Congratulations. You have passed go on your home page and preliminary exercise. This is now the official start of your coursework. From now on everything that you produce will go towards your planning grade.
Task 1
You should write a summary of conventions of the genre. You can include thoughts on narrative theory and on technical codes and should offer examples of when you have seen these in real films. Use key words from the table below. Use features of the site to make your work visually stimulating, e.g slideshows, pictures, embedded youtube videos etc.
Task 1
You should write a summary of conventions of the genre. You can include thoughts on narrative theory and on technical codes and should offer examples of when you have seen these in real films. Use key words from the table below. Use features of the site to make your work visually stimulating, e.g slideshows, pictures, embedded youtube videos etc.
Narrative Terms
genre conventions narrative Derry Barthes Levi-Strauss suspense tension Hitchcock Mcguffin |
Technical Codes / Terms
Mise-en-scene pan high / low key lighting tilt representation high/low angle connotations canted angle position the audience diegetic crosscutting non-diegetic editing pace ambient screentime asynchronous post-production score handheld contrapuntal |
Theory and Conventions
Defining a genre can be difficult. Charles Derry developed a definition based on narrative codes. Derry defines the suspense thriller as “a crime work which presents a generally murderous antagonism in which the protagonist becomes either an innocent victim or a nonprofessional criminal within a structure that is significantly unmediated by a traditional figure or detection” He then redefines the thriller into six subgenre.
1.The thriller of murderous passions… organized around the triangular grouping of husband/wife/lover. The central scene is generally the murder of one member of the triangle by one or both of the other members. The emphasis is clearly on the criminal protagonist… [and]… the criminal motive is generally passion or greed,
2.the political thriller… organized around a plot to assassinate a political figure or a revelation of the essential conspiratorial nature of governments and their crimes against the people. These films generally document and dramatize the acts of assassins, conspirators, or criminal governments, as well as the oppositional acts of victim-societies, countercultures, or martyrs,
3.the thriller of acquired identity… organized around a protagonist’s acquisition of an unaccustomed identity, his or her behaviour in coming to terms with the metaphysical and physical consequences of this identity, and the relationship of this acquisition to a murderous plot,
4.the psychotraumatic thriller… organized around the psychotic effects of a trauma on a protagonist’s current involvement in a love affair and a crime or intrigue. The protagonist is always a victim –generally of some past trauma and often of real villains who take advantage of his or her masochistic guilt,
5.the thriller of moral confrontation… organized around an overt antithetical confrontation between a character representing good or innocence and a character representing evil. These films often are constructed in terms of elaborate dualities which emphasize the parallels between the victim and the criminal, and
6.the innocent-on-the-run thriller… organized around an innocent victim’s coincidental entry into the midst of global intrigue… the victim often finds himself running from both the villains as well as the police
Defining a genre can be difficult. Charles Derry developed a definition based on narrative codes. Derry defines the suspense thriller as “a crime work which presents a generally murderous antagonism in which the protagonist becomes either an innocent victim or a nonprofessional criminal within a structure that is significantly unmediated by a traditional figure or detection” He then redefines the thriller into six subgenre.
1.The thriller of murderous passions… organized around the triangular grouping of husband/wife/lover. The central scene is generally the murder of one member of the triangle by one or both of the other members. The emphasis is clearly on the criminal protagonist… [and]… the criminal motive is generally passion or greed,
2.the political thriller… organized around a plot to assassinate a political figure or a revelation of the essential conspiratorial nature of governments and their crimes against the people. These films generally document and dramatize the acts of assassins, conspirators, or criminal governments, as well as the oppositional acts of victim-societies, countercultures, or martyrs,
3.the thriller of acquired identity… organized around a protagonist’s acquisition of an unaccustomed identity, his or her behaviour in coming to terms with the metaphysical and physical consequences of this identity, and the relationship of this acquisition to a murderous plot,
4.the psychotraumatic thriller… organized around the psychotic effects of a trauma on a protagonist’s current involvement in a love affair and a crime or intrigue. The protagonist is always a victim –generally of some past trauma and often of real villains who take advantage of his or her masochistic guilt,
5.the thriller of moral confrontation… organized around an overt antithetical confrontation between a character representing good or innocence and a character representing evil. These films often are constructed in terms of elaborate dualities which emphasize the parallels between the victim and the criminal, and
6.the innocent-on-the-run thriller… organized around an innocent victim’s coincidental entry into the midst of global intrigue… the victim often finds himself running from both the villains as well as the police
Roland Barthes
Action and Enigma Codes
The hermeneutic code (HER.) refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the reader, raising questions that demand explication. Most stories hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final revelation of all diegetic truths. We tend not to be satisfied by a narrative unless all "loose ends" are tied; however, narratives often frustrate the early revelation of truths, offering the reader what Barthes terms "snares" (deliberate evasions of the truth), "equivocations" (mixtures of truth and snare), "partial answers," "suspended answers," and "jammings" (acknowledgments of insolubility). As Barthes explains, "The variety of these terms (their inventive range) attests to the considerable labor the discourse must accomplish if it hopes to arrest the enigma, to keep it open" (76). The best example may well be the genre of the detective story. The entire narrative of such a story operates primarily by the hermeneutic code. We witness a murder and the rest of the narrative is devoted to determining the questions that are raised by the initial scene of violence. The detective spends the story reading the clues that, only at the end, reconstructs the story of the murder
The proairetic code (ACT.) refers to the other major structuring principle that builds interest or suspense on the part of a reader or viewer. The proairetic code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be. We wait to see if he kills his opponent or is wounded himself. Suspense is thus created by action rather than by a reader's or a viewer's wish to have mysteries explained.
Action and Enigma Codes
The hermeneutic code (HER.) refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the reader, raising questions that demand explication. Most stories hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final revelation of all diegetic truths. We tend not to be satisfied by a narrative unless all "loose ends" are tied; however, narratives often frustrate the early revelation of truths, offering the reader what Barthes terms "snares" (deliberate evasions of the truth), "equivocations" (mixtures of truth and snare), "partial answers," "suspended answers," and "jammings" (acknowledgments of insolubility). As Barthes explains, "The variety of these terms (their inventive range) attests to the considerable labor the discourse must accomplish if it hopes to arrest the enigma, to keep it open" (76). The best example may well be the genre of the detective story. The entire narrative of such a story operates primarily by the hermeneutic code. We witness a murder and the rest of the narrative is devoted to determining the questions that are raised by the initial scene of violence. The detective spends the story reading the clues that, only at the end, reconstructs the story of the murder
The proairetic code (ACT.) refers to the other major structuring principle that builds interest or suspense on the part of a reader or viewer. The proairetic code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be. We wait to see if he kills his opponent or is wounded himself. Suspense is thus created by action rather than by a reader's or a viewer's wish to have mysteries explained.
Todorov - see notes on equilibrium -agent of change - disequilibrium
Levi-Strauss - see notes on binary opposites
Comparing work/Modelling
Spend ten minutes reading through these two candidates analyses, deciding which is basic and which is highly proficient and why. Then make a list of your reasons (you can use the grade descriptors to help) and try to make sure your work shows evidence of good practise.
Spend ten minutes reading through these two candidates analyses, deciding which is basic and which is highly proficient and why. Then make a list of your reasons (you can use the grade descriptors to help) and try to make sure your work shows evidence of good practise.
Candidate A
Thrillers are an extremely popular genre of film. There are many subgenre of film thrillers as well as hybrids which complicates the notion of defining the thriller. Charles Derry attempted a definition, this being, 'a crime work which presents a generally murderous antagonism in which the innocent victim...'. This defintion is particularly useful as a starting point and we begin to see this representation of the 'innocent victim' in various classic thrillers such as North by Northwest, Witness and Psycho.
Thrillers are an extremely popular genre of film. There are many subgenre of film thrillers as well as hybrids which complicates the notion of defining the thriller. Charles Derry attempted a definition, this being, 'a crime work which presents a generally murderous antagonism in which the innocent victim...'. This defintion is particularly useful as a starting point and we begin to see this representation of the 'innocent victim' in various classic thrillers such as North by Northwest, Witness and Psycho.
Candidate B
A thriller is a type of film, Charles defined it as a crime work. Levi-Strauss said there were often binary narratives in thrillers like good and bad, Like Silence of the lambs which has Hannibal Lecter who is obviously bad. Another key convention is Suspense like in the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred made lots of suspenseful films like Rear Window and Psycho. There are lots of technical codes in thrillers such as representing characters as dangerous with high angled shots, like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.
A thriller is a type of film, Charles defined it as a crime work. Levi-Strauss said there were often binary narratives in thrillers like good and bad, Like Silence of the lambs which has Hannibal Lecter who is obviously bad. Another key convention is Suspense like in the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred made lots of suspenseful films like Rear Window and Psycho. There are lots of technical codes in thrillers such as representing characters as dangerous with high angled shots, like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.
Candidate B
Blog entry E.G Today I have been trying to assess the key conventions of the genre. Having watched......... I can see that common conventions include.... I have also created a page on my site with key narrative theory in order to ensure that my film can be easily recognised by the audience as one that successfully includes conventions of the genre.