NARRATIVE Unit 3 – Area of Study 1

NARRATIVE For this outcome you will study two fictional media texts in film. You will learn how these texts are constructed and how audiences respond to them. You will learn and use the language of narrative and be able to apply this language in the discussion of any narrative text.

NARRATIVE What is it worth?Unit 3 Outcome 1 is marked out of 40 and contributes 8% to the study score for media. This area of study is also examined in the end of year examination.

NARRATIVE What is narrativeThe media tells stories; funny stories, real stories, scary stories, old stories and new ones. Stories with morals and stories that show us about ourselves – how to be and how not to be.

NARRATIVEThis area of study is about stories; about how the media tells them and how audiences read them. While narratives can be found in all medi forms and most texts, this otucome deals specifically with the language and construction of fictional media narratives. But narratives are more than just stories. They are about people, places and events and the world we all inhabit.

NARRATIVE The suspension of disbeliefAn emotional and psychological state that audiences allow themselves to enter in order to engage with the world of the narrative journey created by a director. When we embark on a narrative hourney we want to suspend disbelief. There is nothing more disappointing than sitting in a darkened cinema thinking – That’s so fake, it would never happen!

NARRATIVE DiegesisThe world of a narrative. Everything that would ‘naturally’ appear in this world – including places, characters and sounds – is diegetic. Non diegtic elements are those that are ‘added’ by the director, such as narration, musical soundtracks and special effects.

NARRATIVE Reception contextThe circumstances in which a text is consumed including physical location, method and quality of broadcast or reproduction, reason for consuming the text, impact of other audience members on the consumption of a text and any other factors that may alter an audience’s reading of a text.

NARRATIVE Theories of narrative

Classical narrative cinema. Classical Hollywood cinema Psychoanalytic theory Auteur theory Feminist film theory Postmodernism Queer theory Postcolonial theory New narrative

Adding Up the Narrative Equation

In your workbook, create a tale listing the elements that make up the narrative equation. Add to this list as you discover new elements. When you understand how each element works, tick it off!

Story Elements  Production Elements   Audience Elements

Setting - Function and Effect

Camera Techniques - Shot Types - Movement - Focus

Expectation - Advertising - Reviews - Word of Mouth

Period in Time Technologies - Qualities of film stock/video, lenses, sound

Experience and Knowledge of - Genre or Style - Director - Actors - Production Values

Narrative Structure - Opening - Narrative Possibilities - Development - Resolution and Closure - Impact on Narrative Progression

Lighting - Naturalistic - Expressive - Types

Reception Context - Location - Purpose for consuming - Cost - Reading - Effect of narrative organisation on reading by different audiences - Ways in which audiences may appreciate narratives - Effects of reception content on audience.

Characters - Establishment - Development - Relationships

Mise-en-scene

Multiple Storylines - Function - Links Between - Effects on each other

Acting Sound - Diegetic - Non-Diegetic - Dialogue - Music - Sound Effects

Structuring of Time - Order, duration, frequency - Contraction and expansion - Linear and/or non-linear

Editing - Vision - Sound - Design - Style

Cause and Effect - Character and motivation - Narrative progression

Special Effects

Point(s) of View - Character - OtherGenre and/or Style - Function - Impact - Referencing of other texts.

During this area of study you will build a resource for your texts on the previous slide. For each element in the narrative equation, find an example and note the following:• Name the story, production or audience element,• Explain how the element works,• Record what is happening on screen in the

example – what do you see, hear and understand?• Analyse how the element or technique is used in

this example, • Explain why the director has chosen to construct

this element in this way, • Note the effect on the audience.

Once you can demonstrate your knowledge of each element and how it works, try explaining how combinations of elements work interdependently to construct a narrative. Not the following:• In this area of study, it is sometimes easer to

explain how a narrative element works by sketching it,

• Point form is a good way to demonstrate your knowledge.