Tangible elements of producing media :
– Actors
– Extras
– Filming equipment
– Stylists
– Accommodation
– Director
– Prop Team
– Stunt Team
– Editing

Conceptual elements of producing media :
– Storyline
– Performance
– Emotions
– Events
– Characters
– Themes
– Protagonists/Antagonists
– Linear/Cyclical Structure

Key Terms

Peripeteia – a change in fortune
Anagnorisis – a moment of dramatic revelation within the protagonist
Chronological – an order where events pass in an order of time.
Sequential – when a media product is following a logical order or sequence.
Catharsis – realising yours’ and societies’ virtues

Proppian character stereotypes are used
In their purest forms these stereotypes normally revolve around heroes, princesses, and villains.
Flexi – Narratives
Long format television products deploy multiple three act structures in a similar pattern to the master plot.
Condensed equilibriums
Smaller audiences tend to have a smaller range of concentration so producers tend to move the plot forward faster to keep the audience engaged.

Things needed to create a film:

Some Definitions:

Construction of reality: The way we present ourselves to other people is shaped partly by our interactions with others, as well as by our life experiences.

Repertoire of elements: When an audience consume a media text defined by a generic label they have certain expectations of the text.

Reinforced: Strengthened (existing feeling, idea or habit)

Historically specific: Historical people, situations, or things existed in the past and are considered to be a part of history.

Verisimilitude: The appearance of being true or real.

 Realism: The quality or fact of representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life.

Peripeteia– a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances, especially in reference to fictional narrative.

Anagnoresis– the point in a play, novel, etc., in which a principal character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or the true nature of their own circumstances.

Catharsis– the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

practical and theory sides of moving film production

practical/tools	theory/concept
cameras	performance
actors	general
sets	events
caterers	theme
microphones	antagonist/protagonist
director	sequential
screen play team	peripeteia
props	anagnoresis
writers	cathasis
lights	linear
special effects	time based

some key parts of moving film-

1. plot vs character
2. arrangement of incidences (how do you arrange events in a story?)
3. Aiming towards a goal
4. complication and unravelling (peripeteia)
5. Recognition (anagnoresis)
6. Pathos (agony of recognition)
7. Catharsis (knowledge through purge)

Freytags pyramid –

What is Freytag’s Pyramid? – Devised by 19th century German playwright Gustav Freytag, Freytag’s Pyramid is a paradigm of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement.

Practical Elements of producing a media product include:

• Actors
• Set
• Props
• Technicians
• Post Production Teams
• Equipment
• Scriptwriters
• Producers
• Musicians

Conceptual Elements of producing a media product include:

• Storyline
• Performance
• Emotions
• Events
• Characters
• Themes
• Protagonists/Antagonists
• Linear/Cyclical Structure

Key Terminology

1. Linear – A straightforward structure with a very smooth progression and a definitive beginning/middle/end.
2. Chronological – An order where events pass in an order of time.
3. Sequential – When a media product is following a logical order or sequence.
4. Circular structure
5. Time based
6. Narrative arc
7. Freytag’s Pyramid
8. exposition,
9. inciting incident,
10. rising action,
11. climax,
12. falling action,
13. resolution,
14. denouement 
15. Beginning / middle / end
16. Equilibrium
17. Disruption
18. New Equilibrium
19. Peripeteia – A drastic and sudden change in fortune.
20. Anagnoresis – A sudden dramatic revelation, usually occurs within the protagonist.
21. Catharsis – The idea that we as humans can feel and absorb emotions from consuming a piece of media.
22. The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place
23. flashback / flash forward
24. Foreshadowing
25. Ellipsis
26. Pathos
27. Empathy
28. diegetic / non-diegetic
29. slow motion

Peripeteia in Blinded by the Light – When the tickets are ripped up.

Anagnoresis in Blinded by the Light – When his father is badly hurt.

Catharsis in Blinded by the Light – At the end when Springsteen’s music is played by his father in the car.

My Film Synopsis

My film will be about a guy who plays a load of football, then gets an offer from a big professional club and goes on a wild adventure through the professional footballing world coming from humble beginnings.

Statement of Intent

My film will start out with a the boy playing football in a field(?) and then being approached by a scout who offers him a big opportunity after watching him play – staying outside after the session. My two film posters would feature the protagonist before the big disruption in the story, being excited about the offer he’s just received, and then the climax, with the protagonist crying in an office(?) about how his career is declining with someone else trying to comfort him. The pathos should be significant here, with a lot of sympathy for the protagonist coming into effect. The type of audience which would consume this product is one of young people, typically males, who resonate with football and often dream about growing up to be a footballer themselves. The type of institution who would release this kind of film would probably be a mainstream one, with perhaps ties to sports clothing/ a sports brand or even with relations to football games.

Todorov

Tztevan Todorov proposed the idea of a Tripartite narrative structure, which breaks down narrative structures into having a beginning, middle and end. He describes these as Equilibrium, Disruption and New Equilibrium.

Equilibrium – State of calmness, things are okay.

Disruption – When something drastic occurs and the protagonist has to reroute his actions in order to solve it.

New Equilibrium – The new state after the disruption has been solved.

Unreliable Narration – Deliberately deceiving audiences and providing plots that reveal unexpected moments.

Frame Stories – Stories told inside of other stories, testing the narrative structure by presenting nested moments of equilibrium and new equilibrium.

Multiperspective narratives – Using viewpoints of different characters and perspectives in a story, and so presenting equilibrium as disruption in another person’s eyes.

Vladimir Propp

Propp’s work suggests that stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories. This doesn’t mean that the characters are the sae every time, but all stories draw on familiar characters performing similar functions to provide familiar narrative structures. This is important because it means that the products created become reactionary, and sales are more guaranteed in a “risky business” such as the media and creative industry. Examples of stock characters are:

1. Hero
2. Helper
3. Princess
4. Villain
5. Victim
6. Dispatcher
7. Father
8. False Hero

Often there is a villain who has done something to a victim. This means that we need a hero, who (often) accompanied by a helper is sent out (by a dispatcher) to fight the villain. The dispatcher or similar donor (such as a father figure) prepares the hero in his ‘quest‘ and gives the hero some magical object. The hero generally meets the princess as part of his quest / journey which usually provides a happy ending. During the narrative we (and the princess) may be presented by a false hero.

Paul Gilroy – Cultural colonialism

After the world wars, the widespread British Empire was not sustainable anymore and so many people all over the world were taken back to Britain. This led to racial tension as many people of different skin colours, races and origins were gathered all in one place. Paul Gilroy talks about this and he argues that the British are undergoing a crisis of national identity. This was to do with the loss of the empire, and so the “British” culture shifted to a point where no-one knew what the true, legitimate ideas to believe were. There was increased tension because of the fact that the British people were bitter and angry after the loss of their empire and dominant position in the world, and so violence an conflict in these times was inevitable. Gilroy says that the people in Britain who came from different areas all over the world are living, physical reminders of the great power Britain once had. This is referred to as postcolonial melancholia.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss was one of the first to bring forward and discuss the theory of Binary opposition. Binary means 2 different, opposing and contrasting things that can be used for comparison. This theory suggests that narratives (=myths) are structured around binary options.

Binary Opposites in Ghost Town

Opposition 1	Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree	Opposition 2
Black				.		White
Employed				.		Unemployed
In control					.	No control
Upbeat				.		Lowbeat
Peaceful					.	Chaotic
Buzzing				.		Derelict