THE HISTORY OF FILM
The production of film began in the later 1800's when technologists worked to create a piece of technology that could photograph multiple images per second and thus create the illusion of motion. The discovery of the technique was made earlier when peepshow devices would be used to display simple animations, most famously a horse galloping. Once, motion-picture cameras had been invented the next step was film editing that could be used to construct a more refined narrative, as opposed to the previously restricted one-shot movies. Overall film production began improving when Georges Melies built the first film studio in a glass house that was designed with the intent to diffuse light and excel in photography. As technology developed, so did a visual literacy and understanding of film and stories began being projected across the silver screen.
FILM TIMELINE
FILM THEORY
Vladimir Propp
In the 1920s, Vladimir Propp identified a series of similarities in cinema which provided a narrative for the audience.
The hero – The protagonist of the story who drives the narrative, they usually seeks retribution or change in their life.
The villain – A character who opposes the protagonist, they also cause the problems which drive the story forward.
The donor – A character who provides a helping hand to the protagonist, this can include information or an object.
The dispatcher – The dispatcher sends the protagonist on his adventure or initiates the mission.
The false hero – Someone who appears to be a person who is kind hearted with good morals until a revelation proves otherwise.
The helper – A character who aids the hero throughout much of the story.
The princess – The female role of the film usually has a very controversial character as they are subject to masculinity and an object to the main characters.
Her father – This person usually starts out as pessimistic and changes to become more positive throughout the story.
The hero – The protagonist of the story who drives the narrative, they usually seeks retribution or change in their life.
The villain – A character who opposes the protagonist, they also cause the problems which drive the story forward.
The donor – A character who provides a helping hand to the protagonist, this can include information or an object.
The dispatcher – The dispatcher sends the protagonist on his adventure or initiates the mission.
The false hero – Someone who appears to be a person who is kind hearted with good morals until a revelation proves otherwise.
The helper – A character who aids the hero throughout much of the story.
The princess – The female role of the film usually has a very controversial character as they are subject to masculinity and an object to the main characters.
Her father – This person usually starts out as pessimistic and changes to become more positive throughout the story.
Tzevetan Todorov
Todorov developed the structure of the narrative further to identify a tone each third of the movie.
- Equilibrium
- Disequilibrium
- Equilibrium
5 stage pattern
- State of equilibrium
- Disruption of the equilibrium
- Recognition of disequilibrium
- Attempts to repair the problems caused
- Climax and resolution for equilibrium
This structure is a regular method for both film and literature, however this 5 stage pattern isn't always followed especially in non-linear storylines such as Pulp Fiction, Snatch, Reservoir Dogs, Memento and Cloud Atlas. This structure is broken for the purpose of the themes and the situation that the characters have found themselves in. Flashbacks are a regular technique that writers will use to reveal background information from the audience and many directors will also shuffle scenes around to provide further mystery and immediate suspense.
- Equilibrium
- Disequilibrium
- Equilibrium
5 stage pattern
- State of equilibrium
- Disruption of the equilibrium
- Recognition of disequilibrium
- Attempts to repair the problems caused
- Climax and resolution for equilibrium
This structure is a regular method for both film and literature, however this 5 stage pattern isn't always followed especially in non-linear storylines such as Pulp Fiction, Snatch, Reservoir Dogs, Memento and Cloud Atlas. This structure is broken for the purpose of the themes and the situation that the characters have found themselves in. Flashbacks are a regular technique that writers will use to reveal background information from the audience and many directors will also shuffle scenes around to provide further mystery and immediate suspense.
Roland Barthes
Barthes is known for his interpretations of text and the complexity of it. He believed that meanings in literature can be whittled down 5 defining codes that are intertwined with the denotation of a text. Barthes tried to understand the art of writing, and attempted to tie them together by identifying similarities. In learning what the codes are, they can present themselves as entirely new meanings and ideas.
The hermeneutic code - An idea that stories will veer away from telling the truth to the audience and suggest clues subtlety instead to allow the viewer to work out information for themself
Enigma code - This leads us on to the enigma code which was a suggestion from Barthes that it is imperative for the audience to be 'kept in the dark' reguarding plot points. This can remain a secret for the entirety of the story and may never be revealed, this was also Barthes' concept of open and closed endings.
Semantic code - An element that is more symbolic within the next and a metaphoric suggesting reguarding the overall themes and what the literature is about in terms of a bigger picture.
Symbolic code - Similarly to semantic code, the symbolic is also about the meanings that can be found in the connotation of a piece of writing, however this focuses more on how conflicting ideas are used to present a specific idea.
Cultural code - Looks at a broader ideology reguarding the culture of the characters, setting and author. Used through information that a character has reguarding the world based on their own experiences.
The hermeneutic code - An idea that stories will veer away from telling the truth to the audience and suggest clues subtlety instead to allow the viewer to work out information for themself
Enigma code - This leads us on to the enigma code which was a suggestion from Barthes that it is imperative for the audience to be 'kept in the dark' reguarding plot points. This can remain a secret for the entirety of the story and may never be revealed, this was also Barthes' concept of open and closed endings.
Semantic code - An element that is more symbolic within the next and a metaphoric suggesting reguarding the overall themes and what the literature is about in terms of a bigger picture.
Symbolic code - Similarly to semantic code, the symbolic is also about the meanings that can be found in the connotation of a piece of writing, however this focuses more on how conflicting ideas are used to present a specific idea.
Cultural code - Looks at a broader ideology reguarding the culture of the characters, setting and author. Used through information that a character has reguarding the world based on their own experiences.
DEMOGRAPHIC OF THE UK AND AUDIENCE RESEARCH
Channel 4 set up a survey on their website to 'categorise' people in the UK. From the survey, they determined 25 tribes meaning their is a wide variety of people currently living in the United Kingdom
Our predicted rating for our final film is 15, the largest demographic within the UK is 16-34 year old's meaning our film is targeting the prime market in the UK.
A recent consensus showed that 63.1 million were living in the U. Males contribute 31 million of that whereas there are 32 million females in the UK. Due to the huge variety of personalities in the UK, there are multiple niche markets making it more difficult to appeal to a wide audience.
Our predicted rating for our final film is 15, the largest demographic within the UK is 16-34 year old's meaning our film is targeting the prime market in the UK.
A recent consensus showed that 63.1 million were living in the U. Males contribute 31 million of that whereas there are 32 million females in the UK. Due to the huge variety of personalities in the UK, there are multiple niche markets making it more difficult to appeal to a wide audience.
QUESTIONNAIRE AND QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS
|
We devised a questionnaire aimed towards our target audience that focused on the thriller genre and short films. 20 people answered our questionnaire . 12 of the 20 stated they prefer to view films with friends, 2 of the 20 said by themselves, 3 of the 20 stated they tend to watch films with their family and 3 marked other.
A second question we posed was the preference over feature lengths and short films. 15 of the 20 people asked preferred watching feature length films whilst only the remaining 5 checked the box for short films. Our next question was on the topic of the quantity of films viewed in a week, our most common answer was twice per week which was selected by 13 people. The next most common answer was "once a week" which was said by 4 people, leaving only 3 people who said they watch 3 films or more each week, this means that everyone said they watch at least one film per week. From our results we gathered that our target audience is a large consumer of movies, all of which watching at least one film every week. Our viewers having a preference with friends seems to imply that they prefer more of a 'popcorn' experience when viewing a movie, this doesn't necessarily apply to our film as we don't want it to be a cheesy mystery flick, we aim to craft our picture in a realistic world in which these events could take place. A worrying but somewhat expected sign is the audience's overwhelming preference for feature length films with only a quarter of the people asked stating they would a short film over a feature length. This seems to imply that there's no middle middle ground, a feature length will be committed too as it's being watched with the knowledge of it's lengthy running time whereas shorts are watched as they are non-time consuming, yet can still pack a punch. However a film that is lengthy in duration is more of an experience and allows for greater story and character development. |