Claude Levi Strauss Theory

• He studied a lot of myths and legends from around the world.
• In the mid 20th century- Claude and Roland Barthes came together and understood that certain words were more about the understanding of the differences than the actual meaning.
• Words act as symbols for society ideas and meaning of the words was a relationship, than a fixed thing which is the relationship between two opposite words e.g. good and evil, black and white and boy and girl.
• From this theory I have understood that the use of 'binary opposites' is effective on the audience and can be effective in short films to show opposite stereotypes.

Roland Barthes Theory- 5 codes

• Texts are either closed or open.
• Hermeneutic code (HER)- makes you want to know more as they avoids the truth and drops clues and frustrates the audience.
• Proairetic /action code (ACT)- it adds suspense to the text and builds up tension.
• Semantic code (SYM)- it adds additional meaning.
• Symbolic code (REF)- symbolises within a text and contrasts and creates a greater meaning and develops characters personality.
• Referential code (SEM)- refers to anything to the text and adds knowledge through scientific, historical and cultural knowledge. 

Rick Altman Genre Thoery

• He believes that genres usually defined in terms of media language and codes, landscapes, characters or even stars and certain ideologies and narratives.
• He was a theorist and critic and believed:
• a genre is a useful category, because it bridges multiple concerns.
• genres are defined by a film industry and recognised by a mass audience.
• genres have clear, stable identities and borders.
• I have thought about my genre in depth and have thought about my target audience and whether my story and plot would fit in my genres.I can relate this theorist to my found knowledge of teen and documentary film language.

Bordwell and Thompson Theory

• They didn't come up with a complete narrative theory but came up with interesting ideas.
• But believe that chains of events within media from causes effects on a relationship occurring in time and space and a narrative shapes, thinking about where and when it will take place.
• Portraying through using effects to show time and space including flashbacks, forwarding in time, slow motion and speeding up.
• I would like to alter time in my short film e.g. speed up and slow motion as it gives a good effect in the chains of events.

Auteur's Theory

The theory shows that a film reflects the director's personal creative vision and gives them a signature style, as if they were the main role. The production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through other interference and the overall process.A film is treated as a work of art, and the auteur, as the creator of the film.

Auteur theory has influenced film criticism since 1954, when it was advocated by film director and critic François Truffaut. This method of film analysis was originally associated with the French new wave and the film critics who wrote for the French film review periodical Cahiers du cinema. Auteur theory was developed a few years later in the United States through the writings of The Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris. Sarris used auteur theory as a way to further the analysis of what he defines as serious work through the study of respected directors and their films.
André Bazin and Roger Leenhardtt presented the theory that it is the director that brings the film to life and uses the film to express their thoughts and feelings about the subject matter as well as a worldview as an auteur. An auteur can use lighting, camerawork, staging and editing to add to their vision.
One of the ironies of the auteur theory is that, at the very moment Truffaut was writing, the break-up of the Hollywood studio systems during the 1950s was conducted uncertainty and conservatism in American cinema, with the result of fewer of the sort of films Truffaut admired were actually being made.

Genre theory focuses on:

• generic similarities.
• how texts are determined by historical and social contexts.
• how texts emerge as a commercial product from the industry.

Auteur theory focuses on:

• individual stylist features.
• how texts are determined by artists creativity.
• how texts emerge as a part of an artists body of work.

I like the idea of the director having an influence through the whole making of the film e.g. production. I would like to put my own style on my short film to make it more unique and different to other films but still attracting a mass audience. I will have a main role with filming, directing and making the overall film as I am doing all of it myself which I find easier as I don't have to rely on others and can just concentrate.

My Genres Influences- Syd Field

Syd Field is narrative theorist, he is interested in the way one thing leads to another or causality. As you watch a film you should see a structure of events develop as things lead to other things. Field says a typical Hollywood film can be separated into three separate dramatic sections or acts.

Act 1 is the setup. The first part of the film is very important to grab the audience and if they like it in the first 10 minutes they are unlikely to change their minds later. The film maker should show the audience who the main character is and why they should care what happens to him/her. They should see what style and genre the film is going to use. The next part of the film should show the audience the nature of the problem the hero has to face or this can be left to plot point 1.

Act 2 is the confrontation. The longest act shows us the hero in more and more extreme problem situations. He/she is helpless against the opposing forces. There may be a mid-point where they start to turn things around but not until plot-point 2 will they realise the way to succeed.

Act 3 is the resolution. The hero wins out (often by confronting the opposing forces on their own territory).

This can relate to my genres as in a 'teen' and 'documentry' film, the main role always finds a problem and the film is usually about them resolving it. The rest of the roles in the film either help or hinder the main character which helps show the different stereotypes. However my film is going to be non fictional as it will elaborate on the topic of stress. 

Deciding the Genre of my Film

After researching many different short films in different genres, I decided which genres i like and dislike. Even though I like many genres of films I don't think all genres work well as a short film. 
I have decided to make a teen documentary film about a teenagers life and how she stops stress. I have watched many different teen/documentary short films about bullying, the internet and other upsetting/depressing topics. Therefore I want to put a twist on a teen film and keep it positive than having a bad ending.I want to show in my short film that teen films can also have a good happy storyline than be depressive which reflects onto the audience  Another way i am going to change the stereotyped idea of a short film is by making my main character normal, so that my target audience can relate more and not have a extreme character who is unattractive.I want to introduce my character 'Beth' and talk about her then go on to talk about the topic of stress from school and exams as this relates the teenage audience as they are going through  this. This can help them in their exams from watching it, which relates to the documentary style as I want my audience to learn as well as to enjoy.

Typical Film Language

Teen Genre:
Typical camerawork: a tracking shot of popular mean girls walking down the corridor, aerial shot of the canteen of all the cliques, close up shots of ugly girl and new people.

Typical editing: cross cutting between different locations around school to show different cliques, quick cuts to make it more dramatic, slow motion of popular girls to show everyones reactions.

Typical mise-en-scene: high school e.g. canteen and class rooms, prom, natural lighting, hair and makeup and costume are importance to represent the different stereotypes.

Typical Sound: mainstream pop music, clear loud vocals and background noise (volume control), voiceovers of main character, unnatural sounds e.g. school bell.

As a teen film are many sub-genres it is rather successful as it fits into many different  genres attracting different audiences e.g. teen-drama and teen-comedy. They don't usually get a big budget as there is no special effects and sets.

Documentary Genre:
Typical camerawork; 

• camera movement (tracking shots left or right, up or down, panning, lens movement in or out) Different interpretations are possible; interpretations of actions also vary depending on the distance between characters/persons within the frame. 
• Type of shot: interpretations vary depending upon type of shot: extreme long shot, long shot, medium shot, close-up, extreme close-up. 
• This can film anything as documentaries have a wide variety of topics.

Typical Editing

• Filmmakers want to communicate meaning with the cut, with the shift from one shot to another shot of visual information; as soon as the cut comes in, the viewer should  form new judgments.
• Insert close-ups: One way filmmakers break down narrative scenes is by inserting a close-up in an unexpected context; when this is done the shot is often a close-up in order to draw our attention to the image/object and facilitate our judgment of the action.I do this in my draft work showing my sisters art work.
• Reaction shot: the use of a reaction shot--a medium shot or close-up of a character/person just after significant action occurs within the scene. The shot of the character/person provides an emotion for the character to that action. In film we follow action by means of visual cues like reaction shots, we need to see the face of the character/person in order to "read" that character/person's response. 
• Parallel editing,Point of view shot we see an image or scene from the perspective of one of the characters or subjects; allows audience to identify with the individual from whose point of view we see the scene and become their eyes to feel more involved in the short film.

Typical Mise-en-scene:

No set mise-en-scene as there is a wide range of topics.

Typical Sound:

• You can be more inventive in documentaries as you can play around with the sound. They can use Direct Interview technique (we see subject talking on camera, and we see and hear the interviewer asking questions in the same shot or in part B of a two‑part parallel track; suggests journalistic basis of reporting).Or Indirect Interview technique (we see subject talking on camera, but we don't see or hear the interviewer asking questions in the same shot; this gives the impression of the character speaking directly to the viewer.

• In documentaries they always have a lot of speech and can use voiceover narration (in one case, we hear a character speaking about some issue/problem/conflict), and we may or may not see that person engaged in some action on the screen at the same time; gives impression of audience overhearing the character reveal thoughts and feelings / in another case, the voiceover is done by a narrator.

• Direct narration (we see and hear the narrator of the film as the narration is presented; suggests an intimacy between narrator and audience; this type of narration is seldom objective‑‑its biases reflect the speaker's background, conflicts, values)

Overall I want to combine all of these different film languages to make the sub genre 'teen documentary'.