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Paul Gilroy Notes

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Postcolonial Theory :

– Racial Otherness : Gilroy studied the importance of black representation. The ‘ There ain’t no black in the Union Jack relates back to the race relations from the Second World war. Thus where the poster-war wave of immigration from the West Indies produced a series of worries and anxieties regarding immigrant behaviour. The black community are constructed as a racial ‘other’ in the predominantly white world of 1950s Britain. There were worries that immigrant communities would swamp / take over white Britain. These fears were further noted in the news in late 1970s and 1980s and routed the black community with assaults, muggings and other violent crimes.

‘It is not then a matter of how many blacks there are, but of the type of danger they represent to the nation’ – Gilroy 2008

– Post-colonial Melancholia :

-The story of UK race relations post W.W. 2 : In 1950’s, the black community such as Indians and the Caribbean came to England as ‘we’ were in desperate need of filled job spaces.

– Legacy of the Empire : Gilroy suggests that we live in ‘morbid culture of a once-imperial nation that has not been able to accept its inevitable loss of prestige’. England couldn’t accept the fact that it was loosing its empire power.

Ghost Town – BBC:

Quote – “It was clear that something was very, very, wrong,” the song’s writer, Jerry Dammers, has said.

Quote – “I saw it develop from a boom town, my family doing very well, through to the collapse of the industry and the bottom falling out of family life. Your economy is destroyed and, to me, that’s what Ghost Town is about.”

Quote – “No job to be found in this country,” one voice cries out. “The people getting angry,” booms another, ominously.

 Specials grew up in the 1960s listening to a mixture of British and American pop and Jamaican ska. 1981, industrial decline had left the city suffering badly. Unemployment was among the highest in the UK. The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain’s burgeoning multiculturalism. It expressed the mood of the early days of Thatcher’s Britain for many. 

Exam Prep, Notes

PAUl Gilroy + GHOST TOWN QUOTES AND NOTES

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Racial Otherness: Gilroy explored the idea of racial otherness being underlying in print media during the 1970s and 1980s, he mainly focused on how the idea of black males regularly was set to be a criminal one. Gilroy’s main focus and research was in his study of black representation in the UK. The study was called “There Ain’t No Black In The Union Jack” where he focused on how newspapers were lurid and racist towards black people.

Post-colonial Melancholia: Racial representations were “fixed in a matrix between the imagery of squalor and that of sordid sexuality” Gilroy argued that this was gated the black community out by saying they are a “other” race in the majority white Britain.

The story of UK race relations post W.W. 2: After Gilroy’s study of how black people and immigrants where being pushed aside by people instead of being included and recognised. After that, 2 decades later, Britain was flooded with “fear” that immigrants and other races were going to “swamp” Britain.

BBC information on Ghost Town “Released on 20 June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment, its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain’s streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later – the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.” sums up the idea behind Ghost Town.

“I saw it develop from a boom town, my family doing very well, through to the collapse of the industry and the bottom falling out of family life. Your economy is destroyed and, to me, that’s what Ghost Town is about.“

 “It was clear that something was very, very, wrong,” the song’s writer, Jerry Dammers

“No job to be found in this country,” one voice cries out. “The people getting angry,” booms another, ominously.

Exam Prep, Institution, Moving Image, Music Video, Notes, Theory

CSP 6: THE SPECIALS – GHOST TOWN

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By Jon Kelly
BBC News Magazine		-‘Released on 20 June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment’
-‘a depiction of social breakdown that provided the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest’
-‘its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain’s streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later – the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.’
-‘ it expressed the mood of the early days of Thatcher’s Britain’
by Stephen Rodrick, 1990
Chicago Reader		-‘The main irony of the Specials’ songs, and in fact of the entire ska movement, was that lurking just beneath the “happy,” infectious dance beat were often chilling stories of the racial divisiveness and economic deprivation that characterized the dawning of the Thatcher era.’
John Bradbury, drummer of the Specials-‘”I saw it [Coventry] develop from a boom town, my family doing very well, through to the collapse of the industry and the bottom falling out of family life. Your economy is destroyed and, to me, that’s what Ghost Town is about.”

Thatcher’s Britain

  • Prime Minister 1979-90
  • Militant campaigner for middle class interests
  • Extreme attitude towards immigration
  • British Nationality Act 1981: introduced a series of increasingly strict immigration procedure and prevented Asian people from entering Britain

‘British national identity
could be swamped by people with different
culture’ – 1978 Interview

‘firm immigration control
for the future is essential if we are to achieve
good community relations’ – Conservative Manifesto

Resistance and Political Protest:

  • When you first think of political protest, you think of: petitions, political marches and movements, attempts to change legislation, protests etc…
  • However, when this occurs, it often results in backlash, mostly from the government in question
  • Even if protest does change legislation, it doesn’t always change opinions
  • It is culture that has the biggest influence on the way people think – this is the site of popular change
  • politics, people and culture are always intertwined

Cultural Hegemony:

  • Theorised by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian philosopher in the 1930s
  • Hegemonic – dominant, ruling, most powerful
  • Hegemonic Culture – the dominant culture
  • Cultural Hegemony – power, rule or domination maintained by ideological or cultural means

Cultural hegemony functions by encouraging the ideologies of the dominant social group as the only legitimate ideology. Their ideologies are expresses and maintained through economic, political, moral and social institutions. These institutions surround the people in their every day life, and eventually influence their subconscious into accepting the norms, values and beliefs of the dominant social group. As a result, oppressed groups are lead to believe that the social and economic conditions of society are natural and inevitable, rather than created by the dominant group.

Subcultures

  • Working class youth culture
  • unified by shared tastes in style, music and ideology
  • a form of resistance of cultural hegemony

Teddy Boys 1950s/60s: responded to post-war social changes

Skinheads 1960s: responded to social alienation as a result of 1950s conservatism and expressed working class pride

Punks 1970s: a reaction to capitalist middle class culture, alienation from adult working class, social, political and economic crisis of 1970s which resulted in mass youth unemployment. Believed in anti-establishment and individual freedom

Rude Boys 1960s/80s: reacted against oppression from state, police, racists. Emphasised self-confidence through listening to Jamaican ska lyrics about oppression and poverty

Post War British Race Relations

  • After WWII, Britain faced a mass labour shortage which lead to the migration of half a million people from the Caribbean (the Windrush generation 1950s-70s) searching for jobs
  • However, they faced severe discrimination which made it difficult for them to find employment and housing
  • During the 1970s and 80s, the children of the Wind Rush Generation were reaching adulthood, but found it difficult to find employment due to having faced the same prejudice their parents did – the difference was that they were willing to resist this racism

Racism from the state/police:

  • A clash between the police and black youth
  • police generated the idea that black people were criminals – more likely to steal, use drugs, start fights etc
  • Black community targeted by SUS Laws –  a stop and search law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion
  • New Cross Fire 1981 – fire started by racist arsonist, killing 13 black people, whose charges were completely dismissed

Racism from far-right groups – The National Front:

  • NF was a far-right group
  • promoted the end of immigration and the reparation of non-white brits
  • Blamed immigration for decline in employment, housing and welfare
  • 1970s – NF gained support of disillusioned of white youth leading to radical attacks and violence

Black Music as Resistance

Paul Gilroy – brought race into the societal divide and changes in the 1980s; he highlighted how black youth cultures represented cultural solutions to collectively experienced problems of racism and poverty

  • Black music offers a means of articulating oppression and challenging what Gilroy has termed ‘the capitalist system of racial exploitation and domination
  • The lyrics of many reggae songs revolve around the black experience, history, culture and consciousness of economic and social deprivation as well as criticising the the continuing enslavement of racist ideology

Rock Against Racism 1976-82

  • RAR campaign fought for the eradication of racism in the music industry against the rise of fascism among white working class youths
  • People believed they could prevent their audiences from being prejudice by the messages they put across in their music
  • RAR took advantage of the emerging subcultures who had similar anti-establishment ideologies as well as provided many different musical forms to which the campaign could project their anti-racist politics
  • RAR organised hundreds of musical events which united white bands with black bands – it was highly successful in shining a light on multiculturalism and unity
  • RAR’s fusion of youth culture and politics has been widely celebrated for making politics fun

Two Tone Britain

  • 2 Tone Records was founded by Jerry Dammers 1979 from The Specials which advocates the eradication of racism in British society
  • This created a new genre of British music that fused punk with Jamaican reggae and SKA
  • The bands signed by 2 Tone Records were largely multi-cultural, eg The Specials and The Selector, and represented the exact aim of RAR
  • 2 Tone bands were most vocal after the election of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979 – writing lyrics about the politics of racism, sexism, violence, unemployment, youth culture and a corrupt system of government
  • 2 Tone gigs often attracted members of the right-wing which caused huge disruption
Ghost Town, Music Video, Notes

CSP – GHOST TOWN

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‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials

Spent three weeks at the top of the charts after its release in 1981

Lyrics

“This town is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place is coming like a ghost town
Bands won’t play no more
Too much fighting on the dance floor

Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang as the music played in any boomtown

This town is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can’t go on no more
The people getting angry

This town is coming like a ghost town”

“Too much fighting on the dancefloor” – Links to how  “The tour was marred by audience violence which disrupted gigs”, even at their own shows, The Specials were met with disruption in their audiences from sub-culture groups who used the performances as a protest to express their views.

“Government leaving the youth on the shelf” – Link to Thatcher’s ideologies.

Band members are sat in a car driving through the deserted streets of a (ghost) town in Britain. The place looks run down a lacking civilisation. They look directly down the lens of the camera with melancholy expression, as if directly relaying the message of nation wide depression to the audience. During the chorus, the camera action is shaky and manic before the camera shot focuses in on a wall as if the car had crashed, perhaps signifying the social unrest and disruption in Britain at the time. The more positive, upbeat chorus paired with the bands more positive expressions could resemble the way they are reminiscing the “good old days before the ghost town”.

Youth Culture as Political Protest

Typical/ traditional political protest:

  • Attempt to change laws and legislation, to make a government hear a voice that is not represented
  • Could be in the form of public demonstrations through protesting on the streets, petitions, marches
  • Overt political protest is uncommon, it often results in a backlash
  • Even if law or legislation is put into place, it doesn’t mean that the dominant, hegemonic view of the public changes. Public opinion doesn’t stay inline with law.

Antonio Gramsci

Italian philosopher who wrote during the 1930’s

Hegemonic/ Cultural Hegemony = The dominant class, the dominant political viewpoint or the power holders and their cultural viewpoint.

Culture = The elements of life which influence peoples hearts, minds and opinions. This is a grounds for change and development.

Sub-culture = The resistance towards the hegemonic culture that emerge with new ideas and opposing views from the bottom of the hierarchy in aim to ensure their voices are heard.

Sub-culture is working-class youth culture unified by shared tastes in style, music and ideology. Sub-culture is often the beginning to a solution to collectively experienced problems and a form of rebellion to the dominant hegemonic views.

Post-war Britain

Margaret Thatcher = Prime minister and leader of the Conservative party from 1979 to 1990.

“British national identity could be swamped by people with different
culture”

  • Strong attitude against immigration (believed that immigration control is the way to bring about good community relations)
  • Nationality Act 1981 – Excluded Asian people from entering UK.

Post-war Britain saw different sub-cultures/ groups begin to formulate.

  • Teddy Boys (1950’s/60’s) = Influenced by American rock and roll, resisted against post-war social changes in UK.
  • Skinheads (1960’s/70’s) = Responding to social alienation (the feeling of not fitting in to a certain social group). They expressed working class pride. Listened to West Indian music such as Ska and Reggae. Originally, Skinheads were anti-racist in the 1960’s. However, in the 1970’s, many skinheads joined far right fascist movements like the National Front and the sub culture became polarized by differing political stances.
  • Punks (1970’s) = They responded to social alienation due to the working class culture of their parents, hegemonic views of Thatcherism, anti-establishment, made music that was self-produced and focused on ‘DIY’.

Paul Gilroy

  • Wrote book called “There Ain’t No Black In The Union Jack” (story of race relations in post war Britain following a large wave of immigration from the west indies, causing anxiety around immigrant behaviours)
  • Paul Gilroy believed “unstable” and politicised identities are “always unfinished, always being remade” and ethnicity is an “infinite process of identity construction”.
  • In other words, ethnicity and national identity are not actually fixed or permanent.

Racial Otherness

  • Suggests that public association and stereotypes of the post-war immigrants with substandard living conditions. Gilroy said that these representations marginalised the black community as the racial ‘other’ in the largely white 1950’s Britain.
  • The British Empire had colonised and had ownership over many countries such as the West Indies, parts of Africa, India and Pakistan. Previously, Britain had used the produce and traded with these less developed countries as a way of benefitting white British people. After the war, Britain was in need of workers (people to re-build destruction from the war, to replace those who had died in the war). Many immigrated from the countries in the British empire to work in the UK, this was met with fear that the immigrant community would ‘overtake’ white Britain due to the news spreading coverage of the black/immigrant community being involved with muggings, violence and crime.
  • The Notting Hill Carnival riot (1976) was described as “an army of black youths”, the media/ newspapers suggested that the black community was “prone to lawlessness”

Two Tone Music

2 Tone was a genre of British popular music, that fused punk with Jamaican reggae and ska music. 2 Tone also attracted the attention of right-wing youth. 2 Tone
concerts were often inflated by members of the National Front or British Movement, disputing gigs

“The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain’s burgeoning multiculturalism” – BBC Article 2011 (The Specials: How Ghost Town defined an era)

 “For the first and only time, British pop music appeared to be commenting on the news as it happened.”

Binary Oppositions : Ghost Town

CONCEPTStrongly
agree		AgreeNeutralAgreeStrongly
agree		OPPOSITE
CONCEPT
WHITEX BLACK
WEALTHYXWORKING CLASS
GOVERNMENT CONTROLXLIBERATION
EMPLOYMENTXUNEMPLOYMENT
REACTIONARYXRADICAL
PUNK ROCKXREGGAE
INSIDEXOUTSIDE
CONTROL (BEHAVIOUR)XLACK OF CONTROL (BEHAVIOUR)
DEVELOPED AREAS OF BRITAIN XRUN DOWN AREAS OF BRITAIN
Audience, Notes, Representation

Ghost Town CSP

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Youth culture as Political Protest

Key concepts: culture resistance, cultural hegemony, and subcultural theory

context: race relations, thatcher’s Britain

case studies: rock against racism, rock against sexism, and 2 tone

The Idea of Resistance and Political Protest: the political, personal and cultural are always intertwined

Cultural Hegemony:

Antonio Gramsci » Tom Shakespeare


● Antonio Gramsci: Italian philosopher writing in the 1930s
Key Terms:
● Hegemonic: dominant, ruling-class, power-holders
● Hegemonic culture: the dominant culture
● Cultural hegemony: power, rule, or domination maintained by ideological and cultural means.
● Ideology: worldview – beliefs, assumptions and values
● Cultural hegemony functions by framing the ideologies of the dominant social group as the only legitimate
ideology.
● The ideologies of the dominant group are expressed and maintained through its economic, political, moral,
and social institutions (like the education system and the media).
● These institutions socialise people into accepting the norms, values and beliefs of the dominant social
group.
● As a result, oppressed groups believe that the social and economic conditions of society are natural and
inevitable, rather than created by the dominant group.

Subcultural Theory: The Birmingham School (1970s)
● In the 1970s, a group of cultural theorists in Birmingham applied Gramsici’s theories to post-war
British working-class youth culture.

First to realise the punks in the 1970’s and different groups in schools

Positives of The Birmingham School’s subcultural theory:
● Validated the study of popular culture – previously considered superficial

Race:
● Bringing race into the picture in the 1980s, Paul Gilroy
highlighted how black youth cultures represented
cultural solutions to collectively experienced problems
of racism and poverty.

After WW2, many Caribbean men and women migrated to Britain seeking jobs.
They were faced with racism and discrimination, and found it difficult to find
employment and housing.
● During the 1970s and 1980s, the children of these Caribbean immigrants were
reaching adulthood. They were subject to violence and discrimination from both
the state and far right groups. However, they more likely to resist the racism of
British society compared with their parents.

Margaret Thatcher:
● Prime Minister 1979-1990
● Militant campaigner for middle-class interests
● In an 1978 interview: ‘British national identity
could be swamped by people with different
culture’
● Hardline attitude towards immigrantion
● Conservative Manifesto: ‘firm immigration control
for the future is essential if we are to achieve
good community relations’
● British Nationality Act of 1981: introduced a
series of increasingly tough immigration
procedures and excluded Asian people from
entering Britain.

Black Music as Resistance:
● Black music offered a means of articulating oppression and of challenging
what Gilory has termed, ‘the capitalist system of racial exploitation and
domination’.
● The lyrics of many reggae songs revolve around the black experience black
history, black consciousness of economic and social deprivation, and a
continuing enslavement in a racist ideology.
● Reggae is often sung in Jamaican patois, emphasising a black subjectivity
that is independent from white hegemony

Rock Against Sexism was British anti-sexist campaign that
used punk as a vehicle to challenge sexism, promoting
female musicians while challenging discrimination in the
music industry between 1979 and 1982.

2 Tone
● 2 Tone was a genre of British popular music, that fused punk with Jamaican reggae and ska music.
● The name of the genre derives from 2 Tone Records, a record label founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers of The Specials, and
articulates a desire to transcend Britain’s racial divides.
● The bands on the Two Tone label were largely multicultural, for example the Specials, the Selecter, Madness, the Beat and the
Bodysnatchers. This was the practical realisation of the anti-discriminatory ambitions of Rock Against Racism. While RAR
brought black and white musicians onto the same stage, Two-Tone brought black and white musicians into the same bands.
● 2 Tone bands came to prominence during Margaret Thatcher’s first term in office as PM. The songs addressed the political
issues of the day: racism, sexism, violence, unemployment, youth culture, and were highly critical of the police, and the
authoritarian government.
● Similar to punk’s susceptibility to right-wing interpretation, 2 Tone also attracted the attention of right-wing youth. 2 Tone
concerts were often inflated by members of the National Front or British Movement, disputing gigs and Sieg Heiling. The
contradictions of race were reproduced and at times amplified in the tense atmospheres characteristic of 2 Tone gigs.

Exam Prep, Moving Image, Notes, Research

what you need for a movie – notes

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what you need to make a movie:

  • camera
  • cast
  • crew
  • editors
  • script
  • set
  • film
  • location

KEY TERMINOLOGY

Linear = arranged in or extending a straight or nearly straight line

chronological = following the order in which they occurred

sequential = forming or following in a logical order or sequence

circular structure = an object that references itself.  making sure the function that is being passed in, filters out repeated or circular data.

Time based = over a period of time

narrative arc =  is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, video games, and films with each episode following a dramatic arc.

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

Exposition = Narrative exposition is the insertion of background information within a story or narrative. This information can be about the setting, characters’ backstories, prior plot events, historical context.

Inciting incident = The event that sets the main character or characters on the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative.

Rising action =  starts right after the period of exposition and ends at the climax. Beginning with the inciting incident, rising action is the bulk of the plot. It is composed of a series of events that build on the conflict and increase the tension, sending the story racing to a dramatic climax.

climax = The ending and leading up to the end of the narrative

Falling action = Falling action is what happens near the end of a story after the climax and resolution of the major conflict. falling action is what the characters are doing after the story’s most dramatic part has happened.

Resolution = the ending of the story, happens after the conflict

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.

Beginning / middle / end = The plot through out the films

Equilibrium = Everything is balanced at the beginning

Disruption = Changing something over and over again

Transgression = Often disequilibrium is caused by societal / moral / ethical

Peripeteia = a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances, especially in reference to fictional narrative. “the peripeteias of the drama”

Anagnorisis = 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 = is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration

The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place = a tragedy should have one principal action. unity of time:

 Flash-forward / Flash-back: a flash-forward takes a narrative forward in time, a flashback goes back in time, often to before the narrative began.

Foreshadowing = be a warning or indication of a future event.

Ellipsis = the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.

Pathos =  to persuade an audience by purposely evoking certain emotions to make them feel the way the author wants them to feel.

Empathy = is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference

Diegetic / non-diegetic = In film, diegesis refers to the story world, and the events that occur within it. Thus, non-diegesis are things which occur outside the story-world

Slow motion = A slow movement to add to a tense scene

In media res = the practice of beginning an epic or other narrative by plunging into a crucial situation that is part of a related chain of events.

Metanarrative = in critical theory and particularly in postmodernism is a narrative about narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge

Quest narratives = one of the oldest and surest ways of telling a story.

Moving Image, NEA, Notes

MOVING IMAGE NEA

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Key Terminology

  1. Linear – When a story is told in the order of what happens
  2. Chronological – Following the order in which they occurred.
  3. Sequential – Forming or following in a logical order or sequence.
  4. Circular structure – A circular structure is an object that references itself – A story ends the same way it started (A moral of the story type thing)
  5. Time based – Over a period of time.
  6. Narrative arc – Literary term for the path a story follows. It provides a backbone by providing a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story. 
  7. 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.
  8. Exposition – A comprehensive description or explanation to get across an idea. Exposition is a device used in television, films, poetry, literature, music, and plays.
  9. Inciting incident – The event that sets the main character or characters on the journey that will occupy them throughout the narrative
  10. Rising action – The rising action starts right after the period of exposition and ends at the climax. Beginning with the inciting incident, rising action is the bulk of the plot.
  11. Climax – The ending and leading up to the end of the narrative. The ending and finishing moral of the narrative
  12. Falling action – Falling action is what happens near the end of a story after the climax and resolution of the major conflict. Simply put, falling action is what the characters are doing after the story’s most dramatic part has happened.
  13. Resolution – The ending of the story. Occurs after the climax.
  14. Denouement –  Is an aspect of narrative that gives context and resolution to a major theme, relationship or event in a story.
  15. Beginning / middle / end – Different stages of a story.
  16. Equilibrium – One (First) 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.
  17. Disruption – This is the second stage of Todorov’s theory, where a characters life is about to change / have interference.
  18. New equilibrium – The final stage of Todorov’s theory where a characters life goes back to normal. Is the ending of the film.
  19. Peripeteia – The turning point in a drama after which the plot moves steadily to its denouement. A shift of good to bad in a characters life.
  20. Anagnorisis – A moment of recognition or revelation in a story, where the characters life switches to a reversal of fortune.
  21. Catharsis – The release and relief of strong or repressed emotions and often leads to a resolution.
  22. The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place –  Action (a play / film should have one unified plot), Time (all the action should occur within one day), Place (a play / film should be limited to a single locale / location)
  23. Flashback / flash forward – Flashback / flash forward – A interruption of a character remembering past tragic events.
  24. Foreshadowing – An indication or hint of what is to come.
  25. Ellipsis – A jump or skip in time in film
  26. Pathos – The persuasive technique that appeals to an audience through emotions and to gain an emotional effect from the film. The quality of pity and sadness.
  27. Empathy – The ability to sense other people’s emotions and to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
  28. Diegetic / non-diegetic – Things that emanates from the story world of the film.
  29. Slow motion – When a scene is slowed down in editing so the watcher can focus on a particular moment and aspect of the movie
  30. In Media Res -Starting mid-action
  31. Metanarratives – drawing attention to the process of storytelling
  32. Unreliable narration – deliberately deceive audiences, providing plots that deliver unexpected moments – usually by revealing that a character is not who they claim to be.
  33. Frame Stories – stories told inside of stories, testing Todorov’s ideal narrative structure through the presentation of nested moments of equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Synopsis and statement of intent

It’s about a poor family and the teen sons parents are struggling to get by, they have one son who wants to become a professional football player but can’t afford to pay for football training so he spends all his time playing street football and playing with his best friend, but his parents want him to get a job to help provide.

In this movie I will have the main character, the hero, being the teen who wants to become a football player. He will have a best friend at the start but then becomes the false hero, he then joins a rival team to his friend after the hero manages to get into a team through very hard work and training and being able to get free training due to his large skill and ability. The false hero will purposefully injure the hero out of spite that the hero is a greater player than him. So the hero has to go back home and start working for his family for a while. After being injured for a while we have a dispatcher (a coach) who convinces him to play again and carry on his training. To where he then gets scouted by a premier league team and this will be the anagnorisis where he earns enough money to provide for him self and his family.

The film will be funded and produced by Warner Brothers. It should have a least a mid level budget due to the simple nature of the story not needing many high level filming attributes or techniques. The poster will have the main hero at the front holding the football in his hands or at his feet, with his friend next to him but slightly behind to indicate his insignificance compared to the main hero and as also a slight foreshadow of his false hero intentions.

The genre of the film will be a feel-good type idea that focuses on a classic and conventional base story line following ideas of the Tripartite narrative structure. The genre would loosely be based on the films techniques and genre of “Blinded By the Light” where he young teenager faces antagonists and hardships to make his dream come true of becoming a professional football player, making his parents proud and taking them out of poverty.

Tztevan Todorov (Tripartite 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

In the beginning of a movie such as Harry Potter, his equilibrium is that he lives in a foster home under the stairs and they are disrespectful and unkind to him, then begins the disruption where he finds out he is a wizard and gets sent to Hogwarts when now Voldemort wants to kill him, lastly, there’s the new equilibrium where it goes back to the characters being happy once again and the conflict is over.

A more sophisticated application of Todorov considers and recognises that stories are constructed in ways that test and subvert the three act narrative structure outlined above. A more sophisticated application of Todorov might also consider:

  • Plot and subplot(s)
  • Multiple equilibrium/ disruption sequences
  • Flexi-narratives

Sometimes there may also be an audience who expect action quickly and have a short attention and quick boredom span, so, Condensed equilibriums:

This structural approach could also be referenced to Freytag’s Pyramid:

exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement as illustrated below.

Vladimir Propp (Character Types and Function)

His theory is about narrative structures, as his work (based around an analysis of fairy tales) suggests that stories use STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories. That is not to say that all characters are the same, but rather to suggest that all stories draw on familiar characters performing similar functions to provide familiar narrative structures.

Simply, Vladimir Propp theorised that although characters may seem different, there are 8 stock character types that they follow that relates to their function in the movie and their personalities.

CHARACTERS FUNCTION TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE; Here are the 8 Stock Characters:

  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 thehero in his ‘quest‘ and gives theherosome 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.
  • Propp says that a narrative does not necessarily have use all the characters.

Spheres of Action

As Turner makes clear ‘these are not separate characters, since one character can occupy a number of roles or ‘spheres of action’ as Propp calls them and one role may be played by a number of different characters’ 

However, Propp proposed that his list of stock characters are structured into a narrative that has 31 different functions that play an important role in organising character and story into a plot. Without going into detail for each, overall they can be divided into the following sections:

  1. PREPARATION
  2. COMPLICATION
  3. TRANSFERENCE
  4. STRUGGLE
  5. RETURN
  6. RECOGNITION
Narrative, Notes, Theory

Internal Structure Analysis

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Narrative Structure – Key Words & Theories

Linear/chronological – when a story is told in the order it happens

Sequential – when one event comes after the other chronologically

Circular structure – when a story ends how it begins

Time based –

Narrative arc – refers to the chronological construction of the plot in a story

flashback – when a chronological sequence is interrupted by an event that happened previous to the specific moment in a narrative

flash forward – when a chronological sequence is interrupted by an event that happens after the specific moment in a narrative

Foreshadowing – when an event that occurs in a narrative is hinted at earlier on

Ellipsis – a device which excludes a portion of the sequence of events

Pathos – when a narrative is written in order to generate and appeal to an audiences emotions

Empathy – when an audience is able to share a feeling or perspective with a character or moment

diegetic – refers to the internal world created by the story that the narrators/characters themselves experience and encounter

non-diegetic – refers to the things we see and hear in a narrative that come from the external world of a story which do not actually experience and encounter the story

slow motion – a motion picture where that action has been altered to make it appear to have occurred slower than it actually did in order to create dramatic effect

fast motion – a motion picture where that action has been altered to make it appear to have occurred faster than it actually did in order to create dramatic effect

Freytag’s Pyramid:

paradigm of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement.

  • exposition – the background information that is given at the beginning of a story about the characters, setting etc…
  • inciting incident – the narrative event which launches the main action
  • rising action – the bulk of the plot which builds up to the climax
  • climax – the turning point or crisis in a narrative which is often the highest point of interes
  • falling action – when the climax begins to resolve
  • resolution – when the climax is resolved
  • denouement  – when conflict in a plot is resolved and the plot concludes

Tztevan Todorov – Tripartite narrative structure:

Beginning / middle / end – the most basic organisational framework of a story

  • Equilibrium – when all forces or moments acting upon a narrative are balanced
  • Disruption – when an incident or trivial story disrupts the narrative flow
  • New equilibrium – when order is restored
  • plot/sub-plot – a narrative often has as overarching master plot accompanied by a series of sub-plots
  • multiple equilibrium/ disruption sequences – when a narrative deploys multiple equilibrium/disruption sequences in order to produce a roller coaster effect
  • flexi-narrative –
  • condensed equilibrium – when a narrative propels a moment of immediate disruption to instantly hook the audience rather than building up to it

Aristotle:

Poetics –

  • Peripeteia – the turning point in a narrative after which the plot moves steadily to its denouncement
  • Anagnoresis – the moment in a narrative when a character makes a dramatic revelation
  • Catharsis – a moment of emotional release as a result of a resolution being made

The 3 Unities –

  • Unity of Action – a tragedy should have one principle action
  • Unity of Time – that action of a tragedy should occur over a period of no more than 24hours
  • Unity of Place – a tragedy should exist in a single physical location

Seymour Chatman – Satellites & Kernels

  • Kernels – key moments in the plot/narrative structure – the narrative would not work without them
  • Satellites – embellishments, aesthetics, and developments in the plot/narrative structure – the narrative would be able to work without them

Roland Bathes – Proairetic and Hermenuetic Codes

  • Proairetic code: action, movement, causation
  • Hermenuetic code: reflection, dialogue, character or thematic development
  • Enigma code: the way in which intrigue and ideas are raised – which encourage an audience to want more information

Vladimir Propp – Stock Characters

  • Villain – causes some form of misfortune, damage or harm, their evil action will, of course, lead to a fight or another form of struggle with the hero
  • Victim/Victim Hero – the character who is taken, harmed, injured, or killed by the villain
  • Hero – the major character who is the person around which the story is told. There are two types of hero’s: the seeker hero relies agrees to liquidate the misfortune suffered by another character, the victim, and so heavily on the donor to perform there quest, whereas the victim-hero directly suffers from the action of the villain and therefore needs to overcome a weakness to complete their quest
  • Helper – usually accompanies hero on the quest and aids them in struggles encountered on their journey
  • Dispatcher – Sends the hero on the quest
  • Donor – provides hero with with a magical agent or advise to help him defeat the villain
  • Princess – usually represents the reward of the hero’s quest
  • Princess’s Father – often set’s the hero difficult tasks to prevent them from marrying the princess
  • False Hero – a character who appears to be good but it quickly becomes obvious they are corrupt once they are unmasked (usually towards the end of the narrative)

Claude Levi-Strauss – Binary Opposites

  • The idea that we need binary opposition to create drama and interest in a narrative structure
  • This creates a dominant message (ideology) – So in this way audiences are encouraged to make a judgements about characters, groups, places, history, society etc.
  • 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.
CONCEPTstrongly
agree		agreeneutralagreestrongly
agree		OPPOSITE
CONCEPT
GOOD✔BAD
REACTIONARY✔RADICAL
FEMALE✔MALE
IN CONTROL✔OUT OF CONTROL
WHITE✔BLACK
URBAN✔REGIONAL
RICH✔POOR
HAPPY✔SAD
ROCK✔REGGAE
QUIET✔LOUD
Moving Image, NEA, Notes

MOVING IMAGE NEA

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  1. Linear – progressing from one stage to another, one after the other, sequentially
  2. Chronological – Events following the true order in which they happened
  3. Sequential – One after the other
  4. Circular structure – The story ends where the film begins.
  5. Time based –
  6. Narrative arc – the story a film follows along with a dramatic arc within it somewhere to keep viewers attention.
  7. Freytag’s Pyramid
  8. exposition – a comprehensive description of an event, story or idea.
  9. inciting incident – the event that sends the main character/characters on the mission/adventure.
  10. rising action – the bulk of the plot that ends at the end of the story/film.
  11. climax – everything that the plot leads up to.
  12. falling action – what happens after the climax and the plot/action calms down.
  13. resolution – a firm decision to do or not to do something.
  14. denouement – context and resolution to a major theme, relationship or event in a story.
  15. Beginning / middle / end – Different stages of a story.
  16. Equilibrium – One of the stages in the story where it is explained about the condition that happens with a character.
  17. Disruption –
  18. New equilibrium – The beginning of the film where the characters life is normal.
  19. Peripeteia – A shift of good to bad in a characters life.
  20. Anagnorisis –  A moment of recognition or revelation in a story.
  21. Catharsis – Releasing strong emotions which leads to a realisation.
  22. The 3 Unities: Action, Time, Place
  23. flashback / flash forward
  24. Foreshadowing – hinting towards a future event within the film
  25. Ellipsis – a jump/missing out certain events in films.
  26. Pathos – Getting the audience emotional due to something happening within the film or show, main emotions being pity and sadness.
  27. Empathy –  The ability to sense other people’s emotions and to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
  28. diegetic / non-diegetic – Things that emanates from the story world of the film, non-diegetic being things occur outside of the story line.
  29. slow motion – Slowing down the video playing so that the watcher can take in certain info or focus on certain aspects of the film.

Synopsis and statement of intent:

A British agent who thinks his father was lost at war investigates his fathers files and he never finds ever solid evidence, at long last he finds the last mission his father went on, “investigating and going undercover within a Nazi agency”, his son decides to go to the Nazi agency and try figure more about his father before his death. However when he’s in the agency people catch on that he seems to have incorrect German and is sneaking away without reason. But at very last, he finds out that his father…

Within my film I’m going to have a hero (being the main character who is looking for his father), a villain (being a Nazi operator catching onto the hero’s lies) and a victim, being a love interest of the main character being hurt by the villain. With the major plot discovery being a heartbreak for the hero I want the audience to feel attached and emotional for the main character, otherwise known as pathos. I intend the film to be for ages 15 and upwards due to the emotional and violent film, it would be a major film developed on a large budget by Warner Brothers and the poster would be a half and half, blue light vs red light (good vs evil) back to back displaying multiple characters along with a large title of the film, this way the viewers are intrigued to find out who the characters in the poster are. I will be taking photographs of myself with an army based uniform on, a pretend gun and standing tall to show the main character to be bold and brave, whereas the villain will be arms crossed and an angry friend.

My film is similar to the James Bond 007 films, marvels captain America and red notice. However the film takes place within WW2 which is like Captain America but it focuses on a real life undercover not a fictional sub-division working on technology that uses a all powerful stone. Its like 007 but the star isn’t a standalone character going after a baddy because its his job and picks up woman along the way, its a young soldier looking for his family by fighting the war.

Todorov:

  • Equilibrium – meaning normality and peace. (The beginning)
  • Disruption – The climax of the story causing normality to fade and a problem arising, within this section of the film the problem is solved by the main characters. (The middle)
  • New equilibrium – after the Disruption has been dealt with, everything is back normality and peace. (The End)
  • Todorov believes stories are always linear, following his idea of equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium.
  • It is normal for media companies to have multiple equilibriums and disruptions.
  • Media companies tend to understand that viewers might have a low attention rate/boredom threshold so they propel immediate disruption to hook the viewers attention.
  • Devices like anachronic devices are like flash backs or peaks into the future so the viewer has context.
  • In TV shows and shows in general, the idea of Todorovs acts are either played out across one episode, a couple episodes or the whole season.

Vladamir Propp

  • Vladimir Propp believed in the idea that there is 8 different types of character, these 8 characters are,
  1. Hero
  2. Helper
  3. Princess
  4. Villain
  5. Victim
  6. Dispatcher
  7. Father
  8. False Hero
  • Most of the time these characters co-inside, with the Villain doing something to the victim and the hero having to fix it or make it correct.
  • However the characters don’t have to stick to their role and a role can be multiple characters, this is called a sphere of action. The different spheres of action can be divided into 6 sections, these sections being,
  1. PREPARATION
  2. COMPLICATION
  3. TRANSFERENCE
  4. STRUGGLE
  5. RETURN
  6. RECOGNITION