Narrative is the way a story is told in a filming. narrative structure is the order the action takes place. when thinking about narrative it is also important to consider the audience, for example where they will see and who will see it. at some point during the filing the audeince may witness the action from the characters view point.
Narrative Strusture
there are three main ways that narriative can be strustured:
- Circular
- Episodic
- Linear
Circular
a circular narrative is one that begins at the end. this is most common n films, as they tend to begin with the end and then tell teh stroy through a seris of flashbacks, and then at the end it returns to where the films started. an example of a film which does this is the famous titanic, as the film beings in the modern day with Rose, who then retells the story.
Episodic
An episodic narrative allows the film maker to break events into manageable pieces, similar to how finctional books break the story into chapters. Sometime these chapters follow sequentially but sometimes different viewpoints of hte charatcers are told in different chapters, which means the story isnot told in chronilogical order. Parrallel narratives can be used to show different versions or experinces of the same event.
Linear
This is the most simpliest and commonly used narrative structure and this is because the sotry is told in the order that events happened (from beginning to end). Also known as 'Cause and Effect' Narrative, because the consequences of one event have a know on effect on something else and this helps for the story to move along.
Narrative Viewpoint
A narrator can tell the audeince which character we are meants to feel connected to and the camera can tell the audeince by showing us relationships or events from their point of view. Sometimes the narrator can be apart of the story, but this doesnt mean that we are meant to sympathise them
Restricted Narrative
In a restrictive narrative they audeince only get to know as much as the characters do, this way they have to work out what is going to happen as the film goes along. This can help make the audeince feel part of the narrative.
Omniscient Narrative
In these types of films the audeince are able to see more than the main character. They see events that they dont and might be aware of others plotting against them, for example in Soap Opera's or in horror films the audeince tend to see the killer before other characters
Omniscient narratives create suspence rather than mystery because we know many aspects of the narratives, but we are left in suspence of how the other charters will find out.
Some Genres reply on one of these narrative viewpoints as part of their conventions, for example, Teen movies, Action films and Disaster movies rely on omniscient narraives while Crime films tend to revolove around restrictive narrative.
Narrative Time and Space
The editing stage is important because it is the way that narrative is structured; during the editing process the order that events are revealed to the audeince are revealed is organised. also during the editing stage the pace of certain scenes is decided through the amounts of cuts placed between shots. Time is minipulated in film without te audeince realising, it can be streched so the moment lasts longer or reduced so the irrelevant or uninteresting bits are cut out.
There are gaps in the narrative, also kown as Ellipsis. For example we dont see the characters throughout their travel or them brushing their teeth and eating breakfast, unless relevant to the narrative.
How Much of a Narrative will Audience Accept?
Mainstream narrative need to draw the audeince in and they need to make the audeince forget htat they areo nly watching a series of scenes put together by an editor/director. this is reffered to as Verisimilitude.
Standard use of camera, continuity editing etc. all make sure that one the audeince has entered the diegetic world of film, the audeince are consumed by the narrative.
In an extreame, it is referred to as the 'willing suspension of disbelief', where we accept things that on reflection might be ridiculous. Different genres have different levels of reality.
Narrative Theory
Vladamir Propp
His theories were originally written in the 1920's and refer to Russian folk stories, but have more recently been used.
Propp refer to 8 main character types:
- The Hero
- The false Hero
- The Princes
- The Father (of the princess)
- The Helper
- The Villain
- The Donor
- The Dispatcher
Althought Propps theory is over 80 years old and about russian folk stories, it can still be related to modern film narrative.
Each character type has a specific role in the narrative. The dispathcer send the hero on the 'quest', the princess is the reward for the hero's endeavours, the donor and the helper are similar as they both help the hero, but each slightly different as the donor will give the hero something to help while the helper will help the hero along his way. Sometimes character can be more than one character type. Also a narrative can have more than just of each of these characters, for example two villians.
Todorov
Todorov is a Bulgarian theorist who looks at the different stages that narrative strutures go through. He identifies them being:
- The Equilibrium: the state of balance in the narrative, where the audience gets to know the characters and their situation
- The Disruption: oppositional character or events are introduced and the story moves forward
- The Recognition: where the story devleops, different characters and events become involved and mroe drama occurs
- The Attempt to Repair the Disruption: where there may be a twist of a climatic point
- The New Equilibrium: the problem is solved and harmony is restored, though thing may have changed
Levi-Straus
Claude Levi-Straus was a French theorist who suggested that all narratives were based on conflicts and they were through ninary opposites.
Roland Barthes
Barthes was a French Literary critic who said that in any narrative there are always 5 'codes':
- The Proairetic Code (Plot Code): Refers to the actions that take place in a narrative.
- The Hermeneutic Code (Suspence Code): Refers to questions that a reposed throughout the narrative.A narrative may asks questons which are not automatically answered. The audeince may make assumptions
- Symbolic Codes (Structural Code): Refers to the wider grand themes in the narrative. Symonlic codes tend to rely on oppsoing idea's
- Semantic Code (Character Code): Refers to the connotative meaning of the micro elements
- Cultral Code: Refers to the wider contexts of the narrative and based on existing knowledge, beliefs and vaules. It could also refer to wider knowledge of genres and perhaphs when intertextual references are made.
Anaysing Narrative in a Music Video
This music vieo ihas good narraitve bcause it tells the story of how a couple get together from her meeting him in the diner where she works, seeing eachother at a party to when she phones him, to methen arranging to meet up. This story line could be described as liniar because the stroy is told from beginning to end, however it could also be descirbed as episodic becasue the story is broken don into small peieces or 'chapters'. the narrative is restricted because the audeince ionly knows as much as the audeince do, and they find out more as the stroy unfolds, so the audeince find out the end of the story with the characters.
07 July 11
Place/role of artist - image created
Funtion like a mini film
Can switist beween perfromace and narrative
Goodwin ' relationship between visual and soundtrack is also apparent in technical codes. the rythm of the song is relfected in the editing of the visual so there is a correlation between place, imagery, shot duration and camera movement.
Eminiem - Stan 2002
Rap mixed with romantic ballad
Cinimatice soap opera narrative - domestice abuse
Horror iconography
Juxtaposition conotes her isolated position
Iconic lyric 'you picture on my wall' her lover is obesses wth another man with his pictures on his wall
eminem star persona (Roal model)
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