Media- CITUOF

mass communication model

theoretical frameworks that explain how information travels from a sender through a media channel to a large audience

what films used MCM and APEM well

psycho, TBWP, smile

how did psycho use MCM and APEM

gatekeeping- dictates which information allowed out by restricting actor interviews, withholding final information of script from actors, buying out books

‘pyscho policy’ in theatres

how did TBWP use MCM and APEM

rudimentary website, iMDb actors as missing presumed dead, mockumentary on legend, police reports,

audience priming effects model

prior exposure to a stimulus influences how people evaluate subsequent information, topics, or public figures

how did smile use MCM and APEM

at sporting events hired actors to stare into cameras creepily, bright colored t shirts saying SMILE

psycho + directors purpose

1960, Alfred Hitchcock, manipulate audience psychology and shatter conventional narrative expectations, testing censorship

TBWP + directors purpose

1999, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, make the audience feel like events are real, fear through unknown, fear and human behaviour

misery + directors purpose

1990, Rob Reiner, explore suffering dynamic between artist and toxic audience expectations

sixth sense + directors purpose

1999, M. Knight Shyamalan, explore deep human emotions like grief, trauma and communication instead of conventional horror

memento + directors purpose

2000, Christopher Nolan, force audience to feel disorientation and memory loss of protagonist

how was psycho unconventional

disrupted narrative structure (red herrings), priming, hollywood star killed off, defying censorship, psychological

how was misery unconventional

horror dominated by monsters etc., shifted focus inward, older actors, romance conventions, PTSD

how was tbwp unconventional

improvised acting, handheld/ found footage, viral internet marketing, unseen antagonist

how was sixth sense unconventional

fast and then slow pacing, unconventional use of Bruce Willis

how was memento unconventional

intertwined timelines, unreliable narrator manipulating himself, forced audience empathy

psychological thriller

‘viewers learn of Annie’s history, personality and motivations, showing how these conventions develop other ’90s horror villains whose motives are also made clear’

cinéma vérité

filmmaking style to make film feel like real, unscripted events are being observed as they happen

what are the changes in use of features

structure, characterisation and cinematography

psychos effect on audience

widespread controversial engagement

psycho’s wider societal impact

inventing modern slasher, shifting source of terror from supernatural to human minds, breaking traditional hollywood rules

tbwp’s wider societal impact

influenced in terms of style, films like paranormal activity (2007), cloverfield (2008)

memento’s effect on audience

confusion, frustration, lack of certainty like protagonist

memento’s wider societal impacts

popularised non linear and proved mainstream audiences would embrace complexity- shutter island (2010)

2010’s

franchise superhero conservatism

steve neale’s genre theory

genres are instances of repetition and differences

films that used SNGT well

memento, misery, sixth sense - differences but also conventional

christian metz structural genre theory

films move through predictable four stage life cycle of evolution from creation to critique

what films used metz’s theory

tbwp, sixth sense, memento- deconstruction stage, directors experiment and reinvent genre conventions

according to james kendrick, hitchcock knew the power of priming effects model

‘the external or long term priming comes from a viewers experience in viewing other movies… the narrative structure… important when considering the effects of psycho. moviegoers in 1960 had been primed by classic hollywood narratives that were traditionally linear’

hobbins white (horror homeroom)

‘viewers learn of annie’s history, get to know her personality, and discover her motivations, it is possible to see how these conventions are used to develop other nineties horror villains, whose motives are also made clear to the audience’

TBWP box office

5th highest net earnings of all time, $60,000 budget, $250 million worldwide adjusted gross

steve rose from the guardian on marketing of tbwp

‘many early cinemagoers thought the film was a documentary… no script, no jump scares, no music, no special effects… totally convincing actors’

steve rose on the replication

‘one of the reasons we will never have tbwp again is because we will never have an early internet again’