Is my film postmodern?

Postmodernism is the rejection of modernist views and beliefs, postmodernism focuses highly on play, chance and anarchy (Ihab Hassan).  It claims that there is no absolute truth and that the way people perceive the world is subjective. Postmodernism has influenced many cultural fields, including religion, literary criticism, sociology, linguistics, architecture, history, anthropology, visual arts, and music.

The traditional narrative structure as described by Tvzetan Todorov suggests narrative is simply equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium. This structure has been manipulated and distorted within postmodern films, this can be seen in texts such as Pulp Fiction or Donnie Darko. A non-linear narrative changes the traditional audience text relationship and turns it into something new and exciting. If my film were to be created in full it would conform to this postmodern feature, as one of the themes in my film is mental instability or psychosis having a scattered or non chronological narrative would put the viewer in the position of the mentally unstable character, creating confusion and distortion. This would apply the Obstinate Audience Theory to my production as often with narratives like this it is mainly up to interpretation and influence that a message or understanding is put across.

Baudrillard's theory of Hyperreality can be placed within the confines of my 'film'. If creating this whole production I wouldn't want to create an overly realistic feel, I would want the audience to feel as if anything could happen in this strange, distorted story. As the story is told from the point of view of my mentally unstable 'heroine' the story and imagery could reflect what goes on in her mind, which would work well using hyperreality. Perhaps using imagery and effects like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Antichrist. These kind of films also relate to Jameson's theories on postmodernism. "In a postmodern age we are living in a hallucination, a reality evaporating into a mere spectacle", both of these films feature hallucinatory or distorted imagery to reflect the mental states or realities of the characters.

Advertising Techniques

We have studied many different strategies in which companies use to promote and sell products, in the 1970's Abraham Maslow suggested that human behaviour is focused on satisfying certain basic needs, adverts are designed to show you how buying or using a product can help you satisfy these needs. I thought I would try to apply some of these basic needs to my poster and magazine cover to see if their advertising was successful.

The need to nurture or care for something can be seen within the imagery of this poster. Through placing the image of a gun pointing to a young female the audience senses the theme of danger or death to the character, automatically appealing to the nurturing side of ones self. The need to protect a person from danger. 
As my film is aimed at a male audience this also would appeal to their protective dominant side, the heroine needing to be saved or protected by a male figure. This can be seen in films such as Silent Hill or Rosemary's baby. 
The need to feel safe is compromised within these images, this is through the prominent image of a weapon of destruction and the danger of the broken mirror at the top image, this also applies to the need to survive. The image of a man holding a gun may also invite a male audience as action or crime films are typically more appealing to this sex, the aspects of having a female in danger along side the element of crime or danger allows the advert to appeal to my male audience. The greens, blues and browns of my image are also primarily more male orientated colours, the poster would not have the same audience if it used floral or bright colours. 

This poster for 'A Dangerous Method' also appeals to a male audience similarly to the way that my own does, the two male figures either side of the female appear as protecting or domineering males through their expressions and the way that their positioning cages the woman in the middle, the film focuses on the men's need to protect and help the female. The colours used also do not scream out to a female audience, they are quite dull and perhaps not overtly attractive but secure their male audience. 

My magazine cover does not conform to many of Maslow's human need strategies, although it could be said that the feature on 'Shame' appeals to an audiences need to nurture or care for something as the figure in the image appears isolated and his positioning of the back to the reader suggests a fear or perhaps shame. This may appeal to ones caring side. The same applies to the bottom image of the isolated figure, both images are quite similar and attract the same need to nurture, through their similarities the images are also linked together showing consistency. 

 The images on my poster may disconnect a reader as you cannot see the faces of either figures, it appears as if they are hiding. Although, this may also attract a reader to look inside and see why these films look so mysterious. 

I placed the white text at the bottom of the image to allow it to appear prominent and stand out to the reader amoungst the neutral tones. The type of audience that my magazine would attract should be aware of the names of these two arthouse type directors, they are both fairly large in the arthouse scene and so should create a certain hype about this film. 

The use of buzzwords such as Exclusive will automatically attract a reader as they feel that this will be the only magazine to cover the story. I also wanted to create a modern feel about my magazine through including the QR code, which allows the reader to be interactive and get something that some readers may not be able to access, making them feel important. I chose quite neutral colours to feature on my magazine as to not exclude either sex from being attracted to it, although the main colours may attract males rather than females. In terms of layout I've gone for an uncluttered simplistic approach as to appeal to an older perhaps more sophisticated audience.

Critical Theory

I believe that my teaser trailer conforms to many of the aspects within the Reception theory, as the brief was to create a 'teaser' trailer the meaning of the "text" may not be inherent within the text itself. To tease is not to give away the whole story, maybe none of it at all, which automatically places this brief within the confines of this theory. The imagery within the trailer could be interpreted in many different ways depending on the viewers experiences of perhaps similar films or life experiences.
There is not one single way of determining what the images in the trailer mean or don't mean, it is up to the audience to decode what they see. This links in with the Obstinate audience theory in which the audience participates in the communication of the piece by influencing the message.