Post 5

Narrative Theory

Key facts about Narrative

1. Narrative is an aspect of film making, or story telling, that is essential to the experience of viewing or reading a media text and central to the desire of media producers to create pleasure from the viewing and reading experience.
2. Narrative, also an element of genre, is so much a part of story telling that it almost seems to reflect life itself, and in many senses we understand the world through narratives. This means that we could say that narratives are at the heart of the human experiences.
3. Narratives usually have the structure of a clear beginning, middle and end.
4. Many critics argue that genres share the same narrative and this can be seen with many narratives.
5. Narratives provide a framework that similar to genre lends a structure and provides key signposts that we understand and respond to. We understand how our characters exist within these narratives and also how they react as the action takes place
6. As an audience we predict the outcome, often based on the notion of order and disorder, the known and the unknown or the concept of the quest which will involve the unknown and the disorder
7. Usually despite the set backs and the oppositional forces the quest is met and by the end of the film the narrative closes, the closure providing satisfaction and pleasure.
8. One critic who has analysed how narrative works in media texts is Christopher Vogler who claimed that there was 'a universal story form - a mythic structure, in all stories, across all cultures, throughout human history'. He said that story elements were repeated through narratives based on a series of actions and situations. Media texts will start with an 'ordinary world' before there is a 'call to adventure', a 'refusal of the call' before a 'mentor arrives'. This model fits the majority of films perfectly, an example of this is Tomb Raider.
9. Another critic that talks about narrative was Todorov, he formulised one of the best known and useful structual theories when he wrote about equilibrium and disequilibrium that is found in all mainstream Hollywood films. The journey the actors have from balance to imbalance is easy to define.
10. Propp wrote aboout the binary oppositions found in narratives, that good will face evil and we will feel threatened by the world of disorder and narratives work because of the tension between the opposites.
11. Roland Barthes stated that narrative contains a shorthand that we are able to analyse and understand. The unanswered questions set up through the narrative create audience interest, the proairetic code builds tension causing the audience to expect what turns out to be what we originally expected, this is helped along by the micro elements of the film, for example the camera shots.
12. The narratives the audience are most familiar with are the linear structure with continuity editing, however many film makers play around with the structure of the narrative by inserting flashbacks and moving the narrative backwards for a dramatic effect and to help the story telling. 
13. Most narratives will have a high level of closure, a happy ending so that the audience will return to the cinema. However this is different in European films compared to American films which is displayed through the film 'The Vanishing' which in the European version the characters were buried alive and the murderer was not found compared to the American version where everyone is rescued and saved and the films narrative ends in a happy ending.

What does Narrative mean?

Some Definitions of Narrative

• "We can consider a narrative to be a chain of events in a cause - effect relationship occuring in time and space" Bordwell and Thompson, Film Art
• "...Narrative is a way of organising spatial and temporal data into a cause- effect chain of events with a beginning, middle and end that embodies a judgement about the nature of events" Edward Branngan
• "Narrative refers to the strategies, codes and conventions employed to organise a story" Susan Hayward
• "Editing is the means by which the film develops in time and through different physical spaces from it's beginning to its end" Patrick Phillips
• "In a movie you don't tell people things, you show them" William Goldman

The 5 Action codes of narrative

1. Hermeneutic code: an element of the story not explained- unanswered questions which make the audience think
2. Proairetic code: Builds tension- an indication something is going to happen- the reader/viewer starts to guess.
3. Semantic code: Connotations, extended meaning
4. Symbolic code: Symbolism
5. Cultural code: Things that we believe in our culture   

Narrative theory in an existing film
One narrative theory is Volger's The 12 Steps of the Hero's Journey which can be applied to The Wizard of Oz shown in the table below:
The 12 steps of the Hero's Journey: Wizard of Oz

Narrative in existing short films

Todorov's theory of equilibrium/disequilibrium is displayed in the short existing film Silent Things by Rob Brown. Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. This is shown in this film clip as at the beginning the two autistic friends are happy silently being in each others company, meaning that the film starts on an equilibrium. The two friends then get split apart by a 15 year old girl leading the film to a disequilibrium until the man with autism becomes unwell and the two friends are brought back together again.

The film Barry by John Michell is an example of a simple linear structure which could simplify her rabbit, Barry's simple lifestyle unlike hers as her and her father look after their disable mum/wife. There is an indication however of a flashback when she had started contemplating running away

Influences my research has had on my short film
After researching and looking at the different types of narrative, I have found that this has had a big influence on the way I begin to pllan out my film, this is because the only type of narrative I was really familiar with was the linear structure however after looking at the different types of narrative and the theories of other media theorists, I now see that narrative can play a big role in the planning and creating of my film. I do not neccessarily have to stick to the usual convention of the linear structure and media producers tend to fiddle around with the structure of their film to create audience interest. For my film I therefore feel that I will take into account the theories of Todorov and Barthes to create audience interest within my short film. 

Apply theories of narrative to your coursework productions

Relapse

The narratives the audience are most familiar with are the linear structure with continuity editing, however many film makers play around with the structure of the narrative by inserting flashbacks and moving the narrative backwards for a dramatic effect and to help the story telling. This is revealed in our film through the opening sequence almost being ‘pulled out’ of the middle of the film. We have played with the simple idea of a linear structure and made the film more interesting for the audience.

Our film does not stick to Todorov’s theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium. Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. This is not shown in the narrative of my opening sequence as there is disequilibrium from the beginning and throughout the narrative of the opening sequence this is not restored.

Our opening sequence goes against Propp’s theory of binary oppositions because good doesn’t go against evil and in our opening sequence the audience are unsure as to who is good and who is evil and in some cases the mise-en-scene of the guns can position the audience to think that both characters are immoral.

The narrative of our opening sequence could be compared to Roland Barthes theory that narrative contains a shorthand that we are able to analyse and understand. The unanswered questions set up through the narrative create audience interest, the proairetic code builds tension causing the audience to expect what turns out to be what we originally expected, this is helped along by the micro elements of the film, for example the camera shots. This is similar to our film text as we are able to create tension through the unanswered question of ‘who will shoot who’, ‘who is going to die’, however this question is unresolved in the opening sequence and therefore the outcome cannot be what is the audience expectation however if we had made the rest of the film then this question may have been answered.

Most narratives will have a high level of closure, a happy ending so that the audience will return to the cinema. However this is different in European films compared to American films which is displayed through the film 'The Vanishing' which in the European version the characters were buried alive and the murderer was not found compared to the American version where everyone is rescued and saved and the films narrative ends in a happy ending. If we were applying this to our film production then the closure of our narrative would be compared to a British film because at the ending of our text someone gets shot resulting in a bad ending which would not be found in an American film text.