In film, narrative is a structured story that is a series of events. In a film, the narrative is condensed into the plot, because sometimes a narrative will be over a long period of time and if a film kept to that time frame, then films would end up being days long, so for this reason ellipsis are used. Elipsis is cutting out the less important parts of a story. For example, if you had someone who was driving to the shops, you wouldn't film the entire half hour journey, you would just film the character getting into the car, and then arriving at the store.
There are two main types of narrative: linear and non-linear. Linear narrative is where the events in the film happen in chronological order. This creates a "reality" effect, as the audience is easily able to read the film and keep up with whats happening without their concentration being broken. Non-linear narrative is where events happen in non-chronological order. An example of this is Pulp Fiction, as the events in this film don't take place in chronological order so the film jumps around a lot to different times. Another type of narrative is parallel narrative which is where there are two narratives going on at the same time, like Finding Nemo for example because the film shows the father's journey and the son's journey.
Another type of narrative is "fish out of water" narrative, where a character is thrown into a situation completely out of their comfort zone. An example of this narrative structure would be in the film "Freaky Friday" where the mother and daughter (who have opposite personalities) switch bodies and have to go about their daily life as each other. They're both extremely uncomfortable in this position, because when the teenage girl is in her mother's body, she has to go as her mother and has absolutely no idea what she's doing.
Vladimir Propp is a scholar who came up with his own narrative theory around how a certain type of character is in every film. In his theory there are eight character types: hero, villain, dispatcher, helper, princess/prize, father figure, donor and false hero. The hero's character is the one who reacts to the donor and goes on a quest to wed the princess or obtain the prize. The villain fights the hero and causes problems for them during their quest. The dispatcher makes the villains presence known and sends the hero. The helper is the character that helps the hero during his quest. The princess/prize is where the hero's journey ends. The father gives the task to the hero and the donor preps the hero to fight the villain and gives them a magical object or weapon to help them with their quest. The false hero tries to take credit for the hero's effort.
Propp's theory suggests that there are these eight character types/roles in every film, while they may be hard to identify in more obscure genres such as horror, you can usually identify these roles- particularly in fantasy or romance films.
Tzvetan Todorov is a philosopher and literary critic who also has a narrative theory that is based on the way events occur in a narrative. His theory is that all films start with an equilibrium where everything is neutral and running smoothly. Then there is a disruption to this equilibrium- be it someone gets killed, or a disaster occurs (however a disruption to the equilibrium is not always a bad thing, as in romance films the disruption could be something small and seemingly unimportant). There is then the recognition of the disruption- the characters take note of the disruption and react to it. The characters then attempt to repair the disruption which in action films is often a fight with the bad guys to try and restore order. Finally the film is at an end when equilibrium has been restored. Often when the equilibrium has been restored, a lesson has been learned or the situation is better than it was at the beginning of the film.
There are two main types of narrative: linear and non-linear. Linear narrative is where the events in the film happen in chronological order. This creates a "reality" effect, as the audience is easily able to read the film and keep up with whats happening without their concentration being broken. Non-linear narrative is where events happen in non-chronological order. An example of this is Pulp Fiction, as the events in this film don't take place in chronological order so the film jumps around a lot to different times. Another type of narrative is parallel narrative which is where there are two narratives going on at the same time, like Finding Nemo for example because the film shows the father's journey and the son's journey.
Another type of narrative is "fish out of water" narrative, where a character is thrown into a situation completely out of their comfort zone. An example of this narrative structure would be in the film "Freaky Friday" where the mother and daughter (who have opposite personalities) switch bodies and have to go about their daily life as each other. They're both extremely uncomfortable in this position, because when the teenage girl is in her mother's body, she has to go as her mother and has absolutely no idea what she's doing.
Vladimir Propp is a scholar who came up with his own narrative theory around how a certain type of character is in every film. In his theory there are eight character types: hero, villain, dispatcher, helper, princess/prize, father figure, donor and false hero. The hero's character is the one who reacts to the donor and goes on a quest to wed the princess or obtain the prize. The villain fights the hero and causes problems for them during their quest. The dispatcher makes the villains presence known and sends the hero. The helper is the character that helps the hero during his quest. The princess/prize is where the hero's journey ends. The father gives the task to the hero and the donor preps the hero to fight the villain and gives them a magical object or weapon to help them with their quest. The false hero tries to take credit for the hero's effort.
Propp's theory suggests that there are these eight character types/roles in every film, while they may be hard to identify in more obscure genres such as horror, you can usually identify these roles- particularly in fantasy or romance films.
Tzvetan Todorov is a philosopher and literary critic who also has a narrative theory that is based on the way events occur in a narrative. His theory is that all films start with an equilibrium where everything is neutral and running smoothly. Then there is a disruption to this equilibrium- be it someone gets killed, or a disaster occurs (however a disruption to the equilibrium is not always a bad thing, as in romance films the disruption could be something small and seemingly unimportant). There is then the recognition of the disruption- the characters take note of the disruption and react to it. The characters then attempt to repair the disruption which in action films is often a fight with the bad guys to try and restore order. Finally the film is at an end when equilibrium has been restored. Often when the equilibrium has been restored, a lesson has been learned or the situation is better than it was at the beginning of the film.
Narrative film reading
I have chosen to do my narrative reading on these two films as they are both comedy films and are by the same director. The director of these films is called Edgar Write and he is known for using Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the majority of his film. Both of the films start with an equilibrium: in "Paul" the equilibrium is when Graeme and Clive are having a nerdy trip round America after visiting Comic-Con. In "Shaun Of The Dead", Shaun and his flatmate Ed are going about their usual daily life of sitting around playing video games- and in the case of Shaun going off to his 9 til 5 job at a television store. Both these equilibrium's are very standard and unsuspecting, and you don't really have any way of guessing what happens next (unless you've watched trailers for the films).
The equilibrium is disrupted in "Paul" when Graeme and Clive see a car veer off the road and crash, when they go for a closer inspection, they discover that the reason why the car crashed was because an alien was driving it. In "Shaun Of The Dead", the disruption of the equilibrium is a little more subtle, as for a while the characters don't notice it. Shaun goes to the shop to buy some Cornettos and there is blood allover the shop and zombies roaming the streets. I have added a clip from "Paul" that shows the big dramatic crash that causes the disruption; and a clip from "Shaun Of The Dead" that shows how subtle the disruption is.
The equilibrium is disrupted in "Paul" when Graeme and Clive see a car veer off the road and crash, when they go for a closer inspection, they discover that the reason why the car crashed was because an alien was driving it. In "Shaun Of The Dead", the disruption of the equilibrium is a little more subtle, as for a while the characters don't notice it. Shaun goes to the shop to buy some Cornettos and there is blood allover the shop and zombies roaming the streets. I have added a clip from "Paul" that shows the big dramatic crash that causes the disruption; and a clip from "Shaun Of The Dead" that shows how subtle the disruption is.
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In "Shaun Of The Dead", Shaun and Ed realize that there has been a disruption to the equilibrium when they actually take notice of the zombies that are roaming their streets. Ed points out that there is a "girl" in the garden, so they both go out to see what she's doing and they soon find out that she is a zombie, and she's not alone.
The recognition of the disruption comes a bit later in "Paul". It happens after they have taken Paul with them in their RV to a trailer park, and Ruth tries to contact her father- only for the call to be intercepted by a secret agent and the chase begins. This is also where the attempt to repair the disruption begins, as the fugitives decide to help get Paul back to his spaceship and enlist the help of the lady who Paul's ship crashed into the first time he came to earth. They attempt to contact his ship by releasing fireworks into the sky to signal it.
In "Shaun Of The Dead" they attempt to repair the disruption when the characters (led by Shaun) embark on a quest to get to their local pub to seek refuge from the zombies. They encounter numerous zombie related obstacles on the way- including one of their own getting bit (which is typical in a zombie film). They eventually make it to the pub and are reasonably safe until Ed decides to play a fruit machine.
The point at which equilibrium has been restored in "Paul" is right at the end of the film after Paul has gotten back on his ship and gone back to space. Graeme and Clive are back at Comic-Con, but this time they aren't just there are visitors to meet writers and artists- this time they are the famous writers and artists, as after their encounter with Paul, they went on to write their own comic about their adventure.
In "Shaun Of The Dead" it is restored after the zombie outbreak has been contained. Shaun returns to his usual daily life with the added bonus of his girlfriend having finally moved in with him. Ed on the other hand isn't in the greatest shape as he has become a zombie, however, he is still having a good time locked away in a shed playing video games- which is just the same as the beginning of the film minus him being a zombie and being in a shed.
The recognition of the disruption comes a bit later in "Paul". It happens after they have taken Paul with them in their RV to a trailer park, and Ruth tries to contact her father- only for the call to be intercepted by a secret agent and the chase begins. This is also where the attempt to repair the disruption begins, as the fugitives decide to help get Paul back to his spaceship and enlist the help of the lady who Paul's ship crashed into the first time he came to earth. They attempt to contact his ship by releasing fireworks into the sky to signal it.
In "Shaun Of The Dead" they attempt to repair the disruption when the characters (led by Shaun) embark on a quest to get to their local pub to seek refuge from the zombies. They encounter numerous zombie related obstacles on the way- including one of their own getting bit (which is typical in a zombie film). They eventually make it to the pub and are reasonably safe until Ed decides to play a fruit machine.
The point at which equilibrium has been restored in "Paul" is right at the end of the film after Paul has gotten back on his ship and gone back to space. Graeme and Clive are back at Comic-Con, but this time they aren't just there are visitors to meet writers and artists- this time they are the famous writers and artists, as after their encounter with Paul, they went on to write their own comic about their adventure.
In "Shaun Of The Dead" it is restored after the zombie outbreak has been contained. Shaun returns to his usual daily life with the added bonus of his girlfriend having finally moved in with him. Ed on the other hand isn't in the greatest shape as he has become a zombie, however, he is still having a good time locked away in a shed playing video games- which is just the same as the beginning of the film minus him being a zombie and being in a shed.
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With "Shaun Of The Dead" the film is taking place in one 24 hour period, where as "Paul" takes place over a couple of days. Both films have been condensed down to around 100 minutes. Even though these films are just under two hours long, there is still a sense of time passing. When watching "Shaun Of The Dead" you're aware that it is taking place in a 24 hour period as there is no suggestion of the day changing as their are no breaks or indications that the characters have slept. The action is continuous and due to the lighting and such of the film, you can tell that it begins in the morning and ends late evening, as when Shaun and Liz emerge from the pub it is nighttime.
In "Paul" you get the sense that the film is over a number of days rather than hours due to the use of montages- particularly near the beginning of the film where Graeme and Clive are visiting all the famous sites like the black mail box. You also get the sense of this time passing throughout the film due to the large number of locations. The characters are seen traveling through the night at one point and then stopping to sleep in a caravan park.
In "Paul" you get the sense that the film is over a number of days rather than hours due to the use of montages- particularly near the beginning of the film where Graeme and Clive are visiting all the famous sites like the black mail box. You also get the sense of this time passing throughout the film due to the large number of locations. The characters are seen traveling through the night at one point and then stopping to sleep in a caravan park.
One of the main things about these films that is really good are the way that they represent women. In both of the films the "lead" females are very normal looking women, they are dressed in casual clothes, have natural hair colours and look as though they are wearing little to no makeup. This is very encouraging, as these women are represented as realistic women, as most women during a zombie apocalypse would look how Liz does in Shaun Of The Dead. Neither of these women are over sexualised they're just normal people.
Neither of the films are very racially diverse. They both have a predominantly white cast. I think that in Shaun Of The Dead they have a few zombies who are black or Asian, but other than that everyone else is white. I don't think this is a huge issue though, particularly in Shaun Of The Dead, as it is set during a zombie apocalypse, so I personally don't think that it being racially diverse is important. I don't think that the ethnicity of the characters really matter in this film, as they're trying to fight zombies.
Neither of the films are very racially diverse. They both have a predominantly white cast. I think that in Shaun Of The Dead they have a few zombies who are black or Asian, but other than that everyone else is white. I don't think this is a huge issue though, particularly in Shaun Of The Dead, as it is set during a zombie apocalypse, so I personally don't think that it being racially diverse is important. I don't think that the ethnicity of the characters really matter in this film, as they're trying to fight zombies.
Sources:
I only used imdb in terms of websites to find out where the films were filmed and how long they run for. For the information on narrative, I used the notes I took in lesson.
I only used imdb in terms of websites to find out where the films were filmed and how long they run for. For the information on narrative, I used the notes I took in lesson.