THEORIES I've learnt

Gant rule: 

Charles Gant argued the fact that films that come out in the UK box office will make ten times more in the US (ignoring currency rates). This applies to Hollywood films and mainstream productions only. Not indie films. 

Proppian Character Archetypes:

Vladimir Propp's theory based off fairy tales. He claimed characters could be defined by their “spheres of action” and the role they played in the progression of the story. He identified core characters that all follow same 7 archetypes:

• protagonist/hero

• antagonist/villain

• dispatcher/boss

• helper/sidekick

• donor/fairy godmother

• princess/the prize

• false hero/the betrayer

Campbell's ''Hero's Journey'' monomyth:

Joseph Campbell's Monomyth describes the common heroic narrative in which a heroic protagonist sets out, has transformative adventures, and returns home. He mapped the archetypal heroic journey in three major phases: departure, initiation, and return. Within these stages there are several substages, here is my summary of them:  

Bechdel Test:

Bechdel test, or Bechdel Wallace test, is used on films to test the representation of women in media. It has to have at least two women in it, who have names and who talk to each other about something besides a man. The test was popularized by Alison Bechdel's comic.

This test isn't inherently an indicator if a movie is a feminist or if it is a good film or not. It's a test to see of there is a female presence in the movie and if they are engaging in things that are not men. After watching this video I can see that this is a systemic problem, since far too many films in  the industry don't pass the test. 

Do women always have a secondary role in the film industry? A deeper analysis here

Male-Gaze Theory:

Laura Mulvey's theory, best known for her essay on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. She is predominantly known for her theory regarding sexual objectification on women in the media, more commonly known as The Male Gaze theory where women in the media are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man, and that these women are represented as passive objects of male desire. Audiences are forced to view women from the point of view of a heterosexual male. 
Typical examples of the male gaze include medium close-up shots of women from over the shoulder, shots that pan and fixate on a woman’s body and close-up's of the mouth, and scenes that frequently occur which show a man actively observing a passive woman.

Judith Butler’s queer gender performativity:

Gender is non-existent but performance is learnt, explicitly rejects binary gender opposition. 
'Gender reality is performative which means, quite simply, that it is real only to the extent that it is performed' (Butler, 1988)

Narrative structure:

Todorov, argued universal structure:

• Equilibrium (meet characters, establish them, exposition)

• Disruption (something occurs to disrupt equilibrium)

• Recognition (audience receive privileged pop, see things before protagonists)

• Attempt (to repair disruption)

• New (equilibrium, protagonist transformed by experience) 

Narrative enigma codes:

Roland Barthes, intentionally withholding exposition (narrative information), mystery/enigma.

Gramsci's theory of cultural Hegemony:

Antonio Gramsci (Marxist, imprisoned by Mussolini, wrote in bits of toilet paper, based off belief that is an economic elite dominating society) believed the controlling elite portray ideas through cultural pressure to retain dominance, achieved when people accept ideas and beliefs that reinforce your rule, cultural dominance rather than physical force

Reception theory:

Stuart Hall active audience theory that readings and meanings lie in audience and text, while older passive audience theories assume meaning is only in text. Meaning is found in the text and then interpreted by the audience, compared to passive audience theories such as the hypodermic needle, assuming meaning is conveyed directly from a media text.

preferred reading is how creators want someone to respond, 

negotiated/contested reading where some part of preferred reading is rejected or not recognized 

oppositional reading consciously rejecting or mostly not recognizing preferred reading

Uses and gratifications theory:

Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media.  Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use.  The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfills the needs of the user.  Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their needs. The five needs from the original classification – cognitive needs, affective needs, the need for personal identity, integration and social interaction and escapism

Star theory:

Richard Dyre's theory that stars lead media products and create marketing publicity to sell products such as films.

NARRATIVE Nowell's 7 key stages of slasher

‘Part One: Setup

1.Trigger: Events propel a human (the killer) upon a homicidal trajectory.

2.Threat: The killer targets a group of hedonistic youths for killing.

Part Two: Disruption

3. Leisure: Youths interact recreationally in an insular quotidian location.

4. Stalking: A shadowy killer tracks youths in that location.

5. Murders: The shadowy killer kills some of the youths.

Part Three: Resolution

6. Confrontation: The remaining character(s) challenges the killer.

7. Neutralization: The immediate threat posed by the killer is eliminated.’