Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Theories of Narrative

There are two Narrative in which I have researched. I wish to use these theories to create an interesting narrative for my trailer

TZVETAN TODOROV'S THEORY - he observed that most story lines followed the same pattern and these are the 5 steps:

EQUILIBRIUM - Everything is in order and harmony
DISRUPTION - During this part the order and harmony become disrupted by a problem
REALISATION - The characters begin to suspect that there is a problem; something is wrong
RESTORED ORDER - The characters attempt to conjure up a solution to the problem
NEW EQUILIBRIUM - This is the final part of the story where order is restored and evil is prevailed

This theory states that the narrative of films run in the same repetitive pattern of harmony, disruption resulting back to harmony. This theory is correct for most films and therefore, my film will follow this theory.
In my piece we are going to make sure that we have a peaceful equilibrium which will then lead into darkness that will portray a sense of foreboding.


This theory can somewhat be applied to my future work. This is because, as I am creating a trailer there will never be a resolution, this is because a trailer is a mode of advertisement, meaning that it is there to entice an audience into watching the film in the cinema in order for the company to make money. Therefore, my trailer will mainly show scenes that are in disruption as these sections are more exiting and engage an audience more.


VLADIMIR PROPPS THEORY - he observed fantasy films and developed a character theory, this was that all characters follow the same pattern:

                                                 THE SEVEN SPHERES OF ACTION!

THE VILLAIN - struggles against the hero
THE HERO - usually seeks something and ends up saving the day
THE DONOR - prepares the hero, gives them something which can help them in the narrative
THE DISPATCHER - gives the hero the information so they can begin their quest
THE HELPER - helps the hero on their quest
THE FALSE HERO - seems as though they are good but really they are bad
THE PRINCESS - gets saved by the hero and ends up marrying them


This theory states that the characters play an important role within the narrative to help move the plot along.

Within our trailer we have 5 out of the 7 different character types. This is because we are only creating a trailer and this theory devised by Propp is specifically for fantasy films. Therefore, because of the differing genres, but also because we are not creating a film this is why we do not have all the different character types.

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Evaluation Question 4