The Crazies IMDB LinkTodorov At the beggining of the film there is a shot of the town in flames and buildings destroyed so straight away the theory is defied. Todorov's theory states that a movie starts with a state of equilibrium, and obviously it does not in this movie. There is a state of equilibrium after this as it goes back in time from the flashforward, where everything is ok, then there is the disruption of equiilibrium in the form of the infected crazy people, then the death of the infected people except two, which is not a real restoration of equilibrium.
Levi-Strauss the binary opposites are: Sane/Insane - The 'Crazies' are the insane zombie people, and they are the main enemy of the uninfected, sane humans. Living/Dead - There are a number of people that are killed by the crazies and a number of crazies that are killed by people. The story centres around the living survivors. Day/ Night - The danger of the dark and shadowy locations at night and the limited view as opposed to the safety and security of being able to see well in the day time. Military/Civilian - The army and special forces deployed were important and in the know as opposed to the ordinary people who dont know what is going on and are expendable in the view of the military Known Unknown - The secret surrounding the appearance of the crazies and the crashed plane carrying a bio weapon, we dont see much of this in the movie, rather we are similar to the main civilian characters who dont know anything about it but are just caught up in it. Infected/Uninfected - The crazies are infected and go insane and the uninfected people have to survive and defend themselves against the crazies, also the element of infection at the end when the two main protagonists are walking to a nearby city and the recon plane shows a message which basically says to contain the threat the same way they did the last time by nuking it.
Propp The Hero: The hero is David the main character as the story follows him and he stands up for what is right and good. The Villian: Could be argued that the main villian is either the crazies or the U.S military as the military created the crazies but the crazies are bad The Donor/Helper is Russell the Deputy of David. He fights for the same cause as David but is not as influencial as him, he is almost a sidekick. The False Hero: The Mayor of the town is the flase hero as he appears to care for the town but he refuses to cut off the water supply for what seems to be a logical reason in expenditure but he is revealed to be ignorant because he doesnt listen to David who warns him of the infectious water.
Bordwell & Thompson The cause and effect relationship of events in the movie: the plane crashes in the town's water supply, people get infected, people go crazy, the crazy people kill the normal people, the crazy people get destroyed by a bomb. most of these events have screen time, we do not however see the plane crash, the development of the bio weapon or what happens to the city they go to at the end.
The setting is clear in the trailer as the is a pub, people houses and gardens. It is obviously a suburban area. This is a good setting for a zombie movie as there are lots of familiar zombies that Shaun and Ed recognise and lots of people who live in the surounding area have the potential to become zombies. Also because of the urban area there are lots of building and cars that all have the potential to be a big part in the movie, in this film particularly, the pub. Technical Codes in the trailer display the comical nature of the film. The sound at the start seem the sound and look like an orthodox zombie trailer with the deep, stern voice of the voice over, and the static of the clip editing, with lots of background noise, in addition to the quick takes of zombie faces and ambulances. The editing freezes shots that are funny or important, which highlight the main plot of the movie. Towards the main, middle part of the trailer the clips are shorter and cuts smaller, as well as the music getting faster to confirm the horror aspect even though the clips themselves are often humourous. There is a particularly good sequence in the trailer where a track shot is used to follow Shaun approaching a flat block battering zombies with a cricket bat. There are many obvious examples of iconography in the clip. For example you would expect to find deserted cars in the streets, asynchronous sound of glass smashing or screams, and blood trails and stains on the floor etc. You would expect to find these things in a zombie movie and the iconography in the trailer illustrates clearly that the audience is going to see some sort of zombie movie. The Narrative is somewhat unclear from what the trailer shows. We do however, know a list of things; We know that it is a zombie/comedy film, we know that the protagonist is Shaun played by Simon Pegg, we know that Shaun is accompanied by his best friend Ed and various other characters. We also know a variety of locations and scenes from the movie such as Shaun and Ed's house and the Winchester pub. What they do in movie as far as the plot is concerned, is relatively vague. We know they have to leave their house because of a zombie break in and that they go to the pub at some point, but the rest of the trailer shows humourous clips and memorbale moments. Characters are clearly shown in the trailer, at least the main ones are. Shaun is displayed as the main character, hence the title 'Shaun Of the Dead'. Shaun's best friend Ed is also shown as another protagonist character. The other characters are briefly shown but not elaborated upon. We see David, the man with glasses running from a pack of zombies, we see liz, Shaun's girlfriend (unknown from the trailer) and flashes of a few other characters and zombies. Themes in the trailer are definitely comedy and irony as there are a few humourous clips in the middle of a zombie apocalypse which could definitley be perceived as irony. Also, underreaction is a theme of the trailer as there are clips where Shaun and Ed underreact to extreme situations, for example, when they run over a zombie and stop, ask if he's alright and when the zombie gets up shaun is releived they didnt kill him. There are multiple binary oppositions in the trailer, for example: undead and alive - zombies trying to kill humans and vice versa safety and danger - safety in Shaun's house and the danger of outside attack and defence - the cricket bat Shaum kills zombies with and the barricade in the pub normal and abnormal - Shaun and Ed's normal life of going to work and playing video games etc. which turned to fighting through the streets for survival against zombies.
The movie: Scream is a unique movie mixing the fear of a horror movie and the tongue-in-cheek humor of a comedy. I, and I assume most people, would class Scream as a spoof, although it could be seen as a comedy-horror hybrid. The trailer itself does not imply or involve any humor as such, despite the voice over maybe being a little sarcastic or over the top. It seems to be a normal, orthodox horror trailer with the fast paced takes and cuts, music etc. My immediate impression of the trailer was at the beginning, it could have been any genre, with the girl on the phone. It is then revealed to be a horror or thriller trailer of sorts when he asks the girls name because he wants to know who he's looking at. This shows that the person on the phone is likely to be an antagonist or villian. I also thought that through the main part of the trailer that they concealed the killer quite well, showing his mask only in flashes and a few seconds. If I had not seen the movie, I imagine that would have enticed me to see it. From what the trailer reveals, the story of the movie is an obsessed horror movie fan who decides to make his own horror movie situation. From footage, there is a character who also is a fan of horror who tells everyone about what happens in horror movies and the conventions of a killer in a horror movie. This gives a slight humorous edge to the trailer and grounds the idea that the movie doesnt take itself too seriously. The trailer has lots of tools to make the viewer go and pay for the movie. For example, the audience must be aching to see who is behind the mask, why they choose to kill and how it all ends. The trailer slowly leaks the story and gives just enough information on the plot to entice the viewer, and then the information feed stops and the viewer is left wondering about the movie. There is one big movie star: Courteney Cox. This is a big driving force behind the trailer as she has a lot of screen time despite being somewhat of a minor character in the film. It shows that the movie has good funding and has caught the attention of a popular hollywood actress which could in turn, catch the attention of a lot of potential viewers/buyers. Finally, the editing of the trailer reinforced the overall tone of the trailer with the half-serious voice over and the super imposed 1950s style titles. This makes sure the audience know it is a horror movie but has an underlying theme of subtle humor.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/ Tzvetan Todorov Todorov suggests that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in a chain of series. Problems are then solved so order is restored. In Halloween, at the beginning there is a very brief state of equilibrium before someone is quickly killed. Equilibrium is then restored as Michael Myers is put in jail a few years on. This peace is then swiftly ruined again as Michael Myers escapes from jail. Events transpire, people are stalked and killed and then Michael Myers appears to be killed. Equilibrium is thought to be restored, only seconds later in the film, Michael Myers is gone and back out on the streets roaming the world, free to stalk and kill whoever he wants. Therefore, the movie Halloween, actually goes against virtually every aspect of Todorov's theory as the equilibrium is not fully restored at the end of the film.
Vladimir Propp Propp looked at 100s of folk tales and identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions. I will state the character roles and then state whether or not they are in Halloween and if so, who. The Villain: Michael Myers, the main character and killer The Hero: Laurie, the female protagonist The Donor: Michael Myers is the only character who has anything supernatural about him, as he appears to be immortal. The Helper: would be the Dr. Loomis character as he is on Laurie's side but has a smaller role. The Princess: there is not really a sought for person or a reward as such Her Father: N/A The Dispatcher: in a metaphorical way, insanity sends Michael Myers on his kill spree The Fasle Hero: Michael Myers has no one who is on his side, everyone is against him so there is not a fasle hero. Therefore Propp's theory does not fit very well to this particular movie.
Claude Levi-Strauss Levi-Strauss looked at binary oppositions in movies - sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. Some binary opposites in Halloween could be: Good and Evil Mortal and Immortal Face and Mask Night and Day Speech and Silence Panic and Calmness Quiet and Loud Sex and Celebacy Sanity and Insanity
Bordwell & Thompson Defined narrative as 'a chain of events in a cause and effect relationship, occurring in time and space'. Meaning typically, a narrative begins with one situation, a series of changes occur according to cause and effect and then a new situation arises that brings the end of the narrative. For Halloween this makes sense as changes occur in terms of cause and effect, for example one of the girls dies because Michael Myers stabs her with a knife. Nothing happens without a cause in Halloween EXCEPT when Michael Myers gets up after being shot several times in the chest, neck and face. This could be explained by immortality or supernatural intervention etc. Therefore this definition of narrative apllies quite well to Halloween and it fits in logically and makes sense.
