Short Film: Narrative Devices Theory

Narrative Devices

1. Flashback/Flashforward

Stew

Two guys are hanging out, and one of them offers to go into a cafe they walk by and buy the two coffees. When they lady asks what he wants, he asks for 'two cappuccinos' after stuttering, and when she asks him for his name, he stumbles and makes a bad joke. He then pauses to ask for something else, and when the camera gives a pan down as if the camera is his eyes, he spots 'Stew' (1:32). The music becomes haunting as Bill says Stew, as if it is an evil and disgusting word. Bill is zoned out at this stage, and his heart rate is increased and the audience can hear his heartbeat. There is then a very very quick jump cut between Bill and Young Bill. The flashback has a blue colour palette, which shows the audience that Bill is in his younger form. This narrative technique creates a back story which the audience can find out more about Bill from, they can either empathise with him or find his fear stupid and irrational. It allows the audience to find more about the characters back story, which means they can be more involved in the story and see the reasoning for situations that may have developed in the present day.

2. Breaking The Fourth Wall

Charades

Charades is a film which breaks the fourth wall as it is a somewhat documentary, which follows 3 characters who are training for a Charades tournament. By looking directly into the camera. This happens constantly through this short film, the first moment being at (0:36). This allows the character to connect with the audience and explain what is happening in the scene, as he tells the audience the back story and what the characters are training for and why. This is the best way to engage the audience in this type of storyline, as they are involved and it catches them off guard, incase they're not paying attention. It gives them a sense of involvement of the story. This type of narrative reminds me of Jonah From Tonga, as Chris Lilley's series follows Jonah in school and his teacher Mr Joseph always talks to the camera about Jonah himself.




3. In Media Res/Omnipotent Narrarive

Inverse

In this short film, a gets up from being knocked to the ground. She has blood stains on her neck and her shirt, and she walks into the cafe/restaurant she has clearly just come out of. She walks over to the tables which are surrounded by people standing still, and not moving or interacting with her at all (0:36). This type of narrative means that the audience are 'God-Like' as we can see the characters moving and making noise and the lady cant. And example of this is at (2:17), when she runs up to John, she then sees a version of herself, coming to meet John. Lisa is a trapped character and can see herself, and she then advises herself (4:17). This is a grasping narrative, as Lisa can not do anything to save herself from the crash, and everything stops and stands still. This gets the audience asking questions as they can see Lisa from the outside and she can see herself and her story from the outside, a bit like Deja Vu, as it is happening again in her head.

Structure Driven

Todorov's Narrative Theory in Boundin'

Equilibrium: A lamb lives in the desert with a perfectly white coat, and he took pride in himself, and he enjoyed dancing (0:30) for his mole friends who lived in the rock next to him, and they all danced together and things were good. This fits the equilibrium stage as everything is normal in the sheep's life.







Disruption: A farmer turns up in his wagon, and shears the lamb of his snowy white coat and the lamb becomes very sad. The sheep's life is turned upside down, and his life is not normal anymore.

Recognition: A jackalope (the protagonist) comes bouncing down the mountain and gives the little lamb confidence, 'pink, pink, well whats wrong with pink? ... 'doesn't matter what colour...' and he tells the little lamb to open his eyes and see the bigger picture. 




Restore Equilibrium: The jackalope teaches the lamb to 'Bound & Rebound', by putting his leg up and slapping it down, and he gives the lamb confidence to be up when he feels sad. The protagonist rectifies the situation in order to make the sheep's life better again and he can feel the same as he did before, if not better.



New Equilibrium: The lamb 'bounds' all through the winter and is still confident in the summer when the farmer comes and shears his wool off again, and the lamb's old friends become friends with him again and everything is calm. 





Character Driven

Vladimir Propp's character driven narrative in New Boy

This short film is about a boy called Joseph who moves from Africa to Ireland. It's his first day at a new school, and his first class is maths. The Villain in this film is Christian Kelly who calls Joseph names such as 'Live Aid' and uses a snarly evil voice when he talks to him and asks for the answer to the maths question. This shows the struggle between the two characters. Christian puts snot on his finger and waves it in-front of Joseph's face, knowing that he will provoke a reaction. The Donor in this film is Hazel O'Hara, who stick up for Joseph at the beginning and end of the film, she smiles at him with a full grin, and she defends him to the teacher against Christian. This is common for a Donor, as she provided Joseph (The Hero) with an aide to get him out of trouble. And The Helper in this film is the Teacher. She assists and rescues the situation by telling Christian off in-front of Joseph, so he knows he's not alone. Propp's theory contains 7 main characters, but not every film contains them all, especially short films, as there would be too many characters to count and follow along with. Also in this theory, Propp says the characters always appear in the same order, which in this film they do. 

Cause & Effect

Levi-Strauss' Narrative Theory in Break Free by Ruby Rose

Binary vs Non Binary (in Gender Roles) & Feminine vs Masculine 
In this film Ruby Rose explores her gender-fluidity in this film. It shows how she goes from binary - being a 'stereotypical' female, with long hair, lipstick, high heels, a tight dress to being a 'stereotypical' male, with tattoos, a short layered haircut, minimal clothes. This shows Ruby Rose's fluidity that she goes through regarding her gender, as it is not defined in one 'look' as so to speak. When she takes her fingernail polish off and she shaves the back of her hair with a razor, this shows her masculine side taking shape. By binding up her breasts and fixing her crotch, this shows the daily life of a trans man, (FTM) and the process they go through to raise awareness.