ASSIGNMENT 6 (C/W): SIMPLE FILM NARRATIVE STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Fatou Panzout

Juice (Drama)

4 Harlem teens that go by the name of Q, Bishop, Raheem and Steel, are out skipping school one day, only to find out an old friend of theirs was killed in a shootout at a bar.

Hearing the news, Bishop starts to get aggravated telling his friends that they have no power, no respect or even the “juice”.

To get some of that, they rob a grocery store, but Bishop intentionally shoots the clerk for no apparent reason.

They all run into an alley where Raheem tells Bishop to give him back the gun; they fight and Raheem ends up getting shot dead.

Only Q, Steel and Bishop knew what happened that night, and Bishop was determined to get rid of the other 2.

A) Has the institution created a text with a conventional (stereotypical) narrative structure

Yes, there is a clear linear narrative which is broken down into: Act 1 (Set-Up) Act 2 (Conflict) Act 3 (Resolution

B) Explain how the film is narrative implicit or explicit ?

Explicit Narrative Reasons Explicit Narrative Evidence

It all starts off showing a strong friendship between 4 boys doing what they do on a daily basis

Then comes a plan that causes conflict between them all, jeopardizing their friendship

Conflict between the two of the friends, resulting in one of them shooting the other

Resolution is that one of the friends has to turn against the killer/friend, in order to keep his life and his other friends life safe

How the film uses conventional narrative structure (Act 1)Act 1: Set-upHere in Act 1, what happens that it briefly introduces the 4 main characters of the film Scene 1 – “Q” Scene 2 –

“Steel”Scene 3 – “Bishop”

Scene 4 – “Raheem”

• Its part of the conventional structure as its introducing him as one of the main characters

• He is also part of the main characters, so they introduce him as well

• He is also part of the main characters, so they introduce him as well

• He is also part of the main characters, so they introduce him as well

How the film uses conventional narrative structure (Act 2)Act 2: ConflictHere in Act 2, conflict begins to build up between the four.

Scene 5 – “Q and Bishop”

Scene 6 “The Wrecking Crew”

Scene 7 – “ The WC”

Scene 8 – “The clerk”

• They both confront each other about their crew having no power or “juice”

• A plan comes about for them all to rob a corner grocery, but it jeopardises their friendship as one of them doesn’t want to be involved

• They all are robbing the grocery store

• “Bishop” shoots “the clerk” for no reason

How the film uses conventional narrative structure (Act 3) Act 3 – Resolution In Act 3, two of the characters begin to confront each

other about the conflict, ending with the “bad person” dying.

Scene 9 – “Raheem and Bishop”

Scene 10 – Steel Scene 11 – Q and Bishop

Scene 12 – Q and Bishop

• Bishop has killed Raheem, then robs him for what he has on him

• Bishop has just shot Steel

• Leaving him for dead

• Q and Bishop are confronting each other about what has happened between them

• Q obviously concerned about Bishop and his mental health tries to help him but doesn’t succeed

• Bishop just died fromfalling from a building

• The resolution was that Q had tried to help him but failed even though he knows that Bishop wont be any trouble on the streets

Why have film makers done this ? So that the audience are not left

confused as to what is happening in the duration of the film

To make it seem more familiar to the audience

So the audience know what they can expect

What impact does it have on the audience?

As its in chronological order, the audience can understand it better

Giving them the knowledge of what it going on and how it happened

It will leave the audience to feel satisfied in the end

What audience expectations have they established or challenged by using this structure ?

As it is a Crime Drama, it establishes the audience expectation.

As the moral is that Good always overcomes evil

This meets audience expectations, as it builds up to that point going in a linear structure