L03 Narrative Theory

Narrative = The techniques used to tell the story such as editing techniques, sounds, camerawork etc.

Story = A sequence of events that happen to make a story.

To show your understanding - write down briefly the main story or plot of your film.

Spider-Man

The story of spider-man is a boy that gets bit by a spider and gets all the capabilities to do everything that a spider can, hence the name spider-man. He then creates a spider suit and his uncle dies and he kills the person that kills his uncle with his spider powers.

Tim O'Sullivan (1998) - All media texts tell us some kind of story.

Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves (as a culture) - these are ideologies.

Mediation - the way that the media carefully selects production to create a specific meaning.

Ideology - Values/Beliefs 

Write down the wider meanings or ideologies, the main story of your film tells the audience.

The wider meanings that spider-man tells is that there are good people out there and spider-man tries to prove that by the good he is doing for the city he is trying to protect.

Pam Cook (1985) 

- Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution (enigma is a problem or puzzle that needs to be solved)

- A high degree of narrative closure

 - A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence. (knowing when and where it is set) 

Write down how your film presents an enigma that is resolved.

Spider-Man has an enigma where there 'Green Goblin' tries to take over New York until he is stopped in his tracks by the main character Spider-Man.

Tzvetan Todorov (1977) 

Stage 1 - Point of stable equilibrium 

Stage 2 - This is stability disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium

Stage 3 - Action directed against the disruption.

Stage 4 - Restoration of a state of new equilibrium.

Apply the plot of your film to Todorov's four stages

Stage 1 - 'Green Goblin' causes trouble 

Stage 2 - Spider-Man stops the 'Green Goblin'

Stage 3 - The police join in

Stage 4 -

Claude Levi-Strauss (1985) - Binary Opposition (Good vs Evil)

Write down what binary opposition are presented in your film

Spider-Man being the good guy trying to stop evil vs Green Goblin being the bad guy causing the trouble.

Vladimir Propp - All narratives feature stock characters and that audiences understand stories because of such features:

-Villan/Antagonist

-Hero/Protagonist

-Helper/Supporter

-Princess, the one thats saved/helped.

What character types are presented in your film?

Antagonist - Green goblin

Protagonist - Spider-Man

Roland Barthes (1977) Narrative Codes
Enigma Codes - Work to keep up setting problems or puzzles for the audience.
Action Codes - Work to inform the audience in terms of what is happening in the next shot/scene

Enigma Codes & Narrative Codes in your film

Enigma 
Action Codes - Shows everything the green goblin is doing while doing it.