Focused Analysis - Locations

This film is based on a modern fairytale. The house in which Cinderella lives in accompanied by her Step-Mother and her two Step-Sisters. The colour scheme that is used adds to the sunny lanscape of Los Angeles and the whites and browns go well together. The characters costumes and style contrasts with the hosue and fits in well with the genre of modernised fairytale. The house is shown that the family are a well off family, but compare the house to the size of Cinderella's room and has shown how she is very deprived. The garden includes a swimming pool and a sunbed.

The Cafe where Cinderella works is included in the trailer but not also does it show that she comes from a well off family she still has too work for herself and earn her own living spences. The round tables add a     friendly atomosphere and aswell have the counter running the whole way around the Cafe, this also makes the Cafe look stylish with the tiled floors coloured black and white which is very 80's style. 

Another Main location used in this film is the school. It is used for many things such as: A School (with lessons), A Prom, A Football Match. It is a romantic environment as it is common for teenagers to fall in love at school and meet there one true love. By including this location most of the target audience can relate to the story and engage more to the film. In the school is a shot of the library and how Cinderella spends most of her time in there talking to her 'Prince Charming' Via the computor on an internet site, which adds to the mystery. She is also shot in the library doing her work which shows the audience that she is smart and wants to well later on in life.

Also featured is the batting cage where Cinderella works on her baseball skills. This location is used as her personal space as earlier on in the story we are told that she used to play there with her dad before he was killed. The cage she is in perhaps represents the fact she feels trapped and this is the only place she feels she can let off steam.

Like every fairytale eneding the Princess always gets the Prince. The location is in the ball what we call a prom. The lighting used adds to the romantic feel and the location seems to be well style and fits the narrative well. The colour scheme used in this location adds to the enchanted feel of the ball and also adds a formal appeal to this scene. When the camera moves outside, into the garden, an arch comes into shot decorated with white flowers and beautiful lighting which sets the scene off nicely. The white fencing ties in with the white flowers which compliments the whole scene well. The fairy lights composition seem to get more compact as the camera drops down to reveal a the bottom of the arch. Overall creating a fairy tale like location.

We decided for our film trailer to be based around our school as it would be a familiar setting to our target audience and one in which they can relate to. We did use other locations such as parks and shopping centres but our shots are largly around school. Our main establishing shot was a school corridor, with this we filmed in different corridors around school as we had to make sure the lighting was at the correct levels.

                    

Initial Ideas

This trailer opens with a caption featuring a typical opening of a fairy tale "Once Upon A Time" this is conventional of many fairy tales and adds a classic appeal. The soundtrack will feature an enchanted magical tune which will cut to a more up beat tune when the next shot appears which shows the viewer immediately that this isn't a classic fairy tale that they have come to expect, it in fact has a modern twist to it. The next shot is a medium long shot of an empty school corridor, still with an upbeat tune in the background. This is an establishing shot and shows the viewer that this trailer is indeed set in a modern day school. A close up shot of a school bell ringing to singal the end of second lesson then appears on screen. This again, empahasises the fact that this trailer has got a modern edge to it. A medium long shot of the school corridor then appears again featuring groups of students and a busy corridor appears. This shows the bussling feel of any school. The camera zooms in to three girls, the modern princesses, who appear on screen (played by Ashley Finch,Charlotte Meek and Charlotte Piper ).The camera films as the walk through the corridor, then cuts to various close-ups of the individuals. This is done in order to allow the audience to connect with the characters featured. Another caption then flashes up on screen; "They're The Girls Everyone Want To Be.." again this is presetned on a plain background with a fairytale tune, after this another caption, "Until.." , again with conventional music and a plain background. A close-up of the male lead character (played by Matt Kaal) appaears on screen. He proceeds to walk in slow motion up to the camera past Ashley, Charlotte and Cahrlotte. The next shot is split into a 3 way shot in order to show each character in different locations on the phone in the same camera shot. This is put in, in order to allow the viewer to see the three girls are friends but are all after one boy. Following this, a close up three way shot of each of their lips is included in order to add variety. Yet another caption apears, "This Summer", followed by a tracking shot of Charlotte walking along the corridor towards the prince only to fall over and land on the floor in front of him. Then a close-up shot of the Matt, from Charlotte's point of view, appears with the added effect of being blurry to show that Charlotte fell over and hit the floor hard enough to knock herself out. The camera then changes to Matt's point of view looking down at Charlotte, she then looks up realizing its Matt and shows herself to be very embarrassed. Another caption appears,"They're In It To Win There Prince Charming..", Now, to a different location, outside of school. Medium long shot of car with Matt and Charlotte Meek in pulling up outside of school. Charlotte and Ashley look on-obvious they are not happy about it, shown with a close up of each of them. Camera shoots to a classroom environment with a close up of a hand with scissors featured. Then flashes to Charlotte Piper cutting off Charlotte Meek's hair, over shoulder shot of Charlotte Piper holding the piece of hair. Charlotte then launches herself over the desk, shown in a medium close-up Ashley as she goes to attack Charlotte. The title then flashes up on screen then a final medium close-up of Matt walking in front of the girls, all three looking at him as he walks away, Matt then says, "Let The Games Begin". Final caption pops up containing information such as the release date; "In 2010" then "Who Will Get Their Happy Ever After?".

Mood Board

This is a mood board which shows different examples of images which give a romantic feel to them. They show all images which are taken from rom coms and other 'chick flick' films.

Focused Analysis: 2 - Sound/ Music

A Cinderella Story'

The trailer starts off with fairy tale music to go along with the establishing shot. This has been done in order to introduce this film as a fairy tale, when the twist in this story becomes obvious it is more of a surprise to the audience (Loz Angeles). To go long with the ambient soundtrack there is a voice over the top. This voice tells the story in a traditional way therefore it is adding to the fairy tale theme.
When the camera changes to a shot of Los Angeles, the music changes and its no longer the traditional type instead it changes to a more upbeat sound (which is Hilary Duff singing). this has been done in order to show the change of narrative, to show the viewer that this story line isn't traditional in the sense that this one is based in a modern day setting. Also, just before the music changes, a musical effect has been added in in order to show that the soundtrack is going to change to a different type of sound.

Each shot, generally, seems to include a voice over and the characters speaking. When the shot changes from one to another a sound effect has been added which sounds as if a page is being turned. This has been done to, again add variety to the shot, and also give the impression that this story is being read out of a fairy tale book.

Whilst playing baseball, the main female character whose representing a 'princess', hits the ball really hard sending it over to where the modern 'prince is. The ambient soundtrack goes from gentle quiet background music to a loud dramatic soundtrack to express her victorious hit. This adds the fact that she is skilled at the sport baseball.

At the ball, when the 'Princess' appears in the shot, the music changes to a enchanted soundtrack to express the fact she has developed into a beautiful woman. This is carried on after the voice overs from the characters when the camera shoots to the dancing outside, the fact that for the first time a soundtrack is used which includes lyics. This has been done because there is no voiceovers from this point onwards. The lyrics of this song also link to what is going on in this scene and what is going on overall in the story line.

Focused Analysis: 1 - Characters

For my focused analysis on characters i decided to look at the characters used in popular trailers. I have chosen to look at the 'A Cinderella Story' as i feel this links in well with my chosen genre. Since this film is based on a modern version of a fairy tale, Cinderella, each of the characters have a similar appeal that the original characters have.
The character modeled to be like cinderella, is obvious from the start of this film trailer. She first comes into shot wearing ordinary clothes, nothing that stands out which is how Cinderella starts off in the original fairy tale. Also, the modern cinderella is shown working in a cafe, scrubbing the floor and acting as a waitress which again fits in nicely with the original story where she is a slave to her step-mother, technically she is too in the modern version as the step-mother is the one who owns the cafe. This character also has appearance similarities to that of the original cinderella, for example the blonde hair tied up and out of her face, also her striking blue eyes which conventionally fits in with many fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty.
The female character who plays the step-mother. She has been made to look like a modern American mother with a selfish side which links nicely to the original story. She has been made to seem jealous of the main character, Cinderella, which again fits in with the original fairy tale. Throughout the story she is made to seem as if she is in control and also made to seem as if she is the boss. As well as this, throughout the film, she is made to seem vein which is shown by the fact she gets botox in the film, Thus, following the conventions of a step-mother in many films and fairy tales. Also, the clothes she wears throughout this film, seem to be modern versions of the clothes worn in the fairy tale. This has been done to add a modern feel to this film.
Eventually, Cinderella's happy ending starts to come together when she attends the school prom wearing a prom dress which fits in with the character nicely, and also the conventional characters in fairy tales who always get their happy ending. Also her personality in this film is similar to how Cinderella in the original fairy tales is. She is kind, loving and caring which is conventional of many fairy tale princesses.
Finally, the Prince. He has been portrayed as the 'popular' character with a lot of friends who hang around with the ' right ' people, they guy who has the pick of the girls. His exterior character is portrayed as having everything but as the story goes on the viewer discovers that he is looking for his princess and his happy ending as well. Perhaps unconventional of a fairy tale, is the fact his character has short blonde hair as opposed to long blonde hair which many princes are portrayed to have. This has obviously been done to give this story a modern edge. The clothing he wears in this film is quite simplistic, he has been styled in average dress with a slight edge, i.e rolled up sleeves or jeans with original sneakers. Also, whilst at the fancy dress ball, the 'prince' actually turns up dressed as a prince were as his two friends turn up looking like his henchmen-obviously been done to portray the fact he has turned up to save the princess from her life of misery.

Barthes Theory

Barthe believes that there are 5 action codes that enable and audience to make sense of a narrative.

• HERENEUTIC (narrative turning points) We know where the story will go next.
• PROAIRETIC (Basic narrative actions) E.g. Detective interviews, suspect of femme fatale suduces hero (see Propp's 31 functions)
• CULTURAL (Prior social knowledge) E.g. Our attitude to gender and racial stereotypes.
• SEMIC (Medium - related code) Intertextuality.
•  SYMBOLIC (Themes) Iconography or a theme such a 'image versus reality' (Curtis Hanson)

Timetable of Filming Our Own Film Teaser

Tuesday 3rd November: 5th lesson, 1:30pm - 3:00pm (Establishing shots,Empty corridor shot, Close up of firebell and Busy corridor with pupils from school)

Thursday 5th November: 1st lesson, 8:30am - 12:00pm (Cutting hair sequence shot with Ashley, Charlotte and Zoe)

Sunday 8th November: 2:00pm - 4:30pm (All the girls doing the extreme close up of them all saying the prince's name)


Sunday 15th November: 2:00pm - 4:30pm (Ashley, Charlotte and Zoe fight scene and car scenes, Close ups, Falling over shot and walking away shot)

Audience

Does It Have An Audience?
For every film trailer you have to consider a target audience. Since i am focusing on the theme of a Fairytale Romantic Comedy, I have a small range of target audience. One of the reasons we chose the theme was because of the fact it is a very popular genre to children, also, we thought a lot about who we would want as our target audience and who we are able to relate to, like our little brothers and sisters.We have decided to focus on people at the age of 8 years old to the age of 18 as our audience as it will be a lot easier.The actors in our video are going to be wearing modern clothing like jeans, tops dresses which are fashionable. By creating a film teaser we have to make sure that it is aimed at the target audienceand that we meet the audiences attention and keep it throughtout the video otherwise the marketing part of our film will not sell as we would hope it would.

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory

Todorov developed the theory of disrupted equilibrium (balanced)

He identified that stories follow a typical pattern:
- Equilibrium
- Disequilibrium
- Equilibrium
This applies equally well to film texts.
Equilibrium: The 'status quo' where things are as they should be.
Disequilibrium: The 'status quo' is disrupted by an event.
Equilibrium: Is restored at the end of the story by the actions of the hero.

What is the equilibrium at the beginning of a crime genre or horror genre film?
- Attack
- Murder
- Robbery

How and when is equilibrium restored in a crime film / a horror film?
- Crime solved
- Monster dies

There can be several moments in the plot where resolution of equilibrium takes place, for example: when pieces of the detectives puzzle fall into place.

Todorov later developed this into 5 stage patterns:
- A stage of equilibrium at the outset.
- A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
- A recognition that there has been a disruption.
- An attempt to repair the disruption.
- A reinslatement of the equilibrium.

Roland Barthes: French Theorist
Barthes believes that there are 5 action codes that enable an audience to make sense of a narrative:
- Hermeneutic (narrative turning-points) we know where the story will go next.
- Proairtic (basic narrative actions) eg: detective interview suspect or femme fatale seduces hero (see Propp's 31 functions)
- Cultural (prior social knowledge) eg: our attitudes to gender or racial stereotypes.
- Semic (medium- related codes) intertextuality
- Symbolic (themes) Iconography or a theme such as 'image versus reality' (Curtis Hanson)

Claude Levi-Strauss: French Structuralist 1970's:
Claude Levi-Strauss is most noted for his theory of Binary oppositions. In order to find those oppositions, Levi-Strauss was less interested in:
- Syntagmatic relations: eg: how events line up in the narrative structure to develop the plot.

More intereseted in:
- Paradigmatic relations: eg: those events and features that belong to the theme of the piece, especially within genre based texts.

Levi-Strauss used the 'Western' film genre to develop his theory of Binary oppositions:

- Homesteaders                         - Native Americans
- Christians                                - Pagan
- Domestic                                - Savage
- Weak                                      - Strong
- Garden                                    - Wilderness
- Inside Society                         - Outside Society

Levi-Strauss used the 'Western' film genre to develop his theory of Binary oppositions:

- Detective                                - Villian
- Princess                                  - Femme Fatale?
- Straight                                   - Criminal
- Weak                                      - Strong
- Safe Streets                             - Mean Streets
- Sane                                        - Mad
- Poor <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>> - Rich
            (Could Be Either Way)

Applying Theory to Cinderella

I have decided to apply Propps theory to 'Cinderella', a classic disney fairytale, which has also been modernized recently into 'A Cinderella Story'. Since i am aiming to produce a modern fairytale rom com film teaser i think that applying the theory to this particular movie will build up my own knowledge of the plots of all the fairytales.

Characters:

The Villan: Cinderellas wicked stepmother and stepsisters, who both force her to become their slave when her father dies. Her wicked stepmother banishes her to the attick, where the only company she has are the animals. Cinderella is forced to cook and clean for her new vinidictive family.

The Hero:The Prince, who saves Cinderella from her imprisonment and after falling in love with her marrys her.
The Donor: Gus and Jaq, two of the main mice who Cinderella befriends. Their loyalty never falters throughout the movie, they work together to make Cinderella a beautiful dress so she can go to the ball and they also steal the key to the attick from Cinderellas wicked stepmother, in an attempt to save her.
The Helper: Cinderellas magical Fairy Godmother, who enables her to go to the ball, after her wicked stepsisters ruin her dress, she provides her with a new one, a carriage and glass slippers.
Her Father: Who loved and doted on his daughter very much, the fairytale is opened with his tragic death being revealed to the audience.
The Dispatcher: The Princes father, who encourages him in his new found mysterious love. He demands that a search for the mysterious maiden ( Cinderella ) must be conducted immediatly, and sends his most devout servant with the remaining glass slipper to find her.
The False Hero: The ugly stepsisters who try to claim the glass slipper as theirs, whilst Cinderella is locked in the attick and unable to try the slipper on and prove who she is.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp was a Russian formalist scholar who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements.
Vladimir Propp was born on April 17, 1895 in St. Petersburg to a German family. He attended St. Petersburg University (1913-1918) majoring in Russian and German philosophy. Upon graduation he taught Russian and German at a secondary school and then became a college teacher of German. His Morphology of the Folk Tale was published in Russian in 1928. Although it represented a breakthrough in both folkloristics and morphology and influenced Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes, it was generally unnoticed in the West until it was translated in the 1950s. His character types are used in media education and can be applied to almost any story, be it in literature, theatre, film, television series, etc.
In 1932, Propp became a member of Leningrad University (formerly St. Petersburg University) faculty. After 1938, he shifted the focus of his research from linguistics to folklore. He chaired the Department of Folklore until it became part of the Department of Russian Literature. Propp remained a faculty member until his death in 1970.
Vladimir Propp extended the Russian Formalist approach to the study of narrative structure. In the Formalist approach, sentence structures were broken down into analyzable elements, or morphemes, and Propp used this method by analogy to analyze Russian fairy tales. By breaking down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative units, or narratemes, Propp was able to arrive at a typology of narrative structures.
Propp's approach has been criticized for removing all verbal considerations from the analysis, even though the folktale's form is almost always oral, and also all considerations of tone, mood, character, and, anything that differentiates one fairy tale from another. One of the most prominent critics of Propp is the famous French Structuralist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who used Propp's monograph on the morphology of the Folktale to demonstrate the superiority of the Structuralist approach, and the shortcomings of the Formalist approach. (see Levi-Strauss, Claude. "Structure and Form: Reflection on a Work by Vladimir Propp"). Defenders of Propp believe that that such criticisms are largely redundant, as Propp's approach was not intended to unearth meaning in the fairy tales he examined (as may be the case with Structuralist or Psychoanalytic analysis), nor to find the elements that differentiate one tale from another, but to unearth the elemental building blocks that formed the basis of their narrative structure.


 

Applying The 31 Functions to Walt Disney's The Lion King

1. Absentation: Simba is forced to leave Pride Rock by Scar and his pack of Hyenas, their crafty plan has made Simba believe he killed his own father, and with this pain he runs away from his family and his home.
2. Interdiction: Simba is told by his father, (Mufasa) that everything the light touchs will soon be his one day when he becomes king. When Simba asks him about the 'Shadowlands' Mufasa forbids him to go there, commenting that it is dangerous this makes Simba want to visit this place even more.
3. Violation of Interdiction: Simba and Nala slip away from their homeland with Zazu, and head for the Shadowlands, where they are trapped by the Hyenas.
4. Reconnaissance: Scar decides that he must kill Mufasa and Simba in order to become King of Pride Rock.
5. Delivery: Scar sends the Hyenas away to watch on Nala and Simba
6. Trickery:  Scar tells Simba that his father Mufasa needs to speak with him and leaves him on a vast area of desert, Scar then tells the Hyenas to chase Simba down the desert alongside a herd of impalas. Knowing that Simba will be in danger very soon, Scar fetchs Mufasa, who is unaware of his brothers plan. Mufasa rescues Simba, but is then killed by Scar as he throws him off a cliff and into the herd.
7. Complicity: Simba thinks himself as a dishonested lion and that he has killed Mufasa, under the encouragment of Scar.

8. Villainy and Lack: Scar kills Mufasa by throwing his brother off of a cliff he is hanging onto.
9. Meditation: Simba  becomes a victimized hero and is chased away by the Hyenas, along with their threats to kill him if he dared return and the guilt he feels for what he thinks he had murdered his father, he runs from his family.
10. Beginning Counter Action: Nala accidently runs into Simba, and convinces him that his pack are nearly doomed, for Scar has taken over Pride Rock and driven it to ruin, enslaving the lioness's. Simba decides that he must return to Pride Rock and take his rightful place as king. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future.

11. Departure : Simba leaves the new home he has found with Timon and Pumba and sets off along with Nala and his new family to avenge his place as king.
12. First Function of the Donor : Timon and Pumba accompany Simba in his quest to Pride Rock and aid him through his battle with the Hyenas and Scar, who had taken over complete rule of the Pride Lands.
13. Hero's Reaction : Simba reacts to the actions of Rafiki.Rafiki tells Simba that he 'knows' his father and leads him through the wildlife to a secret pool, where Simba sees in his reflection, his father, Mufasa. Rafiki conjures Mufasa's spirit from the pool.
14. Receipt of a Magical Event: Simba receives advice from his fathers spirit, which convinces him that he is obligated to return to pride rock and take his rightful place as king.
15. Guidance: Simba is lead from his new home to return to Pride Rock, accompanied by Nala, Timon, Pumba and Rafiki.

16. Struggle: Simba, aided by his faithful family (Timon, Pumba, Nala, Pack of lionesses, including his mother) begin to fight with Scar who is aided by the Hyenas. Simba then goes on to battle Scar in one on one combat.
17. Branding: Simba is forced onto the edge of Pride Rock by Scar.
18. Victory: After Scar taunting him about his past, Simba admits to his family that he is the one who killed his father and their king, Mufasa and trys to assure them that it was an accident. However it is then revealed that Scar is the one who pushed Mufasa off of the cliff and to his death. Simba then goes to kill Scar, but mercifully lets him go. Scar is attacked by the Hyenas who he tried to blame for his motive for taking over the kingdom.
19. Liquidation: does not occur.
20. Return: Simba returns to the throne and his rightful place in the circle of life.
21. Pursuit: Does not occur.
22. Rescue: Simba as the hero, over-rules Scars physical power over him and has him at his mercy.
23. Unrecognized arrival: Simba left home when he was just a cub and has grown up with Timon and Pumba after running away from his past. It is serval years later when he finally returns to Pride Rock and even his mother fails to recognize him as a fully grown lion. Oly upon hearing his voice does Simbas mother truly realize that her son has returned.
24. Unfounded Claims: Scar forces Simba to admit to his family that he is the one who killed Mufasa, their beloved king. The truth is that Scar is actually the one who killed him.

25. Difficult task: Simba has to find the courage to reveal to his family what has haunted him for all this time. He then has to overcome Scar through physical strength.
26. Solution: Scar quotes ''I killed Mufasa''.
27. Recognition: Simba is recognized as the true King and heir to the throne.
28. Exposure: The pack realize that Scar is their true enemy as he killed Mufasa.
29. Transformation: Simba becomes whole as he is reunited with his family and his true place in the Circle of Life.
30. Punishment: Scar is banished from Pride Rock by Simba. However his punishment extends when he is killed by the Hyenas for betrayal.
31. Wedding: Simba marries Nala, and they are united in marriage. The happily ever after is shown by the birth of their daughter.

Another Comparasion of The Verve Music Video - Phil Collins - Two Hearts and Outkast - Hey Ya!

I also looked on youtube and found another pair of examples of conventions where the video is copying for their own devices they are Phil Collins - Two hearts and Outkast - Hey Ya!




In this video it is old fashioned you can tell this by the costumes that they are wearing also the video is in Black and White. They use old Camera Reels which they used in the traditional time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvIw5ZqC1ms&feature=PlayList&p=1EFD8359208E6D72&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=60