Genre and Conventions

Vampire

Codes and Conventions:

 

(Altman) Semantic elements: blood, night setting/abandoned places/small towns, costumes – capes, dark colours, make-up/pale skin and unusual eyes, coffins, weapons such a stakes, crosses and holy water and fangs/prop-teeth.

 

(Altman) Syntactic elements: vampires being indestructible/immortal, action, vampires fighting against humans or other vampires, conflict with their relationships with humans.

 

Genre and Conventions

 

 

 

Psychological thriller

Codes and Conventions:

 

Semantic elements: urban/modern settings, props such as mirrors and stairs to create confusion, low key lighting, shadows, fast-paced editing, everyday costumes, tense and eerie music.

 

Syntactic elements: ending that ties loose ends together or perhaps an ending with a twist, see characters progress throughout the story, conflict, complications, confusion between reality and fantasy, good vs bad, gradual breakdown.

Genre and Conventions

 

Teen

Codes and Conventions:

 

Semantic elements: Cliques/stereotypes, school setting/ houses of characters/the mall, drinking, drama, rebellion, partying, sex, drugs, alcohol, smoking, social hierarchy. 

 

Syntactic elements: teen vs adults, usually a new person comes to school and is seen as an outsider, relationship problems, conflict between cliques. 

 

My Narrative Outline

Beginning:

(Todorov - Equilibrium) An 18 year old girl Scarlet Night, moves to a new town and has to go to a new school. She has a serious love of Twilight books and films and also vampires. The kids at school think she's weird and the girl doesn't make any friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

My Narrative Outline

Middle: 

(Todorov - The disruption of equilibrium) People start to bully her and she sees them as vampire slayers trying to kill her, she reacts by baring her teeth and scaring the bullies away. The following weeks one by one the group of bullies are announced to be missing and the bodies turn up with teeth marks on their necks however the killer is still at large.

 

(Todorov - The recognition that there has been some disruption) Despite seeing this on the news, the girl continues to go to her books as a comfort however she becomes obsessed with the thought of being a vampire, she starts to constantly talk about it and acts like a vampire would, her family becomes increasingly worried about her but she is certain she is normal, her sanity becomes more and more questionable. 
 

My Narrative Outline

End:

(Todorov - Attempt to repair the disruption) Her mom and dad decide to send her to a mental asylum to get the help that she needs and she appears to be recovering and returning to 'normal'.

 

(Todorov - Equilibrium) At the end she is shown to be reading the Twilight novel and looks in the mirror and she has turned into the vampire and she infact killed the bullies that picked on her. 

Main Characters

Scarlet - Female, 18 years old, middle class, student that attends sixth form. Her costume would be school uniform however customised to fit more with the vampire theme and fashionable e.g. jewellery - crosses, chokers. She would wear dark makeup but wear red lipstick. While the rest of the characters will wear natural tones and she will be more pale than the rest of the others with unusual eyes. She is clever and really sporty however is unpopular because the kids at school find her weird, often stays up at night reading, she has a dark nature (interested in weird things and enjoys peoples pain and suffering) and is very morose.  

 

 

Main Characters

Bullies - (4 of them, a mixture of genders and ethnicities), 17 and 18 year olds, middle class, smart school uniforms, normal makeup. They are popular kids and actually innocent and nice people however Scarlet sees them as horrible and evil.  

Main Characters

Mum and Dad - Female and male, middle aged, middle class, would have good jobs the mum is a therapist and the dad is lawyer. Their costumes would be: the dad wears a suit, the mum would wear modern female clothes and glasses. Scarlet's mum cares a lot about her and sees Scarlet as her pride and joy and that she is perfect as a result of this she puts a lot of pressure on her however would do anything for her. Scarlet's dad is a lawyer and has little time for her he is moody and dismissive towards Scarlet. 

Mise-en-scene

Locations - The main location I would use for my film is a school as Scarlet would be attending sixth form and it would be where the bullies pick on her. Another location would be the home of Scarlet particularly her bedroom for when she talks to her mum and dad about thinking she is a vampire and when she is reading the Twilight book. Another location could be a car for when she is moving to the new town. A mental asylum/somewhere that looks similar for when her parents send her away. 

 

 

 

 

  

Mise-en-scene

Props - Normal school equipment, twilight book, household objects, fake teeth, fake blood, weapons to kill vampires.