Chapter 2: Narrative

Form and Content

Content: the subject of an artwork

Form: The means by which the subject is expressed

Persistence of Vision

• The process by which the human brain retains an image by which the human brain retains an image for a fraction of second longer than the eye records it

Phi Phenomenon

• The illusion of movement created by events that succeed each other rapidly, as when adjacent lights flash on and off alternately and we seem to see a single light shifting back and forth.

Critical Flicker Fusion

• Occurs when a single light flickers on and off with such speed that the individual pulses of light fuse together to give the illusion of continuous light.

Scene

• A complete unit of plot action incorporating one or more shots in a certain

Sequence

• A series of scenes.

Realism

• An interest in or concern for the actual or real, a tendency to represent things as they really are….

Antirealism

• An interest in or concern for the abstract, speculative or fantastic

Cinematic Language

• Accepted systems, methods or conventions by which movies communicate to the viewer

What is the ‘text of a film?”

• The ‘text’ of the film is the application of your understanding of cinematic language

Verisimilitude

• A convincing appearance of truth

DramaThis is also the anatomy of a scene: the protagonist is in trouble, he/she must figure a way out of it, they find a solution, fail or the problem is irrelevant to the story.

Drama is conflict, and the most important element of conflict is change. A story is not just about people living their lives. That would be boring. There has to be something pulling, tugging away at the status quo.

There is drama in everyone's life, and in just about every situation. In a film, it starts with a one (or two) person(s) with one central problem, and every scene and every act is made up of little changes that prevent the problem from being solved. The action can’t remain static. This is drama.

All good stories have a problem that needs a solution. Most often the protagonist tells us what the problem is in one way or another and other players either help them solve it or get in the way. Scenes make for good drama. Drama is conflict. Good drama makes for good cinema. It keeps us watching and waiting for the ending. Predictable endings bore us. Tangential dialog is entertaining but leaves something to be desired. Satisfying solutions with a twist keep us coming back for more. Those are the movies that become classics.

When you look at film and seek to offer a critique, you do so based on a set of subjective criterion. How do you judge films?There is personal preference and evaluative judgement.

• Personal preference is what it sounds like—the kind of film you go to see.

• Evaluative judgment looks at a film on the merits of its form, and doesn’t make a qualitative statement based on attitudes about the work or genre.

Types of criterion

• Moral: What message is there in the film, if any? • Realistic: Is it believeable, in context?• Coherence: Does the plot stick together?• Intensity: Does it build to a meangful, satisfying

climax• Complexity: Does this movie have twist and

turns? Does it have too many?• Orginality: Is the storyline fresh?

Two different kinds of evaluation: Form and Function

• Are all the part of the film –the cinematography, the acting, the script, the light—forming a good movie?

• Do they all function well on their own merit?• e.g. is the script good• are the actors pulling their lines well• is the lighting appropriate• Are the scenes blocked out well?

The Wizardy of the Three ActsAlthough there are many divergent theories about the construct of drama, Aristotle’s Poetics is the best guide for dramatic story telling. Aristotle writes that every drama, like life, has as beginning, middle and end. We call this the Three Act Structure.

• ACT I: Something happens, called an inciting incident• ACT II: A solution is sought• ACT III: there is a resolve, it is unresolved or deemed irrelevant.

One of the best films to illustrate the Three Act Structure is The Wizard of Oz. Oz is based on a screenplay written by Noel Langley and Florence Ryerson and adapted from the children’s novel by author L. Frank Baum.

So let's break down this film intro three acts.

Wizard of Oz-ACT I

A young Dorothy Gale decides to run away from her boring Kansas farm life in search of something better. Before she can, she’s caught up in a tornado. She lands in Munchkin land and takes out a witch. She becomes a reluctant hero and possible target of revenge by another witch.

Wizard of Oz –ACT 2

Dorothy decides she needs to get home, but is informed that no one can help her but the Wizard. So she must go find The Wizard. While on the way there, she meets three compatriots and encounters various obstacles thrown her way by the witch. At one point, her compatriots are disabled, her dog is taken away, and she has nothing left. She meets with the Wizard who will do her a favor if she completes an impossible task. Dorothy completes the task with the help of friends and returns to collect her favor

Wizard of Oz – ACT 3

Dorothy finds out the Wizard is a fake and she may never get back home, and that none of her friends will get what they need either. The Wizard provides the friends with tokens that embolden them and remind them of tasks they completed that required many of the qualities they thought they needed. A “good witch” then appears and tells Dorothy that theing she needed was always inside her all along: that she only need believe. Dorothy wakes up in the home she left happy to be around the ones she loves, happy with her simple way of life.

CLASS ASSIGNMENT #1 –THREE ACT BREAKDOWN

Please find your assignment under the “HOMEWORK” button, in the “Writing Assignement” folder.