In today's lesson we looked at narrative in film openings. We looked at the theorists Barthes, Levi-Straves, Todorov and Propp and there there theories which are listed below. This post shows the notes i took in this lesson.
Barthes- Codes (action, Symbolism, enigma).
Levi Strauss- Binary, oppositions(such as male and female, good vs evil etc)
After studying hundreds of myths and legends, Levi Strauss observed that we make sense of the world through binary opposites. He observed all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary oppositions.
Todorov- Structure (Equilibrium, Disruption, Realization, Restored order, Equilibrium again).
Propp- Character types
Vladimir Propp studied Russian folk and fairy-tails, he drew the conclusion that all narratives had a similar structure. He came to a conclusion that there was eight types of characters.
1. The Hero
2. The Villain
3. The Donor
4. The Dispatcher
5. The False Hero
5. The Helper
7. The Princess
8. Her Father
We looked at a short films made by Pixar and studied there structure and characters looking out for Todorov's and Propps theories. We then looked at the opening scene of the film 'The Pristeige' and looked out for narrative features.
In this short story there are structural features which fit to Todorov's theory. The film starts with equilibrium with the baby sitting watching over the baby and everything is normal. Then there are several disruptions to the equilibrium, this is where the baby goes missing, starts floating around and sets himself on fire. The restored order part to the story is when the baby sitter puts the baby in the bath to solve her problem. There isn't a return to equilibrium in this clip however we assume that everything goes back to normal.
In the opening to this film there are several features from Barthes theory about Codes in film openings, these include symbols, action and enigma. The first symbol used in this opening scene are the Magicians Top Hats on the floor of what looks like a grave yard, this could mean that the film is going to be about Magicians and also have some link to death. The action of a man drowning portrays that people will die in this film. At the end of this scene the audience is left with many enigmas. These enigmas include thoughts such as; 'Who put the tank there?', 'Who was the man from the audience?' 'Was he actually a part of the trick?'.
In this short film there are several structural features that fit with Todorov's theory. At the beginning of the film the birds are just sitting on the Line in harmony, this is the equilibrium stage. The Disruption comes when a giant bird comes and also sits on the line and the line is bent down like a sling shot to the ground. The realization takes place when the birds realize how close they are to the floor. The bird lets go of the the line which could be classed as the restored order part of the film as it gets the birds out of the position they were in. However when the birds come back down from being thrown into the air they no longer have any feathers. Everything then goes back to normal again which is the return to the equilibrium, the only problem is the birds have no feathers, but that might have served them right for being so rude to the big bird earlier on in the film.