Wednesday, 17 November 2010

Audience Theories

We looked at a range of different theories which are featured and created for the horror genre specifically. Some include: Male Gaze, Propp's theory and The Final Girl theory. What I liked most about looking at different theories to do with the genre of horror was that I was able to take the key information and develop it to suit my ideas for the project. An analytical approach was taken as we viewed each film, after learning about the different theories which are based within horror films I was able to analyse them in greater detail. One film which I thought had taken some of the theory concepts and adapted them to make them new and exciting. 'Scream' (1996) uses both The Final Girl theory and Todorov's theory. The theory is based upon the narrative of a film and how it's split into 5 different parts which give a short summary of what will happen at that particular moment; exposition, development, complication, climax and resolution make up Todorov's theory. The Final Girl theory refers to the last female character in a horror film. Carol J. Clover created the theory and states that there are elements which make the final girl distinct. Some include a unisex name and the girl is typically sexually unavailable. An example would be Laurie Strode in 'Halloween' (1978) as she was shown to be more innocent minded than her friends. 'Scream' challenges this theory as the final girl (Sidney Prescott) who has survived throughout each film has shown to be sexually available as she has a boyfriend (Billy) who she decided to sleep with, and Randy who admires her. When I create my teaser trailer I could use the concept of taking a theory and changing it to suit they type of horror film I am trying to portray and my target audience.

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