Narrative #2

Narrative

Narrative in media is the order a story is told. In films, narrative is the organisation of media texts e.g. the storyline, how the story is told. Human brains use narrative to make sense of a film otherwise would be utter confusion.  We connect events and make interpretations based on the connections. Narrative is associate with genre as some genres have typical story-lines we expect to see. An example would be a romantic comedy, we expect the beginning to have a girl and boy meet, to then be followed by the male falling for the woman. We automatically expect there to be complications and obstacles within the romance.

Within media there are narrative plots and narrative stories.    .

Narrative Theorists

Narrative Theorists

When we look at a narrative we examine the conventions of genre, character, form and time.

Very few screen stories take place in real time, a whole persons life can be depicted in 90 minutes.

Examples of time

• Flashback
• Dream sequence
• repetition
• different characters
• flash forwards
• real time interludes
• pre-figuring of events

                                                                            flashback

                                                                      dream sequence

Levi Strauss

Binary oppositions. Strauss said that all stories 'Accelerated forward by conflict which is caused by opposing characters or events.'  Opposites within a storyline are extremely important in a successful story, as drawing two different worlds or characters together inspires conflict and interesting narrative. The presence of binary opposition in film is an important one as the differences within the world of the story collide.

Roland Barthes

Proposes that there are codes within film which serves to engage audiences.
The enigma code- generates and controls what information a viewer is aware of within a narrative and holds their interest throughout the film. Problems and puzzles which must be solved as well as mysteries which must be uncovered.
The action code- refers to events which occur that the viewer immediately can identify as being significant to the development of the narrative. Resolution may be achieved through action also.

Tsvetan Todorov

The consists of five stages and is known as Todorov's Theory of Narrative.

• Equilibrium  (at the beginning of a story),
• Disruption (when something happens that changes the storyline, usually 15 minutes into the film),  
• Recognition (we see the effects that the changes have caused, tensions constantly build up),
• Repair (resolve the damage caused from the disruption) 
•  New Equilibrium (everything is restored but adapted to the new dynamic)

   
Vladimir Propp also proposes a narrative structure which is similar to Todorov's, but slightly more detailed and complex.

•  Preparation- Introduction to the story.
• Complication- keys or clues to the direction of the story.
• Transference- the donor events.
• Struggle- dealing with the complications.
• Return- back to "home" however there are still issues remaining.
• Recognition- Loose ends tied up.

This ties in directly with Propp's Character Theory, which identifies more character roles than the previously obvious protagonist and antagonist. He states the importance of 'spheres of action' for each character as opposed to rigid character types, with one character having the ability to assume more than one role. Propp identifies seven main roles:

• The villain
• The donor- prepares the hero
• The helper- helps the hero through the quest
• The princess- object of the heroes desire
• The princess's father- reward the hero
• The dispatcher- character to make the lack known and sends the hero off.
• The hero- weds the princess and completes the quest
• The false hero

                                    
                                                      

Hybrid Genre

Hybrid Genre

A hybrid genre is a variety of two or more genres combined into a one theoretically. Hybrid genres usually have a bigger fan base as the multiple genres draws in a bigger audience. An example of this may be the comedy genre. Comedy has a large audience and for this reason film producers would use comedy as the base of a film and build around it to expand the target market. 

There are many comedy hybrid such as:

• Romantic comedies- I Give it a Year
• Action comedies- 21 Jump Street
• Sci-Fi comedies- Men in Black
• Comedy horror- Scary Movie
• Fantasy comedies- Shrek
• Military comedies- Forest Gump

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_film#Hybrid_genres - Comedy Hybrid Information

Another way we can refer to hybrid genres would be cross media this is primarily down to the mixed genres for example comedy horror would consist of both a humorous scenes as well as the expected horror content. Due to the use of multiple genre this would immediately broaden the size of the audience.

Genre

Genre

Conventions are what you expect to see in a media product, for example in action adventure you would expect to see weapons, protagonists and antagonists.
Media products are split into the following genres:

• Chick-Flicks 
• Crime
• War
• Action Adventure
• Western
• Romance
• Musicals
• Sci-Fi
• Comedy
• Drama
• Horror
• Romantic Comedy

We are able to identify these genres by the key conventions we expect to see. The idea of catagorizing films was introduced in Hollywood 1920/30s. The intention to label the films was for the purpose of the audiences so they were fully aware of what to expect, thereby luring them into the cinema. This also helped people that admired a film to identify similar films. Genres were useful for target ages groups as certain genres are appropriate for certain age groups whereas others have an inappropriate content. A huge aspect of catagorization was a money making factor, film studios are able to see which genres are the most successful and will take the most money.

We are able to identify the key conventions representing a romantic comedy in 'I Give it a Year.' The film starts with a voiceover explaining main characters through a female perspective this is a typical convention of a rom-com, the film seen through a female point of view. The expected urban city/work environment used in 'I Give it a Year' also highlights the romantic city atmosphere, typically set around festive season as these times peak relationships. We can also pickup the sexual innuendoes romantic comedies usually have scripted.