NARRATIVE

SMST 101 The Moving ImageLecture 7

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• As viewers we are actively involved in making sense of films

• Film makers use and play on this

ANTICIPATION IS ITSELF PART OF THE NARRATIVE FORM

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•At their core, stories are all the same

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Hero/Heroine

Agent of Change

Problem(disruption)

Hero/Heroine’squest

Return to normality

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•Narrative = a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time.

•Events in a narrative must relate causally and occur in time.

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NARRATIVE

• Plot - what happens

• Theme - what the story is about

• Narration - how the story is told

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•all elements of a narrative - both those explicitly presented and that which the viewer infers

•chronological

•all the events visibly and audibly presented in the film

•the order of events in the film

•may or may not be chronological

STORY PLOT

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THE VIEWER VIEWS THE PLOT TO MAKE THE STORY

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PLO

TSTO

RY1. crime conceived2. crime planned3. crime committed4. crime discovered5. detective investigates6. detective reveals 1, 2, 3

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Film TV

Audienceʼs full attention and interest Often distracted - doing other things

Audience present from beginning Audience comes and goes - less formal

Everything in film is new and totally unfamiliar and confusing

Prior knowledge about characters, settings, expectations

No expectations, everything must be carefully explained if narrative is to make sense

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FILM MAKERS EXPECT THEIR AUDIENCE TO BE CURIOUS AND EXPECTANT, ANXIOUS

TO FIND OUT THE SOLUTIONS TO THE

PROBLEMS THE CHARACTERS FACE

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RANGE OF INFORMATION

Unrestricted Restricted

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DEPTH OF INFORMATION

• Objectivity

• Subjectivity

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MOTIVATION

• Narrative is a human construct

• We expect that any one element in a film will have some logical justification for being there

• the Justification (why) for this being there is the motivation

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• characters cause events within the narrative to occur. their character traits are carefully developed in order to ensure that there will be adequate material to stimulate the narrative.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

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PARALLELISM

• running two stories or motifs side by side for the purpose of comparision

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Mandella

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CONFLICT

• Inner

• Relational

• Societal

• Situational

• Cosmic

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CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD CINEMA

• Individual characters are seen as causal agents

• Actions result from primarily psychological causes

• Protagonist has desire - encounters conflict from antagonist - change results

• Time is subordinated to cause and effect chain

• Motivation of all elements will strive to be as clear and complete as possible

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