Narrative - one legged bird productions...4 . Predestination . AUS released 2014 . Specifications ....

Narrative

VCE Media Unit 3 – Area of Study 1

Written by Ashley Hall and Helena Moore Adapted from ‘VCE Media: New Ways and Meanings Units 3 & 4’ by Colin Stewart

Unit 3 Media, Area of Study 1: Narrative Production & Story Elements

2

Made you look.


3

Contents Predestination ........................................................................................................................... 4

Scott Pilgrim vs The World .................................................................................................... 5

Audience Consumption and Reception ............................................................................. 6

Production Elements ............................................................................................................... 9

Notes and Advice: Camera .................................................................................................. 10

Notes and Advice: Acting ..................................................................................................... 12

Notes and Advice: Mise-en-scène ..................................................................................... 14

Notes and Advice: Editing ................................................................................................... 15

Notes and Advice: Lighting ................................................................................................. 19

Notes and Advice: Sound ..................................................................................................... 20

Terminology List .................................................................................................................... 21 Camera ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Acting ................................................................................................................................................... 21 Mise-en-scène ................................................................................................................................... 22 Editing .................................................................................................................................................. 22 Lighting................................................................................................................................................ 23 Sound ................................................................................................................................................... 23

Story Elements ........................................................................................................................ 24

Notes and Advice: Cause and Effect ................................................................................. 25

Notes and Advice: Opening, Development and Resolution ..................................... 27

Notes and Advice: Point of View ....................................................................................... 30

Notes and Advice: Establishment & Development of Characters ......................... 32

Notes and Advice: Setting.................................................................................................... 35

Notes and Advice: Multiple Storylines ........................................................................... 36

Notes and Advice: Structuring of Time .......................................................................... 38

Practice Questions ................................................................................................................. 41 Your Task Upon reading this entire document, complete your own sample responses including analysis from both of the films you’ve studied this year for Narrative. There are practice questions provided at the back of this booklet, however you are in no way restricted to these. Try creating your own questions and then answering them, or work with a friend to write questions for each other.


4

Predestination AUS released 2014 Specifications Shot on location in Melbourne, AUS and Docklands Studios, Australia. Digital, Panavision processing, Arri Alexa cameras; aspect ratio, 2.35 : 1 Genre Sci-Fi, Thriller, Neo-Noir, Action Tagline To save the future, he must protect his past. Crew Director: The Spierig Brothers DOP/Cinematographer: Ben Nott Screenwriter: The Spierig Brothers (Michael and Peter Spierig) Editor: Matt Villa Art Director: Carly Bojadziski Production Design: Matthew Putland Set Decoration: Vanessa Cerne Original Music: Peter Spierig Costume Design: Wendy Cork Cast (main) The Barkeep: Ethan Hawke The Unmarried Mother: Sarah Snook Mr Robertson: Noah Taylor Beth: Cate Wolfe Dr Fujimoto: Kuni Hashimoto The Interviewer: Christopher Stollery Dr Heinlein: Tyler Coppin


5

Scott Pilgrim vs The World US released 2010 Specifications Shot on location in Toronto, CAN and Cinespace Film Studios, Toronto. Digital, Panavision processing, Arriflex cameras; aspect ratio, 1.85 : 1 Genre Action, Computer Game, Graphic Novel, Comic Book, Romance. Taglines An epic of epic epicness. Get the hot girl. Defeat her evil exes. Hit love where it hurts. Crew Director: Edgar Wright DOP/Cinematographer: Bill Pope Screenwriter: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) Bryan Lee O’Malley (graphic novels) Editor: Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss Art Director: Nigel Churcher Production Design: Marcus Rowland Set Decoration: Odetta Stoddard Original Music: Nigel Godrich Costume Design: Laura Jean Shannon Cast (main) Scott Pilgrim: Michael Cera Ramona Flowers: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Knives Chau: Ellen Wong Wallace Wells: Kierin Culkin Gideon Graves: Jason Schwartzman Kim Pine: Alison Pill Young Neil: Johnny Simmons Stephen Stills: Mark Webber Stacey Pilgrim: Anna Kendrick Julie Powers: Aubrey Plaza Envy Adams: Brie Larson Todd Ingram: Brandon Routh Roxy Richter: Mae Whitman Lucas Lee: Chris Evans The Voice: Bill Hader


6

Audience Consumption and Reception Whilst considering the above points, it might be a good time to visit the idea of audience consumption and reception. In simple terms, audience reception is the way in which each individual audience member watches a film: how they engage with it, their ability to like/understand/appreciate it and the reception context is the various factors that contribute to, or limit, this engagement/enjoyment, etc. Factors, or reception contexts, that contribute to audience reception and consumption include: surrounding environment, technology used, time of day, background knowledge of the audience, audience experience and empathy. Consider this scenario:

You’re a huge horror movie fan. You’re excited about seeing the latest horror movie being shown in the cinema. It’s received great reviews, is claimed to be, “the scariest movie this year,” by critics and the trailer for the film looks amazing. None of your friends like horror movies, but you don’t care and you go to the cinema by yourself, excited to see it as soon as you can. You get there with plenty of time, buy your ticket, buy yourself a drink and a big tub of popcorn, turn off your phone and settle into your seat. The ads are over, the trailers are over and the movie is about to begin. The lights go down, the cinema is dark, there is silence, the distribution company’s logo comes up on the screen and fades away again to leave a black screen. Then…the strings of the orchestral score gradually build, starting with the low notes of a cello and transitioning into the higher strings of the violins. A harsh stab of violins sound and the film’s name bursts onto the screen. As it starts to fade away, the sound of pouring rain can be heard increasing in volume and the first image begins to appear on the screen…a dark, desolate night and a singular car is edging along a remote road. Large, ominous looking fields of corn sway over both edges of the road, almost towering over and closing in the road. All you can see is corn for miles, then blackness. The pouring rain can be seen in the flickering headlights of the car as it shunts along this road. Cut to inside the car and a flustered, nervous looking woman in her twenties is squinting through the deluge hitting her windscreen, trying to see where she’s going. She is edging along the road slowly, trying to see the narrow road. Cut to the camera shooting from the backseat of the car, over her shoulder, out the windscreen to show what she faces. A little bit ahead, just as the reach of the headlights is starting to give way to the darkness, what appears to be the silhouette of a large man steps out into the middle of the road.


7

The sound of the car engine slowing down can be heard as it comes to a stop just short of the large figure standing in the middle of the road. You grab another fistful of popcorn and edge down into your seat. The large silhouette slowly turns toward the car. His arms are hanging pendula by his sides. In one of the large hands hanging by his side, he appears to be holding something. The woman in the car can’t tell what it is yet, but the flicker of her headlights reflect off part of the object which appears to be metal. Now, imagine you’re watching the same film, but with a completely different scenario. You were just as excited to go, like you were in the previous scenario, but you weren’t able to get to the cinema and then it was gone before you got a chance to see it. Instead, you waited for it to come out on iTunes. Your laptop’s broken, you have an older television, so your only option is to watch it on your phone. You’ve got family staying with you, so you’ve been kicked out of your bedroom. The only place left is the couch in your lounge room adjoining the kitchen. You cue up the film on your phone and press play. Your mum and dad are cooking a big dinner in the kitchen for your visitors. They have the exhaust fan on the rangehood firing, the curtains are wide open so there’s plenty of light blasting into the room, your family who are visiting have a newborn baby who your aunty is currently bouncing in her arms, pacing back and forth in the lounge room in front of you, saying, “Shush, shush, shush,” over and over as it screams its little baby lungs out. You crane forward a bit more to try and see the dark picture through the light reflecting off your screen. You can’t for the life of you find your headphones. Your volume’s up full, but you can still barely hear the film over the rangehood fan, the fan on the oven, the food sizzling on the hotplates, your aunty’s shushing and the baby’s screams.

You can see from these two contrasting examples that your appreciation and engagement with the same film is going to be starkly different. From the contributing factors listed previously, surrounding environment, technology used and time of day are going to play a large part in how you engage with the film. Even slight changes in the second scenario would change the way the film was consumed: waiting until night time, so it’s dark outside, and indeed inside if you turn the lights off, would at least change the way the horror film affects you. Maybe by that time also, your aunty and the baby have gone to bed. Your parents are no longer cooking, so it’s quiet. These changing factors would at least enable you to engage with the film a little better, even if you’re still watching it on your phone in your lounge room, instead of in a darkened cinema with no interruptions, but many factors such as these can play a large part.


8

Other key factors are those of background knowledge of the audience and audience experience/empathy. A 2015 film that has highlighted these factors is that of the Oscar nominated Bradley Cooper film, American Sniper. Based on the novel by Chris Kyle, the eponymous American sniper, the film has polarized audiences. There are a number of categories that viewers of the film fall into: those who don’t care about the “true” background information, because they simply enjoy the film as an engaging action/war movie, those who believe that the movie is racist because it largely focuses on the killing of Arabs people in the second Gulf War, those who enjoy the film as a patriotic, inspiring movie celebrating an American war hero and those who believe that Chris Kyle played a little fast and loose with the truth who lied about a lot of the events in his book that the movie is based on. Depending on knowledge, experience or empathy, an audience’s enjoyment or engagement with the film will vary greatly. The filmmakers themselves, director Clint Eastwood and actor/producer Bradley Cooper claim the political message of the film has been hijacked and that their main focus was not to celebrate killing, or any of the other claims, but simply to create a character study on the effects of war on the human psyche. Staunchly anti-war advocates are offended by the film because they feel it is a blindly patriotic, flag waving glorification of American soldiers killing Iraqis. A former American governor, Howard Dean, claimed that people that go and see the movie are “very angry” and probably members of the Tea Party (an ultra-conservative political party in the US).

In his article, American Sniper: Lies and War Propaganda to Divide a Nation, American author, Brandon Turbeville, states, “Chris Kyle was a murderer…a war profiteer and a liar.” In his article, Why the Left Hates American Sniper, however, Rabbi Schmuley Boteach claims, “Let armchair warriors condemn heroes like Chris Kyle and the Hollywood producers who have immortalized his heroic story. Let them stand over campfires and sing kumbaya…American Sniper is a film of soaring patriotism and an ode to our courageous military.” Clearly, these differing people, with their different standpoints and background understandings and political leanings, are going to consume and receive the messages of a film like this in very different ways.


9

Production Elements As you’ve no doubt come across before, a simple acronym for remembering the production elements you need to be able to write about for the Narrative unit is CAMELS: Camera, Acting, Mise-en-scène, Editing, Lighting and Sound. For each of these elements you should, at the very least, be able to write a concise one-sentence definition for each of them. You should then elaborate in the second sentence with more specific terminology. The third and fourth sentences should elaborate even further, providing explicit examples from each of the texts you studied this year and the intended effect on the audience. For example: “Acting is the portrayal of a fictional, or dramatised, character by an actor. Actors help create the director’s vision of the narrative by using their bodies as expressive instruments. Through the use of various gestures, body positions and facial expressions, Sean Penn is able to create a tense and frightening character in Clint Eastwood’s film, Mystic River (2003). By continually clenching his fists, looking upward through his furrowed brow and with a clenched, unsmiling, thickset jaw, Penn gives the audience the impression that his character, Jimmy Markum, is a tightly wound spring, a dangerous bomb of a man who is likely to explode at any given moment.” An important thing to remember when you’re analysing each of these production elements is that you’re looking at them from the perspective of the filmmaker’s intended effect on the audience. Obviously this can be very subjective, so you need to be asking yourself the question, “What do I believe or interpret the filmmaker’s intention to be by including this sequence of shots, or this sound effect, or this setting, etc.?” With this in mind, you should avoid stating your perceptions as indisputable fact and be clear that these are merely ruminations, thoughts, ideas, etc. and you’re not claiming to speak on behalf of the filmmaker. Additionally, you are not speaking on behalf of every audience member who has seen the film, as different audience contexts will determine different levels of appreciation and engagement with different films. Therefore, you should avoid phrases like, “This makes the audience scared, etc.” or something similar, because you’re not in a position to make that call on behalf of all audience members everywhere. A simple way of combining the two ideas above could be to simply state, “It could be interpreted that the rapid sequence of shots in the scene is intended to create a level of tension and disorientation for the audience and allow them to share in the character’s fear.” This is a simple example and obviously in your answers you would need to be more specific and use correct terminology and actors’ names, etc. but you get the idea about how you might go about expressing yourself in written responses.


10

Notes and Advice: Camera Key Terms: Shot types, angles, movement, framing, focus. It is difficult to write an analysis of film without referring to camera in some way. After all, without the camera there would be no film! Consequently, you should always try to make reference to the camera work even if you are not specifically analysing the camera element, but are instead simply referring to it in your analysis of something else. For example, if you were analysing the production element of acting and wanted to discuss the facial expression that we see when the actor’s face fills the screen, you would also refer to the camera work (in this case, a close-up) that enabled such a detailed view of the actor’s face. As with any analysis of production elements, when talking about camera you should always use specific terminology and discuss the intended effect on the audience. Remember that the camera is designed to be the audience’s ‘eyes’. It dictates what we see and how we see it - up close or far away, moving or static – and so has the greatest influence on our perception of the narrative. It also allows the audience to see the world of the narrative through the eyes of a specific character, thereby allowing an insight into that character’s experience. An example of a good response that explores this could be: “When Phyllis first appears at the top of the stairs in Double Indemnity (1944) the low camera angle and medium-to-long shot allow the audience to view her as Walter does from his position on the ground floor. As an audience we don’t just share Walter’s experience, we become Walter, gazing upward at Phyllis as she emerges from the shadows wearing only a towel, her exposed legs tantalisingly obscured by the metal balustrade. We look up to her as a goddess, just as Walter does. When Phyllis later descends the staircase, the tracking close-up of her feet and calves allows brief glimpses of a glittering anklet and the swish of her knee-length skirt. The camera is again presenting Walter’s point-of-view, fetishising her legs before tilting up her body. This adoption of the male gaze cements the audience’s understanding of Walter’s relationship with Phyllis: she is the object of his lust and as he is enthralled by her, so too are we.”


11

The camera can also indicate status and power through the use of high or low angle shots, with low angles attributing greater power to the figure towering over the camera and high angles achieving the opposite effect. Extremely high camera angles, or ‘bird’s eye views’ as they are colloquially known, can sometimes imply that what the camera looks down upon is utterly insignificant. More commonly, however, they are used to establish a location or suggest ideas of death, as though the camera represents the spirit floating high above or looking down from heaven. For example, in American Beauty (1999) Lester’s opening narration accompanies an extremely high camera angle above the neighbourhood to which he is referring. A poor response might simply refer to this as an establishing shot and leave it at that. An example of a better response could be: “As the camera hovers over Lester’s neighbourhood, the combined extremely high camera angle and extreme long shot quickly establish the physical setting for the narrative. From this height there are no distinguishing features and the distance creates a sense of detachment, as though we are looking down on a miniature display of model houses all perfectly arranged and equally meaningless. As the camera slowly zooms in on Lester’s street, accompanied by his droll narration, the audience is perceiving Lester’s life as he does: beautifully arranged but small and insignificant. When Lester informs the audience that he will be dead “in less than a year”, the ethereal view afforded by the camera takes on a new meaning, suggesting that Lester is in fact narrating his story posthumously and the camera is showing us the neighbourhood through his eyes as he gazes down on it from heaven.”


12

Notes and Advice: Acting Key terms: Body language, gestures, facial expressions, vocal intonation, acting style. When writing about acting, it is important that you refer to the actor by his or her name, rather than referring to them by their character’s name. Your focus here is to analyse how the actor has portrayed a particular character and brought them to life, so refer to the actor and their acting, rather than discussing the character. On this note, it is also important to avoid writing about dialogue and the effect of it, unless you are specifically writing about how the actor has delivered that dialogue, because if you don’t do this, you’re really only discussing the script’s content and not the actor’s skill and technique. For example, writing something like, “When Noah tells Allie that he’s always loved her, she starts to cry and it’s really sad,” is not an adequate answer, because all of you’ve really mentioned is plot content and character names, rather than analysing how the actors made this scene effective. A more appropriate answer might be to write: “Rachel McAdams widens her eyes to give the impression of disbelief, puts her hand to her mouth, showing an obvious shake in her arms and tremble of her chin underneath her hand. The intention here is to convey to the audience that her character is overcome with emotion and by covering her mouth with her hand, she is trying to keep her cries and physical representations of her sadness from tumbling out, perhaps also metaphorically representing that her character’s mental and emotional state is also on the verge of fracturing.”

Another thing to consider when analysing acting are the actors themselves and their reputations. If an actor is known for portraying a particular type of character or is often representative of a particular genre of film, this can also be discussed. For example, if a particular actor regularly stars in action films, it would be appropriate to write something like, “Maggie Q is an actress who regularly portrays characters who are tough,

confident, uncompromising, totally in control butt kickers, so when she enters the scene assumptions can already be made about the impact she is about to have on the action of the narrative. Maggie Q’s steely look in her eyes, scowling facial expression and clenched fists as she walks into the shot, further exemplifies this expectation.” Likewise, if an actor is known to be a very serious person, or often portrays very serious characters, you may wish to acknowledge and discuss this.


13

There are two common categories of actors that are often referred to: personality stars and actor stars. A personality star is someone who often appears as themself, or will have roles written specifically for them, without a great deal of change happening between the roles they play. John Wayne, the famous western star, was an example of this. In whatever film he was in John Wayne played John Wayne. He was tough, monotone, uncompromising, heroic and a manly man. Other examples of personality stars could include Jim Carrey, Rebel Wilson and Michael Cera.

An actor star is an actor who takes on a variety of different roles and plays many different characters, both heroic and villainous and shows great range and talent. Actors who could be considered actor stars include: Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp (although in recent years he’s been typecast more often as the “weird guy”), Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hardy.


14

Notes and Advice: Mise-en-scène Key Terms: Set/location, props, costume, make-up, colour, composition, symbolism/motif. Mise-en-scène is a French term meaning ‘put in the scene or frame’. It originated in the theatre and was used to refer to everything appearing on the stage at a given time. In film terms, mise-en-scène refers to everything appearing within a shot at a given time. That is, if you paused the film and just looked at a single frame, mise-en-scène would refer to everything that you could see within that frame, from the actor’s costume to the props and sets around them. When discussing mise-en-scène it is important to remember that it is made up of many different components, such as costume, make-up, sets, props and more. An analysis of mise-en-scène must refer to multiple components. For example, if analysing the mise-en-scène of James Bond drinking at a bar, a poor response would be, “The suit makes him look very professional.” A better response would refer to multiple components, such as the use of costume, props and colour. For example:

“The martini (‘shaken not stirred’ of course) is an essential prop as the drink is synonymous with the Bond character and epitomises the key qualities that he embodies: class, refinement and a taste for the finer things in life. The costume, an impeccably tailored black suit against a crisp white shirt, again connotes the class and elegance for which Bond is so famous while the stark contrast of his black and white attire clearly distinguishes him as different and superior to the bland assortment of grey-and-brown-clad men surrounding him.”

As with any discussion of production elements, it is important to make use of the correct terminology and always discuss the intended effect on the audience. For example rather than just saying, “The room looks really messy,” a better response could be: “The set dresser’s use of props to overcrowd the room, strewing them haphazardly across every surface and balancing them precariously atop one another, lends a claustrophobic feeling to the scene that symbolises the protagonist’s growing fear of entrapment as well as his increasingly disorganised and unbalanced thought processes.”


15

Notes and Advice: Editing Key terms: Temporal order, temporal frequency, temporal duration, flashbacks, pacing, elliptical editing, parallel editing, cut, shot duration. When analysing editing, like with all of the production and story elements, it is important to utilise correct terminology and display a clear understanding of the different types of editing being used and its intended effect on the audience. A most common effect from editing is that of pacing and perception. An editor, under close guidance from the director, makes choices about when to cut a shot/sound, when to end a particular shot/sound and move on to another. The editor assembles the footage and sounds of the film and, as a result, has a great deal of control over the way the film is eventually viewed. Interpretations, flow, meaning, tension and resolutions can all come down to whether the editor has been effective or not. A long singular shot without any cuts can add to the tension of a scene as the suspense slowly builds. Short, sharp cuts can create a frenetic pace of quick shots that potentially confuse or disorientate the audience and potentially creating a sense of urgency and unease as well. This technique is commonly used in action movies and scenes of great intensity or fear. The camera work may combine with editing in this case, as the camera will be constantly moving, sometimes swiftly, blurrily, while each shot may last only a second or more. This barrage of swaying, swirling shots, cut together in rapid fire motion one after the other immerses the audience in the scene and enables them to feel the tension and fear and urgency that the characters are experiencing at that moment in time. Many films will start a scene off with a slow pace, with much longer shots to create tension and draw the audience in, as this can often be effective in creating an expectation of something to come. Then, when that payoff, or expected climactic event does come, the shots get much shorter, the camera starts to move more, so the juxtaposition of long, drawn out shots suddenly jarring against short, swirling shots is far more impactful. The Oscar winning film Gravity (2013) toys with this idea, perhaps more than most, as the opening of the film is one continuous shot that lasts for over thirteen minutes, while Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s characters, who are astronauts, are spacewalking outside the space shuttle. When a shower of space junk hits them from an exploded satellite, however, that’s been flung into their orbit, the camera movement and editing change drastically, to further enhance the drama and terror of the moment.


16

Another key term you’ll want to use when discussing editing is temporal: temporal order, temporal duration, temporal frequency. Temporal is just another word for time, but is better terminology to use, so all the terms are essentially saying are order of time, duration of time and frequency of time, or more simply, how many times a story is told. Films like Groundhog Day (1993), Run Lola Run (1998) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) have a distinctive temporal frequency, as these films involve the same storyline, or the same sequence of events, being told over and over, but with slight changes each time. Temporal frequency can be used to highlight different character perspectives and create confusion about where the truth might really lie. If the sequence of events is told from the perspective of different characters each time, it is known as the Rashomon Effect, taken from the 1950 Japanese film, Rashomon. Notable examples of this are Citizen Kane (1941), Pulp Fiction (1994), Vantage Point (2008) and Clue (1985). Temporal frequency can also be used to show consequences of the actions of certain characters. Depending on choices made each time the audience witnesses the sequence of events, different consequences occur. This is evident in Groundhog Day, Run, Lola, Run and Sliding Doors (1998). Temporal frequency is also an oft-utilised technique in time travel films, again to show such things as consequences for choices made, or different character perspectives on the same events. This is evident in such films as The Butterfly Effect (2004), Predestination (2014) and About Time (2013).

An appropriate answer addressing the use of temporal frequency might be, “The editor and director’s utilization of temporal frequency in Predestination means that the audience is able to see the key events multiple times. They witness the events of the transgender character Jane/John’s life from a different perspective, discovering that Jane’s tale of love lost has a much greater poignancy. When the audience first sees the story of Jane’s initial encounter with her lost love, it is told from John’s perspective at the bar in 1970. When John travels back to 1963 with The Barkeep to the night of Jane’s initial encounter, the audience, and John for that matter, is encountering the scene from a completely different perspective. Different camera angles of the same events are employed to highlight this differing perspective and shots of the lost love’s face are cut to more frequently than when John was telling the story from memory in 1970, to highlight the emotion of the scene and how the revelations of the scene have completely changed John’s memory of it. ” (This answer would need to be more explicit and not talk vaguely like this one does, but I’m obviously trying to avoid giving away huge plot spoilers.)


17

The temporal order of the film essentially deals with the narrative progression, the order of events in which the story is told. The most common structuring of time in film is the linear plot progression, meaning that the story starts at the beginning and moves, in chronological order, through time to the end. Other variations of this that are also quite common are the circular plot progression and the flashback narrative. The circular plot progression will often start at the end and then work backwards to tell how it all happened, or jump back to the start to see how the story got to that point. This was a common technique used in classic film noir movies, often starting with a dead body and then jumping back to find out how the body came to be so, well, dead. A classic example of a film noir movie with circular plot progression is Double Indemnity. More recent examples of this circular narrative structure include: Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump (1994), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Crash (2004) and American Beauty. Altering the temporal order of the film can help build a sense of expectation and suspense in the audience, as they know certain climactic plot points are destined to follow, so can potentially view each character and event differently, because they know what is to come. It is also an effective way of quickly drawing the audience into the film’s narrative, by presenting one of, if not the, most dramatic moments of the film first. Flashback narratives involve at least two storylines taking place within the film’s structure. One will be taking place in the present day, whilst one will be taking place in the past, with both storylines being linked and tied together in some way. Depending on how much of the flashback storyline is revealed each time, the audience will gradually learn more and more about the present day characters as the past unfolds. The final temporal term worth considering is that of temporal duration. Temporal duration can be broken up into three different categories: story duration, plot duration and screen duration. The story duration refers to the amount of time that passes in the story, the plot duration refers to the actual amount of time that passes from the beginning of the narration to the end and the screen duration is simply how long the story is being portrayed and viewed by an audience on screen. For example, the film American History X (1998), deals with Danny, a high school student getting dragged down the wrong path, and his brother Derek who has just been released from prison for involuntary manslaughter, after serving three years. The story duration of the film is roughly twenty four hours. It starts in the morning that Danny gets in trouble at school for his history paper on Mein Kampf, progresses through to Derek getting out of prison that afternoon, Danny sneaking out to the white supremacist party that night and then climaxes with Danny back at school the next morning. The plot duration of the film, however, is roughly five years, as the audience witnesses flashbacks told via Danny and Derek to the night that landed Derek in jail, racist diatribes from their father at dinner many years before and Derek’s experiences in jail over the past three years. The screen duration of the film is 119 minutes.


18

Differing temporal durations will allow the audience to understand different things about the characters and perhaps appreciate the narrative events better. The flashback narrative and the extended temporal plot duration within American History X, allows the audience to greater understand the evolution of Derek’s character and perhaps highlight that no matter how ingrained learned racist behaviour might be, perhaps it can also be unlearned. Two final editing terms to be familiar with are elliptical editing and parallel editing (also known as cross-cutting). Elliptical editing is simply the editing of a scene to cut down the time the events take to unfold. In Batman Begins (2005), Bruce Wayne is shown climbing up a snowy mountain, getting to the peak and then seeing, way off in the distance, the building, over many mountains he needs to get to. This journey will takes many hours, if not days. The audience doesn’t need to see this however, so a cross-dissolve transition is used to fade to him then walking up the hill at the base of the building, to show that time has passed and he has completed his journey. This technique can often be used, simply to keep the pace of the film moving along without slowing it down with unnecessary detail and events, but it can also be used to add to the tension and excitement of a scene by speeding up the events and, again, adding to the pace of the film. Parallel editing is when two storylines are unfolding at the exact same time. The editor will cut back and forth from one storyline to the other to increase the tension of the scene. These events are often related and the technique is frequently used in thrillers and dramatic films, to show that perhaps someone is in danger, or a character has made a mistake. Editing in this way can be far more effective for the tension and pacing of the film than if these scenes were simply cut to play one after the other. This technique can also be used to highlight contrast and difference in two scenes: wealth and poverty, purity and evil, etc. This technique is used extensively throughout Clint Eastwood’s film, Mystic River. The first instance of it has Sean Penn’s character, Jimmy, in church at his youngest daughter’s first communion. This scene is cross-cut with the police investigating a crime scene, which the audience discovers is the murder of his eldest daughter. These two scenes playing out concurrently, showing Jimmy doting over his daughter at church and highlighting the happiness and purity of the event, jarringly contrasts with the gruesome crime scene and conveys the dark turn the narrative is about to take.


19

Notes and Advice: Lighting Key Terms: Chiaroscuro, high-key, low-key, naturalistic, symbolic, overexposed. Lighting is a crucial production element as it can affect the entire mood of a scene and control what the audience is able to see clearly in a shot. The effective use of lighting can draw attention to a specific prop within a scene or symbolise the personality traits of a character. At its most basic level, lighting can be either expressive or naturalistic. Expressive lighting draws attention to itself and the other elements on screen, for example by creating shadows or contrast. It can serve many purposes, such as evoking an emotional response or creating a sense of ‘other’. The film noir genre utilises expressive low-key lighting to create oppressive moods and (literally) ‘shady’ characters, while the science fiction genre often uses high-key lighting or overexposure to create a feeling of ‘otherness’. For example, in The Book of Eli (2010) the consistent use of harsh overexposure emphasises the post-apocalyptic desolation of the world the characters inhabit, whilst simultaneously obscuring the protagonist’s facial features in shadow to symbolically represent his internal conflict.

Alternatively, naturalistic lighting is designed to be unobtrusive and, as the name would suggest, ‘natural’. Its purpose is to invoke a sense of realism so that we suspend disbelief and forget that we are watching a construction. The diner scene in American Beauty is a classic example of naturalistic lighting as it has been constructed to appear as though the interview is taking place during the day, with sunlight streaming through the windows in a realistic manner to cast shadows on the characters within the scene. As an audience we do not question that the scene is taking place during the day and in fact take the lighting for granted, yet in reality the scene was shot at night-time and the sunshine is completely artificial. Thus the success of naturalistic lighting is in its ability to go unnoticed. Be careful that you don’t confuse ‘naturalistic’ lighting with ‘natural’ lighting. As already discussed, naturalistic lighting is artificially constructed to create a sense of realism, whereas natural lighting is when a scene is filmed using only the natural light available in that location at that time.


20

Notes and Advice: Sound Key terms: Diegetic, non-diegetic, foley, leit motif, sound bridge. Sound is fundamental to creating the world of the narrative story and consists of three main elements: dialogue, music and sound effects. Sound in film consists of two main types: diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is sound that exists and emanates from within the world of the film, such as dialogue, music that is playing on a jukebox and the sound effects of rain hitting the roof of a house for example. Non-diegetic sound is sound that the audience can hear, but the characters that exist within the world of the film cannot. Examples of non-diegetic sound include narration and the musical score. When analysing sound, as always, you need to focus on its purpose and intended effect on the audience: what does it tell us about a character, does it establish mood, is it metaphoric, does it foreshadow what’s to come, how is it edited, etc. When considering this, you may wish to also look at representational sounds and non-representational sounds. Representational sounds are diegetic and recreate reality for the audience, such as a car horn, a police siren, footsteps, etc. Non-representational and expressionistic sounds do not come from a real-life event, and

are often used metaphorically, or to create an image or perception in the audience’s mind. The harsh stabs of violins in the shower scene in Psycho (1960), the sounds of imagined wolves as Dave runs from his predators and echoed, monster-like thuds of his kidnappers coming down the stairs in Mystic River. An example of an appropriate answer with regards to sound in Mystic River could be:

“Sound is implemented effectively and extensively throughout the opening sequence of Mystic River to create a greater sense of fear and tension for the audience. As the audience sees Dave in his kidnappers’ dungeon, one of the paedophiles steps slowly, deliberately and menacingly down the stairs. The use of echoing, slowed, expressionistic sound in this sequence gives the impression of, not simply a dangerous man descending stairs, but a giant, a monster, entering his lair to toy with his captured prey. This concept is further enhanced in the ensuing escape scene. The jarring, screeching, non-diegetic blast of sound as the vision cuts to blinding white light, jolts the audience from the darkness and ominous threat of the previous scene to Dave frantically running through a forest. The continued use of non-diegetic screeching and animal noises assist in conveying Dave’s fear to the audience, accentuating the realisation that he is not simply escaping from bad people, but he is being hunted by animals, he is their prey.”


21

Terminology List What follows is a list of the production elements of media narratives and the vocabulary associated with each one. This is not necessarily every single term that you will need to know. It is also necessary to build your own vocabulary of adjectives, words to compare and contrast, and words for analysis, seguing between ideas or connecting ideas. You should also know how to use semi-colons, complex compound sentences and other such things to enable you to write eloquent, academic prose. Note-form responses are acceptable when time does not allow for prose responses, but these must be well written and each one must make a point. Camera (part of Cinematography) Shot Type: establishing shot, re-establishing shot, long shot, medium long shot, medium shot, medium close-up, close up, extreme close up, microscopic close up, shot reverse shot, over shoulder shot, twin shot, wide shot, point of view shot (p.o.v.), omniscient p.o.v. shot. Angles: high, low, very high, very low, aerial/bird’s eye, eye level, side view, wide, tight. Movement: zooms, pans, tilts, dollies, tracking, dolly zoom, cranes/jibs, arcs, circles, handheld. Lenses: Types of films lenses used and capabilities of these lenses, also zoom in and zoom out. Focus: Racking focus/focus pull, shallow depth of field, blurred focus, refocus, long depth of field. Placement/Framing: 180 degree rule, rule of thirds, repositioning of camera between shots. Filters/Film Stock: colour filters (blue, red, yellow, black and white, sepia), type of film stock, over exposure and under exposure of film, aspect ratio of film.

Acting Facial expressions, appearance, hand gestures, body language, use of voice, voice intonation, nature of the dialogue delivery, comic timing, pause for effect, responses or reactions to others, acting style and techniques, contrast in the acting style of actors, posture, walking gait. Casting: choice of actors, awards won, lead role, supporting role, cameos, celebrities, big name actors, unknown, appearance of the actors, associations made with the actor’s previous roles, range and capabilities of the actors, expectation and subversion of expectations unlikely casting, typical casting.


22

Mise-en-scène (includes Visual Composition) Sets/Locations (interior/exterior), props (functional or symbolic), costumes, colour palette, hair and make-up, the visual or physical aspects of acting, the lighting, visual composition, visual prominence and hierarchy within the image, use of angle/framing and focus, scene blocking, process of selection and omission Symbolism/Recurring Motifs: these can come from many or all of the production elements and are a part of both production elements and story elements Special Effects (CGI): can apply to and combine many other elements as well, depending on the effects being used. If it’s a CGI character, for example, you might discuss the lighting of the character, the costume, the acting, etc. Titles and Credit Sequences: Also often part of the opening and closing sequences (which are story elements), but need to be discussed in regards to production elements used in their construction as well.

Editing (both Vision and Sound) Pacing, sequence, rapidity, shifts in mood, duration of shot, long hold, long take, the point of edit, montage, symbolism or meaning of the edit, intercuts between, juxtaposing, linear, non-linear, temporal order, temporal frequency, style of editing, length of take, length of hold, consistent pacing, inconsistency in pacing, discontinuity of editing, continuity of editing, how the edit enhances or destabilizes audience understanding, editing that seems continuous, editing that calls attention to itself. Relationships between shots: graphic relations, rhythmic relations, spatial relations, temporal relations, elliptical editing, parallel editing/cross-cutting, flash back, flash forward, temporal duration (expansion and contraction of time), elliptical edit, graphic match, framing match. Classic continuity: continuity, 180 degree rule, axis of action, 30 degree rule, jump cut, cut in, cut out, cutaway, cut back, action match, eyeline match, parallel actions, simultaneous time, cross cutting, motif, shot-reverse-shot. Transitions: cut, transition, fade to black, fade to white, fade in, fade out, dissolve, wipe, montage, bridge, segues, cut to scenes. Sound editing: non-diegetic insert, sound before vision, vision before sound, sound bridge, music bridge, seamless segue, jarring segue, rhythm, fidelity, space.


23

Lighting (an element on its own, but also part of Cinematography and Mise-en-scène) Naturalistic, expressive, symbolic, under-lit, stark, dim, chiaroscuro, gls, filters, tungsten, diffused, saturated, desaturated, monochromatic, cool, warm, high contrast lighting, movement of light, step into light filtered, lighting for emphasis, symbolic use of lighting, hue gauzy, f-stop, over-exposed, under-exposed. Lighting set-ups: three point, spot lighting, silhouetted, high key lighting, low key lighting, key light, back lit, half lit, front lit, top lighting, cross lighting

Sound (includes Sound Editing, SFX and Music) Diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, fidelity, foley sound, foley artist, leit motif, symbolic use of sound, ambient sound, background sound, dramatic sound, disparities in the rhythm of sound and vision, vision, rhythm, realism or expressive volume/audibility, dialogue, deliberate absence of sound or inaudibility, grab of dialogue, layering of sound, soundtrack, source of sound or off screen source of sound, sound of inner world of the character, sound as signifier, assonant sound, dissonant sound, evocation of mood, words to describe the sound, crescendo, decrescendo. Dialogue/human voice: voice over, voice, laughter track, pitch, perspective of the sound. Types of sound: simultaneous sound, non-simultaneous sound, synchronous sound, asynchronous sound. Music: original score, use of music, timbre, instrumentation. Editing sound: alteration and manipulation of sound, simultaneous cut with sound/lyrics, sound mixing, choice of when to play, sound before vision, sound bridge fade up, fade down, layering or multiple tracks of sound.


24

Story Elements Just like with production elements, there is also a simple acronym to help you remember the different story elements you need to be able to write about for the Narrative unit. This acronym is: COPE SMS: Cause and effect; Opening, development and resolution of the narrative; Point of view; Establishment and development of characters and their interrelationship; Setting; Multiple storylines; and Structuring of time.

For each of these elements you should, at the very least, be able to write a concise one-sentence definition for each of them. You should then elaborate in the second sentence with more specific terminology. The third and fourth sentences should elaborate even further, providing explicit examples from each of the texts you studied this year and the intended effect on the audience. For example: “Narrative point-of-view is the point-of-view from which the narrative is told to the audience and refers to the way the audience is invited to identify with the characters. Throughout Predestination there are several moments of omniscience in the film when the audience is able to enjoy a greater perspective than that of the characters within the film’s diegesis and thus, be drawn further into the story. This occurs when The Barkeep (Ethan Hawke) is luring John into the basement to time-travel from 1970 back to 1963. John is clearly nervous that The Barkeep is dangerous and possibly luring him there to hurt him. But the audience, as a result of the omniscient point-of-view they’ve been observing the film from, know that this isn’t the case, that John is safe and that he will shortly have a large number of puzzle pieces from his life put together.” As with production elements, it is important that you also analyse the story elements whilst asking yourself the questions, “Why have the filmmakers done things in these particular ways? What was the intended effect on the audience?” You need to recognise and analyse these elements, but also, why these elements are there and what message you imagine the audience was intended to take away from their inclusion.


25

Notes and Advice: Cause and Effect Key Terms: Narrative progression, causal agents, causal role, equilibrium, chain of events, triggers. The cause-and-effect cycle in a narrative sets up the chain of events; one thing then leads to another in a way that seems natural and lifelike.

Usually every scene represents a minor turning point in the plot. Every three to five scenes can be considered a sequence. At the end of every sequence there is a small climax that is another turning point. Each one of these events has been a cause that has had an effect. The final cause comes about as a result of all the previous decisions of the main characters. It brings about the effect of the final equilibrium (or resolution). From the smallest unit of the film, right up to the whole movie, the chain of cause and effect is the basis of plot development. Important turning points in films are often signalled by the directors through camera work, editing or sound. Perhaps the camera pauses on an important event, or music may underscore the significance. Sometimes a camera movement such as a crane shot can establish that the scene is a turning point.

A typical narrative will begin with everything being “normal”, or at least stable, which is known as equilibrium – a calm state of balance. This is then disturbed by some force or power, a type of conflict known as a causal agent. This upsets the equilibrium of the narrative’s diegesis, resulting in disequilibrium (when everything is not calm and balanced…obviously). Forces or powers working against this previous causal agent then re-establishes the equilibrium, but despite the second equilibrium being similar to the first, things are never the same again. So, let’s put the above mumbo jumbo into an actual example. Let’s use Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010). At the beginning, Scott Pilgrim is in a band and dating Knives Chau, the stable equilibrium exists. This is then disturbed by a force – the arrival of Ramona Flowers, our causal agent – causing disequilibrium within the film as a result of conflict (the internal conflict of Scott cheating on and eventually breaking up with Knives, the external conflict of having to fight seven evil exes, etc.). Scott learns about himself, defeats the evil exes and Ramona becomes a positive influence in his life, rather than a disturbing force, thus re-establishing the equilibrium.


26

While the effects of a causal action depend totally on the particular story and are too varied to review, the causal agents themselves usually fall into one of four categories.

Human characters: • Characters cause things to happen through

their actions. • E.g. The Matrix (1999).

Human society:

• A narrative can be based on opposition to a whole society.

• E.g. Metropolis (1927).

Non-human characters: • Animals, monsters, spirits and aliens. • E.g. Jurassic Park (1993).

Natural events as causal agents:

• Meteors, earthquakes, tidal waves and other disasters. • E.g. The Day After Tomorrow (2004).


27

Notes and Advice: Opening, Development and Resolution Key terms: Narrative possibilities, foreshadowing, prologue, epilogue, exposition scenes, closing sequence Almost all western narratives use the traditional three-act-structure, where every story has a beginning, middle and end. The opening sequence of these narratives is what’s known as the opening or orientation stage: the first act. This stage brings the audience into the narrative and introduces the main characters in their current situation. It is intended to quickly engage the audience in the narrative. The purpose of the opening scenes is to introduce normality and then create circumstances that allow disruption to begin. This establishes the central problem of the narrative and gives the characters their motivations. The orientation/opening stage of a narrative is often quite short, usually only around 15 minutes of screen time length. The exposition stage of the opening is when the audience is shown all of the narrative details they need to know to begin the story. This includes background information about events that happened before the first scene and also includes showing the setting and introducing the main character. This is essentially a ‘showing’ and these exposition scenes establish the world of the story. These exposition scenes can be done in a variety of ways: a narrator can be used, flashbacks, a title sequence, or others. The opening sequence, or orientation stage, of the film is generally considered to be concluded when the disruption is introduced. For many different genres, these disruptions can be many different things: love, violence, suspense, etc., however the general rule is that whatever element starts the disruption should also finish it. If love starts the disruption, then love should finish it. If a gunfight is the disruption, violent gunfire must eventually restore order at the end of the film too. Once the narrative has been established, a set of narrative possibilities have been created: directions in which the story could go. One of the most common processes for suggesting narrative possibilities is a technique called foreshadowing. This involves the early introduction of an element that appears unimportant at the time but takes on much greater significance later. Foreshadowing discreetly hints at the likely direction of the story, so when it develops in a certain way, the audience has already been cued to accept it.


28

A subtle example of foreshadowing in the opening sequence of Predestination is when The Barkeep, played by Ethan Hawke, is continually framed underneath the “Ladies” sign for the bathroom. This is an occurrence that seems insignificant at the time, but later proves to be extremely profound when it is later revealed that Jane, John, The Barkeep and The Fizzle Bomber are all the same person.

In the opening sequence of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, a bird’s-eye-view shot of Scott and Knives walking through the snow, at first glance, just looks like a couple walking through the snow. The paths they are walking along, however, join to make a large X shape, foreshadowing that Knives is soon to become Scott’s ex and the many fights Scott has coming against Ramona’s seven evil exes. The second act, known as the development or complication stage, begins after the disturbance, when the lead characters accept the problem they have been given. What follows is a series of complications or additional problems that flow from the original one. Traditionally, each problem is a little worse than the one before and seems to take the lead characters further from their goal. The second act ends at the second act turning point. This is an event that shows the characters the enormity of what they are facing. In Scott Pilgrim vs the World, this second act turning point is after Scott and Ramona have defeated Roxy Richter, the fourth evil ex. Scott and Ramona argue, she gives him a list of all of the evil exes he has to fight, tells him, “You’re just another evil ex waiting to happen,” and the battle of the bands is just about to commence. In Predestination, the second act turning point is after The Barkeep has been defeated by The Fizzle Bomber in a fight and John is currently in 1963 dating Jane. The Barkeep returns to a hotel room and trashes it, frustrated at constantly being outwitted by the bomber, whilst John realises that he is in fact the man he’s always hated for breaking his heart when he was Jane.


29

Following the conclusion of the second act, the third act commences which includes the final climax and resolution. The final climax is the do-or-die event with which the characters face the ultimate test. Once their fate is sealed, the resolution happens quickly. This third act is known as the closing sequence, or the resolution. The resolution is not merely an ending; it must close off every other narrative possibility in the film. In other words, it must tie off all loose ends. A narrative that is not fully closed off can leave room for a sequel, but there must be a sufficient sense of completion to meet audience expectations. One by one, character choices close off all but one possibility. The ultimate choice is made in the final climax. Just before the final climax, the main characters must have their backs to the wall. The most unfavourable possibility of all looks likely: the dashing of all hope of solving the central problem of the film. It is rare to find a successful film or television narrative that lingers for more than a few minutes after the final climax. In many cases the resolution and climax come together in the same scene. The dénouement is the final stage of the film, where all the loose ends are tied up and the final secrets are revealed. Dénouement is a French word meaning ‘untying’. It comes after the climax and just before the credits. The dénouement is a time for the audience to untangle themselves from the narrative and get ready for the lights to come on. A climax is a high point in the drama. Narratives have only a few genuine high points: generally, the initial disturbance, the second-act turning point and the final climax. However, every narrative has other, minor high points or secondary climaxes. These are twists and turns that appear to change the fortunes of the characters, or obstacles that must be overcome. Most Hollywood screenwriters aim for a significant high point for every 10 to 15 minutes of screen time. Secondary climaxes help build towards the final climax. This is called the rising tension or rising action model of narrative progression. The rising tension of the traditional narrative structure is often depicted in graph form as a mountain range, with a number of smaller peaks eventually rising to the largest one before falling away sharply during the resolution stage. Danger/conflict increases until the final climax.


30

Notes and Advice: Point of View Key Terms: Omniscience, subjective, first person narrative, objective view, Narrative point of view is the point of view from which the narrative is told to the audience. In this meaning, point of view is a story element and part of narrative structure. It refers to the way the audience is invited to identify with characters. It is important not to get this confused with camera point of view (a POV shot), the perspective from which the camera is looking. It occurs when the audience temporarily sees things from the perspective of a particular character. The camera points in the direction that the character is looking. Camera point-of-view is a production element. There are three main point-of-view types when it comes to narrative film: there is first person narrative and there is objective view, also known as third person perspective, which is broken up into two sub-categories: third person restricted and third person unrestricted. First person narrative in film can often involve a narrator. Many films use a narrator who speaks in the first person, however, this tends to be only at specific times in the film and the narrative point of view falls naturally back into the objective/third person view. In the objective view, we are just observing the characters as they go about the business of the story. A good example of this is American Beauty, which begins with narration from the character of Lester, but then falls into an objective, third person view of the characters’ lives for the continuation of the film. Third person perspective is the most common narrative point of view in film and television. Third person allows the filmmaker to show the experiences of a number of different characters, rather than only ever being able to show one (as in first person narrative). Every different camera shot provides a new perspective of the characters and the action. Close-ups can show emotions. Long shots can include many characters. Lots of locations can be seen, not necessarily just where the protagonist is. In the terminology of film analysis, the third person narrative can be either restricted or unrestricted. A third-person-unrestricted narrative is less common in film. It occurs when the audience knows much more than the characters do individually. In an unrestricted narrative it is as if we are looking at the world of the story from above. We know what is happening in multiple locations and to multiple characters. Cross-cutting, or simultaneous time, is a technique that is often used in films with unrestricted information and is often referred to as omniscience.


31

It is rare for a film to be completely unrestricted. Something has to be held in reserve to keep the audience watching. Often there is a surprise twist or piece of additional information that was withheld until the end. Restricted information narratives relate the plot according to the point of view of one or more characters, without the aid of narrator. This is the most common form of film narrative, because it allows the filmmaker to keep the audience surprised by twists and turns. The audience finds out information at the same rate as the main characters do. The story seems to unfold naturally as more and more is revealed. A recent example of a film with a restricted information narrative is the 2013 sci-fi Snowpiercer. As the film progresses, the audience discovers each compartment of the Snowpiercer train at the same time as the protagonist, heightening suspense and making each reveal of information all the more surprising. In a film with restricted information, the audience identifies with one or two characters because the film relates the experiences of those characters. Therefore a strong protagonist is required. In the case of Snowpiercer, the success of the narrative relies on audiences identifying with Chris Evans’ protagonist. Given that the film centres predominantly around his experiences, an audience that didn’t identify with his character would consequently not be willing to suspend disbelief and buy into the narrative. Most films do not stay in the restricted mode all the time. Quite often in a restricted film, the director may give a glimpse of unrestricted information. There are several reasons for these brief moments of omniscience, such as building suspense (briefly allowing the audience of a horror film to see that the killer is behind the door), to explain story events (because the main character can’t be everywhere at once) and to help the audience identify with characters.


32

Notes and Advice: Establishment & Development of Characters Key terms: Protagonist, antagonist, character arc, interrelationships, archetypes, foil. Characters are people presented in dramatic narratives. Making them come to life for the audience is called characterisation.

Across all types of narratives there are basic categories of characters. These categories remain constant regardless of the topic or genre of the narrative, because they exist to perform certain essential narrative functions.

The protagonist is the leading character in a narrative. The term, originally associated with Greek drama, is based on the Greek proto, meaning ‘first’ or ‘leading’, and agonistes, meaning ‘one who is engaged in a struggle’. Widely used in reference to all narratives, the term works well because it is precise in its meaning. It is a broader term than hero because the protagonist may be a thoroughly unlikeable character whom we despise rather than look up to. So the term protagonist may apply to both hero and antihero (someone who lacks heroic traits), as for example in the cases of protagonists Superman (hero) and Batman (antihero).

Protagonists will often possess the following characteristics or take on the following roles:

1. The protagonist does not die unless it is at the very end of the film.

2. The protagonist is the character who faces all the difficulties.

3. We are ‘inside the head’ of the protagonist.

4. The protagonist changes and develops.

5. The protagonist usually makes things happen and makes the decisions.

6. If the voice-over is delivered by a character, it is usually the protagonist. (Note: A voice-over protagonist should not be confused with a narrator, who is not a character.)

7. Some films have several protagonists.

8. The protagonist is present during all the climaxes.


33

The antagonist acts against the protagonist, as an opponent or adversary. Also of classical Greek origin, the word antagonist is built from anti, meaning ‘against’, and agonistes, which has been defined as ‘one who struggles’. Antagonist is preferred to a narrower word such as villain because it can refer to a character who is not evil or bad but simply troublesome to the protagonist; it can also refer to non-human forces. So, potential antagonists to Superman and Batman respectively would be Lex Luthor and The Joker.

Antagonists may possess the following characteristics:

1. Antagonists are stronger than the protagonist, or at least an equal match.

2. Antagonists cause trouble for, or force change on, the protagonist.

3. The antagonist is highly motivated, perhaps fanatical.

4. We are not taken inside the antagonist’s head; otherwise we might identify with them too much.

5. Antagonists often die. Minor ones die early. Major antagonists do not die until the end.

6. A mentor is a teacher or adviser. Some antagonists are not enemies of the protagonist, but agents of change whose intervention forces the protagonist to undertake a painful journey of personal growth. Known as mentor antagonists, these people teach the protagonist new values.

A foil may be an antagonist or just a minor character. The purpose of the foil is to show up the strong points of the protagonist, so the foil often has weaknesses that reveal the protagonist’s strengths.

Character development and motivation are two of the most basic principles in screenwriting. Essentially, the audience wants to see the characters go on an intellectual, emotional or physical journey — a character path or character arc. The audience also wants them to do so with good reason — character motivation. Character arc definition: The pathway that a character makes from beginning to end of a film is called the character arc or path. During the course of a narrative, characters can either grow or change. A character arc can be confined to a single text, or it can carry on over several sequels or episodes.


34

Character growth: Character growth often results in the protagonist acquiring new knowledge and skills to deal with other characters, or challenges.

Character change: In many movies the character undergoes a change and ends up seeing the world in a different way. Character change can be either one of the following:

Transformational change: this is the kind of major change that comes from a character waking up to what they really want or what is really important in life. Transformational change happens for characters who have a set world view at the start of the movie. Their philosophy is later tested and found wanting. Therefore, they must change to accommodate the new reality. This transformational change is epitomised by Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Incremental change: smaller changes can occur for leading characters if the primary goal they have is more of an action-oriented goal.

Motivation definition: A character’s motivation is simply what drives them to act as they do. In the case of the protagonist, their primary motivation will be solving the central problem of the narrative. Equally, the primary motivation of the antagonist will be to block the protagonist from achieving that goal. Character motivations lead to decisions and action. The protagonist is forced to make decisions and to consider the best strategy for achieving their goal.

Developing characters: the protagonist is a developing character. Other characters can also change during the course of the narrative. A developing character is any character that is affected and changed by the events in the story. This change is permanent; they can never return to the situation of the old equilibrium or normality.

Static characters: static characters remain the same for the entire narrative. This could be because they are not central to the story, or it could be because they are just not sensitive to the events that are happening around them. A static protagonist is taken as a sign of a failed narrative, yet it is common for antagonists to be static characters.


35

Notes and Advice: Setting Key Terms: Time period, place. The setting of a film refers to the place and time in which a narrative occurs and is made up of four main factors:

1. Time: the period in which the narrative takes place is one of the most important aspects of setting and is established in the opening scenes.

2. Geography: the physical location can have a great effect on the psychological impact of the story.

3. Social structures and economy: a story can be set within a particular institution or subject to certain economic conditions.

4. Customs, moral attitudes and codes of behavior: the point of a narrative can be to explore the customs and morals of a particular group of people or a particular time period.

Setting is used to build on the problems and conflicts faced by the characters in a story. It can be used in fulfilling the following purposes:

Determining character: the environment can shape individuals and sometimes even control their behaviour. Reflecting character: the environment a character has created around them can provide important clues about their personality.

Providing authenticity: one of the main purposes of setting is to allow the audience to suspend disbelief. This is done by providing an authentic sense of a real place and a real time period, which is particularly important in historical dramas. Despite being set in New York Predestination was filmed entirely in Melbourne, at various locations around the city, such as the Abbotsford Convent and the RMIT Building, and on custom built sets at Docklands Studios. Authenticity of setting was achieved through such things as CGI, creating a New York City skyline backdrop outside Pop’s Bar.

Providing visual impact: in visual media such as television and film, the setting can provide the audience with a real compulsion to watch.

Creating emotional atmosphere: in horror, science fiction and fantasy films, an emotional atmosphere can be created by the setting. Evil Dead (2013) uses the isolated cabin to create an atmosphere of terror.

The setting as a symbol: setting can be used to stand for something else. Usually this is an idea or a way of thinking about the world.


36

Notes and Advice: Multiple Storylines Key terms: Subplot, parallelism, allegory. While in most narratives the main plot is the primary focus of the story, this is not always the case. Other plot lines within the narrative are called subplots. Sometimes they are referred to as the background story. All plot lines necessarily follow the three-act structure, each having its own disturbance, complications and resolution. Subplots are usually only foreshadowed in the orientation stage of a narrative, when the main plot is the focus. Once the lead characters’ world has been changed by the disturbance, the subplots are allowed to develop.

All plot lines normally converge in the resolution stage, which is both pleasurable for the audience and economical for the writer.

Whilst it didn’t really become popular until the success of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1994, movies today often have multiple plots, This is also true of television soap operas and some situation comedies. Soap operas rely on multiple plots to keep the audience watching over many episodes.

Multiple plot films develop separate story threads, each with about the same level of dramatic importance within the film. These kinds of films have more than one main character. The central problem faced by each separate main character may be only slightly linked together, or may not be linked at all.

Advantages of multiple plot films: some analysts say that television has trained audiences to respond to multiple narratives more positively. Modern audiences have become more interested in looking at things from different perspectives. A series of smaller stories can be interwoven in interesting ways.

Disadvantages of multiple plot films: the length of time that the audience spends in the cinema remains the same, whether there is one main plot or five. Less time per story is the inevitable outcome of multiple plot scripts. The same is true of characters. One of the most important tasks of a film is to get the audience to identify with the main character. Having to identify with multiple characters can weaken audience involvement.


37

Multiple plot lines can be linked together in at least three ways.

Parallel plot lines: Providing plot lines that are parallel is one way to link separate plots (also known as parallelism). One plot may be set in an earlier period in history. Or the two plots may be linked by a single moment when a fateful decision created different pathways.

Metaphor plot lines: One plot line can exist as a comment on, or metaphor in relation to, the other.

Allegory: An allegory is a story that appears on the surface to have a simple meaning, but is actually dealing with a much larger subject on a deeper level. For example, C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) is an allegorical treatment of the story of Christ. Aslan represents Jesus. The story can be understood for what it is at a surface level, or it can be understood at a religious level.


38

Notes and Advice: Structuring of Time Key terms: Temporal order, flashback, temporal duration, temporal frequency, temporal order, narrative progression.

The ordering of events in narrative film, known as the temporal order, is the most important way that a narrative can structure time. The ways that time can be structured in a film include the following. Structuring the plot as a whole: the ordering of events is chiefly determined by the narrative progression. Flashback: this is when the present-day events are suddenly interrupted by images of what may have taken place in the past. Filmmakers usually give the audience some sort of signal that they are going to enter a different time. Usually there is a dissolve or fade, and often there is some kind of clue in the colour or texture of the film. Flash-forwards: the use of flash-forwards is rare. Flash-forwards interrupt present-day events and show events that will take place in the future. Flash-forwards are naturally confusing for the audience. This is because they do not make sense until the story ‘arrives’ at the future, much later in the narrative. This is unlike flashbacks, which can be understood as memories that add to background knowledge. Filmmakers can sometimes use flash-forwards to tease the audience with clues about the resolution of the narrative. Simultaneous time: Cross-cutting from one event to another can give the impression that the events are occurring simultaneously. In the last-minute rescue scenes of silent-screen melodramas, cross-cutting had the audience on the edge of their seats. In classic villain films, the villain is tying the heroine to the railway track, the train is steaming around the corner and the hero is rushing to the rescue. The excitement lies in the audience’s hope that the three events, apparently occurring at the same time, will converge in such a way as to create the most satisfying conclusion. A rule of simultaneous time is that events in the parallel locations must come together in some way. A more modern example of this occurs in The Dark Knight (2008), when Batman’s frantic race to save Rachel is cross-cut with sequences of her being held captive, and Harvey Dent being held captive in a third location.


39

Very few films take place in real time. The temporal duration of nearly all films is adjusted so that the events portrayed fit into the 90 minutes they have available to tell the story. The action can take place within a single day, over several days, or even over a whole lifetime — yet it still fits into the screen time. Expansion of time: screen time can be expanded to draw out some events, creating tension. A number of codes and conventions have developed to assist this, one of which is parallel editing, or cutting from one scene to another scene happening at the same time (see Simultaneous time, above). Compression of time: screen time may also be shortened to move the story forward. A long road trip can be achieved in three or four shots using montage editing. It could be shown with a shot of the starting point, a shot of the road in between, and a shot of arrival at the destination. Montage: Hollywood directors commonly refer to montage as a series of shots that condense time. In early film, the classic American montage sequence might be a shot of calendar pages peeling off and blowing away as a character goes through a process that might have taken months or years — such as growing up. Montages are often used in training sequences to show a character getting more and more skilled. In Spider-Man (2002), for example, a montage shows Peter Parker dreaming up a costume he will wear to go with his newly acquired special powers. The time-based frequency, or temporal frequency, of an event can also be manipulated. An event does not have to appear just once; it can be returned to repeatedly, thereby gaining additional meaning. In Predestination, The Barkeep’s encounter with The Fizzle Bomber and the bomb exploding, John’s meeting with Jane for the first time and Baby Jane being kidnapped are all events that are visited a number of times throughout the film, revealing a little bit more about those events with each new visit.


40

The narrative progression of films can be structured in a variety of ways, which is also known as the temporal order of the narrative. Linear plot progression: most narratives still use linear plot progression. The story starts at the beginning and moves directly through time until the end. Events occur in chronological sequence and appear in the story at the time they are actually occurring, rather than appearing as flashbacks or flash-forwards. Circular plot progression: starting at the end of a story and working backwards to retell how it all happened is probably the second most common narrative structure. Circular plots were particularly favoured by directors working in the film noir style during the 1940s and 1950s. These films might begin with a man’s dead body and proceed to tell how it got there. Circular plot structure typically starts and finishes with the same story event, but the resolution contains one or two extra scenes that complete the movie. Flashback narratives consist of at least two stories. One takes place in the present day of the film, while the other takes place in the past and is told using flashbacks. The two stories are connected in some way that becomes clear, and is resolved, during the final climax. Some narratives with a cast of several equally important characters jump between the perspectives of each one. Known as multiple points of view narratives, they often take place within a limited time period. Each point of view occurs in simultaneous time. The term parallel sequential narrative is used to describe narratives that chop up stories and tell bits of them in sequence, with each left on a cliffhanger. All of these stories are quickly revisited at the end and then united in an exciting final climax. Some analysts call this a braided narrative, because the story strands are plaited together, like hair. One of the most well known examples of this structure is Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.


41

Practice Questions On the following pages you will find 51 sample practice questions of varying length and difficulty. Why 51 questions? Just coz. You should try answering these using each of the two films. That is, if the question only asks you to refer to one film, answer it twice using a different film each time. As a rough guideline, each mark equates to approximately two lines (or two minutes) of writing. In a question that asks you to refer to a text that you have studied, one mark is generally allocated to the example from the text and all other marks are given for your explanation. You should aim to refer to a minimum of three key terms per 1-2 marks of explanation. Question 1 (8 marks) Opening credit sequences are often a way to engage audiences in the genre and themes of a narrative, while closing credit sequences may leave them with a certain mood. Compare the ways in which the production elements used in the opening and/or closing credit sequences of both the narratives you’ve studied work to establish themes and genre/s, engage audiences or resonate with them. Question 2 (5 marks) Mise-en-scène is a vital part of constructing visual narratives. With reference to a still from one of the films you’ve studied discuss how the mise-en-scène works to enable audience understanding of that still and it’s place within the plot and story of the narrative. Question 3 (2 marks) Explain the difference between set and setting.


42

Question 4 (3 marks) Explain the difference between plot and story using examples from one of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 5 (8 marks) Define what is meant by the following terms, diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound and Foley sound, dialogue, sound before vision, film score, musical or sound refrain, and sound bridge. Question 6 (6 marks) Character interrelationships are a vital part of engaging audiences within a narrative. Discuss how the production elements of editing, camera work, and acting help to establish or develop a relationship between two characters in one sequence from one of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 7 (5 marks) Discuss how some of the following factors such as - the age, gender, nationality, location, ethnicity, religion, personal experience, acculturation, etc. of an audience - may impact their reception of one of the narrative texts you’ve studied. You should refer to at least two specific scenes from the narrative text in your answer. Question 8 (6 marks) The audience and reception context can impact on an audience’s expectations and influence how a narrative text is consumed or received by a particular audience. Discuss how knowledge of two or more of the following may impact an audience’s consumption and understanding of each of the narrative texts you’ve studied.

• auteurship / prior knowledge of the director’s oeuvre • genre/s • intertextual references • reviews / advertising and promotion / budget of the work • prior knowledge of actors • prior knowledge of the source for the text,

Question 9 (6 marks) There are a number of components that make up mise-en-scène. These include; composition, sets/locations, costume, hair and make up, props, lighting, and the visuals of acting. Give an example from one scene in one of the narratives you’ve studied where all the components of mise-en-scène work in conjunction with camera work to create audience engagement and understanding with what is occurring in that scene. Question 10 (4 marks) Discuss the function of a setting or settings in relation to the audience’s understanding of one theme and one character in one of the narrative texts you’ve studied.


43

Question 11 (2 marks) What is meant by the term diegesis in relation to a visual narrative text? Question 12 (6 marks) Camera work consists of deliberately chosen shot types, focus, angles and movement. With reference to one scene from one of the narrative texts you’ve studied, discuss how camera work is used to encourage audience understanding of characters, themes and story, and to evoke mood. Question 13 (3 marks) Analyse the performance of one actor, in one scene from one of the narratives you’ve studied. You should refer to camera techniques in your response. Question 14 (3 marks) Give an example of how one prop in one of the texts you’ve studied is used symbolically to help audience’s understanding of a character and/or a theme. Question 15 (6 marks) Costume and hair/make up often work to convey character and/or themes. Give a description and explanation of how costume/hair and make up is used to do this in relation to one character from each of the narrative texts you’ve studied this year. Question 16 (5 marks) Casting of actors can have a dramatic impact in how an audience relates to and engages with or understands a narrative text’s characters and themes. Discuss how casting works effectively in one of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 17 (7 marks) Define the production element acting and give an example of how all of its components are used by one of the actors to help aid audience understanding of their character in one sequence from a narrative you’ve studied. Question 18 (6 marks) Define the production element sound. Then, give an example of how all of its components are used in one sequence from a narrative you’ve studied. Question 19 (6 marks) Define the production element editing. Then, give an example of how all of its components are used in one sequence from a narrative you’ve studied. Question 20 (8 marks) The period of time in which a text is set is vital to the audience’s engagement with that text. With reference to both of the narratives you’ve studied discuss how production elements are used to convey the period of time or times in which the action of each narrative takes place.


44

Question 21 (8 marks) Sets and/or locations are often deliberately constructed or chosen when shooting a narrative text. Discuss how they have been used to explore at least one character and one theme in each of the narrative texts you’ve studied. Question 22 (8 marks) Themes are an integral part of narratives. Discuss how two themes from one of the narratives you’ve studied are conveyed using a selection of your choice of some of the following production and story elements.

• cause and effect • structuring of time • multiple storylines • setting • acting • mise en scene • camera work

Question 23 (4 marks) The technical aspects of narratives can include things such as; film stock and aspect ratio; focusing devices and lens types, filters and functions; devices for camera movement; computer generated imagery and post-production devices such as ways of transition between shots in editing and colour grading. Give an example of how a technical feature has been used in each of the narrative texts you’ve studied and explain what its purpose or effect is within that narrative. Question 24 (2 marks) Narrative expectations and possibilities can be confirmed or subverted. Give an example of how one narrative expectation is confirmed and another of how one is subverted from either of the narrative texts you’ve studied. Question 25 (8 marks) Compare and contrast the similarities and/or difference of how point of view is used to engage audiences with characters and/or themes in each of the narrative texts you’ve studied. You must refer to at least two production elements in your answer. Question 26 (4 marks) With reference to a specific scene in one of your texts discuss the relationship of the edits in that scene and suggest how they may work to enable audience engagement with and understanding of what is occurring. Question 27 (4 marks) Visual editing is a vital part of a narrative. Every shot has a relationship to the shot that both precedes (comes before it) and proceeds it (comes after it). This relationship has four components. That exist in every shot’s relationship to the shots on either side of it. What are the four relationships that exist between shots?


45

Question 28 (8 marks) Editing of vision and sound in a narrative can be a pivotal way of engaging audiences with characters, and their moods, attitudes or relationships. It can also work to evoke the mood of an audience, create narrative intensity, convey aspects of the plot’s structure, and generally encourage the audience to engage with the text in the way the director intends. Discuss how editing of vision and/or sound is used to aid the narrative in one of the texts you’ve studied, whether it be in a specific scene or sequence or throughout the narrative as a whole. You must give specific examples and may need to consider how the editing works in conjunction with the camera work. Question 29 (12 marks) Most narratives are structured around an establishment, followed by a series of complications that create disequilibrium, usually including a major complication that is extended through the story. Often there are also a number of mini climaxes and the abatement or intensification of the complications occurs, before a scene of major surprise, suspense and/or climax. This is then followed be the denouement, which may or may not see equilibrium restored by resolving matters and may or may not provide catharsis for the audience. Sometimes information may be withheld from the audience, or they may be prioritised over a character or characters by being given information that a character or characters are not privy to. Audiences may also be cued or triggered by events in the plot that are returned to and expanded upon later in the narrative. Discuss the reasons for and the impact of the structuring of time (temporal order, frequency, duration/expansion and contraction of time, ellipsis of time) and the plot structure in one of the narrative texts you’ve studied and evaluate its effectiveness. Question 30 (8 marks) Discuss how one character is established, developed, and resolved in one of the texts you’ve studied. You should also discuss what motivates their actions or thoughts and how this is conveyed using production elements. Question 31 (7 marks) Discuss the use of music, or of the musical score in each of the narrative texts you’ve studied. You may refer to how music is used in one sequence from each text or to how it is used across each text as a whole. Question 32 (4 marks) Explain what is meant by the term ‘point of view’ as it operates as a story element and as it operates as a production element. Then give an example of each from one of the narrative texts you’ve studied.


46

Question 33 (6 marks) Camera work is perhaps the most powerful part of a visual narrative. Discuss how camera work is employed effectively in one scene or sequence from each of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 34 (4 marks) Acting consists of physical, body, facial and walking movements, but also of vocal components. Describe the actors’ use of their voices in one scene from one of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 35 (10 marks) Compare and contrast the climactic scenes in each of the narrative texts you’ve explored. In your comparative discussion you may wish to consider how the following impact on how each scene occurs.

• features of genre • themes • characters and their relationships • structuring of time and point of view • cause and effect • setting • acting • mise en scene • cinematography

Question 36 (7 marks) Features of sound can include its role as part of the film’s diegesis or it can be non-diegetic. Sound can include the use of a musical score, or also be recorded by a Foley artist and added in post-production. Sound, and its absence, can also be used symbolically in a number of ways. Discuss the use of sound in one sequence from one of the narrative texts you’ve studied. Question 37 (3 marks) Identify one instance where depth of field is manipulated in one of the narrative texts you’ve studied and explain why this is done in relation to conveying narrative understanding. Question 38 (4 marks) Archetypes or stock characters are common to most narratives. With reference to one of the narratives you’ve studied, discuss the ways in which a character or characters fulfil or resist archetypal classification. You must refer to at least one production and one story element in your answer. Question 39 (5 marks) Discuss some of the differences between real/story time and reel/screen time in one of the narratives you’ve studied.


47

Question 40 (10 marks) Scenes of resolution / denouement / epilogue may or may not; tie together story ends; connect back to the opening scenes in some way; resolve the plot; resolve complications for a character or characters; make a final comment on themes; or provoke more questions and leave audiences in a certain mood or mind frame. Sometimes a narrative’s resolution may leave the audience with a feeling of catharsis, whereas at others it could leave them with remaining tensions, and even space for a sequel. Discuss how the closing scenes work in each of the narrative texts you’ve studied. You must refer to at least 2 production elements and one story element in your discussion. Question 41 (8 marks) From each of the narrative texts you’ve studied identify a scene of major complication for a character or in the plot. Then, for each, discuss how production elements work to emphasise to the audience the scene in which the moment of complication occurs. Question 42 (8 marks) Narratives will usually have a central protagonist or hero of the story, or an ensemble of such characters. The protagonist’/s’ or hero’s/es’ journey or trajectory within the narrative often begins in the ordinary world. On page 232 of Nelson Media there is an outline of a pattern of the cause and effect structure of a hero’s journey that provides a model for examining cause and effect in a narrative. Read this, and then select one of the narratives you’ve studied and explore how cause and effect is constructed around the main character or characters from that text. Question 43 (6 marks) Cause and effect storylines can include human mishap, illness and disability, the search for love, the achievement or sporting triumph, the search for justice, learning to overcome adversity, the completion of a task or crime, good versus evil, the hero’s quest, or a combination of these. Cause an effect creates narrative progression and character development. Discuss three key features of cause and effect and how they aid narrative progression in one of the texts you’ve studied. You must refer to at least two production elements in your discussion. Question 44 (5 marks) Often a text will have a major plot and a sub plot that often involves minor characters or an aside story or thematic exploration. In one of the narrative texts you’ve studied this year, discuss how multiple storylines may run parallel, contrast with each other, interrelate and/or intersect.


48

Question 45 (4 marks) Give an example from each of the texts you’ve studied this year, of how production elements are used in a moment where narrative intensity is either increased or decreased so that a sense of temporary equilibrium or calm is restored. Question 46 (4 marks) Examine the function of the story element setting in one scene or sequence from one of the narrative’s you’ve studied. Question 47 (6 marks) Discuss how the story element point of view is used in one scene from each of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 48 (8 marks) Compare how time is structured in each of the narratives you’ve studied. In your comparison you should refer to at least two production elements, and one other story element. Question 49 (10 marks) Compare and analyse how cinematography is used to develop and resolve a character from each of the narratives you’ve studied. Question 50 (6 marks) How is music used to engage audiences in a scene from each of the narratives you’ve studied? Question 51 (10 marks) A screenwriter or screenwriters make careful choices about how to structure the plot of a narrative text so that the story unfolds in a way that most effectively engages the audience. Using one of the narrative texts you’ve studied, explore the structuring of time. In your answer you should consider some of the following; state of equilibrium; disequilibrium; possible return to equilibrium; linear/ity; non-linear; complication; cues and triggers; voiceover, flashbacks and flash forward; shifts in time or time elapsing; ellipsis in time; use of multiple storylines; connecting closing sequences to opening sequences; story or character trajectory; use of space and time; rhythm of the action; motifs; leaving things unresolved; signposting and foreshadowing; thematic exploration and commentary; processes of cause and effect and narrative progression.


49

This space is for you to add an awesome drawing of a unicorn. Go on. You know you want to.

Narrative - one legged bird productions...4 . Predestination . AUS released 2014 . Specifications ....

Documents

Transcript of Narrative - one legged bird productions...4 . Predestination . AUS released 2014 . Specifications ....