Narrative + Theory

• Bordwell and Thompson (1980) defined narrative as ‘a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time’. 
• Syd Field, an American screenwriter has said that in any good film, the audience will be grabbed by the first ten minutes, implying narrative is imperative to a film’s success. Due to the trailer form of our piece 60 seconds), we had to use a restricted narration in order to achieve the audiences interest, as this is often used in the horror genre. 
• Our trailer offered subjective character identification, meaning the viewer is given unique access to what a range of characters see and do. For example, a range of teenagers were used as characters in our trailer, to conform to conventions of the genre.
• Vladamir Propp’s theory of narrative, which he devised from a study of folktales, suggests that characters have the role of narrative. He came up with seven different character types each with a function, including the ‘hero’, ‘villain’ and ‘princess’. 
• Our trailer conforms to some of these archetypal characters, and subverts others. For example, our hero is female, rather than male, but this does conform to the ‘final girl’ theory seen in genre theory. 
• She is not your ‘usual’ hero, as she also has some elements of the ‘princess’ character who is usually threatened and saved, for example framed in mid-shots and extreme close ups you can see her struggle with the killer. In post-production, flashes of light were added to add to the distress and chaos of the scene, further relaying the ‘victim’ character type. 
• The princess character or victim is usually threatened and saved. The difference in our film is that the princess then becomes the hero, and saves herself. 
• Our villain, however, does conform, as he creates narrative disruption throughout,  he is often seen in the background of shots, e.g. a close of the victims face, with low-key and ambient lighting produced by a lighter, the villain is barely seen with his mask heavily distorted by the light.
• Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages, including the state of equilibrium at the start, the disruption of equilibrium and then the reinstatement of equilibrium at the end.
• We heavily conform to this theory. In our trailer, we start with a happy party environment, with mid and close up shots of alcohol, laughing and talking, as well as up-beat non-diegetic music, indicating a party. The mood changes through the use of typography and sound. 
• The upbeat music ceases and a sinister boom and knock at the door is heard, along with creepy typography with a flickering effect used, reading ‘…who’s there?’. 
• On the other hand, we subvert the theory as we do not reinstate the equilibrium at the end, seen through the last shot of the killer slowly turning his head, at a slightly low angle, adding to the suspense, edited with non-diegetic screams and flashing up typography. 
• We did this because leaving the conclusion as an enigma is an important convention for the trailer form.
• Allan Cameron’s theory claims that modular narratives ‘articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation’.
• He identifies four different types of modular narrative: anachronic, forking paths, episodic and split screens.  
• In our trailer we conform to this theory by utilising an episodic structure. This is seen by using different victims throughout the trailer, each being killed separately from another, in their own ‘episode’, e.g. one victim is attacked from behind in a hallway framed in extreme close ups and mid shots. 
• Another victim is framed being dragged along the floor through a door way at an eye level shot to the floor. In post-production, the adding of a repeating set of the same noises, each in time to each clip helps reinforce the ‘episodic’ idea.
• Barthes’ codes claim that narratives are like ‘tangled balls of threads which need unravelling’, some being open with many interpretations and others being closed, with only one possible interpretation. 
• Ours is an example of an open narrative as each character can be interpreted in different ways. For example, the character of the killer could be likeable to the audience or seen as a threat. 
• Our film conforms to the Enigma / Proairetic code set out by Barthes, saying that the way tension is built up leaves the audience guessing what happens next. One key example of this is a scene in wh
  ich a man looks out a window. 
• The camera is outside and we seem him peering out, all of a sudden, a creepy symbol noise is heard as the killer emerges in the background, and then the scene is suddenly blacked out, leaving the audience wondering what happens next.