Conventions of Existing Media essay

For my media coursework I chose to create a short film in the fantasy genre. Having studied many of the conventions of the fantasy genre I came to the conclusion that my film would be based around the notion of a magical race of creatures (a key element to the fantasy genre) and the idea of a hero on a journey of self-discovery against a dark lord or villain. My short film follows the story of a woodland nymph named Melodie as she breaks away from what she knows in order to defeat the evil in form of the Woodland Queen.

I used a range of short film conventions in my short film. When I first started researching short film conventions I decided to search for short films from the fantasy short films on websites such as YouTube and shortoftheweek.com. In doing this I found two films that really inspired me called ‘Honorbound’ and ‘Ranger’ which were both set in a medieval fantasy filmic world. After watching a selection of short films I discovered that short films normally focus on one or two main characters and have a short running time that can range from around three minutes up to forty minutes. I found that short films such as ‘Ranger’ and a similar film called ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ - that were both over half an hour long - were exceptionally well made but the costumes and weapons looked authentic enough to be intimidating for me as a student filmmaker with a very limited budget. Upon looking at costumes such as those worn in the two films I discovered that just parts of some of the costumes cost over £100! I also realised that short films have a reasonably simplistic storyline that is normally followed by a plot twist, as can be seen in ‘Ranger’ when Ranger leaves on his journey only to be attacked. Short films also seem to have an abstract or creative element, a low budget and a niche audience. As well as this, I realised that short films are expected to have a very niche audience, especially when it comes to short films as fantasy films which are normally stretched out over hours of battles and trekking over mystical lands with complex plots.

When studying the conventions of a fantasy film I learnt that films that classify as part of the genre tend to include fantastical themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds - linking closely to the science-fiction genre which I studied last year in form of the dystopian category. The fantasy genre is normally separated into three categories: Speculative Fiction, High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery. Both categories typically use medieval settings, wizards, magical creatures and other elements commonly associated with fantasy stories such as elements of wonder, escapism and the extraordinary. It typically strays from reality, featuring fictional beings like mythical creatures and supernatural entities. All of this is also part the speculative fiction genre, including elements, settings and characters created out of imagination and speculation rather than based on reality and everyday life. This meant that I had a lot to work with and that I could be as imaginative as I wanted with my storyline as well as drawing on aspects of mythology, folklore and legends that I might find inspiring. High Fantasy films tend to feature a more richly developed fantasy world, and may also be more character-oriented or thematically complex. Often, they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between good and evil battling. This can be seen in the film adaptation of J.R.R.Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ as it follows the journey of Frodo Baggins who has must destroy the One Ring (due to his clear distinction between good and evil) as he makes his way through Middle Earth, a highly developed fantasy world full of hobbits, men, elves, dwarves and all matter of strange creatures. In comparison, Sword and Sorcery tends to be more plot-driven than High Fantasy and focus heavily on action sequences, often putting a physically powerful via the use of the unsophisticated warrior against a supernaturally endowed enemy. This can be seen in the film adaptation of Christopher Paolini’s epic ‘Eragon’ when farm boy Eragon must train to defeat the evil King Galbatorix. Although Sword and Sorcery films sometimes describe an epic battle between good and evil - similar to those found in many High Fantasy movies - they may alternately present the hero as having more immediate motivations, such as the need to protect a vulnerable girl or village, or even being driven by the desire for vengeance. In regards to my own short film, ‘Halfbreed’ can be seen as as combination of both the Speculative Fiction category due to the imaginative creation of the nymphs, however this also merges with the ideas from the ‘High Fantasy’ and the ‘Sword and Sorcery’ categories due to the nymph being regarded as magical creatures as well as the the desire for vengeance.

Fantasy film conventions also tend to include a dark lord, a battle between good vs evil, a hero, medievalism, a quest and magical races. My film subverts the notion of a dark ‘lord’ and instead presents the antagonist of the film as a ‘dark lady’ in form of the Woodland Queen. A stereotypical dark lord is presented as the leader of the forces of the evil, possessing dark qualities, evil magical abilities, such as necromancy, and are normally portrayed as outcast and as a lone figure.. Examples of dark lords and ladies can be seen in fantasy works such as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ with the character of Jadis/The White Witch or Melkor in ‘The Silmarillion’. The character of the Woodland Queen in my film does follow these conventions as she is a lone figure and is traditionally dressed in dark clothes. As well as this, my film also subverts the notion of a film having a hero as the protagonist. In my film the protagonist, Melodie, can be described as an anti-hero (a character divided between both light and dark) as she works for the Woodland Queen yet she is also the one to defeat the Woodland Queen, still possessing hero qualities. Anti-heroes are becoming a more common element in modern day films as the protagonists in films and television such as ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Vikings’. A stereotypical hero in the fantasy genre normally has a normal background or are a maltreated person who grow throughout the film to become the hero of the story via the fulfilment of a dream. They occasionally also turn out to be unknown royalty which could arguably be symbolic of the recognition of inner worth amongst the characters and perhaps the audience. In this way, the character of Melodie does fit into this character as she has a disturbing background and is in fact royalty, being the Woodland Queen’s niece. My film also follows the conventions of medievalism as seen by the costume design and plot. The word ‘medievalism’ means to be drawn from myth, legend and folklore; the medievalism genre fits nicely with the idea of magical races with many races of intelligent creatures such as elves and dwarves often being drawn from medieval or pre-Christian roots of origin. Therefore my film fits nicely into this convention with all of the characters being part of the race of nymphs instead of humans.

I also use narrative conventions in my film. Todorov suggests that a film starts happy or calm until a problem disrupts this equilibrium. The problem is next recognised and the characters attempt to return to the equilibrium before the problem is resolved and normality returns. In regards to Todorov’s theory my film subverts some of the stages of the disruption of equilibrium before the equilibrium has been established. This is shown when Sienna runs through the forest with Melodie tracking her. In this way it presents Sienna already in a case of disruption as she attempts to loose Melodie in the forest and therefore fails to present an equilibrium at the start. The film later returns to Todorov’s theory as Melodie identifies the problem and the film ends with the death of the Woodland Queen.

In conclusion I have learnt a great deal about short films and fantasy conventions. Through creating my short film ‘Halfbreed’ I realised that to create not only a short film but also the foundations of any storyline in my chosen genre is by following a set of conventions unique to the genre and the film. This helped me analyse a range of films in my chosen genre including a selection of short films as well as hour-long epics such as ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Eragon’.

Collective Identity Essay

For many years, the media representations of women has helped to construct their collective identity, both positively and negatively. However, as David Gauntlett says, “Identity is complicated; everybody thinks they’ve got one,” and I believe this is true concerning the representation of women as no two representations are the same.

In a semiotic analysis of ‘Cosmopolitan’ over the last four years, we see, in the words of the article in March 2014 ‘What does this remind you of...?’ “Feminist creatives from the world of art, fashion, photography and craft have a new muse: the vagina. The female form is being objectified in new ways, this time by women and men keen to represent it in all its glory.” December 2016 cover-lines include ‘The Slut Diaries’ and ‘In Bed with Kourtney Kardashian’, suggesting casual sexism due to the use of the word ‘Slut’, and the problem pages are on the lines of ‘he broke my heart’. As usual, the cover model, Kourtney Kardashian, is looking sexy, lying on a rumpled bed sheet with tousled hair. This is in line with Winship’s theory that women are seeing themselves in the way that masculine culture has defined them. The forthright tackling of sex issues could be seen as refreshing. But this is complex - women are still being objectified, even though these are 'strong' women. According to Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory, one of the reasons people consume the media is for social interaction and identification with a role model who appears to have similar innovative ideas to your own in order to escape from the problems of the real world; however ‘Cosmopolitan’ in many ways conforms this theory bringing formally ‘taboo’ issues into the spotlight. In this way the collective identity of women is constructed positively, however is an overt sexualisation of women which could be interpreted as damaging to the construction of women's representation.

However, in magazines such as ‘Women’s Health’, the magazine acts more as a friendly adviser. This magazine conforms to Giddens’ theory of structuration as it tells the reader ‘What to do? How to act? Who to be?’ in didactic cover-lines such as ‘Shed 3, 5, 7+ kilos’. However, it also features articles such as 'The Weird New Way To Sleep Better', which is reassuring to the general reader. The December 2016 issue focuses on fixing common problems such as lack of sleep, hunger cravings, stress, skin blemishes and fat. It is all about makeup, hair and skincare. The cover model, Laura Whitmore, is an aspirational figure, but this is common in just about all lifestyle magazines. In contrast, the models in ‘Men’s Health’ magazine look challenging and have a manly gaze into the camera, the females in ‘Women’s Health’ look cheerful, friendly and glowing, more like a ‘friend’. If we consider that the model reflects the image promoted by the magazine, men are represented as overtly stereotypical 'male' role model, whilst the cover models in 'Women's Health' appear more diverse in appearance, promoting a healthy lifestyle rather than a particular 'look'.

Moreover the representation of women in film has been surrounded by controversy in recent years. When we look back over time, film representations of women have tended to be. For example, in Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller, ‘Vertigo’ where Kim Novak is presented as a typical ‘ice woman’ in the film – perfect, beautiful and unattainable. In fact Hitchcock has been criticised as a misogynist, which may be why all the women in his films, particularly ‘Vertigo’, are presented as weak, even damsels in distress-type characters.

If we compare this to more recent films such as ‘Suffragette' (2015), directed by Sarah Gavron, women are presented in a much more positive light. The Marxist theory is relevant here as the factory managers try to exercise absolute control over the working class women. However, eventually the women rebel, which can be related to Faucault’s ‘Techniques of the Self’ as the protagonist changes society and leads the rebellion to fight for votes for women.

Similarly, Disney has introduced strong female representations in its films in recent years too. For example, Moana (2016) is a stronger character than her male counterpart, who is a demigod. Her grandmother, too, is a wise figure who gives Moana strength while her father tries to 'protect' her. Alike to this, Meridith in Brave (2012) fights for her own hand in marriage subverting the stereotypical Disney princess characterisation as she fights for her own freedom as well as acting as a powerful hero in saving her own mother. Disney have also subverted the female stereotype of requiring rescuing by a male hero as can be seen in Frozen (2013) which instead explores the idea of women standing up for each other through the relationship of sisters Anna and Elsa, as well as choosing to characterise elder sister Elsa as a female villain but as one that the audience can sympathise with instead of the stereotypical ‘ice woman’ seen in Hitchcock’s films.

Furthermore, films such as ‘Divergent’ (2014) directed by Neil Burger, totally subvert the idea of gender and therefore links to Butler’s idea of gender as a performance. The protagonist Tris changes her actions mentally in order to fit into the male-led society. However, women are in top leadership positions in this film.

In advertisements, women have been represented differently over the years. For example, in the Fairy Liquid adverts from the 1960s, the women are presented as stay-at-home mothers; she does educational activities with her young daughter whilst washing up. Even today, Mum is the main focus of the adverts. Fairy Liquid therefore conforms to the old fashioned hegemony that women belong in the home.

In conclusion, in the future I believe that there will be a rise in the number of feminist films, advertisements and magazines due to the current and increasing importance of Fourth Wave feminism, particularly after Emma Watson’s impassioned speech at the UN on gender equality. The collective identity of women is constantly changing in the media; as Judith Butler says, “Gender is a fluid variable” which “shifts and changes”.

Judith Butler

Judith Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist. She suggests that gender is not the result of nature but is socially constructed, meaning that male and female behaviour and roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced through media and culture.

A summary of Butler's points:
- Your identity is not fixed
- Your identity is more than just the social and cultural things you have expressed or have been said about you
- There is not really an 'inner self'
- Gender is a performance (though not consciously chosen) which is reinforced via repetition
- The binary divide between masculine and feminine is a social construct between male and female gender

An example of the fluidity of gender/sexuality can be seen in the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. In this film the character is portrayed as iconic and over-the-top as a pirate, wearing an over-elaborate costume and eye make-up as well as using feminine and camp gestures.

Claude Levi-Strauss Theory

Claude Levi-Strauss was a social anthropologist who studied the myths of tribal cultures. He examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture which are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions. Strauss' research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts.

Roland Barthe's Theory

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician (study of cultural signs and symbols). Barthes described text as a tangled ball of threads that needs to be unravelled so that the audience/reader is exposed to the many meanings throughout the text, unravelling the narrative so that they encounter different angles of meaning. He suggested that there are one or more of the five codes that describe the meaning of a text, stating that texts may be 'open' meaning that they can be used in lots of different ways or 'closed' meaning that there is only one obvious thread.

Enigma code

Also known as the Hermeneutic code, the Enigma code refers to a mystery within the text. Clues are given throughout the narrative but no clear answers are provided. The enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know more and enigmas frustrate the audience when left unsolved or unanswered.

Action code

Also known as the Proairetic code, the Action Code contains elements of action in the text and the proairetic elements add suspense to the narrative. This leaves the audience guessing at what may happen next.

Semantic code

The Semantic code refers to parts within the narrative that suggest or refer to additional meanings and interpretations. Elements of the semantic code are called Semes and have a connotative function in the narrative, meaning that it has additional meaning.

Symbolic code

The Symbolic code is about the symbolism found within the text. It uses opposites to show contrast and create greater meaning, creating tension, drama and character development.

Referential code

Finally, the Referential code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external part of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory

Tzvetan Todorov's is a Bulgarian literary theorist and philosopher who suggests that stories begin with a state of equilibrium in which the protagonist's life is normal, where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by an event, setting in chain a series of events until the problems are solved so that order can be restored to the fictional world.

Todorov stated that there are five structured stages:
- a state of equilibrium at the start
- a disruption of the equilibrium
- a recognition that there has been a disruption
- a reinstatement of the equilibrium

Todorov's theory can be applied to many 'mainstream' film narratives such as Lord of the Rings. A state of equilibrium is shown at the start when the hobbits prepare for Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday, throwing a party in celebration. The disruption is caused by Bilbo giving Frodo his ring which happens to be the One Ring forged by Lord Sauron. When Frodo is hunted by the Nazgûl and stabbed by a morgul blade before being rescued and taken to Imladris (Rivendell) in order to heal. This restores an element of equilibrium for a time before the Council of Elrond addresses the true disruption of the film: that the One Ring must be destroyed in order to defeat Sauron. Only once the ring is truly destroyed in Mount Doom is the sense of equilibrium restored.

Vladimir Propp Theory

Vladimir Propp was a literary critic who created the idea of a certain type of character found in narrative structures in films. He analysed over 100 Russian fairytales in the 1920s and proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions, following a specific narrative structure. Specifically, Propp suggested that there are eight character types: the Villain, the Dispatcher, the Helper, the Princess, the Father, the Donor, the Hero and the False Hero. I have studied these and referred to examples in each of these characters from fantasy television series 'The Shannara Chronicles'.

The Villain

The Villain fights the hero in some way. The Villain and the Hero are normally juxtaposed by their appearance as the Villain will be portrayed as unattractive, sinister and creepy. This is normally achieved by having the character bear scars or unflattering features whilst their costume is normally dark and mysterious.

The character of the Villain can be seen in 'The Shannara Chronicles' as the Dagda Mor. This is down to his evil deeds in attempting to turn the world back into a realm of darkness and demons. He also stereotypically fits the description as being gnarled and scarred which can be seen due to the piercings and scars running down his face.

The Dispatcher

The Dispatcher is a character who makes the Villain's evil deeds known so that they can send the Hero on their journey, encouraging the Hero to eliminate evil.

The character of the Dispatcher in 'The Shannara Chronicles' is the character of the Elven King, Eventine. King Eventine first brings the idea of magic and demons back to the realm of the elves after having made them believe that magic was a lie. With the aid of Allanon, King Eventine sends his granddaughter, Amberle on her quest to save the Elcrys tree.

The Helper

Unsurprisingly, the Helper helps the Hero on their quest.

The character of the Helper in 'The Shanara Chronicles' is the character of Eretria. Although she is at first presented as an enemy to both Wil and Amberle, Eretria ultimately ends up helping them both on the quest in unlocking the Blood-Fire with her own blood and the tattoo on her back.

The Princess

The Princess provides the role of a character that the Hero wants but is unable to marry due to an unfair evil, normally caused by the Villain. The Hero's journey/quest normally ends when the Hero is finally allowed to marry the Princess after having beaten the Villain.

Although a male character, in 'The Shannara Chronicles' I think the character of Wil fits into the role of the Princess. Wil is the love interest of both Amberle (Hero) and Eritrea (Helper) and is ultimately what Amberle wants even though he is only a half-elf. He also fits under this category as he and Amberle almost get together before the end of the season when she becomes the Elcrys - therefore preventing them from being together.

The Father

The Father normally gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero or marries the hero. Propp found that the roles of the Father and the Princess cannot be clearly established and their roles can actually merge into one.

The character of the Father falls to Ander in 'The Shannara Chronicles' as he encourages Amberle to succeed as her uncle, having watched over her ever since his brother Aine was murdered. Ander's character also identifies as the False Hero as the demons in the Arborlorn - who eventually bring Ander's other brother, Arion back from the dead to fight for their cause instead of for the elves -leave Ander with no choice but to kill his brother.

The Donor

The Donor prepares the Hero for the quest or gives the Hero a magical object.

Allanon's character in 'The Shannara Chronicles' as one of the last druids is the Donor. Allanon prepares both Amerble and Wil for their quest to save the Elcrys and gives Wil his three elfstones  as well as telling Amberle how to retrieve the Elcrys seed.

The Hero

Normally the protagonist of the story or film, the Hero reacts to the Donor and ultimately marries the Princess.

In 'The Shannara Chronicles' Amberle is the protagonist of the series and also the leader of the quest to save the Elcrys. However, her role as a Hero is debatable because although she interacts with Allanon (the Donor) she is in fact the love interest of Wil and is kidnapped or taken away just like the role of the Princess would only for Wil to save her.

False Hero

The False Hero normally takes credit for the Hero's actions or attempts to marry the Princess.