D) Narrative and theme

Two main themes we were told to use in our film - the film did not have to revolve around these, they just had to appear at some point.Time - the passage of time is shown through five establishing shots in the daylight at the beginning of the film, and the contrast with the later dark house, after a fading transition when Joe wakes up.Technology - Joe's torch is heavily depended on throughout the film.

'Night 1' definitely challenges Vladimir Propp's theory of narrative. It follows the theory in one sense, in that he suggests that all characters have a function and that

they all act as agents in propelling the narrative, and by following the only main character, the whole of the film is produced. Propp also suggested there were seven different character types: hero, villain, donor, helper, princess, dispatcher, and false

hero. In this way, our film challenges conventions. Joe has the potential to be the hero as he seeks out to restore the narrative equilibrium by embarking upon a quest. The faceless threat can also be considered as a villain, but still doesn't follow the

conventions proposed. However, it might be helpful to consider these theories are more frequent in feature films, in contrast to short ‘specialised’ films.

Considering narrative depth, our film neither used subjective nor objective character identification, as Night 1 is a very traditional 'get what you see' narrative. The film also

breaks the fourth wall, and has no definite closure with an aperture narrative. How it is conventional though, is the use of two out of five of Barthe's five codes:

1- Hermeneutic: the faceless threat is not revealed.2- Proairetic: the 'noises' and 'movements' suggest something else is going to happen-

causing tension.