The genre is teen fantasy. this is similar to the film beautiful creatures, it also shares similarities with the film twilight and the series The Secret Circle these are both also fantasies but they also contain huge aspects of romance where as in our film it is included, but plays a less major role.
we looked at the codes and connections of typical teen fantasy films and compared how we included, or attempted them.
The codes and conventions we looked at were
- Many cuts to build tension and suspense.
- Confirmed: we included a selection of quick short 'flashback' scenes in which gave the audience a direct idea of what was happening and gave them a feel for the film, building tension and suspense.
- Periods of silence.
- Confirmed: in the beginning of our film we included periods of silence, this built the tension and made the voice over more dramatic.
- High angle shots.
- Confirmed: these were at the very start of our opening and gave the audience an idea of the layout and whereabouts of the scene, along with the shaky camera and the quick movements it managed to make the audience feel like they were seeing the film from the eyes of a character.
- Vast open spaces/woodland areas in key parts of the film
- Challenged: as we were not creating a full film we couldn't include the 'key scenes' otherwise it would become more of a trailer or a short story. but we did manage to work our way around including a woodland scene. yes this is a key scene in the film but as it is initially the opening scene it doesn't quite have the same feel. although it does make the character look alone and helpless along with making the film seem more mysterious and makes the audience feel tension and question what is going on.
- Classical eerie music
- Challenged: we included eerie music that fitted our genre and the narrative but it was not grand, classical or full of bass like the music of typical films of this genre
- Slightly Gothic, darker clothing and make-up
- Challenged: we challenged this including selected dark clothes and make up but we wanted it to look less over dressed and more casual so we didn't attempt to fully do this look.
TORODOVS NARRATIVE
Torodov devised a way to break up a narrative into five parts the Equilibrium (this is where the setting is established), Distribution (this is when the story takes a particular direction), Recognition Of The Distribution (this is when the characters and events are interwoven), Attempt To Repair Distribution (attempt to solve the issue), Reinstatement Of Equilibrium (matters and problems are sorted out)
Using Torodovs narrative theory bellow I compared the film Beautiful Creatures with our own.
The equilibrium of the Beautiful creatures film is that one of the main characters wakes up from a recurring dream he has about a girl he has never met but cant stop thinking about, it is set in South Carolina.
The eqilibrium of ours is that Eva is narrating the scene talking about how she wishes she could go back to a time when she didnt know about the curse. the scene takes place in the woods of a small town in England. Eva is then shown on laying on the floor in a ball gown this makes the reader question what is happening it gives the idea that it is a magical film with lots of hidden secrets and twists.
The Distribution of beautiful creatures is when Lena starts to realise that the time is aproacing where she is going to have to choose if she goes dark or light (good or bad) the way she presents her self makes the audience question what the result is going yo be.
The Distribution of our film is when Eva and her friends stumble across a website with a photo that looks like her this is when she then figures out she is a witch.
The Recognition of Distribution in beautiful creatures is when Lena and Ethan realise that the time is running out and that she may turn dark Lena father tries to stop Ethan seeing Lena in fear that it will turn her dark and she will end up hurting him and the ones around her.
In our film Eva and her friend Peter both after looking more at the website discover that she is cursed and will die at the age of 18 which is coming up soon.
The attempt to repair the Distribution is when Lena father sacrifices himself to save his Ethan therefore allowing them to be together but its not over there as she still has to choose what way she is going to go. in an attempt to protect Ethan she wipes his memory clean of her resulting in him not knowing who she is.
in our Evangeline Eva travels to see the witch who put the curse on her in an attempt to cleanse herself of this she then gets rejected and is thought by an older witch how to control her magic in an attempt to remove the curse one final time.
the reinstatement of equilibrium in beautiful creatures is when Lena manages to not go neither light or dark but both then she runs into Ethan once more and they attempt to get to know each other once more.
in Evangeline, the curse is stopped and she is saved but it resulted in her loosing something close to her she then manages to restore this and the film ends on a romantic scene between her and peter realising their love for each other.
CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS: BINARY OPPOSITION
he thought about the narratives in more detail deciding that they depend more on the themes and the character rivalries and conflicts.
he focuses on the good and the bad (he believes that you cant have a story with out them)
In our film the good character is Eva and the bad would be the Witch who cursed her/ theoretically the curse itself.
These would allow the reader to ask questions and be able to follow the film without trouble and confusion which is what we wanted due to the young age of our target audience.
VLADIMIR PROPP
using propp's character theory that in every film there are six types of people, a hero, heroine, father/protecting role, villain, mentor, accompany.
Applying this to our film would mean that the Hero was Eva as she is the main character and the one the film and problems revolve around. The heroine would be Peter as he is the love interest of Eva. the protecting role would be peters father as when he finds out about what Eva can do he is strongly against them being together. The villain would be the Witch the mentor the lovely witch who helps train Eva. finally the accompanies would be James and Ava as they are Evas other close friends.
These are nine screen shots from out opening that our group chose as we believed that they challenged the audience.
the first screen shot shows Eva in on of the very first shots, this is a very mysterious shot and along with the voice over allowing the reader to question what is going on and who she is.
the second image shows Eva on the floor this is the first shot shown of her in the whole film it causes the reader to ask why she is there and try and match up the narration with the clip.
The third image is of the title, this was chosen as it shows the first initial introduction of the film to the audience.
the fourth image shows one of the characters facing away from the screen in this shot he turns around in pain like he has been shot. As this is shown really quickly in the flash back/re wind scenes it causes the reader to question what happened to him and want to continue watching the film. the third shot is a close up of Eva who is in a witch like room this links to scenes later in the film.
the sixth shot is also of Eva in this shot she looks happy and it distinctive shows that the footage is being re wound.
the seventh shot is also of Eva this is a long shot and it is of Eva in a grave yard it becomes clear to the audience that someone close to her has died.
the ninth shot is a close up of a wing mirrored it shows that they are going backwards clearly in time, the rain on the window also help the audience get an idea for the setting.
the final shot is of Eva walking backwards this is also then played forward and shows that the film is now playing in real time and it is at the 'official start' of the movie.
