In her log this week, sshayer wrote:
"I'm interested to see how much I, as a viewer, automatically buy into the director's point of view, just because of devices he or she uses to make me think a certain way. I mean, it's such an unconscious thing for us as viewers, but when you actually stop to think about it, it's becomes so obvious that things like the narrative structure, and shot setups, and lighting etc., are so deliberately placed to literally direct us, and I wonder how difficult it is to view a movie in a way that wasn't intended."
Genre conventions, particularly in film, are one of the devices which cue viewers to respond in certain ways. I want to talk about film genre in class soon, but I thought I'd post these experiments in genre-bending today. These are recut trailers for existing films that rework them as distinctly different, if not "opposite" genres: Mary Poppins as a horror film titled, Scary Mary, the love story musical, West Side Story, as a zombie film, the horror film, The Shining becomes the wacky family romance comedy, Shining, and the romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle is reimagined as a suspense thriller.
What's interesting to note is how much of a role music and sound play in recoding the images. Obviously editing and specific styles of editing play a role , as do rewritten descriptive narration, but look how much is conveyed at the level of the soundtrack: incidental music and noises, specific songs, even the sound of the narrator's voice.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I have a funny story on genre and the way previews are put out on TV. I can remember two movies (Gladiator and Pearl Harbor) the preview for both of these movies were action packed on ESPN. I wanted to see both of them opening night. I had to BEG my wife to come along; she had no interest in either one. She loved both of them! Peral Harbor had some action in it, but for the most part it was love story (her favorite) and Gladiator, while it did have action, that movie was about a man who had everything, lost it all (wife, child, land, etc.) and become more famous as a salve. I guess they just previewed them a bit different towards young males then women. I'm sure the preview was different on the lifetime channel! LOL!
P.S
The preview of the Shining was hilarious.
Post a Comment