Narrative Ideas: Shark Bite Model

The shark bite model is a narrative theory used more and more in modern day film to please an increasingly impatient audience who want their films to be packed with action from the outset. The model states that the film should start with an initial incident starting the film as it means to go on, ie. a comedy should start with something really funny, or a horror something really scary should happen within the first 10-15 minutes, this is the initial 'bite'. Then the theory states we move on to the body of the film where all our character and plot development happens and the majority of the action occurs this is the 'body' of the shark. Then we have the 'tail' where the film raps up and ties any loose ends together and the film ends.

Popular films that use the shark bite theory:

• The Hangover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg_pbMh1daE
• The Descent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5I1q4KhKNU
• Pineapple Express http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYg2EJLJids

Movie poster analysis

This is the poster for district 9, a film about the segregation of aliens in Johannesburg. Straight away the poster conveys the main themes of entrapment and violence, the barbed wire has connotations of keeping things out, but in a very barbaric way. Obviously the huge spaceship in the back helps to show people that their is a sci-fi aspect, but the fact that it's in the background and the "prawn" target is in the foreground shows that the film is taking a more personal view on the alien visitors, i feel they have done this to draw parallels between this story and apartheid in South Africa, I also feel this poster shows the film is not just a typical alien sci-fi movie but is a social commentary about human's inhumanity.