Narrtive Notes

Narrative

The way that a story is told to convey certain emotions as well as representing characters.

Roland Barthes

Concluded that a text has many meaning, like a galaxy of signifiers. It’s like a ball of thread, you can pull the obvious one (closed meaning) or several (open meaning).

The action code- he defined several types of narrative codes, the most relevant being action and enigma codes.

The action codes allow audiences to interpret and identify what is to come.

The enigma code

Is created by the whole who died, how was he/she murdered by whom? This is the driving force of the narrative to create tension and satisfies the audience.

Combined with action codes it drives the plot forward.

Claude Levi Strauss- binary opposition

Good vs evil, man vs machine, man vs woman

There should be an obvious divide between good and evil. They offer levels of meaning within a text and can summarise a theme of a film. He highlights that several oppositions can be present in a media text.

Binary pairs are never equal.

The Vladimir Propp Tedious Link

A Russian theorist who studied fairy tales and folklore. He identified plot elements and developed this into 8 spheres of action narrative theory.

· Villain

· Hero (seeking something)

· Donor (provides an object with magic properties)

· Helper (side kick)

· Princess/ prince/reward

· Father (rewards hero)

· Dispatcher (sent the hero on his/her way)

· False hero

Todorov’s Equilibrium

· A state of equilibrium

· A disruption of that order by an event

· A recognition that disorder has occurred

· An attempt to repair the damage of disorder

· A return or restoration of new equilibrium

This is a circular narrative.

· Which means a story can start at any part of the narrative.

· The process does involve some transformation.

· Some genres can have multiple disruptions.

 

Time in narrative

       · Stories are rarely told in real time.

· Sequences are then carefully edited and put together in a structure that makes sense to the viewer.

· This process is called casualty, where one thing leads to another. This process forms a pattern known as the plot.

 

Syd Field- 3 act plot structure
· Hollywood screenwriter who believes that a typical film can be split into 3 sections. Set up, confrontation and resolution.

      · To move the action on from one act to another, key plot point occur which in turn around the lives of the main characters.

      · Field says that an audience will decide whether or not they like the film in the first 1o minutes, they will normally be unwilling to change their mind after that time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Profile

Books - The Shining - IT - The Green Mile - Carrie - Dracula - Divergent - Slash Autobiography

Films - Batman Trilogy - Spiderman Trilogy - Any Tim Burton

TV - The Walking Dead - American Horror Story - Orange Is The New Black - Doctor Who - Star Trek - Breaking Bad

Internet - Facebook - Twitter - OOVOO - Instagram - IMDB - Snapchat - YouTube - Vine - Online Shopping

Music - Green Day - My Chemical Romance - Fall Out Boy - All Time Low - The Creepshow - Emilys Army (The Swimmers) - Sex Pistols - The Distillers - The Who - Bikini Kill

Costume, including hair and make-up Costume is another important aspect of a film and the range of possibilities is huge. I can - Denote the time or place that the film is set in - Call attention to graphic qualities through stylisation - Red lips, Marilyn - Warm colours, reds, bronze. - Black and white Mise-en-scene Verisimilitude – the representation to realism Setting, decor and props The place in which a film. Or scene. Is set can be indicative of - The historical time of the film - The state of mind of the films protagonist - The point in the films narrative that has been reached The décor within a room can relay information regarding character, genre and atmosphere to the audience Props are when an object has a function within the ongoing action. Setting-Fargo Setting and décor-The science of sleep Décor-Se7en Props-Barton Fink Colour – colour can be used in a variety of ways and is integral to the Mise-en-scene of a film.

The Royal Tenenbaums

Mise-en-scene – put in scene The Royal Tenenbaums - Voice over narrating and giving us background information on the family. - Light hearted family film/comedy. - The children don’t sit close to the father on the table this suggests they aren’tconnected with the father. - When stood with mum they are all close suggesting they are closely connected. - Children quizzing the father, the children and father do not have a normal relationship. Usually it would be the parents quizzing the children. - It is very obvious that the mum wants to please the children, she gives them what they want e.g. Money. - The children are surrounding her in the scene suggesting they have a close relationship. - Children act like adults, they are being interviewed by the press and one of the boys is at a desk with food, coffee and paper work. He is taking a phone call.

Evaluation

Evaluation We have had some issues with our short video we did include and achieve different shot types, match on action. Shot reverse shot. Its important to not look directly at the camera while having a conversation with someone as it loses all realism. Its also important to always remember the 180 degree rule. Although we had some issues when it can to editing our short video I feel as if we have been fairly successful.

Continuity editing shot reverse shot 180 degree rule (remaining on same side) Eye line match 30 degree rule (The camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject, cant cross the 180 degree line rule) Cutting on action (cut from one shot to another that matches the first shot, idea to create a visual bridge Sound source: Diegetic Non Diegetic Diegetic means: Originates from within the films world Speech Radio sounds Sound effects; weather, traffic noises Non Diegetic means: Originates from outside the films world -voice overs -background music

Film Language: Cinematography: Foundation portfolio G321: Level 4: Shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-sence Key words: -Evidence -Excellence -Creativity TV Drama G322 Level 4 -excellent understanding of the way that technical aspects are used to construct the extracts representation -offers textual evidence from the extract - Camera movement – a shot that starts high and focusses down is easier on the viewer, if a camera does something unusual then it can mean something unusual will happen Wide-angle lens -exaggerates depth -distorts lines -greater depth fields Telephoto lens -flattens space -shorter depth of field.