions so we gained an overview of what the majority of our audience thought.
Our first set of questions asked our audience what they thought was happening and what thriller conventions were used in the film so that we could see how much they understood. Our audience seemed to be aware that a stranger was following the two girls in our film, although it wasn't clear why and because of this, many people were intrigued. Our viewers managed to pick out the main conventions that made our opening a successful thriller, such as darkness, close camera shots and black and white titles. From our questionnaire, they all agreed that the black and white titles suited the genre and consequently showed my group and I that we didn't have to make things extremely fancy. Another question we asked concerned the music and what atmosphere it created to the viewer. After analysing all the different comments we found that most people thought an eerie and tense atmosphere was created and in some cases made our audience nervous, which is what my group and I wanted. We also wanted to know what the costumes told our audience about the characters and most of them noticed that the girls were what you would call average teenagers from the clothes they wore, whilst the person playing the 'stalker' appeared rather sinisterly dressed in dark, black clothes.
Another way we tried to show our characters were typical teenage girls was by mise- en-scene. Some of the people who took the questionnaire noticed how homely and comfortable the setting appeared with the character snuggled up whilst watching tv and the use of props, such as make up, fairy lights and mirrors in the girl's bedroom, gave the impression that that particular room belonged to a girl.
The main purpose of our questionaire was to ask our target audience if they had notcied any mistakes in the opening and if so, what could my group and I do in order to improve it. In general, there were no major mistakes that became apparent, however, our audience did notice certain aspects of the opening that could have been better, especially the brightness of the shots. When projected onto a screen and after the lights were dimmed, it was too dark to see what was happening and it was quite disappointing when the audience missed an impotant climax in the film. Although the lighting was a slight let down, the problem still taught my group and I to make sure that the brightness was just right when filming and editing projects in the future.
When asked if they would consider watching the rest of the film, the majority of our audience said that they would like to see what would happen next and the response to our opening was overall, very positive.

Using Copyright Free Music & Targeting Our Audience

Using Copyright Free Music

For my group and I, the sound and music in our film opening was hugely important, because it made such a big impact and made the overall piece seem even more professional. We had to find a piece of music that suited our thriller theme perfectly, but that was also uncopyrighted and after browsing different websites, we used audio.lgfl.org.uk, a copyright free website, to find the music we wanted. The music consisted of sharp, edgy sound effects and after applying the chosen sound, we then had the task of editing the music so that it was cut to the action of the film. We were amazed at how perfectly the edited version of the music fitted with our opening and we all noticed how much of a difference the convention of sound made.



Targeting Our Specific Audience

Another aspect we had to think about was our target audience and what certification would be appropriate for our opening. Our research of the possible certifications led us to label our own opening as a '15', due to the mild forms of horror presented without a strong amount of violence or graphic detail. We used http://www.screenonline.org.uk/ to understand how suitable our film was for our audience and because we had teenagers starring in our film, we decided to target 15 to 17 year olds. We thought that the opening would appeal mostly to teenagers of this age range because they could relate to their own particular social group whilst also enjoying the elements of danger and excitement. We would expect our opening to make them an attentive and engaged audience, consequently making our film opening one that was hugely successful.