Group narrative and narrative theory - Miss Georgiou

The Narrative of a film is very important as this is what the film is going to be about, and where you can build ideas of what techniques you can use to make your film effective. In my group, which consists of myself, Ayesha Bhatti and Lillian Amaning, we each explained our individual ideas for a narrative and then we calmly discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each narrative.

The two other people in my group had previously worked together and so their narrative was the same. Their idea was to feature a stalker like, obsessive man who is fixated on having a female character all to himself. He goes to extreme measures to make sure this happens, such as by tormenting the females little sister to an underwater fight for her life. Their inspiration for this was from the frozen pond scene in the film Orphan, where the victim struggles underwater whilst fighting the villain in order to survive.

To create the underwater effect, they suggested purchasing a large paddling pool and adding false blood to the water to portray the injuries and violence that occurs between the male and female characters. They also intended to film the clip in a dark place in order for low key lighting to be effective as the shadows made would build the tension. They also said that they would portray the killers identity as not being clear in order to make the audience feel on edge, and would use parallel sounds to emphasise the events that take place in the clip to build suspense.
The advantages of this narrative would be that it is a very unique idea and so if we could make it look real then it would be very effective. It is also conventional to the thriller genre as it involves a fight scene and also shows the theme of obsession which has been used since the 1940's. However, the disadvantages of this narrative is that the underwater scene would be difficult to make realistic without it looking 'cheap'. Also, it may seem that we are copying the scene from 'Orphan' and so may make the idea not original.

When discussing my narrative I told my group that it is about a child having a nightmare and she dreams about being in a park on a swing, happily playing , before the killer takes her. I would set this in a detached house and a park which is surrounded by forest. I would use cinematography such as a high angled shot to portray the child as the victim and music & sound effects to build suspense. I would keep the killers identity hidden and would try to create an enigma to leave the audience guessing. For example, I would have one main piece of iconography such as a teddy bear or scarf that belongs to the child, which she has with her when playing on the swing. When the child wakes from her nightmare, all would seem well again, but to create an enigma, I would use a zooming in shot through the bedroom window to the park where the teddy bear or scarf would still be.
The advantages of this narrative is that there is a variety of cinematography we can use and it is conventional to the thriller genre because of the detached house and forestry setting. However, the disadvantages could be that this is cliche to any thriller film, especially the nightmare aspect, meaning this idea would not stand out from any other narratives.

When deciding which narrative to go with, we decided to incorporate the best elements of both of our ideas, and create a brand new narrative. The new narrative is about a little girl who goes walking through the forest alone, where all we can hear is the sound of the crunching of the leaves beneath her feet. She then looks at a tree and gets a flashback of herself playing with her older sister. She carries on walking and experiences several other flashbacks such as seeing a scarf caught on a branch, which would have a flashback to her walking with her sister with one of them wearing that scarf. She then walks to a river or lake and kneels down on the ground where we see the reflection of the girl looking into the river. It is here she notices she has a cut on her forehead and so goes to touch it which leads into a close up of the blood on her hand. She then has a flashback of an underwater fight scene that happened in this river, which involves an unknown person fighting the little girl. She then begins to walk back the way she has come when she notices the track marks in the soil, where she has another flashback to her older sister dragging her out of the water. The next part of the scene involves the little sister realising she is dead, which creates an enigma to how and why this happened.
When thinking about this narrative, we changed the nightmare idea into using flashbacks as we thought this would be more conventional to the thriller genre. We also kept the underwater fight scene from the other members in my group, narrative, as well as us all deciding to leave the scene with an enigma.

Narrative theory

Vladimir Propp - 
Vladimir Propp (1895 - 1970), was a Russian critic in the 1920's, who suggested that the characters in any film should  have a narrative function as they provide a structure for the text. He was mainly interested in analysing folk tales (fairy tales), and thought the characters that should be included were;

• Hero - someone who seeks something
• Villain - opposes and blocks the hero's quest
• Donor - provides an object with magical properties
• Dispatcher - sends the hero on a quest with a message
• False Hero - someone who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims
• Helper - aids hero
• Princess - is the reward
• Father - rewards hero for effort

He thought that once you use all of these characters then you can build into the narrative more easily. An example of this theory would be a fairy tale or fantasy film such as 'Shrek'. He inspired many film makers with his unique idea at the time, and so this is why today, most fairy tales follow roughly the same structure and narrative.


Tzvetan Todorov -
Todorov, in 1969, simplified the idea of the narrative theory whilst allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium. He believed that all films should begin with a happy scenario where everything is normal, which is equilibrium. Then something bad should happen to create a disequilibrium, bur by the end of the film, things should have been resolved so that the film ends with a new equilibrium. This theory can be applied to many 'mainstream' films, of various genres, such as 'The Shining' or 'The Incredibles'.


Aristotle's Theory- 
He believed that no narrative or characters were needed as such, but all that was needed to make a good film was themes. The themes were seen as headings which are used by some producers and screenwriters and include;

• Inciting Incident
• Dramatic Question
• Character Goal 
• Antagonist/Protagonist
• Stakes
• Resolution
• Sympathy & Empathy

Most of the films that follow his theory are those of tragedy etc.

Which theory relates to my narrative?
When comparing my narrative to the 3 theories, the one that suits it best is Aristotle's theory that any film should be made and followed using themes. For example, the dramatic question in my narrative is the use of enigma throughout and to end the clip with. The girl is walking through the forest having these flashbacks, where some of them are happy, some scary and some sad, but why is she having these flashbacks? Why is she seen alone when in the flashbacks she is with her sister? These are some of the questions the audience may be asking. Viewers would assume that something has happened to the older sister and that's why she is not there. The use of enigma, means that no one would expect the ending to be of the little sister realising she is dead and so this creates shock which is conventional to the thriller genre.

Also, sympathy and empathy is used in my narrative;When we see the little sister walking through the forest alone, the audience empathise with her as they too have felt alone at some point in their life. When we see the older sister trying to wake up her little sister, the audience sympathise with her as not many have experienced the shock and pain that the older sister is feeling.