- Action-adventure video game
- Released 2007, remake of the 1996 game
- Age rating: 12/13
Language -
- Narrative begins with establishing shot
- Short introduction to storyline
- Collect artefacts & relics - replayability
Sound
- Ominous, suspenseful music
- Parallel - rises in action - tension when approaching conflict
- Emphasises danger, faster pace, louder volume
Editing
- Cut scenes in between playing - drives narrative
^ presents tasks or challenges, highlights objectives
Mise-en-scene
- Setting: dark, neutral colours (grey, brown), patterned stone, plants
- Costume: typical explorer - vest & shorts
- Lighting: dark, rays of light through obstructive buildings & plants
- Props: belt, bag, two guns
Action/Adventure Genre -
- Categorising tool for media texts, classified through similarities in codes & conventions
Codes & Conventions
- Artefacts & relics e.g Scion of Atlantis
, - Mayan / Aztec imagery
- Dark lighting, ominous & suspenseful atmosphere
- Minor characters - false heroes
- Natives - guides, offer information - often die, hero is typically left alone
Indiana Jones & Tomb Raider Similarities
- Dark, warm tones - natural and traditional appearance - brown, beige
- Independence of protagonist, use of false heroes & death of guides
- Rays of light, obstructed by plants
- Patterned stone, old & damaged
- Hidden traps, dangerous atmosphere
Postmodernism -
Intertextuality
- Pastiche: reference to other texts; in an honorary style of other works
^ niche target audience
- Simulacrum: images of images - hyperreality - loss of original value
Hyperreality
- Mirroring images of prior texts e.g Indiana Jones where certain values are presented as real
^ images re-presented within Tomb Raider create hyperrealism
Narrative -
Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory
- Overall narrative of game:
^ Equilibrium: sitting, reading magazine
^ Disruption: being approached and sent on quest
^ Quest: game
^ Climax: final fight