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Ch. 4 Elements of Narrative

What We Already Know…

•  A narrative is a story •  Narrative movies are fiction films •  At the broadest conceptual level, narrative is

a cinematic structure in which filmmakers have selected and arranged events in a cause-and-effect sequence occurring over time

•  In that way, almost all movies employ some level of narrative

•  Or really, narrative is EVERYTHING •  Because of this, its easy to take narrative for

granted

•  Remember: this chapter is basically outlining CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD

NARRATIVE (CHN)

Unobtrusive Craftmanship

•  Hollywood stories are told in a manner that draws viewers into the diegesis - the world of the story - and does not call attention to the storytelling process.

•  Filmmakers use other formal properties beyond the screenplay to create this seamless narrative style: mise-en-scene, cinematography editing, and sound.

Components of Narrative

•  Narration: the ACT of TELLING a story •  Narrator: WHO or WHAT TELLS the story •  The CAMERA is the primary narrator

Point of View •  POV: A particular PERSPECTIVE on the

narrative’s events •  First-person narrator: a character in the

narrative who typically imparts information in voice-over

•  Third-person narrator: A voice imposed from outside the narrative

•  Omniscient narrator: Knows all and has UNRESTRICTED ACCESS to all aspects of the narrative such as ANY character’s experiences or info that no character knows (vs. restricted narration)

Characters

•  Virtually every film narrative depends upon 2 essential elements: a CHARACTER pursuing A GOAL

•  Protagonist: The primary character who pursues the goal

•  Narratives crave IMPERFECT characters because those imperfections provide OBSTACLES

Kinds of Obstacles

•  Obstacles can come from within the character, from other characters, from non-humans, and from nature

•  Obstacles may come in the form of concrete physical challenges, the actions and desires of others, or psychological/emotional issues

•  Characters tend to overcome obstacles on more than one level.

This Is John (dirs. Jay and Mark Duplass, 2003)

Narrative Formula?

•  Most stories may follow the same general progression, but narrative is not a single simple recipe

•  There are several ways to organize story events: – 3 part structure – 5 part structure – 7 part structure (television)

•  AND IT DOES MATTER!

The Simple Structure

•  3 Act Structure: – Beginning: sets up the story, establishes

the NORMAL WORLD, and introduces us to the protagonist(s)

•  Inciting incident: the CATALYST presents the character with a goals that will drive the rest of the narrative

– Middle: (the longest) develops the story – End: resolution

•  Middle: – Narrative depends on obstacles to block, or

at least impede, our protagonist’s quest for the goal– the middle introduces our ANTAGONIST

– Antagonist: The person, people, creature, or force responsible for obstructing the protagonist

–  The stakes get ever higher as the ACTION RISES

– Rising action: mounting tension, building towards a peak (A CRISIS)

– Climax: when the protagonist faces the MAJOR obstacle

•  End: Gives the story a resolution – Falling action: the narrative wraps up

loose ends and moves toward a conclusion

– Sometimes the struggles continue in this final act

– Virtually every story resolves the conflict (though some may provide unhappy endings or ambiguous endings)

FEAST (DIR. PATRICK OSBORNE, 2014)

A 4 Part Structure?

•  3 Part Structure

Act 1: Exposition leads to turning point Act 2: Complications lead to climax Act 3: Action leading to resolution

•  Kristin Thompson (film scholar)

•  Act 1: Exposition leads to turning point

•  Act 2: Complicating action leads to major turning pt. at halfway mark

•  Act 3: Development; struggle towards goal leads to climax

•  Act 4: Epilogue

Story vs. Plot

•  Story: –  1) All the narrative events that are explicitly

presented on-screen PLUS –  2) all the events that are IMPLICIT or that we

infer to have happened – A linear sequence of events

•  Plot: the specific actions and events that the filmmakers SHOW and the ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARRANGE those events to effectively convey the narrative

Story vs. Plot

•  Story and plot frequently OVERLAP •  The filmmaker must understand what

story is being told before going through the difficult job of selecting events to show on-screen and determining what order to present them

•  The story is an ABSTRACTION that we piece together as the elements of the PLOT unfolds

Order

•  Unlike story order, which necessarily flows chronologically, PLOT ORDER can be manipulated so that events are presented in non-chronological sequences that emphasize importance or meaning or that establish desired expectation in audiences

Duration

•  Cinematic time: human-made time •  Duration: a length of time •  3 Kinds of Duration:

1.  Story duration: the amount of time the implied story takes TO OCCUR

2.  Plot duration: the elapsed time in/of the plot

3.  Screen duration: the movie’s running time

Screen Duration & Plot Duration

•  We can generally characterize the relationship between the two in 3 ways:

1.  Summary relationship: screen duration is SHORTER than the plot duration

2.  Real time: screen duration CORRESPONDS DIRECTLY to plot duration

3.  Stretch relationship: screen duration is LONGER than plot duration

1.  Summary relationship: Essential to telling movie stories, especially long and complicated ones

2.  Real time: rarely used throughout a whole film, but creates uninterrupted “reality” on the screen

3.  Stretch relationship: Often used to highlight a plot event, stressing its importance to the overall narrative (usu. achieved through editing)

Dura&on:Storyvs.Plotvs.Screen

Story duration = 1 week

Plot duration: 3 days out of that week

Day 1 Day 4 Day 7

Screen duration: 90 minutes

excerpt from Up (dir. Pete Doctor, 2009)

Suspense vs. Surprise

•  Surprise: being taken unawares– SHORT-LIVED

•  Suspense: the DRAWN-OUT anxiety brought on by partial uncertainty (meaning: the end is certain but the means is uncertain)

Tuck Me In (dir. Ignacio F. Rodo, 2014)

Repetition

•  Repetition: the number of times, that a story element recurs in a plot

•  Familiar image: any image (audio or visual) that a director periodically repeats in a movie to help stabilize its narrative

•  By its repetition, the image calls attention to itself as a narrative (as well as a visual) element

Setting

•  Setting: the time and place in which the story occurs

•  Sometimes provides the explanation for actions or traits that we might otherwise consider eccentric

•  Certain genres are associated with specific settings

Scope

•  Scope: the overall range, in time and place, of the movie’s story

•  Determining the general scope of a movie’s story– understanding its relative expansiveness– can help you piece together and understand other aspects of the movie as a whole.

Alternative Storytelling Forms

•  A number of narrative filmmaking traditions have modified or rejected the rules of the dominant Hollywood method of storytelling. – Art films –  Independent films – Non-western films – Unconventional Hollywood films –  Experimental / Avant-Garde films

Rejecting Traditional Rules

•  Lack of clarity: multiple, conflicting lines of action, inconsistent characterization, extreme degree of character subjectivity – Run, Lola, Run & Fight Club

•  Lack of unity: broken chain of cause and effect – Mulholland Drive & Reservoir Dogs

•  Unconventional characterizations: audience is distanced from characters rather than invited to identify – There Will be Blood & Badlands

•  Unclear character goals; unreliable narrator – The Graduate & The Usual Suspects

•  Devices such as direct address that call attention to the narrative process – Do the Right Thing & 25th Hour

•  Some non-traditional films may be open-ended - that is they conclude without resolution – No Country for Old Men

•  Frame narration consists of a character who narrates an embedded tale to onscreen or implied listeners – Citizen Kane & The Princess Bride

•  Episodic narratives: events are not tightly connected in a cause and effect sequence and characters do not focus on a single goal –  The 400 Blows & Pulp Fiction

LA JETÉE (DIR. CHRIS MARKER, 1962)