Research On Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the shaping of texts meanings by other texts.

Some texts refer directly to each other – such as in 'remakes' of films, extra-diegetic references to the media / society in the animated cartoon The Simpsons, and many amusing contemporary TV ads. The interpretation of these references is influenced by the audiences prior knowledge of other texts.

The Simpsons Episode:Bart of Darkness Analysis.
It contains generic characteristics of psychological thriller and you could also guess that it relates to Hitchcock. But there is one very tricky thing about intertextuality or references to popular culture. It presupposes certain knowledge about films, music or politics. If an indivdual lacks the knowledge, than they are not able to fully understand the idea behind an episode/film etc. Taking all these factors into account, it has become clear to me that watching The Simpsons is intellectually challenging.

Research into Thriller Films

In the context of a film, a thriller would entail an exciting suspenseful and mysterious plotline with the intention to thrill the audience. The difference between the genres horror and thriller is that a thriller film is more psychological and makes the audience have to think more than horrors, furthermore a horror film contains more gore then a thriller film and usually has a less gripping storyline.

The thriller genre was first introduced in the 1920’s with Harold Lloyd's comic, Safety Last. Although the first motion picture was in the early 1930’s with a German film called 'M.' One of the most famous film-makers/director was Alfred Hitchcock who helped to create the ‘modern day’ thriller film. Hitchcock's filmography includes such famous movies as, ‘The Birds’ ‘Psycho’ and ‘Rebecca’ although Hitchcock began with the silent film ‘The Lodger’ in 1926. ‘ Hitchcock's films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation.

The target audience for Thriller Films tend to be Females rather than Males as they are the most interested in Thriller Films. It is also targeted to 16 - 24 yearolds as Thriller films appeal to the elder teens.

Sub - Genre

Subgenre is a collision of two Genres distributed into one film.

A Thriller Sub-Genre which inspires me the most of all is The Godfather as this is a Crime Thriller:

 

This will influence me with our film opening as i will want it to start of in quite a dark scene, very dim lights so the audience are wondering "What is going on ?" I would like our opening scene to start off as quite mysterious therefore it won't reveal much just yet to keep the audience high with tension. I would also like to start the scene with a close up of a characters face, then slowly allow the camera to expand so the audience can see the other characters being introduced and established in the opening scene. The music which will be used in the opening scene, i would like it to be a light piano play or a violin which will also increase tension for the audience.  

 

 

Comparison of Reservoir Dogs to Our Remake of The Opening Scene

• At the very beginning all the characters are siting around a table where they have just finished a meal whereas with our remake, the two characters are seated in sofa chairs discussing business. A voice also talks over whilst the characters are getting up whereas with our remake, Music plays from the beginning till end. We did this because it allows the production to flow better.

• We used slow motion when both of the characters are walking exactly the same as the original. We also made sure that the camera was Tracking the characters rather than Panning therefore we used the same camera angles as the original.

• We also did a Medium close up of both the characters faces and used font to display the characters names whilst in the close up. This is also the exact same feature as the original.

• When the camera is placed behind the two characters in our remake, we have the name of the film which strolls up the screen which is also identical to the original.

Genre

• Genre- a type or category of a particular film
• Cross Genre- a film having more than one genre 

Genres

• Horror
• Gothic 
• Comedy
• Thriller
• Romance 
• Sci fi
• Fantasy
• Adventure 
• Action

ACTION

• Fast moving
• Some slow contrast to action 
• Stunts
• Explosions 
• Binary Opposition - Hero/Villain- Bond, Cruise, Pitt, Will and Stallone 
• Gun/Weapons 
• Transport/Car Chase 
• Fighting 

• Audience 

Helps audience choose + we also have expectations of what we'll see

• Producer/Director 

Genre helps know which stars to approach , which props to use therefore these are the ingredients.

THE LAST STAND

The genre of this film is Action combined with Comedy , the Action is protrayed through mise en scene, for instance the canonball is shooting fire which has a connection with violence and danger therefore represents an element of Action , the comedy element is triggered by the geeky , small guy with the googles on.
The colours help identify the film genre as the colours set out the mood .
The characters are the centre of attention in the film poster , one character looks cool and calm and gives the audince a sense of hero figure , on the other hand the small , geeky guy tells the audince that he would be the one who will create the laughter.



Sub- Genre

A sub- genre is when when two genres collide together into one film .An example of this would be-
ALIEN, is a mix of science- fiction and thriller .

Analysis of Genre

• Genre is a type or category of a Film.

• Cross Genres are when two Genres such as Thriller of Horror are used in a film.

• Conventions of Action Movies are Explosions, Stunts, Guns/Weapons, Fighting, Fast Moving, Hero/Villain and Some slow contrast to action. This helps the audience to identify different features of Action Films compared to other Genres.
• Genre is important to PDE because it allows the film to target a certain audience for example Sci-Fi films are majority male dominant therefore they try and target females by using Cross Genres and putting in Romance which will help attract another type of audience

Type of Genres: Horror, Gothic, Comedy, Thriller, Romance, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Drama, Action and Adventure.

The Genre of this film is Drama and Music. It's shown through this poster as it has a Guitar AMP at the back ,therefore it relates to Music, Rock in particular. This is a convention of a Music Based Film. Both characters have a quite relaxed attitude and body language, this shows that the film has a very laid back feel. They also seem to come across as having a quite close relationship, as they are sitting right next to each other looking out into the distance with Sunglasses on. This is a convention of a Drama Film. The colours used in this poster is also quite bold and so is the font which makes the poster stand out and have quite an effect on the viewer. The two girls in the poster are quite young which shows that the target audience for this film is Young People (Young Females).

Genre's

• Genre is a type or category of a film
• A cross genre is when two genres like a thriller and comedy are used in a film.
• Conventions of actions movies are: fast moving, fighting, transports-car chase, guns/weapons, stunts, some slow contrasts to action, explosions, hero/villain.
• Genre is important in PDE because the right audience where money is going to be made needs to be targeted so for example in sci- fi movies only men would go and watch those films mostly but to get the woman coming to watch that film, they may add a cover of a man and woman staring at each other to make the woman think the movie is a romance as well.
• For the above picture the genre from this cover would be seen as an action film. There is transport in the air, the robot has a big gun, the background looks wrecked and exploded and those are conventions of an action film