Pulp Fiction Textual Analysis

Pulp Fiction uses an interesting narrative choice, choosing 4 main characters to focus on and intertwining their stories through 4 different chapters in the film. This narrative choice leads to an interesting story that grips the audience throughout the film, as occasionally a character from one chapter will interact with a character from a previous chapter, or visit the same location, etc. This style of storytelling in a film makes for interesting scenes in which we see a character not relevant to another character's chapter in a situation at the end of that chapter, only for their story to be told in their chapter and their situation, etc. explained.

This is relevant to our film as we have 3 characters who each have an interesting backstory behind them that could be told in flashbacks throughout the film, and could show how each character meets, etc. The film also has a heavy use of guns, drugs, and car chases, etc. which is something typical of a police film. Interestingly, the character 'Mia Wallace' often takes drugs and is a very intimidating character, 'Vincent Vega', one of the other main characters, often feels intimidated and controlled by her as her husband is a very powerful mob boss, and although he is not in many of the scenes, not even being in the same place as the other characters, his power and control are channeled through his wife it seems, so she takes on a more masculine role when he is not in the picture, though his power is always present. This more masculine role leads to drug taking, carrying guns, etc. which is something that the character that Lara plays in our film can relate too, as she is an intimidating member of a team full of men, often carrying a gun and having power over people.

The Expendables Textual Analysis

The Expendables uses a very well known cast to it's advantage, combining big action genre stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in one film does a good job of pulling in the target audience of action fans (Some an older generation of fans, with Stallone's most famous films being from the 80's, and some younger fans, with newer actors like Statham, who has starred in recent films such as The Transporter series and the Crank series), this broadens the audience as an older and younger audience would come to see the film. The idea that our film will be a serious retro throwback to old, over the top action films such as Rambo, Commando, and even recent films such as Crank, links to The Expendables as the film is intended to pay homage to films like the ones previously mentioned, and bring an all star action cast back for one massive, over the top action film.

The idea of retro throwback-style films can be used to our advantage to draw in a wider audience, with older people and younger people able to enjoy the film as more current actors and special effects, etc. with a more traditional style plot and over the top, cheesy dialogue.

Commando Textual Analysis

The film Commando uses lots of fight scenes and chase scenes to keep the audience on the edge of their seat throughout the film, also the tense atmosphere included in the opening of the film where Schwarzenegger's character (John Matrix) is chopping wood and sees a reflection of someone behind him in the axe could emphasise that he expects an imminent danger. The action-heavy sequences of the film are broken up with dialogue between Matrix and Cindy (His helper, as the film follows a propp character style), and the scenes with the main villain (Bennet) talking to his soldiers. The setting uses places like an army barracks, a mansion on an island, and a shopping mall. The use of the shopping mall setting as opposed to the other settings works as the mall is a more civilian setting, and the fights scene between Matrix, the police and Sully (A man who he is chasing) works as he has to try and keep himself safe and the civilians out of harm, also a lot of the dialogue happens in a civilian setting. In contrast to this, the scenes set in the army barracks, etc. are more action heavy as Matrix is simply out to kill these men and not anything else, so he doesn't have to worry about civilians, etc. The sound uses tracks composed purely for the film and no other songs by bands, etc.

Target Audience

The target audience for our film would be 18-25 year old males, as there is a lot of action and graphic content, which older viewers may not find enjoyable and anyone younger than 18 is simply not able to watch the film, as the rating for our film is 18+. The inclusion of swearing, guns, and chase scenes would appeal to our target audience as they are thrilling and would keep the audience gripped and thoroughly drawn into the action throughout the film.

Action Film Genre Research

The conventions of action films are generally chase scenes (Both on foot and vehicle), explosions, guns, fist fights, one main antagonist with help from 'grunts', one main protagonist (Usually a hardened, ex-military type/maverick police officer), a damsel in distress that the hero must rescue (Usually from the clutches of the antagonist), and lots of gunfights.

Conventional action films follow a todorov narrative (With the hero overthrowing the antagonist and rescuing the damsel) and have Propp character types, such as:

-The Villain

-The Hero

-The False Hero

-The Donor

-The Helper

-The Princess Or Prize

-The Dispatcher

Examples of films in this genre are films such as: The Rambo Series, Commando, Kill Bill, The Expendables, etc.

Examples of actors in this genre are: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham.

Genre I Am Emulating

The genre I am emulating is the Action genre, I have chosen to emulate this genre as it is a genre of film that I enjoy watching, as tense action scenes, chase scenes, etc. help keep the audience on the edge of their seat, and the fact that the pace of the film is very fast and relentless also adds to the overall thrill of action films.

Horror Poster- Genre As A Marketing Tool

The tagline of the film- 'They're Coming...' emphasizes the fact that in most horror films the victims are being followed, or perhaps stalked, by an unknown, or known, predator. The fact that the vampires in this film are stood behind the two protagonists of the film, while they are facing the front, looking prepared to be attacked, almost subverts the horror genre in which the victims know their enemy, because as the film is about vampires, which are a creature that infects people, making them become vampires, the people they started the film with as their fellow companions could also become their enemies, becoming vampires. This emphasizes the fact that they are more unaware of the angle an attack may come from, etc.

The black and white background of the poster, with the protagonists and the enemies being in black and white makes the name of the film, the tagline, and the blood splatter at the bottom of the poster stand out all the more. The lack of colour throughout the poster, and then a sudden burst of colour at the bottom gives the impression that this is quite a dark, brutal and bloody film, as the splashes of red throughout the poster and black and white emphasize danger.