Product Research - Deadpool Movie Trailer

As the new Deadpool movie trailer came out on August 4th, I thought I would write a quick analysis looking at the first minute.

The very opening shot is a fade-in to a medium close-up on a man and a women embracing, both of which have red eyes to indicate that they have been crying. The first line the audience hears confirms this. As the woman says "I love you, Wade Wilson. We can fight this." the camera shot jump cuts to a close up of them holding hands. This displays their close relationship, but the opening line and slow build of dramatic music implies there is something seriously wrong.

However, Wade's reply is darkly humourous and laced with sarcasm. This gives an insight into his character. It also shows an x-ray of the problems he's joking about, giving the audience an insight into the severity.

The intense music, combined with the narrative, and short clips of Wilson's backstory creates tension and excitement- the audience want to know the outcome of all these experiments.

It's obvious that the treatment Wilson gets is painful- one scientist who helps with the procedure says "One thing that never survives this place is a sense of humour." Wilson retaliates to this with some insulting comparisons to celebrities, which earns him a punch. This shows that he might be a bit too laid back for his own good, and that it will put him in trouble if he isn't careful.

At fifty seconds the atmosphere quickly changes. The Marvel logo flashes up and rap music starts. Initially the audience believe this is a non-diegetic soundtrack to set the mood again, but when the scene opens with a close-up on a radio with a sticker saying "Wade" in red crayon it is revealed that it's something that Wilson is listening to and muttering along to as he draws. His drawing is done in crayon, like the label of his radio, and in a very cartoon-y style. It's a scribbled doodle of Deadpool shooting a bad guy in the head, who is saying "Ouchie!" This makes it obvious that Wilson has a child-like mind and sense of humour sometimes.

Tertiary Research - The Horror Genre

I looked around on the internet and came across this case study, which proved useful to me as it is all about how the horror genre has developed, and why audiences love it so.

History

The horror genre started in literature, with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). However, from the 1930s to the 1970s horror films and novels were extremely unpopular due to them often being cheaply made. This changed in the 1960s with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho- a movie to actually get a review and one of the first horror films to be taken seriously. A little later two other horror films were released that were also accepted by mainstream audiences. These were Jaws (Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975), and The Exorcist (Directed by William Friedkin, 1973).

As well as film, horror literature has also proved to be a big hit. Novelists such as Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Stephen King are among the most popular horror writers of today.

Codes & Conventions
The codes and conventions of horror are used in two ways. Firstly, as a way for an audience to recognise the genre. This is often what spurs the audience to buy the book/watch the film in the first place.

Secondly, for media producers to know what their audience is looking for, and to then supply them with that and make their piece a hit. An example of this is the Star-Wars/Space genre, which was quickly used by producers to combine with the horror genre and revive it.

Some examples of codes and conventions in horror are:

• A secluded location - The woods, a summer camp, a house in the middle of nowhere- a place where the characters have no one around to help them.
• Characters who forget about threat - If there is a curse or threat, the characters often seem to conveniently forget about it.
• Power cuts - At the height of tension the power goes out! No lights, no phones, no internet.
• Victim hides in front of a window or door - A very common and easy scare. The victim cowers against a door or window, only to have the killer break through and grab them a moment later.
• A stormy night - Very effective in terms of setting an atmosphere. This technique has been used since the days of Victorian horror.

Representation
Early horror films were a male-dominated genre. Women played the part of the victim and/or the object of desire. Many critics believe the horror genre is extremely misogynistic because even today there are still many horror films that follow this stereotype. As well as this, it is often found that sexually active "bad girls" are the ones to get murdered, while the pure "good girls" are the ones who are spared or rescued.

There has been some progress, however. Films such as Alien feature female leads, but it's interesting to note that these characters are masculinised- one of the most common lines a female lead says to a male is to "Man up".

Summer Project - Zine

I went to a youth workshop during my summer holiday, where I made my first zine. The lady leading the workshop told me zines became very popular in the punk scene in the 1970s, as a way of getting your word out in the world. The most popular was a feminist punk zine called Riot Grrrl in the 1990s. I made a zine about living with an anxiety disorder, called Crooked Glasses, and left some in the youth club where the workshop took place, I found it really fun to construct as you could make it personal and with a quirky design. We also looked at a few other people's zines, and it was great to see everyone's own individual approach to making a zine and their art style.