Non-Fictional Narrative

Narrative is not just applied to fictional texts. It can also be applied to non-fictional texts.

An identifiable structure can be found in almost any television form. In a TV quiz show, such as 'The Weakest Link' has a narrative structure, with the stakes being raised as the contestants gradually get voted off. Also, there is a narrative climax in the final minutes of the quiz, with the possibility of sudden death, closing the narrative on a suitable conclusion. 

Even the weather forecast is arranged in an order by the producer so that the information is best received by the audience.
A good example is to investigate the evening news broadcasts from the five terrestrial channels. Each involves an organised structure led by the main stories of the day, usually involving lighter hearted and sport at the end of the programme. In this respect they mirror newspapers, where sports coverage is placed at the end of the publication. This structure is flexible, in that major news events such as the invasion of Iraq of the 11 September 2001 attacks can dominate an entire broadcast. News is often organised on a macro level across the week. Example, there is often more emphasis placed on domestic policy and inter-party debate on Wednesday, when the Prime Minister's weekly Question Time occurs in Parliament.    

Source:

Book - Film and Television Textual Analysis, A Teacher's Guide, Keith McDonald.

What am I hoping to achieve in my skills development?

Now that I have decided on my brief and I am underway with my research, looking back to my AS work, I have personal goals that I am hoping to achieve through my A2 coursework and there is a large set of skills that I hope to gain throughout the course. These skills can be divided into 5 categories.

Digital Technology:

Going back to before AS, I personally felt as though I had quite a good insight into digital technologies. However, after for the duration of my AS coursework, I figured that my understanding and skills set was not as advanced as I had perviously believed. I feel as though the same order of events will occur again now that I am in A2. Throughout my coursework, I will be using various pieces of digital equipment - ranging from cameras to computer software. This year, I would like to broaden my use of computer software. In the AS coursework, I used a maximum of 2 Adobe editing programmes (Adobe Premiere Pro & Adobe After Effects). Although this increased my skill set within those programmes, I feel that if I broaden my software usage and start to look alternative programmes, my final outcome will have a much 'glossier' and more professional finish to it. I could look into other Adobe programmes such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash, which will enable me to aesthetically enhance my footage. Also, if need be, I can look into plug ins for Adobe After Effects such as Video Copilot which will broaden my use of special effects and will render to a much higher quality. Similarly, I would like to achieve a much broader, more adventurous range of shots in my final piece. To achieve this, I will need to learn more about the camera and how it works on and off of the tripod. Similarly, the way in which I use the tripod will either liberate or restrict the way in which I use the camera. I would also like to include various tracking shots which could even mean building devices which allow the camera to move more freely and smoothly. Again, something which in AS I did not tackle was how to light a shot differently, to create different meaning (or to just look aesthetically pleasing). Finally, I would like the sound quality of my piece to be of much higher quality. In my AS coursework, no external microphones were used therefor the sound quality was left in standard mono 192Kbps. This meant that the audio would have been hollow and tinny as such, whereas in this piece of coursework, I will look into different external microphones and ways in which I can maximise the sound quality of my work. 

Creativity: 

With the brief that was set in AS, there was a restricted amount of creativity that could be deployed. Being limited to producing just a thriller opening, trying not to be cliche, there weren't many different options that could be explored. However, in A2, with the choice of 3 briefs, creativity can be be maximised and especially within the short film production brief, there is an unlimited amount of film genres and ideas that could be explored. Therefor, there are many influences that I could personally draw upon for this piece. This will be used  I am hoping that this piece of coursework will be on a whole new level creativity compared to that of my last piece. To make my piece much more creative, I hope to learn and apply many new effects through different pieces of software. Personally, I would like to delve much deeper into the post rendering of light. I would like to learn how to properly use light engines to add feeling and effect to my piece. Furthermore, it would also make my piece more original as I could use different lighting styles on different shots to add to the variety of the piece.
    I will be looking and using many different short films throughout the year to help influence my final piece. This year, I want to be able to efficiently analyse and use a short film to influence my piece, taking into account the narrative structure and the camera angles used - all helping me add to my understanding of the codes and conventions of short films. 

Research & Planning:
My research and planning this year are going to be extremely vital to the outcome of my final piece. I will need to thoroughly look into the key areas this year. Last year I felt as though I only touched on areas such as audience and institutions. This year, I hope that my research into these areas becomes much more concise, allowing me to gain an insightful understanding into each area and be able to apply this to my own work. Again, this year my planning is going to need to be thought out much more clearly and effectively. In AS I did not feel as though our planning stage was very useful and contributed much to the final product. Now that I am working on my own, my plan will be cut much stricter and I plan to stick to it, meeting all my self-set deadlines. Similarly, I feel that this year I am going to need much more audience feedback - again effecting my final piece. In AS, our group did not get feedback as we were making the piece, we only got feedback at the end. If I do that for this project, I most definitely will not have the best overall outcome, let alone a piece that is tailor made for a select target audience. 

Post-Production:
Post-productin for me is very much the same as my digital technologies. Before I went into the AS project, I was already fairly knowledgeable in the field. For our AS piece a fair amount was added in post production - the entirety of the title sequence, lighting changes and sound. I feel that in my A2 piece, this is going to be the same. I know that I am fairly good at animation and after effects, so I will definitely hope to incorporate these into my A2 piece. Similarly with the AS piece, I will be able to change my raw footage, resulting in me being able to change the meaning of certain shots if need be - something which is always handy to be able to do. This year, I want to take my post-production knowledge with me when I am out filming. I want to be able to think ahead when planning a shot and be able to foresee if I will be able to change anything in a certain shot - maximising the professional quality of my final outcome. 

Conventions:
Last year, I had to research into the codes and conventions of an opening title sequence. I felt that this went fairly well and our group had a firm understanding of what we needed to include to ensure that our product fitted into the the thriller genre. This year, I will need to repeat that research, but looking into short films. An area which is more vast than opening title sequences, due to the fact that I am open to making any genre that I wish. This will mean that my research will need to be much more efficient and concise and need to be relevant to what it is that I am making. Once I have a solid understanding, I will then be able to make the decision as to wether or not I will break or challenge certain conventions. 

Narrative Theories

When it comes to narratives of films, various people have different approaches and theories as to how narrative can be defined. Conventional narrative theory can be explored through the work of Russian Formalists from the 1920's.

Vladimir Propp's Theory of Character Function:

Suggested that characters take on the narrative role and cause the events of the film to take place. From a comprehensive study of folktales, Propp came up with seven different character types:

• The Hero - Usually male, is the agent who restores equilibrium, often by embarking on a quest. To distinguish between the hero and villain, the hero aids the villains victims.
• The Villain - Usually creates narrative disruption.
• The Donor - Gives the hero something (Object, advice, etc.) Which helps resolve the narrative.
• The Helper - Aids the hero
• The Princess - (the victim) threatened by the villain and has to be saved, the climax, by the hero.
• The Dispatcher - Sends the hero on their quest.
• The False Hero - Appears to be good but is revealed to be bad at the end of the narrative.

Note: A character can take on more than one sphere character type, eg. a princess can also be a helper.

Tzvetan Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium: 

Unlike Propp's theory, Todorov believed that narratives were structured in five stages:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset;
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. An attempt to repair the disruption
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium

This type of narrative can be found amongst common mainstream films. For example the following films apply to this structure:
      - Jaws
      - Panic Room
      - The Lord of the Rings
However, this theory can also be applied to television. Furthermore it has been suggested that news bulletins are formatted in such a way that equilibrium is restored at the end of the bulletin where controllable normative issues (sports & weather) are focused in the final section of the programme.

Lévi-Strauss & Binary Opposition: 

Strauss identified a narrative system of binary opposites. In the theory, symbols and ideas exist in relation to their opposites - with which they are in conflict. In result, a simplified set of meanings are drawn from the text, where an idea is considered only in relation to the opposites, pandering to a viewer's need to side with a character. Whether they be 'good' or 'evil'.
Examples of binary opposites:
                           Good     +      Bad
                           Male      +      Female
                           Us          +      Them

In this model, the audience tends to decide that the narratives are told from the point of view of the main protagonist. For example many hollywood narratives are told from the point of view of a white, male figure. Therefore the audience can identify what he exists in opposition to. 

For example, in a classic western film - a white, Christian male cowboy battles against the non-white, pagan, savage Indian. This means that there are clear battle lines drawn between what is to be rooted for and what is not. 




Sources:
Book:
Film and Television Textual Analysis: Keith McDonald.

Websites:
Narrative Theory PDF. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B11Esdv8Jur6WVlVR0F2Nloxb3c/edit#

Narrative

In simple terms, a 'story' is a sequence of events that happen to a character or a group of characters. However, for a story to work for an audience, it often refers back to 'how the story is told' as with the events themselves. It can be looked upon like a comedian telling a joke that eventually forms a short story. Comedians can recover bad jokes through various techniques, such as facial expressions, body gestures, a funny voice, impersonation and repeating lines to prompt the audience to laugh. These actions don't add anything to the events of the story, but they are a part of the narrative - the structure and organisation of the story.

Certain parts of stories are selected so that they are entertaining and people do not get bored because they are long winded - this is part of the structuring process. When a writer is thinking up a story for a film, they take the key events and place them in order - giving the film a narrative. By the end of the film, the audience needs to be satisfied that the story makes sense.

To make a story interesting, they need to involve the audience in their events. A successful film will have a strong narrative drive - some films being described as having a roller-coaster of a ride narrative (the audience experience emotions of high pleasure or deep despair as the narrative rushes up to a climax, or dives down to a crisis)

Three Act Structure:
• Act One: setting up the conflict
• Act Two: the struggle
• Act Three: resolving the conflict

Aspects of Film Narrative:

Narrator
• Most films are told in the third person. A story unfolds in a series images shown to us through a series of camera angles and shots, with accompanying sound. Being drawn into the story by an undefined narrator
• In some films, one character in the story tells the story through a voice over.
•Sometimes the narrator appears only on the soundtrack - an unknown voice-over, sometimes caled the 'voice of god'
• A few films have used several narrators to tell the same story from different viewpoints - offereing the audience alternative versions of the same event.

Character Relationships: 
• Stories need characters. Their - what they say and do - create dramatic conflicts and promote interests in the story.
• In any narrative, the main characters create conflict and move the story along. The hero and villain principle.
• It is easier to follow stories when you can easily understand who the hero ad villains are.
• Some of the most interesting stories are those which break the rules. Stories which include an 'anti-hero' - characters who a central to the story, but fail to be heroic. Therefor the audience are not quite sure how to react thus making the story interesting.

Narrative Time: 
• A film usually lasts between 90-120 minutes - this is screen time.
• Within screen time, the filmmaker must present the story and deal with events that might take place over hours, days, weeks or even years - this is story time.
• Some films operate in real time, where the story takes place in the given screen time.
• Filmmakers use a range of editing techniques to 'move the story on'. These include:
      - the ways cuts and fades are used between images
      - Creating montages, a series of short sequences or single images that indicate the passage of time
        (eg the same street scene in autumn, winter, spring, summer etc.)
      - changing the length of shots to the pace of shot changes to speed up or slow down the story.
      - using flashbacks to show events from the past, and much more rarely, 'flash-forwards'.

Narrative Space: 
• Films set in particular places, and the locations of scenes in a film may vary for particular reasons.
• Particular locations can be suggestive to an audience
• Some particular locations are used to heighten the drama of a sequence

Significant Objects: 
• The types of location can have a different cultural meaning.
• A particular type of building can make us think about glamour, foreign travel and romance, whilst other buildings would make you think of danger and crime.
• How a character is dressed in a film or the way their hair is can tell us a lot about who who they are.
• A character wearing an expensive outfit with a designer label would represent a very different person wearing shabby, nondescript clothes.

Audience Knowledge: 
• Narratives can be manipulated due to audience knowledge - how much do we, the audience, know about what is happening and is that knowledge shared via the central characters?
• Suspense and comedy can often depend on the different knowledge the audience have compared to the other characters.
• A clever filmmaker can 'play' the audience, using their knowledge (or lack of) to build tension.

Narratives & Genre: 
• Narratives can be grouped together according to various similarities:
      - setting (location, historical time period)
      - characters
      - significant objects
      - themes
      - structures, sequence of events
• Certain genres will have a narrative that is known to feature certain elements of the categories.

Sources:
Book - Reading Films, Key concepts for analysing film and television, Jackie Newman and Rory Stafford. 

Types of Short Films

Time Lapse Short Film -


Documentary:


Narrative:



Animated Shorts:


Sports:


Experimental:

Is Short Film Dead?

Whilst conducting my inital research into short films, I discovered an article on the website NoFilmSchool.com written by a guest author who states a 'large part of his career is based in film schools and universities, but above all else he is a teacher'. In his article he argues that short film is not something that can be presented in its own right - so as a whole movie in itself. He states that

There are two ways of looking at how a Short Film serves the emerging and aspiring filmmaker.The first is as a Learning Exercise, the second is as a Calling Card. The short film seeks to be a learning experience by providing a paradigm for engagement in film production within viable financial and resource constrains. Simply put, the short film allows you to gain experience without the overhead. Similarly, as a calling card the short film aims to serve as a demonstration of the filmmaker’s abilities. It has the express purpose of convincing financiers and funding bodies of the filmmaker’s worthiness of trust to make a longer project. The theory is that a good short film is a large flag to wave in the air saying “this is what I can do in 10 minutes of screen time and no money, just imagine what I could do with 100 minutes and a ton of cash!”

his views really made me begin to think about short films as a whole and how they are portrayed in the media. As far as I agree with what he is saying, I do not feel as though short films should be discarded as a movie to entertain or inform etc. Yet the point he makes, I feel, is very true. I think a short film is a very good way to start giving amateur film makers a feel as to what it is like to make a movie and improve on their knowledge of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene and how they portray their meaning through these mediums. When panning and making my short film, I can take into account of these points and help by applying them to my film.

Link to Article: 

http://nofilmschool.com/2010/07/the-short-film-is-dead-time-for-the-emerging-filmmaker-to-get-a-new-calling-card/

Genres of Short Films / Sub Genres

As with feature length films, short films can be defined by their genre. However, with short films, genres like documentaries and video diaries are much more common when compared to feature lengths.

Genres of Short Films:
• Animation   • Comedy  • Horror  • Documentaries
• Experimental  • Romance  • Thriller  • War
• Gay & Lesbian  • Sci-Fi  • Fantasy  • Video Diary
• Teen Drama  • Crime  • Sport  • Musical  • Western

When there is genres, it can be hard to define which genre a film will fit into. With directors now challenging the codes and conventions of genres, sub genres and hybrid genres are becoming more common.

For example if you take the genre Science Fiction, it can be broken down into small, more accurate genres.

Science Fiction:
- 50's  - Action  - Aliens, Extra-Terrestrial Encounters
- Atomic Age  - Classic  - Cyber Punk  - Classic
- Fantasy Films  - Lost Worlds  - Other Dimensions
- Outer Space  - Post-Apocolyptic  - Pre-Historic
- Robots, Cyborgs, Androids  - Sci-Fi Thriller
- Time or Space Travel  - Virtual Reality

Crime & Gangster:
- Bad Girl Movies  - Cops and Robbers  - Detective/Mysteries/Private Eyes
- Femme Fatales  - Film Noir  - Hard-boiled Detective  - Law & Order
- Lovers on the Run  - Mysteries  - Neo-Noir  - Outlaw Biker Films
- Procedurals  - Suspense Thrillers  - Trial Films  - Vice Films  - Victim

As well as Sub Genres, there are also cases of Hybrid Genres - when two or more genres cross over.
• Comedy Musicals  • Horror Comedy  • Dramatic Musicals  • Space Musicals  Western Musicals


Sources:

The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/list/filmgenres
Visual - http://visual.ly/complete-list-film-sub-genres

Top 250 Best Films

Seeing as the beginning of the short film is said to be in the 1920's, there have been a significant amount more made since that date. As with feature length films, many critics have different opinions on what is said to be considered the best short film.

IMDb (International Movie Database) is a site which is renowned for its movie critiquing, have a list created by the user 'AssestsonFire' which explores the Top 250 Short Films.
This list focuses on well known and some short films which have a higher budget than small online project films.

However, the website Short of the Week focus on unknown, lower budget films - personally I feel as though they are much more engaging to watch, and help to challenge the conventions of a short film by producing films which are pushing the genre's border.
On the site, they have a section in which they list their Top Rated Short Films of all Time. These films are noticeably shorter in length than those on the IMDb list - which reflects the type of short film that I will be making.

Sources:

IMDb - http://www.imdb.com
Short of the Week - http://www.shortoftheweek.com