Personal project diary 1.

Since last lesson (27/09/15) I have been able to complete a good amount of work. I have completed task 1 in which I made a mood board for each of the different sub-genres of horror. I also completed task 2 in which I made another mood board showing general semiotics which are presented in horror films. I also completed a prezi presentation on the stock characters in a supernatural/psychological film. I also created another prezi in which I went through the typical scenes in a in a supernatural/psychological film. I also created a mood board in which I went through the mise-en-scene used in a supernatural/psychological film. I am still yet to complete tasks 10 and 11 which will be done by Friday (01/10/15). Task 5,7,8, and 9 I will completing in the next few weeks in workshops.

3.2 question 1b-Narrative

For the trailer for 28 days later I believe that Todorov's narrative theory doesn't hardly applies to the trailer. Firstly,at the start the pace is rather fast as the editing is very quick as it goes through the different days. This goes against Todorov's theory as he stated that the start is rather calm during the equilibrium stage. Instead the equilibrium stage comes more towards the middle of the trailer when the protagonist wakes up in the hospital and discovers London to be adbandoned. A way in which it does apply to the trailer is that it has the disruption towards the end of the trailer. We can see this as the trailer becomes much more fast paced through the editing and we start to see more of the zombies. Also, we don't see the restoration stage when the characters escape during the trailer. The main reason for this is that they don't want to ruin the film before the target audience has even seen it. So really it's not possible for the trailer to completely follow Todorov's theory. I also believe that the trailer applies to Kate Domailles theory. Kate Domailles theory states that any film can be put into at least one of eight narrative types. One of these narrative types i believe that trailer fits into is 'circe'. Circe is the idea of there being a chase between the hero and villain and a battle between good and bad. This is shown in the 28 days later trailer as there is a battle between the good, the group of people, and bad, the zombies. During the film there are battles between these two groups as the protagonist try to survive whilst the antagonist try to hunt them down. Furthermore, I deliver that Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites. One of the binary opposites the trailer follows is between civilised and savage. During the film we see how the group of people are civilised as they try to work together in order to survive, whereas the zombies act in a savage way by trying to hunt down and kill the protagonists. Another binary opposite it follows is good vs evil. During the trailer we see how the protagonists, the good guys, have to try to fight back against the zombies, the bad guys, in order to survive and try to get rescued.

Typical scenes from a supernatural/psychological film.

This task is part of the genre guide development task.

Mise-en-scene used in a supernatural/psychological horror film.

This task is part of the genre guide development task.

Semiotics in horror

This task is part of the genre guide development task.

Iconic supernatural horror characters.

This task is part of the genre guide development task.

Mood boards of the sub-genres of horror.

This task is part of the genre guide development task.

Slasher. Splatter. Vampire and werewolves. Psychological/supernatural. Zombie. Monster J-horror Thriller

2.3 Genre question 1b prep

For my media production I am going to write about the trailer 28 days later. Of course for this trailer I will be writing about the horror genre. By doing horror I will only be able to use certain conventions that fit into that genre. In 1980 theorist Steve Neal said that 'genre are instances or repetition and difference'. He also said 'mere repetition would not attract an audience'. In 28 days later trailer we can see how they repeated the new convention of how the zombie outbreak was caused by a science experiment.  Another generic feature that they did change is having it based in London, a major city, rather than having it in the middle of no where near to a graveyard. By doing this it shows the audience how these things can also happen in major cities and not just in the countryside. One major difference they made is by basing most of the zombie attacks at night. By doing this is gives the audience the impression that the zombies are acting like vampires. By doing this the director was abel to bring in two sub-genres in order to create a hybrid. Of course being within the zombie sub-genere the director went with the generic idea that the virus would be spared by people being bit. Agin this shows how he was able to bring in a convention from the vampire sub-genre to show how they have create a hybrid.
In order for the director to show that the film is in the horror genre he had to use certain editing techniques. One editing technique they used was using close ups on the zombies so that the audience were able to clearly see what they look like, such as there red eyes. By the director get the zombies to have red eyes it shows the audience that as soon as someone becomes a zombie they are almost possessed by the virus by showing how all of there body has been taken over by the virus. This represents Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites. This is mostly down through showing how humans and zombies and act in different ways. In the trailer we see how the zombies are acting in an animalistic and violent way. We see this when the zombie breaks a window and starts to immediately attack those within the house. This also helps to reinforce Kim Paffenroths theory of how when people become a zombie they lose there personal identity. This is shown in most zombie films such as 28 days later as all of the zombies act in the same was as the virus has taken over there body and by doing so has almost erased that persons characteristics that make them different from everyone else.

Deadlines.

Initial trailer pitch.

Virus t pitch 3 from JohnNeylon

Virus T poster

The image above shows the practice version for my horror poster. I have used the words "no" and "safe" in the tagline to try and represent fear to the audience. I have used the colour red in order to represent blood which is seen through the film. I have also made sure that I use generic teen zombies instead of just generic zombies in order to show the audience that the film revolves around teenagers.