Other

Narrative

Notes...

Narrative: Narrative is formed as "a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occuring in time" (Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, 1980)

Diegesis: Diegesis is the internal world that is created by the story that the characters themselves have encountered and experienced.

Story and Plot

Story:

The story is where all the events are referenced, both explicity in a narrative and inferred (including backstory as well as those projected beyond the action)

Plot:

The plot is all the events that are directly incorporated

Narrative Range

Unrestricted Narration:

A narrative that has no limits to the information provided (a news bulletin etc.)

Restricted Narration:

It only offers minimal information regarding the narrative (i.e. thrillers).

Narrative Depth

Subjective Character Identification:

The audience/viewer is given unique access to what a range of characters see and do.

Objective Character Identification:

The audience/viewer is given unique access to a character's point of view, such as, seeing various things directly from the character's mind, dreams, memories or fantasies.

Narrative Theory:

Conventional narrative theory can be explored through the work of Russian Formalists from the 1920's.

Vladimir Propp's Theory of Narrative:

Vladimir Propp suggested that characters took on the role of narrative 'spheres of action' or functions. A comprehensive study of different folktales Propp came up with seven different character types...

The Hero: The hero is usually the main male protagonist, who restores the narrative equilibrium, which often includes them embarking upon a quest/search. Propp differentiates between the victim hero (who is centre of the villains attentions) and the seeker hero (who aids others who fall victim to the villains acts). The hero is invariably the texts central character.

The Villain: The villain usually creates the narrative disruption.

The Donor: The donor usually gives the hero something, this can be in the form of an object or information or just advice which helps resolve the narrative disruption caused by the villain.

The Helper: The helper aids the hero with the task of restoring equilibrium.

The Princess (the victim): The princess who is also the victim, tends to be the character who is most threatened by the villain and needs to be saved, at the peek of the story by the hero. The role of the father (who in fairy tales is usually the king) tends to be to give the princess away to the hero at the narrative's conclusion.

The Dispatcher: The dispatcher is the one who sends the hero on her/his task (can typically be the princesses father).

The False Hero: The false hero appears to be good but later on at the narrative's end is revealed to have been bad.

Characters can fulfil more than one sphere character type, for example; a princess may also be a helper.

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory of Narrative:

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages...

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset.

2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.

3. A recognition that there has been a disruption.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption.

5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us as an audience and can be applied to a variety of 'mainstream' film narratives.

Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema by Allan Cameron:

Modular Narratives "articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation".

Cameron has identified four different types of modular narrative:

• Anachronic
• Forking Paths
• Episodic
• Split Screens

Anachronic modular narratives involve the use of flashbacks and/or flashforwards, with no clear dominance between any of the narrative threads. These narratives also often repeat scenes directly at another stage in the film or via a completely different perspective. Examples of this are: Memento and Pulp Fiction.

Forking-path narratives juxtapose (to place close together or side by side) alternative versions of one story, by doing this it shows different possible outcomes that might result from small changes in a single event or group of events. The forking-path narrative introduces a number of plot lines that usually contradict one another. Examples of this are: Run Lola Run and Groundhog Day.

Episodic narratives are organised as an abstract series or narrative anthology. Abstract series type of modular narrative is characterised by the operation of a non-narrative formal system which appears to dictate (or at least overlay) the organisation of narrative elements such as a sequence of numbers or the alphabet. Anthology consists of a series of shorter tales which are apparently disconnected but share a random similarity, such as all 'episodes' being survivors of a shipwreck.

Split screen narratives are different from the other types of modular narrative discussed here, because their modularity is articulated along spatial rather than temporal lines. These films divide the screen into two or more frames, juxtaposing events within the same visual field, in a sustained fashion. Examples of this are: Timecode.

How do audiences decode the narrative of 'Memento'?

(Tzvetan) Todorov’s theory of narrative suggests that conventional narratives are structured in five stages, all five stages surround the status of equilibrium. As an audience we expect there to be some sort of destruction or change to characters lives at the beginning of the film. The film-makers play with the audience’s expectation of this as you get lost within the story because of the black & white scenes and the colour scenes, disorientate the sense of going forward in time. This makes it hard to tell whether equilibrium has been restored or not. 

(Roland) Barthes, action and enigma code (answers and questions) work within the film for many reasons. The main reason that they work is, as the audience you ask a question such as what’s the significance of Leonard taking pictures and then once you find out the answer, you feel as if you’re progressing throughout the film. Without the use of action and enigma code you as the audience would feel as the story was continuing and you didn’t know what was happening and why it was happening. 

Our expectations of a character are based around (Vladimir) Propp’s theory of narrative. Propp came up with seven different character types...the hero, the villian, the donor, the helper, the princess (the victim), the dispatcher and the false hero. When character functions are seen in reverse it confuses the audience and makes them wonder whether their judge of the character will stay the same throughout the film or change after an event. This happens a lot with the character Teddy (John Edward Gammell) this is because throughout the film the main protagonist Leonards’ thoughts on him are continuously changing in time with the audiences’. The character Natalie also confuses the audience, this is because the audience feel that she is helping Leonard, especially when Leonard is the one that caused the injury to Natalie and she tells him that it was her boyfriend, which creates suspicion of whether Natalie is really who we think she is. However, our opinion of Natalie changes from being seen as the helper to almost transitioning to the false hero, just like Teddy. 

(Claude) Levi-Strauss believed that with the continuous creation of opposition/conflict pushes narrative. Binary oppositions are complete contrasts such as light and darkness and movement and stillness. Examples also include, good and bad and black and white. In Memento the use of black and white is used a lot throughout the whole film, aswell as good and evil. This is seen through the character Natalie, where throughout most of the film she is seen as good, however, this then contrasts when we see her as she turns out to be bad all along.

In Memento there are many symbolic codes, these include, the tattoo’s on Leonard’s body, the polaroid photographs Leonard takes. The importance of the tattoo’s are not just to remind Leonard about certain things, but they also give a sense of time, where you will be able to identify different clips and put them in order, due to knowing whether certain tattoo’s were there or not. The significance of the photographs are, they allow Leonard to know the most important thing about a certain person i.e. Natalie, Teddy. He also uses photographs to remember the Discount Inn and the car that he drives that was Teddys’. These objects help construct the film and it assists to how the story is told.

Audiences watching Memento are able to decode the narrative and try to make sense of it. Thisis done by thinking that you don’t know what’s happening in the film, because you feel confusedwith the contrast of the different coloured scenes. However, as the film progresses you unconsciously realise what’s happening and you start to understand what’s happening and start to break it apart and put it back together again. By the time the credits appear you finally understand what happened. As Leonard realises different things you also realise them too, so you feel as if you’re figuring out what’s happened at the same time as he is. This is what makes the film work as the decoding process plays an important part in unfolding the story. 

Mise-En-Scene Powerpoint

Codes and Conventions of a Thriller Film!

Audience Theory!

Hypodermic Needle

This emphasises the effects of the mass media on their audiences. The model stresses the supposed power of the mass media, especially in film, where it injects the audience with ideas and meanings. 

Two-Step Flow Theory

Katz and Lazarsfeld said this is where a piece of media is created (by the mass media) and then an 'opinion leader' which tends to be a critic will criticise the media for example, a film, which they will then give their view on the film as a whole. Their review of the film will then influence the 'followers' which is individuals that have seen/heard the review, this influences the 'followers' and immediately clouds their opinion on the film.

Uses and Gratification Theory

Blumler and Katz suggests that uses and gratification theory play an active role within media users as they are choosing and using the media. Users will take an active role in the communication process. Theorists say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfils the needs of the user. Uses and gratification assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.