Post 5 - Narrative Theory

Summery of narrative theory which will relate to my coursework:

Roland Barthes stated that there are FIVE action codes which are used to construct the narrative:

Hermeneutic codes - an element of the story which hasn't been explained, and unanswered questions make us as an audience think.

Proairectic codes - are used to build tension, and gives the audience an indication that something is going to happen.

Semantic codes - are the connotations, and extended meanings in the media text.

Symbolic codes - is the symbolism within the piece.

Cultural codes - something which is accepted, and that we believe in our culture.

Our piece will incorperate all of these action codes as we will use hermeneutic codes throughour the piece in the form of an enigma, "who will he meet at the end?" "Why is he so uncomfortable?" We will use proairectic codes to build tenstion in the form of the mysterious text messages. We will use semantic codes and symbolic codes to create very subtle messages to the audience about the protagonist's sexuality, and finally, we will use cultural codes to explore the idea of homosexuality within a British, teenage culture.

Levi -Strauss examined the social function of stories/ myths as reconciling contradictions in human experience, explaining the inexplicable, resolving inequalities, helping people to move on with the cruelties and harshness of their environment. A fundimental structure of myths is concept of binary opposites, a conflict between two opposites: female/male, good/evil, strong/weak. This structuralist approach has been very influentional in the study of film narratives, for example in the study of the Western.

Propp studied the structures of Russian folk-tales, suggesting that no matter how widely they differed in surface detail they all shared the same structural features of character roles and actions.

Todorov theorised the equilibrium/ disequalibrium theory, and suggested that all stories have a beginning, a middle and a resolved end. He stated that a story starts with equilibrium, then the equilibrium is distrupted, and finally the equilibrium is restored.

However, Julian McDougall warns us not to "clumsily apply a formalist model" as it "does little in terms of understanding our roles in constructing narratives, and how narratives carry discourse that appear natural."

He states that: "I want to suggest an approach to narrative theory that does not use Propp and Todorov; not because there is anything wrong with an approach that uses his old models to demonstrate the fixed, narrow and predictable nature of storytelling in the West, but because I think it presents a model of narrative flow as fixed and 'applicable' and I do not agree that we read texts in this way, necessarily."

From these theories, I have learnt a great deal about narrative and the techniques to use when writing a plot of a short-film.

Analysis of narrative in exsisting short films:

1. 'Jade'

The short film Jade contains many of the narrative theories explained above. It opens with a teenage girl, the protagonist, swimming, surrounded by blue water, blue walls, blue tinted clothing, and above all, a blue positive pregnancy test. This creates an enigma to the audience using several of Roland Barthes' action codes: the hermeneutic code of the positive pregnancy test, a proairectic code as the silent auditory codes create tension, anchored by the girl's distressed character movement and facial expressions, and the symbolic codes of using the colour blue to symbolise her bleak feelings and emotions, and the pregnancy test itself which is ultimately a very important part of the plot.

2. 'Pop Art'

This short film could be linked to Todorov's Equilibrium theory. 'Pop Art' is about a young boy who has an inflatable friend. The short film opens with the young boy in school, talking to his surreal friend, who throughout the film makes references to wanting to go into space. The boy seems to be fairly happy when he is with his friend and so the equilibrium is balanced and content in the opening of the piece, but the equilibrium is disrupted when this friend sits on a pin, and deflates a little. The equilibrium is restored when the inflatable friend finally achieves his dream of floating up into space, and the boy waves to him as he drifts up. Therefore, this film follows Todorov's theorised film structure, and it appears to be fairly successful as this film is the Winner of the Narrative Short prize in the Austin Film Festival 2008.

3. Apply theories of narrative to your coursework productions - 'Justice'

This is the short film which our group made for our AS Preliminary Task, entitled 'Justice.' The short film opens with an aerial shot of the room, creating the enigma of the whereabouts of the location. An interrogation police officer enters the room and begins to question the suspect. The suspect refuses to confess, and so the officer decides to take matters into her own hands, block the CCTV camera, and beat the information out of the suspect. This only becomes clear when the door of the interrogation room opens, with the officer walking out proudly, and the suspect lying face-down on the table. Therefore, this could be linked to Levi-Strauss in the way that our piece uses the idea of good vs. bad, and also female/ male conflict, and the harshness of some environments. Our piece could also be linked to Propp's structural theory in terms of plot as our piece had quite a conventional plot, i.e. Good person trying to defeat bad person.

In conclusion:

I have noticed how effective/ ineffective these narrative theories have been in existing short films and my own short film. When writing the plot of our short-film for A2, I must be aware of Roland Barthe's action codes, as well as structural theories to ensure that the plot is understandable, and makes sense to the target audience.