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Narrative structure

Updated: Aug 13, 2020

As an author as well as an English teacher I really love looking at Narrative Structure. How different elements feed into the overall story. I do it for fun and often will try to change things so the films work better.



So for this lesson and for the standard you are to make a video essay on two films. You can do this as a blog as well and switch out movies with tv shows but basically you need to go in depth into two stories and their structure.


With the advent of Universes and the blockbuster I highly recommend looking at two films done in the same Universe so you can talk about the storytelling on a bigger scale as well as in just the individual movies.


The standard suggests some elements to look at so I will go into these. At the very least explain them a little bit.


Mise en scène

· Lighting

· Costume

· Performance

· Props/setting

Visual Elements

· Shot sizes

· Transitions – dissolves, fades, cuts etc

· Camera angles

· Camera movement (POV, tracking etc)

· Special effects – slow/fast motion

· Editing pace

Character

· Engagement/positioning of the audience

· Revelation, challenge, development

· Stereotypes

· Representation (costume, dialogue, performance, etc)

Conflict / opposition

· Internal and/or external conflict

· Opposing ideologies, world views

· Equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium

· Comparison and contrast (characters, events, reactions, messages etc)

Narrative perspective (point of view)

· First person, eye of God, objective/subjective, multiple etc

· Voice (director’s, characters’ – who speaks, what they say and why/how)


Symbols / motifs / themes

· Recurring images, ideas, messages


Sound

· Music

· Diegetic / non-diegetic

· Aural bridge

· Sound effects / enhanced audio

· Voiceover

Setting (time / place)

· Location (real/virtual, geographical/physical, time season/year, historical period)

· Societal, cultural, economic, political

· Influence on events/outcomes

· Use of signals (costume, props, sets, establishing shots, sub-titles etc)

Manipulation of time

· Foreshadowing/prophecy

· Flashback/flash-forward

· Real/unreal

· Sped up, compressed, slowed

· Parallel timelines

· Repetition in diversity

· Time of events vs. time of telling

Narrative structure

· Classic Hollywood linear / three Act

· Exposition, rising action, climax, resolution

· Cliff-hanger, red herring, McGuffin, twists

· Conflict, sub plots, binary opposition, catalyst

· Multiple, parallel and/or intersecting storylines; flashbacks; montage.


And here is someone who has actually looked at this and discussed it in relation to films.


Here is one about editing.

This is more about stylistic choices in a film

Camera angles and how they can draw you into a story.

How to redeem unlikeable characters with one clever scene.

How the three acts work in a movie.

Looking at music in film and it can change a story.


This looks at musicals and language to tell a story.


Not quite fits but I love the way he pulls the movie apart.


I like looking at how POV can go wrong and this is a good example of storytelling that went wrong.



And this is Every Frame a Painting - there are just too many good ones to have to pick which will be best.


In this standard, you should look at two films and talk about the storytelling. How all these little details and elements contribute to the narrative. Now keep in mind some of these elements don't always add to the storytelling but often will do. So pick carefully.


One last clip on making video essays.





 

Teacher's Notes


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