Genre Research and intertextual links

How Spoof Movies Create Comedy?
 To gain an understanding of how the spoof genre creates a sense of comedy I decided to analyse several trailers of well renown spoofs. And from doing this I want to gain an understanding of the common codes and conventions of this genre.
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of a spoof movie is the Scary Movie series, therefore I opted to analyse two of the films trailers.

Scary Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yurKTKQr6E

• Use false scares
• These build up tension and suspense
• These are then broken down with a comedic aspect e.g the narrator changes his tone of voice and his dialect topic. As well as this another example would be the girl walking into the camera to end to period of suspense
• A blue tint is used through out the first few seconds
• Its then lost, so you use the horror and mystery signifier
• Inter textual references and stereotypes are used heavily to create comedy
• For example, when the character from Scream is hiding in the living room, but the female character is able to see him,  whilst he says ' I am in the house, know were I am?'
• Tend to use physical comedy , which includes people frequently falling over or getting injured
• Use a slash effect at the start of the clip, partnered with the character from Scream gives the proffered reading that the trailer the audience is about to see is a horror. However this turns out to be the contested reading.

Scary Movie 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTrKmkceiE&feature=related

• Again inter textual references are used, and with this film being released later it has more up to date references, that a modern day audience can relate to easier
• Popular culture icons and scandals are used to entice and audience and create comedy, such as the inclusion of Simon Cowell and Micheal Jackson.
• Use of an un tuned television, which I wish to include in my own piece, so I could incorporate it as an inter textual reference.
• Use stereotypes to the horror genre (as this is one of the themes used through out the movie series), with the use of a phone call.
• But link in a comedic aspect with the use of the dialogue between the characters.
• Physical comedy appears again and the blue tint effect.

From watching just these two clips I can already see a common trend starting to emerge. Spoofs tend to be full of inter textual references and current affairs. These are used so that a vast audience can relate to the situation and find it f to be comical. As well as this the comdey tends to be rather stupid, un sophisticated and blatant. So this may be something I would have to take into account when it comes to the filming process. Stereotypes are also play a crucial role, so when casting takes more progress I will relate to this, but I have outlined the stereotype aspect in my casting section.

From uploading the posters advertising this motion picture, it has sparked more ideas in terms of a final poster to advertise my film. My teaser poster appears to be more serious, and in my opinion I feel it would be a good input to have a light hearted poster set in the style of the Scary Movie posters. However I will need to look more into this concept to see if it is achievable. These two styles of my posters will in a sense mimic the binary opposition that occurs in my narrative, in the sense that half has light, comedic aspects but the other is more serious and down to earth.

As my project progresses I will gain a further understanding and add to this section frequently.


Five Rules For Making A Spoof


Since the dawn of time, with the first Neanderthal drawing a crude antelope upon the wall of his cave. Another has come along, drawn the same image but with it letting wind, so to make others laugh.
What I am trying to achieve from using this scientifically inaccurate anecdote is that this type of genre has an in-depth history.
The use of comedy can help shine a positive light, upon any situation. Throughout this post I will outline the five major rules that help to create the perfect modern spoof stereotype.

Step One-You Can Never Have Too Many References

Spoofs from the past referred to other movies, yet this was done in a more creative fashion. Using either flashbacks or dream sequences. However in recent years using 2008's Disaster Movie by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer contains 14 various inter textual references.

To name a few

• Wanted
• Juno
• Superbad
• High School Musical
• And from out of the blue, No Country For Old Men.

But what does one have to do with the other? Or how are they linked to the concept of disaster based productions? Due to this at certain points modern day references tend not to make much sense. However current spoofs have to compete with a shortening news cycle and the internet. Therefore quality must be sacrificed to achieve competition.

Step Two- Spoofing A Celebrity Is Just As Good As Spoofing A Film

An example of this would be Epic Movie, another production by Friedberg and Seltzer. It includes a Paris Hilton imitation interwoven amongst, Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean. The Hilton impersonator says one of her so called catch phrases 'that's so hot'  and then gets flattened in a style you'd expect to find in a cartoon. As well as this P Diddy apparently makes an appearance playing a creature from Narnia. During this time he is hit around the face by a bottle of Cristal.
From this you can interpret a pattern starting to emerge.

• Dress someone up so they appear to resemble a celebrity, take Michael Jackson as an example.
• Place them into a situation in a spoof movie.
• And have them injured in some way, that can be interpreted as comedy.

But its not just the celebrities though , the audience are also bombarded in another form. Despite the clear impression of who the character is supposed to be, there is always one who has to shout 'Oh look its...(insert celebrity here).

Step Three- Women Enjoy Mocking Things To

With the 2000's hit movie Scary Movie being the focal point, choosing a female lead was a necessary decision to complete the narrative. This was due to its inter textual references to slashers such as Scream, where the female characters play pivotal roles.
An example of a female lead would be Anna Faris, who has starred in every hit of the Scary Movie series. Being out going and having a female role may be the reason why Scary Movie has achieved the status as the highest grossing spoof of all time. With the three squeals and Date Movie following, which are both hits from the same writers.

Step Four- People Dancing = Funny


It proves hard to believe that it has taken so long fir a film to mock people whilst dancing. Seen as mocking a well put together musical is a long time of staple of the spoof genre. Yet it tends to be a reoccurring theme in modern day spoofs to include uncoordinated characters bursting into the frame.

Step Five- End Credits Need Not End So Quickly.


With rule number ones increased emphasis on references, gags and a decreased emphasis on the plot and characters. Time ends up being amended in the end credits. Traditionally in comedy satires the end credits used to have jokes interwoven for example changing surnames. However in todays film world spoofs average at around 80 minutes, with up to 10 to 15 minutes of additional material including songs, jokes bloopers, out takes and deleted scenes. These all tend to be used to the side whilst the credits role.
An example where this method is incorporated is Epic Movie at 93 minutes. It has 13 minutes dedicated to the credits, which is almost 15% of the film. So to summarize spoofs tend to devalue the quality of their narrative just to tell a continuos joke.


The information used to construct this article was taken from http://www.ifc.com/news/2009/05/modern-spoof-film.php

Granny
I was recommend by my teacher the 1999 so called horror Granny. I was told to analyze this particular media text, due to the quality gave more of a spoof feel than a horror, which was the preferred reading.
The points below are what I flagged up which I found to reiterate this point.

• Plain simple titles
• Red on black to create effect of blood, with son serif font (angular) to give the impression the film is a slasher.
• Eery non diegetic music
• Which helps to build tension and create tension
• Titles tend to drag on for too long
• Comdey is used in serious situations
• Point of view shot is used to show the perspective of a charcater
• With accompanied music increases tension
• Women are portayed in a stereotype, as they are gossiping
• Blue tint is used to anchor the genre
• Adult topics are used to signify the age certificate
• Blond stereotype, as she is portrayed as a slut
• Killing scene comes across as more comical than scary. Due to the speed of the kill
• Lack of beleivability, when the Granny character is stabbing the female in the bathroom no blood is left on the knife.
• Also the sounds are'nt accurate, when the Male is getting hit with the bat it sounds more lime a whip being cracked.
• When the Granny dances around in the woods it seems out of place, as you'd expect it more in a spoof than a horror
• When the Granny emerges from the pile of leaves in the woods it is hard to take serious.
• Overall the diegetic sounds are too exhaduraed and appear fake.
• The narative is puzzling how one girl always seems to escape
• And the overall story is original and crative, but due to the low budget nature of the film is poorly exicuted.
  

Airplane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaXvFT_UyI8

• Inter textual reference to Jaws, which may be a spoof as they use the non-diegetic theme tune and the air plane tale to resemble a sharks fin. With the clouds acting as the sea.
• This is played throughout different parts of the trailer
•  Reiterate the name of the film throughout to make it stick into the audiences mind.
• Comedy appears to be quite crude and camp.
• As well as old fashioned, as the jokes aren't as insultive as they are in modern day productions.
• A constant setting is mostly used throughout.
• Comedy tends to be physical, so people getting hit, an example would be when the woman is constantly being struck to calm her down.

Epic Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ansvIGF_OCU

• This has already been analysed on the section above, however there is more information to add.
• In the trailer it tries too hard to be funny, that it doesn't appear to have that much comical value.
• The sense of humour is quite immature, so it won't really appeal to a vast audience.
• To link with the point made earlier about Paris Hilton being crushed, the world is crushed by the titles of the film. These as also presented in an over sized font to link into the title.

Date Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkcBu8ZKStI

• Refers to another genre, moving away from most common spoofs, as it links to romantic comedy's and romance films. Rather than horrors or current general films.
• From the five steps to making a spoof, it uses dancing to create comedy. Which can prove the research  I have undergone to show some truth.
• The film puts a spin on the classic sequence, when two people run together in slow motion for an embrace. Instead, the character gets denied for someone else, which proves to be original and may cause a laugh.
• Celebrities are incorporated throughout, so that a vast audience is able to relate to the comedy.
• Creativity is used in the sense that the central female protagonsit is not sued for the male gaze, due to the reaction of the males on screen. These reactions being rather extremist, which is shown in the trailer above.

Naked Gun  2 and a 1/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rPKxdACws4

• Both this and Airplane use the same actor, of Leslie Nielsen. Which may be to draw in fans of his previous appearances.
• Puns are used as a gag.
• Comedy is throughout the trailer to anchor the genre .
• Non-diegetic sound track is light and jazzy to give the trailer a light hearted feel. So not to give a negotiated or contested reading.
• Overall the gags tend to be rather over the top and staged rather than quick one liners.
• The narrator adds to the comical aspects, in his tone of voice and the dialect.
• Name draws attention towards itself, as it will stand out from a crowd of other films as its two and a half, not just two. This may cause narrative enigma and as a result draw in more viewers.
• Again a different genre is used to create jokes. Instead of playing upon a horror, this motion picutre bases its narrative around action.
• In a sense the narrative mimics what I wish to achieve. How he attempts to do good deeds, but gets it wrong. Resulting in him worsening the situation.
• Therefore I could look back at this in the future and refer to it as an inter textual reference.
• Commutation test could be applied to this trailer. Would it still have the same affect if the central protagonist was younger or female??? 

Genre research using Introduction to Film Studies Third Edition edited by Jill Nelmes.

In this section of the blog I am going to outline the 'pragmatic explanations for how we read a filmand enter its fantasies.' In each of the examples I use I will try to establish a mid point between the outlined ideas.

'Working With Authorial Intentions'.

When we read an object of art, whether it be books, films or paintings. The best place to start is to establish what the creators intention was, when they produced their piece. This maybe, at best a guess, or if you take time undertake some research to find what exactly the creator was trying to get across. 'Although we could exerrcise complete independence and, in a post-strucuralist tense, play with film, producing a very personal reading and response. We tend in practice to defer the creator in making meaning'.
Using reference to 'Fight Club'. You need to put yourself in the situation where you have no sense of the director (David Fincher). Instead when watching any production, think about what the author/screenwriter had in mind at the time.

 ''Fight Club is one of several contemporary films that allow for an exploration of issues of post modernism, identity, consumerism and incorporation.''

All of these points in the quotation above, are needed to be taken into consideration, when wrtiting a media text.

Preffered reading defined by the article is 'one in which the spectator takes up the intended meaning, finding it relatively easy to align with the messages and attitudes of those who have created the text'. And an oppositional reading is defined as one which reflects this intended response.

Certain films, especially those using irony prove more difficult to establish a preffered reading. Coppola's
'Appocalypse Now' from 1979, should be interpreted as an anti-war motion picture. Yet does this mean that the viewers who enjoy the films conflict sequences are to be interpreted as celebrating war. Are they providing an oppositional reading and if so who is wrong?????????????????

A further example demonstrating the difficulty of describing responses in terms of the reading is 'In the Company of Men'. The problem that occurs with this production isidentifying between the films intention and effect. With the three types of readingsit emplies the assumption that the film has a set of meanings that are seperatefrom the viewer. Another way to look at this, would be that the film has no meaning without the viewer. Though thier response can not be measured against a right or wrong interpretation, but only in the way that they personally experienced the film.

So to summarise, this chapter of my blog is trying to get across, that my film needs to be clear and precise.in terms of my ideaand what I aim to portray. Yet still giving the audience room to experience their own interpretation.




 Further Primary Research
Film Genre Reader (2003)
Edited By B.K. Grant
University of Texas Press


This article brings up aspects of genre that could be key to make my production original, and not all into a stereotype. Putting it simply genre films are commercial feature films that, via repetition and variation. 'Tell familiar stories with familiar characters in familiar situations.' This then creates expectations and experiences to similar films available. Now genre films have helped establish an industrial model that most modern productions can fit into.
American cinema tends to gain the majority of genre criticism, as many of its productions are made for profit alone and not for visual pleasure. However countering this it seems to be the flagship for influence. 'From Japanese samurai, to Italian westerns, to French gangster films to Hong Kong action movies', a vast amount of national productions will have been in some way influenced by American genre films.
Hence the fact why I have analysed so many American trailers and films, as this tends to now be the focal point of mainstream film production.
Due to the vast amount of films produced, stereotypes and re occurrences are now found through out cinema. This can be put into an example using the classic US genre of Westerns. There is always a certain established convention and in terms of this sense it seem to be ritualistic gun fights, black and white clothing to represent binary opposition in terms of good versus evil, a theme of revenge, stereotyped villains and the list goes on.
Therefore from this brief outline, whilst working into my idea I need to take certain influences from American culture and genres, which I have already done in terms of my character basis. Yet I still want to achieve a sense of originality and individuality.