Approaching a narrative question - section A text
Starter task: Write a short outline of one of the three main TV industry texts.
Narrative combines both plot/story and the way it is told.
To achieve a higher grade, you may make references to the way the narrative has been constructed within the selected texts in terms of genre and audience expectations.
Lower grade candidates will only describe the structure of the narrative in the selected texts.
Task 1:
Using the handout provided, make links to the three TV texts with consideration given to;
Non-linear stories – it means the story doesn’t follow a straight line. In films like Memento, the story moves around in time and is often told in flashbacks, where a character looks back in time.
Linear narratives are in a “straight line” from start to end. Chronological.
Circular - Circular narratives cycle through the story one event at a time to end back where the story originated. Rather than provide a clear conclusion tying together the remaining pieces of the story, a circular narrative will provide closure through a return to the opening material. For example, repeating lines found at the beginning of the piece, concluding in the same setting, and ending in the same moment that opened the tale are potential conclusions. Circular narratives often utilize flashback and dream sequences to create a sense of departure from and a return to the original structure. Circular narratives can also conclude with the same theme or subject matter that opened the piece.
multi stranded - Theses narratives often have more than one story and more than one set of characters. Sometimes the stories “cross over” and the characters meet.
Action codes - Roland Barthes believed that in some films and other narratives one action will lead to another and this is where the story comes from… e.g. somebody kills, so a friend hunts them down… Here the audience know why things occur.
Enigma codes - it can be mysteries that drive a story forward… The audience watch to find out why things are happening.
Levi-Strauss, introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning within narratives. • E.g. Hero – Villain, Light – Dark, Man – Machine, Male – Female etc. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependent, to some degree, on these oppositions.
Open/closed - A closed structure means the story ends satisfactorily as in most films – this is known as closure.
An open ending means there is no final conclusion to the story – a television soap has no final ending, it just has minor endings.
Task 2: Answer the following questions:
Why do you think narratives follow a linear structure is in some TV texts?
Why do you think narratives do not follow a linear structure is in some TV texts?
Narrative is informed by character, action, and location.
Characters have functions such as heroes or villains, or someone who assists the hero or villain as a helper or messenger.
The action determines how the events in the narrative occur and the influence they have.
The location of a film or television programme is an important ingredient in how the story unfolds. A horror film about Dracula must have a castle.
Narrative is often delivered to the audience by expectation, suspense, tension and closure.
The audience is led to expect certain things to happen which leads to tension and excitement. Expectation, suspense and tension are created by the use of visual and technical codes,
Starter task: Write a short outline of one of the three main TV industry texts.
Narratives generally follow a linear structure - discuss with reference to your three main texts.(30)
Narrative combines both plot/story and the way it is told.
To achieve a higher grade, you may make references to the way the narrative has been constructed within the selected texts in terms of genre and audience expectations.
Lower grade candidates will only describe the structure of the narrative in the selected texts.
- The plot is the series of conflicts or obstacles that the screenplay author and director introduce into the life of the characters onscreen. The theme or message is the main point or points that the viewer draws from the way the characters respond to the obstacles or resolve the conflict in the film.
- A narrative or story is any report of connected events, real or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, and/or still or moving images. Chronological.
Task 1:
Using the handout provided, make links to the three TV texts with consideration given to;
- Todorov
- Propp
- Levi Strauss
- Barthes
Non-linear stories – it means the story doesn’t follow a straight line. In films like Memento, the story moves around in time and is often told in flashbacks, where a character looks back in time.
Linear narratives are in a “straight line” from start to end. Chronological.
Circular - Circular narratives cycle through the story one event at a time to end back where the story originated. Rather than provide a clear conclusion tying together the remaining pieces of the story, a circular narrative will provide closure through a return to the opening material. For example, repeating lines found at the beginning of the piece, concluding in the same setting, and ending in the same moment that opened the tale are potential conclusions. Circular narratives often utilize flashback and dream sequences to create a sense of departure from and a return to the original structure. Circular narratives can also conclude with the same theme or subject matter that opened the piece.
multi stranded - Theses narratives often have more than one story and more than one set of characters. Sometimes the stories “cross over” and the characters meet.
Action codes - Roland Barthes believed that in some films and other narratives one action will lead to another and this is where the story comes from… e.g. somebody kills, so a friend hunts them down… Here the audience know why things occur.
Enigma codes - it can be mysteries that drive a story forward… The audience watch to find out why things are happening.
Levi-Strauss, introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning within narratives. • E.g. Hero – Villain, Light – Dark, Man – Machine, Male – Female etc. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependent, to some degree, on these oppositions.
Open/closed - A closed structure means the story ends satisfactorily as in most films – this is known as closure.
An open ending means there is no final conclusion to the story – a television soap has no final ending, it just has minor endings.
Task 2: Answer the following questions:
Why do you think narratives follow a linear structure is in some TV texts?
Why do you think narratives do not follow a linear structure is in some TV texts?
________________________________________________________________________
Narrative is informed by character, action, and location.
Characters have functions such as heroes or villains, or someone who assists the hero or villain as a helper or messenger.
The action determines how the events in the narrative occur and the influence they have.
The location of a film or television programme is an important ingredient in how the story unfolds. A horror film about Dracula must have a castle.
Narrative is often delivered to the audience by expectation, suspense, tension and closure.
The audience is led to expect certain things to happen which leads to tension and excitement. Expectation, suspense and tension are created by the use of visual and technical codes,
Task 3:
Discuss character, action and location with reference to the three TV texts you have studied.
No comments:
Post a Comment