Chiaroscuro

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Chiaroscuro is a word borrowed from Italian (light and dark) referring to the modelling of volume by depiating light and dark by contracting them in a boldy way.

Media Theory That Applies To My Film Trailer

The two main media theories that applies to my film trailer are Tzevtan Todorov's theory of Equilibrium and Vladmir Propps theory of 8 character roles and the 31 functions

The main function of the 31 of Propps Theory is Villainy and Lack:

VILLAINY and LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc). There are two parts to this stage, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first stage, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second stage, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way. 'Lack' is a deep psychoanalytic principle which we first experience when we realize our individual separation from the world. Lack leads to desire and deep longing and we look to heroes to satisfy this aching emptiness.

Todorovs theory of equilibrium also applies to my film trailer because it applies to the 5 stages of equilibrium, The 5 stages of my film trailer are as follows:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset - The film trailer starts off slow and seems like a calm atmosphere.

2. A disruption of equilibrium - The disruption part comes when the main villain of our film kidnaps the little girl and attacks her babysitter.

3. A recognition of the equilibrium - The police find out the little girl is missing and find the babysitter motionless on the floor. This alerts the police officer.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption - The police office attempts to repair the situation by trying to find the little girl, he interviews an eye witness trying to find information.

5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium - The viewers are left unknown about the ending of the film.

Media Theories

Vladmir Propp - (1895 - 1970) - Structuralism - I have chosen to write about this theory first because its most relevant to the the genre of my film trailer.

Vladmir Propp examined hundreds of fairy tales in the generic from 'The Folk Wondertale'. He identified:

8 character roles (spheres of action), These are:
- The Villian
- The Hero
- The Donor
- The Helper
- The Princess
- Princess's Father
- The Disapatcher
- The False Hero

- 31 functions which move the story along, These are:
ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment for some reason. This may be the hero or perhaps it’s some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person. This allows the reader of the story to associate with the hero as being 'like me'.

INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this')The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction'). A warning to the hero is also a warning to the reader about the dangers of life. Will the hero heed the warning? Would the reader? Perhaps the reader hopes the hero will ignore the warning, giving a vicarious adventure without the danger.

VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). The hero ignores the interdiction (warning not to do something) and goes ahead. This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away. This acts to further increase tension. We may want to shout at the hero 'don't do it!' But the hero cannot hear us and does it anyway.

RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way. The introduction of the villain adds early tension to the story, particularly when they are found close to the previously-supposedly safe family or community environment. The eloquence or power of the villain may also add tension and we may want to shout at their targets to take care.

DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location or the intent of the 'good guys'. This is a down point in the story as the pendulum of luck swings towards the villain, creating fear and anticipation that the villain will overcome the hero and the story will end in tragedy.

TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration. Deception and the betrayal of trust is one of the worst social crimes, short of physical abuse. This action cements the position of the villain as clearly bad. It also raises the tension further as we fear for the hero or victim who is being deceived.

COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain in some way. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad). We now despair as the hero or victim acts in a way that may be seen as villainous. Perhaps we worry that the hero will fall permanently into the thrall of the villain. Perhaps they will become corrupted and evil also. We also fear for the reputation of the hero who may be perceived as evil and thus never find the true treasure or win the hand of the princess.

VILLAINY and LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc). There are two parts to this stage, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first stage, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second stage, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way. 'Lack' is a deep psychoanalytic principle which we first experience when we realize our individual separation from the world. Lack leads to desire and deep longing and we look to heroes to satisfy this aching emptiness.

MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe. This creates a defining moment in the story as we wonder what will happen now. Perhaps we do not realize that the hero is the hero, as they may not yet have demonstrated heroic qualities. We feel the lack in sympathy for the act of villainy, but the hero may just have arrived on the scene or may be undistinguished from other grieving family members.

BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism. Having made this decision, acting with integrity means that there is no turning back, for to do so would be to remove the mantle of heroism and be left only with shame.

DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;

FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);

HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);

RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);

GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;

STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;

BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);

VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);

LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revivied, captive freed);

RETURN: Hero returns;

PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);

RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);

UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;

UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;

DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);

SOLUTION: Task is resolved;

RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);

EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;

TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc);

PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;

WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).

Propps Theory is a form of 'structuralism', this is a view that all media is inevitably in the form of certains structures. These structures are often culturally derived and form expectations in the mind of an audience from within the same culture, it can also form expectations that certain rules apply to the narrative. However cultural change can force structures to change, for example these days a hero can now be a female instead of always being a male.





Tzvetan Todorov -

Tzvetan Todorov developed the theory of disrupted equilibrium, He identified that stores follow a typical pattern of:

- Equilibrium - Where things are as they should be (Status Quo)
- Disequilibrium - Status Quo disrupted by an event/situation
- Equilibrium - Status Quo restored at the end of the story by actions of the hero.

Todorov laters put this theory into a 5 stage pattern, i will describe this pattern with the use of a film trailer. The film trailer i will apply this to is Halloween Resurrection.

Halloween Resurrection in Todorovs stages:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset - As this film is one of many Halloween films made it starts off in the disruption stage, with flashbacks of what happened in the previous film. However at the start of the film it shows a woman in a psychiatric facility, considering what this place is used for everything is fine.

2. A disruption of the equilibrium - The disruption of the equilibrium occurs when the villian returns from his dead state and finds out the whereabouts of this woman. on his quest to capture her he kills several people in the process.

3. A recognition of the disruption - The police are alerted that the villian has escaped from a mortuary where he was supposidly dead. The police know where the villian is going but they have no idea where he is.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption - The police are informed of the villians whereabouts, so they arrive at where the villian is and try to prevent any further damage, this is when more murders occur with the villian killing the majority of hospital staff, police officers and any other people within that facility. The attempt to repair the disruption comes when the main doctor, whos currently caring for the woman, lures the villian into a room full of explosives, once in the room the doctor activates the explosives killing himself and the villian.

5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium - The woman is transferred to another facility in another town for her own safety eventhough the main villian is no longer on the loose. By the end of the film the villian has commited over 15 murders.





Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009) -

Claude Levi-Strauss's theory is based on binary oppositions. He saw any text as constructed out of socially recognisable 'debris' from other texts. He saw that writers construct texts from other texts by a process of:

- Addition - This is when something is added into a film, for example a rude word added into a serious film (spoof)

- Deletion - This is where you have something taken out of the film, for example something corny removed from a film.

- Substitution - This is when all structures are included within a film but its slightly different.

- Transposition - This is when you take something old and bring it into the new, a prime example of this is 'Lost in Austin'.

A really good example of binary oppositions is from the film 'The Boat that rocked', in the trailer of this film, they present the main characters to the audience, for example: Kenneth Branagh is reffered to as the 'Enemy' this is because he is dressed differently to the other main characters, thus making him the binary opposite.

Bricolage assumes that most of the film fits the structures of the genre but the unique selling point (USP) is a slight difference, either added, deleted, substituted or transposed.

Intertextuality is another important point that fits in with this theory, it means:
- Either when a moment is similar to many other texts. One form of this is recreating a scene which is typical of a whole genre of film.

Levi-Strauss used the 'western' film genre to develop his theory of binary oppositions, he used the following opposites as an example:

- Homesteaders ~~~ Native Americans
- Christian ~~~~~~ Pagon
- Domestic ~~~~~~~ Savage
- Weak ~~~~~~~~~~~ Strong
- Garden ~~~~~~~~~ Wilderness
- Inside Society ~ Outside Society





Roland Barthes (1915 - 1980) -

Roland Barthes believes that there are 5 action codes that enable an audience to make sense of a narrative. The 5 action codes are as follows:

1. Hermeneutic (narrative turning points)
- This means we know where the story will go next.

2. Proairetic (basic narrative action)
- examples of this is a detective interviewing a suspect or a femme fatale seducing the hero (this links in with propps 31 functions)

3. Cultural (prior social knowledge)
- examples of this are our attitudes towards gender or racial stereotypes.

4. Semic (medium related code)
- This code is based on Intertextuality

5. Symbolic (themes)
- Iconography or a theme such as 'image versus reality' (Curtis Hanson)

Victor Shklovsky (1893 - 1984) - 

Shklovsky attempted to distinguish between the plot, which he defined as the events we actually 'see' in the narrative; and the story which contains all the information or