Time can be linear, non linear, sequential or non sequential.
Chronological order.
Space can be moved around, altered and changed in order to create a story.
Space can be organised.
Theme that links it all together (eg. Family) .
Narrative, story and plot.
Narrative = the overall thing.
Story = about a specific story.
Plot = what happens with these characters and the main theme/narrative.
Tztevan Todorov = Bulgarian film/cultural theorist = Tripartite narrative structure. (3 part narrative structure = beginning, middle and end).
Narratives start as an EQUILIBRIUM then gets DISRUPTED so then there is a NEW EQUILIBRIUM.
Freytag – dramatic structure – exposition (character, place, introducing everything), climax (big event to create a story/conflict), Denouement (resolution)
Doesn’t have to go in that order.
Vladimir Propp – Character Types and Functions = stock characters perform stock actions – you know what they are going to do (predictable) .
Different stages of a story.
Claude Levi-Strauss = looking at individuals and the way people are in different parts of the world. Found the similarities between different societies from the stories that they all tell. He found that the stories were generally about binary oppositions.
Telling stories about what is good and bad.
We never know what is, we only know what isn’t. We don’t know who we are, we only know what we are not.
Narratives play out a binary opposition by showing what is good and bad.
Contrasting opposites
Seymour Chatman = You can divide stories into two parts
Kernels = big parts of the story that if they were taken out, the story would not make sense.
Satellites = things that can be changed and it won’t drastically effect the story. They are used for embellishment and can be adapted. Character looks for example, can be satellites and can be changed without the story being really effected.
I think my video will include a main character whom
time – how is it going to be organised? beginning, middle and end? linear, non-linear, sequential, circular, chronologically?
space- how will each scene/setting fade into the next?
theme – what is the theme of the video?
narrative – overall structure
story – overall theme
plot – how you sequence everything
equilibrium – wakes up , disruption – imagining doing things (parties etc), new equilibrium – wakes up again
Vladimir prop (character types and functions)- stock characters. hero, damsel in distress, princess etc. The stock characters have stock functions
Claude Levi-Strauss (binary oppositions) – one thing that connects groups connect people as they tell similar stories – about binary oppositions
theme – in isolation but imagining having fun outside of it
Seymour Chapman (satellites and kernels) – kernels – if you remove something from a story it will not work. satellites – things that change and do not affect the story eg their favorite color.
start off with water being tipped on phoebe in bed. she looks bored sitting in her room. she looks in her mirror and it goes into a party scene. the scene before last is her jumping into a pool and when she comes up for air she is back in bed again.
Organizing Time – Time in a story can be linear, non-linear, sequential or non-sequential. A story can be viewed chronologically or non-chronologically.
Space – What mechanism the story uses to organize or disorganize space between events and characters.
Theme – Something that links the events, characters and places.
Narrative – The overall structure
Story – the theme, idea or meaning
Plot – The way in which the story is organised and how the events occur.
Todorov tripartite narrative structure: Beginning, middle and end (or equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium)
Freytag’s pyramid visualizes this tripartite structure where the inciting incident leads to the climax of the disruption until the resolution that leads to the new equilibrium is reached.
Propp Character types and function – Every story includes stock characters that play a role that is described as a stock function because the actions and aims of certain stock characters are generally the same across different stories He also states that stories have set narrative structures that include:
PREPARATION
COMPLICATION
TRANSFERENCE
STRUGGLE
RETURN
RECOGNITION
Levi-Strauss states that stories are about binary oppositions (good vs. evil, old vs. young, etc.)
Seymour Chatman states that stories are composed of two parts – Kernels, the main parts that if taken out would not work and Satellites, the less important parts of the story that are used for embellishment, but they can be taken out of the story without effecting it.
The theory that narratives moved forward in a chronological order with one action following after another. In other words, they have a clear beginning, middle and end. Todorov also suggested that the characters in the narrative would be changed in some way through the course of the story and that this would be evident by the resolution.
A paradigm (pattern) of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement.
Time – in moving image products time is linear (has a set time unlike print).
Sequential – the narrative has a set order and is chronologically.
Theme – almost all videos have a theme in them so they fit into a genre.
Narrative – the overall structure.
Story – things, ideas etc.
Plot – how the story is organised.
Key Theorists
Todorov – Tripartite Narrative Structure – beginning/middle/end. It has an equilibrium (beginning) then disruption (middle) then a new equilibrium (end).
Propp – Stock characters – that perform stock functions – hero, helper, princess, villain, victim, dispatcher, father, false and hero.
Claude Levi -Strauss – Binary Oppositions – e.g. good vs bad, rich vs poor, educated vs stupid, old vs young.
Seymour Chatman – Satellites and Kernels – kernels are moments elements that are essential to the narrative development. Satellites are moments that could be removed and the overall logic would not be disturbed. Think about the way satellites orbit something bigger like a planet. Satellites can therefore be thought as useful to develop character, emotion, location, time and so on, but NOT ESSENTIAL. In this way they are really useful creative elements but not essential to the story.
