Narrative is the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non-fictional media texts.
Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.
Levi-Strauss: Binary Opposites argues that the meaning of the narrative is based upon binary opposites. He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between the binary opposites themselves. Some examples are:
• Good VS Evil
• Human VS Nature
• Protagonist VS Antagonist
• Black VS White
• Humanity VS Technology
• Man VS Woman
• Human VS Alien
• Action VS Inaction
• Ignorance VS Wisdom
- Vladimir Propp Theory/Todorov's theory- is a theory that has influenced many filmmakers to produce and write successful narratives. Propp also suggested that all fairy tales follow a specific narrative structure. Vladimir Propp was a literary critic and a scholar who founded the idea that a certain type of character was to be used in every narrative structure.
He suggested that every narrative has eight different character types, these character types are:The villain- Fights the hero in some way.The dispatcher- Character who makes the villain's evil known and sends the hero off.The magical (helper)- Helps the hero be in the quest.The princess or a prize- The hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries this person, thereby beating the villain and resulting in a 'happily ever after' moment.Her father- Gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero. Propp noticed that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.The donor- prepares the hero or gives the hero some kind of (magical) object.The hero or victim/ Seeker hero- Reacts to the donor, weds the princess.False hero- Takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
Roland Barthes was a Fresh semiologist whom suggested that a narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. Barthes' codes include:
Action- a narrative device which a resolution is produced through action, e.g a shoot out.
Enigma- a narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. Works to delay the story's ending pleasurably.
Symbolic (connotation).
Semic (denotation).
Cultural- a narrative device which the audience can recognise as being party of a culture e.g a "made man" in a gangster film is part of the mafia culture.
Roland Barthes suggested that there will be one or more codes that will describe the meaning of a text, these codes will be to do with the visuals, the audio etc.
Enigma Code- Hermeneutic Code, a mystery within a text. Clues are dropped but no clear answers are given . Enigmas in a text make the audience want to know more. Unanswered enigmas tend to frustrate the audience.
Action Code- Proairetic Code, this code contains sequential elements of action in e text. Proairetic codes add suspense and excitement to a film.
Semantic Code- This code refers to parts of a text that suggest or refer to additional meanings. Elements of the semantic code are called semes. The seme has a connotative function in a text, it has an extra layer of meaning.
Symbolic Code- This code refers to the symbolism in a text. It exercises opposites to show a contrast and create greater meaning, creating tension drama and character development.
Cultural Code- Referential code, existing knowledge. For example if it was set in NY, it would show famous landmarks that people can recognise.
David Bordwell Theory
Narrative consists of story and plot. A story consists of the following, inferred events (understood by the audience), Explicitly presented events, added non- diegetic material (titles etc, anything characters wouldn't see). STORY- PLOT.
Christen Thompson and David Bordwell
He also said there is 3 kinds of time in film. The plot duration, the story duration and the screen duration.
Closed/ Open narrative
Everything at the end is CLOSED. Or if everything at the end is left OPEN for an audience to try and guess themselves.
Syd Field's Three act plot structure
He said there is a 3 part structure in all films.
1. Set up- most important part, in the first 10 minutes of the film. Need to set up something exciting that makes the audience want to continue watching.
2. Confrontation - they will confront enemies, this is the turning point of the film.
3. Resolution- when the person gets control of the problem.
Can any of these theories fit to the narrative of our film?
Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory: This theory will not fit our narrative as at the end of our short film, equilibrium is not restored. If however this film was longer than 5 minutes I think this film would fit perfectly as Grace would be able to phone the police and the perpetrator would have been caught.
Levi- Strauss: Binary Opposites narrative theory: This theory can be applied to our film within certain aspects. Within our narrative the themes of Good VS Evil and Ignorance VS Wisdom appear in order to build up a successful narrative. If there was no Evil or Ignorance within the narrative, then the events that take place to Grace would not not happen and the narrative would not make sense, or relate to our chosen genre, thriller.
Vladimir Propps narrative theory: This theory suggests that within the narrative there is a numerous amount of characters. Again, much alike Todorov's theory, because our film is only 5 minutes we did not need to use aspects of this theory within our short film. We focused on having a protagonist throughout and allow the action to take place around this character.
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