Narrative and Film industry

Narrative theory Revision.

Syn Field's Three-Act Structure.

Field identified that there were three acts to most stories; he broke up the structure as follows;

Act 1 (25%) The Set up

(Turning Point 1)

Act 2 (50%) Confrontation (Development)

(Turning Point 2)

Act 3 (25%) The Resolution 

Todorov's Theory of Disequilibrium.

Todorov's  ideas were similar; however, he defined these three acts as

Equilibrium 

Disequilibrium 

Re-Equilibrium

Propp's Spheres of Action

Propp studied fairy tales and spotted these recurring in many of the stories. Movie Institutions often use a fairy tale structure for their films.

Propp's sphere of action:

Hero- The protagonist who is sent on a quest and saves the day

Villain- The antagonist whose mission is to disrupt the hero's quest

Princess-Must be saved by the hero or is the hero's reward

Helper-The hero's sidekick who helps him throughout the whole quest

Donor- gives the hero something crucial which without they couldn't complete the mission

Dispatcher- sends the hero on their quest.

Anti Hero- may appear to be on the villain's or hero's side.

Levi Strauss' Binary Opposites

Strauss expresses that narratives that are always centred on binary opposites, by which he means things are complete polar opposites. Some examples of binary opposites include;

Good vs Evil

Dark vs Light

Rich vs Poor

Small vs Big

Roland Barthes' Codes

Action codes- Things that happen that dictate an action that will occur; e.g. a character placing hands on guns indicates they're about to shoot.

Enigma codes- Things that are seen that raise questions for the audience, for example an important letter falling out of a charcters pocket: who will pick it up? What does the letter say? What will happen now?

Culteral codes- Objects or places that are seen that allow the audience to quickly idenify with specific culture. For exmaple; the inclusion of the Eiffel Tower alerts the audience that they are in France, or a yellow taxi dictates New York.