Theories

Todorov - he suggested that conventional narratives are structured in 5 stages:

• 1st stage - A state of equilibrium at the outset.
• 2nd stage - A disruption of the equilbrium by some action.
• 3rd stage - A recognition that there has been some disruption.
• 4th stage - An attempt to repair the disruption.
• 5th stage - A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

In our trailer we applied Todorov's theory of narrative through to both the 2nd and 3rd stage in each storyline. The equilibrium is shown in the shots of the girls talking at school, the disruption then comes with the mystery of the hooded killer. The equilibrium is of the boy and his sister by the lake, this is then disrupted by the boy drowning, the kilings after becomes the attempt to reinstate the equilibrium as it is seen as an act of revenge.

Vladmir Propp identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions. Characters, according to Propp, have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.

Characters that perform a function:

• The Hero - a character that seeks something.
• The Villian - who opposes or actively blocks the Hero's quest.
• The Donor - who provides an object with magical properties.
• The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.
• The False Hero -  who disrupts the Hero's success by making false claims.
• The Helper - who aids the Hero.
• The Princess - acts as the reward for the Hero and the object of the Villian's plots.
• Her Father - who acts to reward the Hero for his effort.

Vladmir Propp's theory can be applied to our trailer with the boy being the original victim and the 3 potential villians. There is no exact hero/heroine.

Levi Strauss believed that the way we understand certain words depends not so much on any meaning they themselves directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite' or, as he called it 'binary opposites'. For example, our understanding of the word "villain" depends on the difference between that word and the opposing word "hero". Within the media field, binary oppositions are used very frequently in films, especially in the horror genre. Many horror films include sets of binary oppositions in their plots. Particularly good and evil, sane and insane, rational and irrational and human and supernatural.

When looking at Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposite we can see past/present, life/death, power/weakness, suffocation/freedom and the 2 sides of split personality.

Feminist Mulvey Theory - known as the gaze.The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. She believed that in film audiences have to 'view' characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

 

In terms of feminism we have chosen to show our female characters as subjects rather than objects in the male glance. 2 of our villians are females, giving women the overall power.