Find a good working definition for narrative which connects well to Film Studies
The narrative in a film is the story elements, including narrative structure, character and plot. The narrative tells a story by writers using narrator style, chronological order, a point of view, and other strategies. A good narrative story is one that ensures all actions in your story develop a central idea or argument.
The story/chain of events being told throughout a film and how it is presented to spectators (e.g. linear/timeline order vs non linear/out of timeline order).
Narrative is the structure and framework of a film and how the plot unfolds to tell a story.
A narrative film is a film that tells a cohesive, often fictional, story with cause and effect events through filmmaking technique
a fictional story in films that follow a certain structure of events usually through cause and effect.
Bonnie and Clyde’s editing style is unique from other films in its era due to its fast paced energetic scenes and action. Its editing reflects this with many quick cuts, zoom in’s and unstable handheld camera movements.
Medium shot- This Medium shot presents the dead body of Bonnie after the police have a shootout. This scenes editing has rapid cuts and shaking camera to convey the chaos of the shootout and the camera only stills when we see the remains of Bonnie and Clyde.
Wide shot- This shot is static held and is a clear divergence from the regular hand held camera movements. This is because they are trying to convey the more tame nature of the scene at this point in the film.
Medium close up- This shot is also a handheld camera shot as it is a less energetic scene in comparison to the more energetic shootout scenes.
What is your understanding of a realist mode of filmmaking? Can you think of examples of films that are realist from the ones we have watched?
The realist mode in film refers to realism and is essentially a narrative style that aims to represent realistic themes such as characters, settings and events. An example of a realist film that we have watched is This is England, as it aesthetic is influenced by documentary filmmaking, emphasising the representation of British social realism.
What is your understanding of an expressive mode of filmmaking? Can you think of examples of films that are expressive?
The expressive mode of filmmaking is emphasising the truth and realism with unnatural and dramatic aspects in order to convey the narrative to the audience. An example of this is the abstract and surreal hallucinations in trainspotting.
To what extent does Eisenstein’s work merge the two ideas and how does he do this in Strike?
Eisenstein’s work merges the realist and expressive mode. In Strike, examples of the merge of these two are the intercutting with animals being killed and the workers being run down and the editing techniques of metric montage which is synthetic and disrupts the visual flow vs rhythmic montage which cuts to the action, having more of a flow visually.
realist: An example of a realist moment in one of the films that we have studied is when the baby dies in trainspotting. this scene really give a perspective on how bad heroine is as the mood change in the scene is big
WORK IN PROGRESS!!!
2. What is your example of an expressive mode of film making? It is primarily in the qualities of its images and sounds that the expressivity of the cinema must be sought. Example – Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)
3. To what Extent does Eisenstein’s work merge the two ideas and how does he do this is Strike? e.g montage. Example – The intercutting between the expressive and realist mode, e.g tonal montage – spilling ink on the map to represent bloodshed.
