Theorists Applied To My

Production
Alexandra Heller Nicholas: Found Footage Theory
He talks about the genealogy of found footage films, taking about the socio-political aspects of found footage
horror. Safety Movies and Snuff Fictions established the routes of the found footage subgenre, they
established a wide range of boundaries included in the found footage genre, setting ethical and formal
parameters of the contemporary subgenre

He states that this style is not famous for the events which may or may not happen within the boundaries
within the subgenre, but the formal innuendo if they did actually happen/ occur. Moreover they are seen
through ubiquitous consumer grade cameras, phones or videotapes.

He talks about the Paradox of Power in the found footage horror subgenre in its particular way of
connoting realism which hinges explicitly on exposing itself as a media artifact.

v I apply these aspects to my trailer because due to the ambiguous viewing style and quality of the footage, it
creates a essence of suspense , in conjunction with the question of whether its real, or whether it occurred or
not. It is this reason why I chose the VHS filter, with rigorous camera movement, with the effect of dead
pixels on the screen; all these correlate together to make the clips seen like a artifact, frozen in time, being the
only form of gathering information of how the events played out. This aspect causes the audiences
imagination to linger: it is this curiosity which forms the fount footage fear.
Alexandra Heller Nicholas
Due to graphic shared images in the mainstream media, the people are used to seeing this form of violence,
therefore generic blood and guts horror becomes mainstream and no longer realistic.

Talks about the aesthetic of found footage horror, which cinematography is materialized by shaky hand held
shots , poor sound and image quality, moreover the diegetic inclusion of the camera itself. Moreover the
relationship between professional styles of filming and amateur styles rely on each other, once cant be
celebrated without the necessary degeneration of the other.

Marjorie Garber argues this by saying They produce each other and define each other by mutual
affinities and exclusions

v I believe I use this, moreover the film, audio conventions of the shaky cinematography style, furthermore my
quick cuts and how the trailer cuts to black completely, signify the realism and the amateur style. I also include
non hand held establishing shots , thus using Marjorie Garber's theory of the two defining each other. These
normal shots subsequently emphasize and contrast the amateur filming style.
Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin :
Hypermediacy
To beef up the presence of the medium, this is the the viewer has to acknowledge the medium as a medium,
and to delight in this acknowledgment .

Hypermediacy has a common relation with immediacy , which relies on the nature of transparency and
obscure our awareness that were are indeed engaging the medium.

v I choose Hypermediacy to influence me in my trailer because, it is this pleasure of the type of realism included
in found footage clips, moreover it is a adaptation of a set of signifying tropes (Alexandra Heller Nicholas)-
yet it also speaks on a broader sense, meaning the big picture connotes our relationship with new media
technologies itself, using them to capture certain extreme sightings or emotions.
Noel Carrol
A philosopher who focuses on the aesthetics of Horror.

In order to create art horror, there must be a narrative that involves a threat against normalcy, a
breach of impurity in the very nature of being and a monster who embodies that breach. My monster
in the trailer will embody the breach in the equilibrium. Noel Carrol talks about the Attraction-
Repulsion Complex. This is the simultaneous push and pull, used in several formal elements of
horror, such as POV shots; identifying the victim and the killer. This is a reason I am using a range of
POV shots in my trailer as well as steady shots, this makes my audiences more familiar with the
actions and presence of the protagonist, helper and monster. These aesthetic features that I will use
are to create a string of emotions, to achieve this, I will be using filming/ editing techniques. These
include : framing, dark or chiaroscuro lighting, jump cuts, variations in pacing, unsettling music cues
and sound effects- this is to trigger the emotion of the audience.

My trailer will also follow the traditional narrative structure that Noel Carrol describes. I will have the
Onset Phase, where the disorder is created, by the supernatural being. This is followed by the
discovery phase, where the characters realize that the disorder/ disruption has occurred. The final
phase is the Disruption Phase, where the characters will attempt to realize what has happened and fix
the disruption to restore the narrative back to normal and create a new equilibrium.
Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristevas abjection theory, the construction of social rules of what is right and wrong or in this case
rebellious youth, once the character is faced with danger, social belief systems are confronted when in front of
the monster and they deteriorate; making it apparent to the audience, that even if they perceived the
protagonist to be deserving of what horrors came to him, the protagonist doing everything in his power to
stay alive reminds audience members of the fragile nature of morality; thereby breaking down social
constructs, they no longer see the protagonist as bad, moreover whats seen as unacceptable, isnt relevant
when survival is essential.

v I believe I develop this convention because instead of showing my protagonist being sinless during the
equilibrium and bad during the disruption, it is reversed and because the ego seen at the beginning is
transparent and perishes when faced with the threat of his own mortality, as a result; it shows his ego was not
a reflection of his character.