Narrative Theory

1) Todorov

In 1969 Todorov produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film.

Todorov believed that all films followed the same narrative patterns.

The five stages the narrative can progress:

1- A state  of equilibrium (all is as it should be).

2- A disruption of order by an event.

3- A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4- An attempt to repair the damages of the disruption.

5- A return or restoration of the NEW equipment.

For example in ' Avatar '

1- War against Na'vi and Jake Sully is sent to become part of tribe.

2- Hometree is planned to be destroyed.

3- Hometree is destroyed.

4- Jake Sully unites the tribes of Pandora to fight back against the humans.

5- Jake decides to stay in his avatar permanently.

2) Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes' narrative theory claims that a narrative can be broken down into five codes or sets of rules. These are:

Action code - Applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example a cowboy draws his gun on an enemy and we wonder what the resolution of this will be.

Cultural code - Any element in a narrative that is dependant on peoples knowledge about how the world works because of where they have lived.

Enigma code - Refers to any element in a story that is not explained and therefore exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand an explanation.

Semantic code - Any element in a text that suggests an additional meaning by connotations, For example a skull has connotations of death.

Symbolic code - Similar to the semantic code, but acts at a wider level where new meaning arises out of conflicting ideas.

3) Levi Strauss - Binary opposition

Claude Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes, came together and discovered that the way we understand certain words does not depend so much on the meaning that the directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'Opposite' or, as they called it 'binary opposite'.  By this he meant:

Good vs Evil, for example Harry Potter is good and Voldemort is evil.

Boy vs Girl,

Peace vs War,

The boy on the green grass is in peace and the boy in the striped pyjamas is in war. 

Young vs Old, 

Good looking vs Ugly etc...

4) Classic Hollywood Narrative

In Classical Hollywood Cinema, narrative follows building blocks that are part and parcel of most Western narratives such as events, actors and agents, linear chains of cause and effect, main point and secondary points. The narrative is clearly structured with discernible beginning middle and end. The narrative generally provides comprehensive resolution at the end. The characters goals are usually psychologically rather than socially motivated.

-Three act structure

The Three-Act structure is critical to good dramatic writing, and each act has specific story moves. Every great movie, book or play that has stood the test of time has a solid Three-Act structure.

In a nutshell, the 3 acts are labeled as:

Act I: Setup

Act II: Confrontation

Act III: Resolution

5) Vladimir Propp - character types

1- The Villain - Struggles against the Hero.

Wlliam Fichtner in TMNT

2- The Donor - Prepares the Hero or gives the Hero magical powers.

Morgan Freeman from Batman Begins

3- The Helper - Helps the Hero in the quest.

Will Arnett form TMNT

4- The Dispatcher - Character who makes the lack known and send the Hero off.

Yoda form Star Wars

5- The Hero - Reacts to the Donor.

Harry Potter

6- The Father -  The old person who gives advice to the rest.

Dumbledore from Harry Potter

7- The Princess -

Eva Marie Saint from North by Northwest

8- False Hero - Takes credit for the Heros actions or tries to marry the Princess.

Oscar from Shark Tale

Sound work

On this post I will write about the Sound work of  'The Worker Games Catching Fired' sequence. In this sequence we have The Boss (David) who is gong to fire his Employee (Courtney) for his own reasons. The employee gets mad at the boss and at that time the Assistant (Naomi) walks in to talk to the boss. The angry employee punches the boss, elbows the assistant and leaves the room.



Diagetic sound was used when David ( The Boss) was typing. We know this because we can hear him type and at the same time we can see him type. This was used to show what he was doing and it makes him seem important and classy as he is typing.

Non-Digetic sound was used when the employee has been fired. We can hear the drum sounds but we can not see any drums and its a sound that the characters can not hear so therefore this is a non-diagetic sound. On this shot we can say that the sound was Parallel too as she is shocked and the drums sound like a surprised sound.

Off screen sound was used the assistant walks in the room and the boss and the employee are still fighting. On the shot we can see the assistant approaching the fight, we can hear the fight but we cannot see the fight. This leaves the audience wondering what is gong on behind the camera, they can hear the fight but it makes it more interesting to watch.

On screen sound was used when the employee punches the boss. The camera was placed in a specific angle which made the punch look real but the sound was actually edited into the shot. The punch shows the anger of the employee towards the boss and makes her seem strong.

Contrapuntal sound was used at the end of the sequence. The sequence was about a firing which makes it a sad part for the employee but the song is love song. The lyrics link to one of the shots in the sequence (It knocks you down) and the boss got punched so that is what made us use that song as a ending.

Conventions of a Thriller

In the Thriller genre there usually are: 

  

Resourceful Heroes 

In thriller, the Heroes are normally rich and unarmed but when it comes to fighting the other hero they always find a way or find equipment to beat the villain. For example in this picture from the movie ' North by North West ' the Hero had nowhere to go but he decided to go down the mountain and get away from the villains. 

 

  

Another Hero is Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) she doest keep any equipment on her but she has the power to get the guns from the villain and kill them. 

 

  

  

Villains 

They are always richer than the others and are ready and have all the equipment needed but yet they never succeed. They are always more powerful as a start and try to beat the Hero but they always get defeated even that they have equipment and powers. 

 

  

Thrillers use: 

  

Fast pace, 

This shows the action happening in the movie and it makes the audience wonder what's happening. Who will get hurt? etc.. 

  

Suspicion, 

This is normally happens when you keep the audience in the edge wondering what will happen and then they get a clue which makes them suspicious about something or someone. 

  

Enigma, 

Is when we find out who the victim is but we have to wait until the end of the film to see who the killer is. 

  

Suspense 

Red hearings are there to make you think that something bad has happened to one of the characters and then to find out nothing bad has actually happened. 

  

Cliffhanger, 

A cliffhanger is a type of narrative in which the end is curiously abrupt so that the main characters are left in a difficult situation without offering any resolution of conflicts. 

  

Thrillers fall into sub-genres such as: 

  

Action thriller - it often features a rage against the clock, contains lots of violence and an obvious antagonist. An example would be ' The Transporter ' which uses a lot of violence against the villains and he has a certain time to deliver the package. 

  

Medical Thriller - Where Heroes and doctors work together. For example in awake where a man suffers from ' Anesthetic Awareness ' and the Hero and Doctor work together to find a cure. 

  

Spy Thriller - The Hero is a Government agent for example ' From Russia with Love ' where James Bond (Sean Connery) is the Government agent. 

  

Religious Thriller -  The plot is closely connected to religious objects. ' The Da Vinci Code '  is a murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years, so they movie somehow connects to religion.