Discussion of media theories applicable to opening sequence

Vladmimir Propp's Characters

This theory suggests that in each media text there are eight types of character: the villain, the dispatcher, the helper, the prize, the father, the donor, the hero, and the false hero. Some of my characters fit into this:

• The Hero - Will is the hero in my trailer and is finding it hard to cope with his new invention with the villain for ‘Twitter’.
• The Villain/ False Hero - Ed acts as the villain and the false hero in my trailer as at first he seemed to be friends with Will. He is trying to steal the invention.
• The Helper - Sam is the helper in my trailer who is Wills best friend. He gives Will encouragement and motivation to go ahead with the new invention.

Roland Barthes' Codes

This theory suggests that there are various codes and conventions for media texts according to their genre. My trailer follows the codes and conventions for a Drama/Biographical:

• Dialogue
• Written text to inform information and details on the main character
• Concern over the main character where the viewer thinks how he will get out of this struggling positions

Tvetzan Todorov's Equilibrium

This theory suggests that all media texts start off in a state of normality, or equilibrium. The text is then disrupted and the character must overcome this disruption to return to a new state of equilibrium. The clips in my trailer illustrate parts of this theory:

• Equilibrium – Will and his best friend Sam are in his room creating twitter, everything seems normal.
• Disruption – Ed the bad guy comes into the scene and talks about deals in a way to steal Wills idea of ‘Twitter’. The following scene shows them having an argument; this is the peak of the disruption.
• New Equilibrium - This is not shown in the trailer as I feel it would ruin the story line, as this part should only be shown in the full version of the film.

Claude Levi-Strauss' Binary Oppositions

This theory suggests that all media texts contain binary oppositions, for example, light and dark and heroes and villains. My trailer doesn't include too many of these, although Good and Evil is a main theme.