Brief: Brief: I will be making a theoretical approach to this research – I will be making a theoretical approach to this research – Postmodernism / Post modern theory Postmodernism / Post modern theory

You are to make a promotional package for a new film, to include a You are to make a promotional package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer (DVD), together with 2 of the following:teaser trailer (DVD), together with 2 of the following:•Poster Poster •Film Film •Web page Web page

Postmodern Theory (Anything goes)

Postmodernism is critical , rhetorical, practices used from the past to make a new product. Some may argue that postmodernism is forgetting the culture and some people view that as being a negative thing because they’re used to things working in a certain way. On the other hand others think that things should be made interesting by opening a wider imagination and challenge some of the original conventions . On a media based theoretical level I think postmodernism is ideas that challenge the basic set conventions of film genres but also uses some of the basic elements.

In this day and age as a society we have become more globalized and we lack traditional values. This is because society is becoming more and more confused as the world keeps on expanding and everyone wants to be independent. Compared to the past we are no longer clear to what our values are. In the past people used to be united as religion used to keep the world in order as people lived in a certain way. Now not many people are religious a lot more people are venturing into becoming postmodernists , challenging the traditions. Simple example would be gay marriage , in the past it used to be something that the society wouldn’t even consider but now its becoming acceptable. Brighton now hosts Pride every year , women are allowed to vote , people now are entitled to their rights.

Postmodern theory

Director Quentin Tarantino is a postmodernist. He enjoys using violence in films because “It makes good cinema”. This is a statement he said in an interview after the film Django Unchained was produced. Tarantino’s opinion is that film violence is a fantasy and people should be able to tell the difference between film violence and real violence. In Django unchained Tarantino brings back the subject of slavery and he puts a twist to it as its not just your typical slavery film, there is also revenge. Django Unchained is a postmodern film, this is easy to tell as Tarantino carefully picks out the conventions of different genres and challenges them.

Postmodern Theory

(Tarantino )

Django Unchained is a mixed hybrid. Unlike the old days when a film would be based on one genre postmodernist like Tarantino like to mix things up to keep the audience interested. Django Unchained falls under a lot of genres.

GENRES: •Adventure •Action •Drama •Western •Romance•Comedy •Thriller

In the slavery era you wouldn’t necessarily have a black person riding a horse and treated like a white man but Tarantino decides to change that and he has Django (Jamie Foxx) doing these things.

Tarantino likes to push his audience and make them feel uncomfortable with the violent scenes and also the language used. One of the main critics from the film Django was the use of the ‘N’ word.

Narrative Theory

Todorov’s Theory

Todorov was a Bulgarian linguist publishing work on narrative since the 1960s.

The 5 stages Todorov believes the narrative structure of a films consists of.

1.Equilibrium – A happy start2.A disruption of this equilibrium by an event – A problem occurs3.A realisation that a disruption has happened4.An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption – the problem is solved5.A restoration of the equilibrium – A happy ending

http://heathenmedia.co.uk/insanity/2012/02/08/narrative-todorovs-theory-2/

Vladimir Propp

- a Russian critic, active in the 1920’s,

Propp’s theory of the function of a narrative.

1.Preparation – Villain tries to gain advantage 2.Complication- A state of disorder 3.Struggle-There is a struggle between the hero and the villain 4.Return – The hero returns 5.Recognition – The false hero or villain is unmasked and the hero receives an reward

http://www.adamranson.plus.com/Propp.htm

Narrative Theory

These are the basic conventions that have been used over time, repeated and developed. Postmodernists use elements of these conventions to produce films and they challenge the structure of these conventions in some films. An example of this is a common one that has been used in a lot of films these days; they show you what you would expect to see at the end of the film first and then show you how it happened through out the film. Here are a few examples where the directors have decided to change around the structure of the film to give a different postmodern feel to the film.

GenreGenre

Genre Theory

Genre is the way In which you categorise media content in the style and specific conventions that it meets. The audience have expectations when it comes to genre this is why genre is and important aspect to consider when film making. Directors like Tarantino like to keep the audience thinking, thriller and entertained, he does this by taking a postmodern approach which is hybridising his work. On the other hand Hollywood is know to have close to fixed genres. This means the audience know what the film is meant to look like in terms of the narrative structure as to Tarantino’s challenging hybrids. In the past few years directors have tried to make their films more diverse and challenging for the audience.Over time people get used to doing the same thing over and over again that their minds get used to it however craves something different. We are living in a day and age where there are so many questions being asked society is confused, interests and preferences differ.

Film Genre- Dystopia

(Sub- Genres)

Dystopia is the opposite of Utopia which means a perfect world. Therefore dystopia means an unsettled world and it often follows the apocalyptic conventions (the world coming to an end).

Top 5 Dystopic themes:

Environmental Disruption

This involves catastrophes such as global warming , ice capes melting and messing up the ozone layer resulting in humanity being in danger of being extinct.

Zombie Apocalypse

This is one of the most popular themes out of the 5 due to a lot of success over time. The protagonist is always put in a situation where they have to adapt to the disruption of the equilibrium and use basic human survival instincts. This keeps the audience interested as they can relate. Alien Invasion

This sub-genre is often humans exploring tying to find something new, something different(another life form )and they end up discovering a species that is set to take over the worlds resources and dominate earth putting the humans in extinction.

Totalitarian Government

This is all about the idea of a corrupt government controlling peoples day to day lives, everything they do. This is normally based on the conspiracy theorists and playing around the concept of being a puppet.

Nuclear Holocaust

This is the genre that scares people as it can actually happen in our lifetime as nine verified countries own nuclear warheads, this makes it relatable to the audience.

Dystopia film analysis

1927 Description: In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a saviour to mediate their differences.

Directed by Fritz Lang

This was one of the first Dystopia films and it was based on the biblical second Coming. This era was quit religious and so many people where strong in their faiths. This era films where basic and followed that basic genre concept. Social class defined whether you lived a carefree life or struggled and worked hard. This films if based on the concept of being equal and the poor getting saved from this dystopia.

Dystopia

1951 1953 1984 2012I noticed with these films about alien invasions films , in the 1950’s it was quit obvious and

straight forward. Over time they have tried to introduce other aspects such as in terminator the ‘alien’ played by Schwarzenegger is the protagonist this gives the audience thoughts like, if aliens existed are they some that are good and others that are bad. This has been repeated over time for a recent example would be Transformers; there are the good aliens and the bad ones. One thing all these films have in common is the fact that humanity is always in danger.

Dystopia

Zombie Apocalypse Totalitarian Government

Here are some examples of the Dystopia sub-genre Zombie Apocalypse. White Zombie was one of the first zombie films ever made . It was produced in 1932 by Victor Halperin and back in these day they believed in witch craft and based most of their zombie films on being turned and being a zombie slave thirsting for blood. It has changed a bit as these days directors have hybridised these film with comedy and horror. Directors have portrayed the way people think these days because you can tell the public that your in trouble and they would acknowledge it and then forget about it as they say ignorance is bliss.

These films are based on theories that have developed over time and show how humanity is full of confusion because it involved politics. In politics there is always an argument one side opposing the other however when it comes to a totalitarian Government they control you and there is no choice as supposedly what they are telling you is right and therefore you should follow as they say. This is a really interesting sub-genre as there is a division in the world right now people who believe this is true that we live in a society as such, people who don’t agree and people who just don’t care.

Dystopia

Nuclear Holocaust Environmental Disruption

These type of lines are based on the reality incidents that could occur and its normally caused by humans however there is the risk of extinction and its more less survival of the fittest.

This other sub-genre is used in a lot of recent films where the villain takes over the authorities power and plans a holocaust that will kill a lot of innocent people and change who’s in power. In the new batman the is a bomb and they don’t know who has the trigger, this set the audience into a thinking mode and keeps them engaged as their would like tom find out where it is. The basic narrative structure these type of films follow is Propp’s theory , there is always the false villain and the true villain is reviled at the end.

Film Genre- Crime

The Crime Genre originated in the 1920’sAs Hollywood started making gangster/crime films. A lot of films made since have included some aspect of film noir. Tarantino uses a lot of film noir conventions in his films

Themes originally used :•Killing/Rival Killings•The heist •Money & power•Gambling

Themes that have emerged from this :•Drugs trafficking •Trafficking women/prostitution •Gangs •Greed, Guilt and Family

Timeline - 1930’s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIUHSP0PcWo

This is a link that shows the hays Code also know as the motion picture production code. This was set in the 1930 as they were trying to get people to make inspirational films that don’t challenge the morals society had at this time. They didn’t want to promote violence and any sexual behaviours in films. This meant that these crime films had a limit where they couldn’t push it past moral codes. In this era is also the prohibition era where alcohol became illegal therefore only the rebel gangsters would have alcohol etc. This is how the crime genre originated.

Timeline -1940’s

Film noir originated in these years and a lot of the scenes and sets where dark and eerie. They also had the moody soundtracks they type you would find in a Hitchcock film.

This was during the second world war so they world was in a pretty rough state , breaking the rules started to be more fun than following morals , this is when the femme fatales got introduced. Women where being considered as being able to do what man can do. They became heroes. Some of the theatrical acts these women were pulling of has been used up until this date in the pop culture as an iconography of women having power back in those times.

Timeline 1960’s

This is when they started to produce crime caper/heist films. In these times people started gambling and making money the fast was and the gangsters in America at this time where trying to make money they flipped it around from females being in control to men making money in their ways. The film industry also decided to add some comedy with their crime .

Timeline 1970’s

In the 70’s is when Blaxploitation came around , this is when filmmakers would target a black American society and use stereotypical aspects in the movie for instance the big afro and in Jackie brown a black women has the lead role as well as being strong with an attitude and fierce.

This was when the Economic recession occurred . Poverty started affecting the natural flow of things. With poverty rising and

the recession it left people in a situation where crime was almost the only option this is why the crime films in this era developed and started to be based on robbery, drugs and gangs. Also in the late 60’s early 70’s the Crips gang originated in Los Angeles in reaction to that there was another gang called the Bloods which formed. This conflict resulted in a lot of violence and deaths over money and drugs.

Postmodern crime

Snatch

Genre- HybridCrime capersComedy Spaghetti westernAction

This film uses a lot of iconic characters and stereotypical characters like the gypsy , this shows mixed representation . However Guy Richie challenge this character’s stereotype as he goes from being considered as a bad person , to being the ‘Helper.’

This films has a stylised editing which brings out the western elements of the film. Also they use fast cuts to make a long distance seem shorter and it speeds up the pace of the film. An example of this is when Cousin Avi(Dennis Farina) gets on a plane to England the editing happens so fast to give the impression of how important the diamond is.

The character selection in this film is epic as they have so many actors that have different backgrounds from actors like Vinnie Jones (ex footballer ) to Alan ford playing the bad guy.