Jake, Honor and daisy are all having a sleepover at Daisy’s house watching movies and eating then they all fall asleep. Honor wakes up to a loud scream and quickly wakes up daisy and then Jake is gone. Honor and Daisy then go around her house and to the back garden searching and then lying there is Jakes phone.
Statement of intent:
I want to create a mystery/horror film to scare and make the viewer think about where Jake is and what has happened. In my film, Jake is the victim, Honor and Daisy are the dispatchers.
Most stories are linear and are broken down into a beginning, middle, and end. The Bulgarian structuralist theorist, Tztevan Todorov, presents this idea as:
– Equilibrium (the story constructs a stable world at the outset of the narrative. Key characters are presented as part of that stability.) – Disruption (oppositional forces – the actions of a villain, perhaps, or some kind of calamity – destabilise the story’s equilibrium. Lead protagonists attempt to repair the disruption caused.) – New Equilibrium(disruption is repaired and stability restored. Importantly, the equilibrium achieved at the end of the story is different to that outlined at the start. The world is transformed.)
VLADIMIR PROPP
Vladimir Propp
Todorov was hugely influenced by the Russian literary theorist, Vladimir Propp, and his highly influential 1929 book, Morphology Of The Folktale, in which Propp arrived at the conclusion that folk tales drew from a highly stable list of characters whose roles and narrative functions he defined:
– The Hero(Propp identifies two significant types of hero – the seeker hero, who relies more heavily on the donor to perform their quest, and the victim hero, who needs to overcome a weakness to complete their quest.) – The Villain (fights or pursues the hero and must be defeated if the hero is to accomplish their quest.) – The Princess and the Princess’s Father (the princess usually represents the reward of the hero’s quest, while the princess’s father often sets the hero difficult tasks to prevent them from marrying the princess.) – The Donor (provides the hero with a magical agent that allows the hero to defeat the villain.) – The Helper (usually accompanies the hero on their quest, saving them from the struggles encountered on their journey, helping them to overcome the difficult tasks encountered on their quest.) – The Dispatcher (sends the hero on his or her quest, usually at the start of the story.) – The False Hero (performs a largely villainous role, usurping the true hero’s position in the course of the story. The false hero is usually unmasked in the last act of a narrative.)
CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS
Claude Levi-Strauss
Claude Levi-Strauss, a French anthropologist and ethnologist, examined the structure and narratives of myths and legends from around the world, such as the tribal stories of the Amazonian rainforest or the ancient myths of Greece). He ventured out to uncover the hidden rules of storytelling, in order to diagnose the essential nature of human experience, and believed that common themes and tropes found in these stories would reveal essential truths about the way the human mind structures the world. He suggested that myths were used to deal with the contradictions in experience, to explain the apparently inexplicable, and to justify the inevitable.
SEYMOUR CHATMAN
Seymour Chatman
The American film and literary critic, Seymour Chatman,
the conflict that disrupts this initial equilibrium
the way / ways in which the disruption looks to find new equilibrium
the denouement and/or resolution that brings about a new equilibrium
This stage is found at the beginning of the film, where everything is as it should be and the characters lives are normal.
. The second stage is the disruption stage. This is when the state of equilibrium is disturbed by an event occurring.
flexi-narratives – three act structures in a similar pattern to that used by master plot/ sub plot sequences.
metanarratives- provide the audience with moments that draw attention to the idea that they are watching a story.
disequilibrium and transgression – Todorov identifies the use of transgressive action as a mechanism that also enables ideological meaning to form. characters break rules or violate social norms and to repair those transgressions they must be punished or effect a transformation.
Transgression is an act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct; an offence
2- Vladimir Propp
Propp suggested that stories do not necessarily have to use all stock characters.
A really good way to think about NARRATIVE STRUCTURE is to recognise that most stories can be easily broken down into a BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END. The Bulgarian structuralist theorist Tztevan Todorov presents this idea as:
Equilibrium
Disruption
New equilibrium
the stage of equilibrium
the conflict that disrupts this initial equilibrium
the way / ways in which the disruption looks to find new equilibrium
the denouement and/or resolution that brings about a new equilibrium
Vladimir Propp
You do not need to recognise all of these characters, but it is a good way to understand the way in which CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:
A really good way to think about NARRATIVE STRUCTURE is to recognise that most stories can be easily broken down into a BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END. The Bulgarian structuralist theorist Tztevan Todorov presents this idea as:
Equilibrium Disruption New equilibrium
Multiple equilibrium sequences- contemporary media products often try to produce a roller-coaster effect for their audiences by deploying multiple disruptions before resolving them in a final transformation. This offers audiences multiple moments of narrative calm and excitement.
Todorov states that media has a beginning, middle and end. He calls these the “equilibrium”, “disruption”, and “new equilibrium”
Freytag
Freytag’s pyramid is similar in that he has a exposition and climax and denouement.
Multi-perspective narratives: contemporary stories are often told from different character perspectives, repurposing equilibriums as disequilibrium when the story shifts from one character viewpoint to another Metanarratives: provide audiences with moments that draw attention to the idea that they are watching a story. Metanarration might knowingly refer to the product as a media construct or speak directly to audiences through fourth wall breaks.
Vladimir Propp
Vladimir propp suggests that stories have stock characters to structure a stories. You do not need to recognise all of these characters, but it is a good way to understand the way in which CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE:
Hero Helper – usually accompanies the hero on their quest, saving them from the struggles encountered on their journey, helping them to overcome the difficult tasks encountered on their quest. The dispatcher: sends the hero on his or her quest, usually at the start of the story. Princess – the princess usually represents the reward of the hero’s quest, while the princess’s father often sets the hero difficult tasks to prevent them from mar rying the princess. The donor: provides the hero with a magical agent that allows Villain – fights or pursues the hero and must be defeated if the hero is to accomplish their quest. Victim Dispatcher Father False Hero – performs a largely villainous role, usurping the true hero’s position in the course of the story. The false hero is usually unmasked in the last act of a narrative
Multiple equilibrium sequences- contemporary media products often try to produce a roller-coaster effect for their audiences by deploying multiple disruptions before resolving them in a final transformation. This offers audiences multiple moments of narrative calm and excitement.
Equilibrium – One of the stages in the theory of narrative structure of Todorov’s theory. It is explained about the condition that happens with a character. Is the beginning of the film, and the characters life is normal.
Disruption – This is the second stage of Todorov’s theory, where a characters life is about to change / have interference
VALDIMIR PROPP
STOCK CHARACTERS
Hero
Helper
Princess
Villain
Victim
Dispatcher
Father
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 herosome magical object.
Isabella is the victim and Jake will be the dispatcher and he tells daisy, then they both become the hero’s.
A really good way to think about NARRATIVE STRUCTURE is to recognise that most stories can be easily broken down into a BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END. The Bulgarian structuralist theorist Tztevan Todorov presents this idea as:
Equilibrium Disruption New equilibrium
the stage of equilibrium the conflict that disrupts this initial equilibrium the way / ways in which the disruption looks to find new equilibrium the denouement and/or resolution that brings about a new equilibrium
Most narratives can be broken down into beginning/middle/end. Todorov’s theory states that the beginning is the equilibrium where everything is ‘normal’ and balanced and around the middle there’s a disruption where things become unbalanced and by the end of the film there becomes a new equilibrium and everything becomes balanced or ‘normal’
condensed equilibriums – action and immediate disruption is delivered to hook the audience
Multiple equilibrium sequences- a roller-coaster effect for their audiences created by deploying multiple disruptions before resolving them in a final transformation. This offers audiences multiple moments of narrative calm and excitement.
2. Vladimir Propp
Suggests that stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories
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.
Hero Helper Princess Villain Victim Dispatcher Father False Hero
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.
My film will be about a boy who to disobey his parents and do whatever he wants to. He has a argument with his parents over wanting to have a mullet and runs away, he then finds a gun on the floor and roams around in confusion until he sees a body on the floor.
What is needed to create a film? (Physical elements)
Director
Actors
Camera and Microphones
Set/Scene/Location
Producer
Money
Editing software
Screenwriter/ Script
Cameraman
Script
Narrative structures and internal elements :
Chronological – Generally, films are structured in a straight line, linear narrative in which the events are sequenced in order of time.
Flashbacks/ Foreshadowing
Ellipsis
Parallel Narrative
EXPOSITION —> CLIMAX —> DENOUEMENT
Protagonist and Antagonist
Freytag :
Exposition —> The background information on the characters and setting explained at the beginning of the story. Earlier events are alluded to.
Climax —> The point of highest intensity in a narrative. A story changing event takes place.
Denouement —> The final part of a play, film, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
Aristotle :
Catharsis = Idea that we are freed by consuming something.
Peripetia = A change in fortune
Anagnorisis = A moment of dramatic revelation
Todrov:
Often, most stories can be easily broken down into a BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END.
Todrov breaks this into a 3-part structure:
Equilibrium
Disruption
New equilibrium
Single character transformations are pursued: Traditional Todorovian stories place one lead hero at the centre of the narrative and secondary characters help them on their quest to the new equilibrium.
Developed therories on character when analyising Russian folk tales in his 1929 book ‘Morphology of the Folktale’
Stock characters are used to structure stories, suggesting that the majority of stories use familiar character types to provide familiar narrative structures
These stock characters are :
Hero
Helper
Princess
Villain
Victim
Dispatcher
Father
False Hero
(not my work)
Claude Levi Strauss (binary oppositions)
This theory suggests that NARRATIVES (=myths) are STRUCTURED around BINARY OPPOSITIONS eg: good v evil; human v alien; young v old etc.
narrative as a structure of key (oppositional) themes that underpin action and dialogue to develop a set of messages that the audience are able to decode and understand.
This creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film/TV programme/advert/music video
this way audiences are encouraged to make a judgements about characters, groups, places, history, society.
Levi-Strauss examined the nature of myths and legends in ancient and primitive cultures, from this analysis he suggested that myths were used to deal with the contradictions in experience, to explain the apparently inexplicable, and to justify the inevitable’ (Turner 2000:83)
the way in which individual students / audience members decode specific texts, is also contingent on their own individual ideas, attitudes and beliefs
texts can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society, which would make it a reactionary text ,or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society, in which case it could be seen as a radical text.
Seymour Chatman –
there are 2 parts to a story, the important things and the embellishment, the important things are called kernels, these are the key moments in the plot.
