Narrative formal system

"Spectators approach a narrative film with definite expectations. We have anticipation's that are characteristics of narrative form itself." Todorov's theory suggests that every conventional narrative is structured to put an equilibrium at the outset which is then disrupted by some action. There is then a recognition of the disruption which is always followed by an attempt to repair the disruption, before it ends with a reinstatement of the equilibrium. A dominant ideology of a narrative form is that the film must follow a linear pattern which flows in one direction.  It informs us of a regular structure that films tend to follow. "Texts that are intended to be alternative must in some way break these 'rules' they therefore tend to exist outside the mainstream." A film such as memento has the fundamental features of this linear pattern as black and white scenes move forwardly which also has a role for plot exposition. However the colour shots move backwards where we start with a scene which our pre-anticipations would put at the end of the narrative form. Throughout the film the pattern of direction challenges our anticipations. The uses of flashbacks, were we see clips of Leonard's wife, create the confusing nature of this narrative structure. Using flashbacks in a narrative which is already moving backwards is prone to confuse. I used an object which appears in many scenes which when written down in order of scene can be reversed to make a perfectly working narrative. This object was the car. "The forms where alternative narrative texts have been produced, with some regularity, are literature, theatre and film."

"We often make assumptions and inferences about events in a narrative." Events in a narrative are totally genuine and not an accident. However events have to be explained and influenced. Just showing a murder scene, out of context, with no other relevance throughout the film means you can not use time and space to relate the causes and effects. Causes and effects are put in place for the audience so what we see on screen we can make a decision or assumption on what is happening. for example, we would usually blame the person closest to the fire when the flames burst out. This is a fundamental attribution error which is very convenient but not effective. "We expect a series of incidents that will be connected in some way." As already said, we know that events are pre determined. However these events are persuaded to happen by a series of incidents. These incidents might not be perfectly linear. Within the incidents directors will introduce shots of other actors maybe part of the other parallel narrative. A film which involves someone buying a gun, leaving the house, sneaking around a house and a pool of blood you would expect a very certain narrative. A conventional narrative embraces this format, although the outcome may have a twist, the narrative moves in its expected linear way. From a string of incidents you can have a prediction of what might of happened after connecting the incidents. Now these incidents of a film lead to the event of someone being murdered. Thats clear, but films will often try to twist this narrative form. Maybe the killer was not the one a who we seen buy the gun.

"We make sense of a narrative, then, by identifying its event and linking them by cause and effect, time, and space." A cause and effect analysis is an attempt to understand why things happen as they do. Cause and effect is used in many professions to a very complex level. However as an audience we all use a sophisticated level of cause effect which helps us understand a film narrative. In conventional narratives 'cause' scenes are portrayed by character such as natural instinct, depression, poverty, family and revenge can lead to the 'effect' of a bank robbery. The bank robbery as the first effect can become the cause of more outbreaks such as hostages, murder, shoot-outs and stealing. Time space model allows us to piece together the cause and effects as the time it takes to explain a cause we can nearly predict an outcome. If an unexpected outcome happens the creators will use the spaces between the narrative and filled with the actual effects. With space we are shown what actually happened meaning the narrative is omniscient. "Sometimes a fairly simple reordering of scenes can create complicated effects." A film such as pulp fiction we see a 3 dimensional narrative with a beginning middle and ending. However these dimensions have been reordered. In pulp fiction the beginning is the end. The middle is the beginning and the end is the middle. Remembering an order like that can be difficult so watching it is quite the brain teaser. not many films have braved the unconventional narrative but its safe to say this film has achieved it. This film requires more than a one-time watch but when understood it can be reordered to a formal narrative structure that is suitable to our expectations.

"Causes and their effects are basic to narrative, but they take place in time. Here again our story plot distinction helps clarify how time shapes our understanding of narrative action." The theory of the cause effect model must be in place in any film. Without the cause and effect we can not combined events and character roles. most importantly we don't have a narrative. Narrative only takes place because we have a start, middle and an end. Todorov founded a theory that emphasis this point in greater detail. Time takes place along the timeline from the beginning to the end. Todorov's theory states that a recognition of a disruption will happen during the timeline of a novel, generally in the middle. Cause and effects will take place which will convey an act to repair the disruption. Time however is used during this time to help us understand the narrative.

"By triggering and reacting to events, characters play roles within the films formal system." Characters will usually follow a theory which is seen in the earliest fairytales. This theory was developed by Propp. "Roles of action, propp argued, make sense of the ways in which many different figures can be reduced to eight character roles" He realised that most films follow the same formal system were we see character roles such as the hero, princess and the villain. An event such as kidnap in Man on Fire, we see the hero (Denzel Washington) react by actually giving his life to rescue the princess which is the little girl. The villain is challenged as Denzel turns an operation upside down to rescue the little girl. This film discreetly shows any relation to the theory with complex and violent scenes. When stripped down to the main character conventions the theory is quite clear.

"Causes and their effects are basic to narrative, but they take place in time. Here again our story plot distinction helps clarify how time shapes our understanding of narrative action." The theory of the cause effect model must be in place in any film. Without the cause and effect we can not combined events and character roles. most importantly we don't have a narrative. Narrative only takes place because we have a start, middle and an end. Todorov founded a theory that emphasis this point in greater detail. Time takes place along the timeline from the beginning to the end. Todorov's theory states that a recognition of a disruption will happen during the timeline of a novel, generally in the middle. Cause and effects will take place which will convey an act to repair the disruption. Time however is used during this time to help us understand the narrative. Time happens chronologically therefore during the time of a critique of the film it demonstrates how to understand the narrative. "Constructing the films story out of its plot, the viewer is engaged in trying to put events in chronological order and to assign them some duration and frequency." In films like slumdog millionaire, where the narrative is non-linear, it's up to the audience to work out the direction of the narrative. Slumdog Millionaire is a film which travels back and forward from past to present time. The audience are engaged in putting the events is the order in which they should be. For any viewer who understands the narrative is rewarded as the scenes throughout the film all are used as plot devices for the reinstatement of the equilbrium. Assigning them duration and frequency can help the audience figure out the amount of time past in the film.

"The opening provides a basis for what is to come and initiates us into the narrative. In some cases, the plot will seek to arouse curiosity by bringing us into a series of actions." The opening, or equilibrium, is the time of the narrative that introduces us with characters and settings. The characters are formed to create action and enigma codes. These codes are thought provoking therefore arousing curitosity. Action codes are significant events which move the narrative on in a particular direction but to also keep the narrative alive. They teach the audience new things as they give the audience needed information. An example of an action code in silence of the lambs is the shot of the behavioural services sign as this reveals more about the location she's in. "Barthes suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it." The other 3 codes are the symbolic, referrential and sematic codes.

"An abiding structure of all meaning-making, not just narratives, was a dependence on binary oppositions." This theory by Levi Strauss is looking deeper than the plot to the paradigmatic arrangement of themes. It is simply the conflict between two opposite charcter types. The hero will always have conflict with the villain. The audience are usually forced to take the side of the 'good' character over the 'evil' character. They hope to see the good conquenor evil. This creates the binary opposition 'good vs evil'. This theory applies to many genres such as the western. A commonly, a good charcater such the sheriff who will fight against a villain such as an out-of-town criminal. There are many other binary oppostions such as rich vs poor and young vs old.

"Writers have explored this area in terms of the knowledge which the reader has, compared to the charcater." This is the idea of rescrited or omniscent narration. We tend to have a rescrited narration in crime films and an omniscient narration in comedies. The crime genre uses a retsricted narration for the audience's pleasure. The audience become engrossed by the hidden clues and the figuring out parts of the film. They seek an ending which is rewarding to them without them feeling cheated by the narrative. Directors create parts in the film which we couldn't possibly of guessed. "Another part of constructing narratives involves the voice telling the story". A star charcter normally takes the role of the first person charcter, he too can be either retricted or omniscient. The star will relate to his character as 'I' throughout the film. In Wolf of Wall Street Leonardo Dicaprio is our lead role. He is in most shots and uses a first-person narrative. For leonardo Dicaprio it is important for him to not refer to any other events in which he could not of witnessed himself.

Bordwell and Thompson take the Russian formalist theory and define story as "consisting of all the events in a narrative, both explicitly presented and inferred." this means that a chain of event must happen for the film to have a story. The events are created using a cause-effect model which occurs in time and space. They story must come together at the end of the narrative. They define the plot as "everything visable and audibly present in the film before us" The plot comes from the stand-out points in the story which are highlighted so that the narrative is understood. The film, usual suspects, is a film which waits until the end of the movie to reveal the identity of a character. During the story, events are put together however some of the most obvious action are discretely reffered to as they are tedious parts of the plot.

"A discussion of formal development in general within the film suggested that it often useful to compare beginnings and endings." Todorov's theory suggests that the equilbrium begins a film and is revisited at the end. The start of a film is too bring curitosity and arouse audiences to want to figure out the ending early on in a film. Some films begin with character identification and others with an event which acts as a plot device. The film, the fugitive, begins with a doctor of a perfect record and great reputation. He is framed for a murder and on his way to prison before the chain of events that must occur to complicate the story happen. As the quotation suggests, Harrison Ford is proven to of been framed and returns to a life where he is not persued by the police. We expect him to return to his job and regain his reputation.