Media Language- theory

I have chosen to analyse my advanced portfolio, our teaser trailer in association with
media language, as I think the whole process of storyboarding, then filming and finally
editing allowed me to successfully experience different elements of moving image
production.
The function of a trailer and other promotional devices is to promote the film in order to
generate interest in the film so that people will pay to see it by presenting the audience
with an edited narrative of the film. The trailer is contained on average in two minutes, it
is made non linear on purpose as to not give away the exact and full storyline leaving a
code of enigma as to encourage the audience to see the full film to find out what
happens. We began our promotional package by coming up with a genre. We chose a
sub-genre, psychological thriller with elements of horror genre, for our trailer after doing
research into target audiences. From asking the age group most likely to visit the cinema
on a regular basis, which was 15-25 of mixed gender, we found that the most popular
genre was psychological thriller and horrors, as they allow the audience to experience
fear in a controlled environment, the definitions being characters are no longer reliant on
physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies [Wikipedia], meaning an intellectual
puzzle was needed to solve the dilemma. The elements of horror definition being to elicit
a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal
fears [Wikipedia] as we wanted to create strong emotions of fear of the unknown as well.
Choosing the right genre for the narrative was important as an audience tend to choose
the film they watch based on the genre they prefer, therefore we chose the most popular
genre.
After generating a narrative plot based on the genre we story boarded the shots from the
imaginary film which we felt highlighted key moments but did not reveal too much of the
plot. Based on Todorovs theory of film narrative, having a state of equilibrium at the start
which is then disrupted, attempted to be solved but then the resolution isnt revealed
highlights a code of enigma and stops in the film trailer at the attempting to repair the
state of equilibrium, therefore enticing the audience to go see the film to find out if and
how the protagonists dilemma is solved. Our trailer The Hangings started off revealing
the idea of the group of four friends finding a diary of a girl who was bullied, shown in the
library/ flashback scene. The shots were mixed together, e.g. close up of one of the four
friends then a flashback in sepia to represent them researching into the past. Together
with the voiceover of Emma and Mary reading the diary simultaneously in the past and
present, connecting the two narratives together. This state of equilibrium is then disrupted
in the close up shot of Mrs Kynch slamming her hand on the diary saying Leave her
alone with a diegetic boom edited over the top to create a more dramatic effect as the
equilibrium becomes imbalanced, conventionally used in psychological thrillers/ horrors
to present of problem to the audience. From the story board we created an animatic
whereby we took photos of each shot we wanted in the trailer then edited them together
to create a still frame trailer. This allowed us to see where improvements or changes
could be made when filming the shots. Even throughout filming and editing we were
constantly making changes to improve the trailer.

We then analysed current film trailers for example The Woman in Black with the similar
representation of genre. Older trailers like The Blair Witch Project made it apparent that
this film genre can be low budget yet still have scenes that are easily created through the
use of a hand held camera as well as create a scary effect. For example, the scene when
the camera is a point of view shot from an unknown character/thing chasing after
another character that is running away, filmed as a hand-held long, tracking shot
providing the audience with subjective footage, so that they can visualise that they are
there creating an informal mode of address which allows the audience to feel part of the
group of friends in the woods setting, giving them the ame fear the characters are
experiencing.
When creating the characters we decided to go against the conventional representation
of the female victim in psychological thrillers/horrors by using a female as the main
heroine character to attempt to change societys view of stereotypical weak females, this
suggesting that females can save the day as well. The canted angle shot of Emma
finding the diary as well her character out of the four friends being shown the most places
the focus on her being the one who could solve the problem. This goes against Mulveys
theory that suggests the camera represents a male dominant perspective. We thought
we would unconventionally use a female as the hero in order for the audience to
sympathise and support her. However, my character, the quiet, uneasy female contrasts
with Emma, I am shown in high angle shots creating the conventional scared and
vulnerable female, the one more resistant to going to the woods who ironically goes
missing first which is conventional in other similar trailers such as the Saw films where
the most frightened females die first.
The character of Mary was a conventional construction used in films like the Exorcism
where they use a young girl with long hair and a white dress to contrast the traditional
look of innocence with the true evilness of the character through the messy hair over her
face and the dirty clothes suggesting something bad has happened to her. This is in
accordance to Levi-Strauss theory of binary opposites, containing a suggested evil
character versus a suggested good character showing conflict. As well as blurring most
of the shots this creates a scare factor as her identity isnt fully revealed and the
audience become unsure of what they just saw. We wanted to question the traditional
representation of Mary being the evil one apparent in films like The Ring using a young
female character, her black hair totally covering her face, making the audience uneasy
about what is underneath, an iconographic image. This follows Barthes theory of trailers
creating a code of enigma where the audience is left with questions. We did not use a
shot of the hanging taking place, the only notion that someone has been hung is the long,
point of view shot from one of the friends inside the tent looking out and seeing another
characters legs hanging. This creates the code of enigma of who is hanging who? This
entices the audience to watch the film to find out. The Ring does this with the young
female character as her black hair totally covers her face, making the audience uneasy
about what is underneath.
The use of editing created the narrative, as the film director George Lucas believes that
editing is the most fundamental part of creating a trailer or film as after filming the shots
we then went on to order them effectively, cut them to the right length, create a pace to
influence different emotions e.g. We used a montage towards the end of the trailer when

the drama picks up used in psychological thrillers and horrors to build up tension. Short
fast shots are used, for example there is a shot of Emma running then cuts to a shot of a
noose then a shot of Mary all within about 10 seconds, this builds up the climax but
doesnt reveal whether she gets away which entices the audience to view the film. It also
lead us to using effects which distort certain images in order to confuse the reader, for
instance, the shots of Mary are blurred to prevent her identity from being revealed.
Synergy and intertexuality are used for the promotion of all films as the trailer, poster and
magazine and all used to promote the film in different ways as a promotional package
The trailer tells a bit about the plot and introduces the characters, the poster shows the
frightening aspect in order to attract passersby who may just glance briefly at it but still
notice it as something they may be interested in. The magazine cover associates with the
celebrity side to films showing the main actress out of character in order to promote the
film through her celebrity status. For my poster I used a direct gaze from our main
character, Mary in a medium shot, similar to the poster for Insidious which draws the
audience in, making them feel like she is staring at you adding to the fear. I decided with
my magazine to use the actress of Emma posing as a celebrity, in order to promote the
film through her celebrity status. Many film magazines tend to use the character from the
film, for example The Joker is used on the front of Total Film to promote Heath Ledgers
scary character. However, I decided to go against this as I thought showing Mary would
give too much away from the film as we wanted to keep her identity reasonably unclear
to leave the code of enigma of whether shes good or evil to entice the viewing to find
out.
We chose the setting to be conventionally in a forest similar to Sleepy Hollow. The
second, point of view, long, panning shot of inside the woods is used to set the scene
straight away as well as question whose view it is. Using this location allows the
audience to associate themes like pursuit, isolation and fear of the unknown as well as
associating with the plot being about hanging, the trees and the noose an iconic image of
psychological thrillers/ horrors. There are no films primarily based on hanging in a forest,
but some psychological thrillers/ horrors have hanging as one of the murder methods as
it associates with suffering. We chose to base ours fully on the theme of hanging as the
theorist Atkinson says that hanging is typically seen as suicide which leaves a code of
enigma suggesting whether or not it was suicide or assisted by Mary. Also, recently in the
news there have been cases of teenagers being found hung, using this knowledge the
film focuses on the unsettling reality of hanging incidents, making the trailer seem
realistic and has a greater effect on the audience. This setting also represents isolation,
the second shot previously distorts the image in places where the camera movement
causes it to blur, and confusing the audience, creating the sense that there is no way out,
representing the characters desperation to be free, mentally and physically.
Media language was used to describe the different processes that were involved in the
construction of our promotional package, as we used conventions of psychological
thrillers/horrors, presenting images, sound and editing which followed similar styles of
real trailers, in order for the right audience to be targeted, with an apparent genre in order
for it to become a success which was illustrated by one-hundred percent of our audience
identifying that our trailer was from the psychological/ horror genre.