All types of media have certain conventions that need to be adhered to in order to be recognised as a part of their respective genre. Specifically to the film industry, there is the horror sub genre, and then even more specific sub-sub genres, such as Splatter, Slasher, etc. As a result, there are very specific conventions related to my media product, with the important factor being that the conventions take on newer meanings each time they are repeated or slightly subverted. For my Media AS Level, I created a music magazine that exhibited various features and conventions due to me copying a current music magazine and using it as an inspiration. However, the difference is, I did not understand the conventions properly, I was just utilising them due to a knowledge that they were commonplace in RMT. I did not display a great deal of creativity in this manner, rather predictably, due to my lack of any real understanding of what the numerous conventions of music magazines mea...
AUDIENCE THEORIES ESSAY There are numerous narrative theories relating to audience throughout media and film. These help determine a target audience, among other things for a film. They also help segregate horror films into different sub-categories, to show and exemplify the differences between them. The theories that I'm going to speak about today relate specifically to the audience and how they react to films. Firstly, and perhaps the most effective and empowering theory utilised in horror is the 'Catharsis' theory, penned by Greek philosopher Aristotle. Generally, the Catharsis theory involves the idea that people will watch depressing or horror-inducing media when they feel down because it stimulates a 'better' feeling in them. My trailer does very loosely make use of the catharsis theory. The constant fast cuts and worried facial expressions increase the intensity and looming danger of the film, making a viewing audience perhaps thankful that...
"Repetition of these signs become horror genre convention, however, overuse results in taking away the signified meaning." In horror, it's been argued many times by many different theorists that conventions are formed by repetition in the genre. For example, a 'dumb blonde' is a typical convention of a horror movie because it's a method that's been used so many times in so many different horror texts that it's become associated and grown an attachment with the genre. This idea was first really wrapped up into a theory by Daniel Chandler, who argued that genres and sub-genres were identified by the tropes and conventions they possessed. However, many argue that overuse, over time, has de-valued these conventions and signs, making them redundant and actually damaged them. I will be discussing this argument throughout this essay. The first convention that I will be analysing is the 'Scream Queen' trope, that is very (in)famously associa...
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