Principles of Film Narrative Film Art: An Introduction by

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Principles of Film Narrative

• Film Art An Introduction
• by Bordwell and Thompson

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What is Narrative?

• How a film tells a story by organizing
  information.
• chain of events in cause-effect (causality)
  relationship occurring in time and space.
• We understand narrative by associating events
  with cause-effect, time, space.

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Plot and Story

• Viewer also makes assumptions or inferences about
  events not explicitly presented.
• All events in the narrative--explicit and
  inferred by viewer--comprise the story.
• Northwest by Northwest traffic, city, office
  environment suggests character (Thornhill) leads
  a busy life.

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Plot and Story (cont.)

• Plot totality of the film.
• Everything presented visibly and audibly
• Story events directly depicted.
• Extraneous (implied) material that adds to story

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Plot and Story (cont.)

• Plot and Story overlap
• Story exceeds plot by bringing in inferred
  information never actually seen.
• Plot exceeds story by presenting images or sounds
  from outside story that affect understanding of
  the story.

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Story and Plot (cont.)
Story
Plot
Presumed and inferred events
Explicitly presented events
Extraneous material from outside story
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Plot and Story (cont.)

• Story includes all events in the narrative
• Filmmaker can present events directly (part of
  plot), suggest or infer events not explicitly
  presented, ignore certain events altogether, or
  add extraneous material.

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Plot and Story (cont.)

• Audience views only the plot, arrangement of
  material in the film as it stands, and creates
  story from cues in the plot.
• Distinction between plot and story constitutes a
  set of tools for analyzing how narrative works.

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Cause and Effect

• Characters usually initiate cause-effect by
  triggering or reacting to events.
• Character traits play causal role in narrative
• Attitudes, skills, emotion, tastes, appearance
• e.g., Shawshank shows Andy as reserved banker,
  serves narrative function

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Cause and Effect (con.t)

• Incidences can also trigger cause-effect, and
  human action develops narrative.
• e.g., earthquake, drought, flood, economy.
• Viewer connects events by cause-effect, inferring
  what caused it and possible responses.

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Cause and Effect (con.t)Example of a Detective
Film
a. Crime conceived
b. Crime planned
c. Crime committed
Story
d. Crime discovered
Plot
e. Detective investigated
f. Detective reveals a, b, c
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Time

• Events take place in time, in chronological order
  or not, for effect.
• Most plots do not show every detail of time.

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Space

• Events in narrative occur in certain places.
• Typically the same for the story action and plot,
  but plot can make us infer other places that
  contribute to the story.
• Screen duration (between frames) also selects
  plot spans for presentations.

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Narration The Flow of Story Information

• Narration is plots way to provide information to
  achieve specific effects.
• Moment-by-moment process that guides us in
  building the story out of the plot.
• Plot may supply information to create
  expectations or suspense, or arrange cues that
  withhold information to build curiosity or
  surprise.

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Film Genre

• Film Art An Introduction
• by Bardwell and Thompson

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Defining a Genre

• Types of films
• Musical, thriller, comedy, western, science
  fiction,...
• No clear distinction about what makes a groups of
  films a genre.
• Genre helps assure some general notions about
  films.

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Analyzing Genre

• A genre may share certain plot elements.
• e.g., investigation in a mystery, revenge in
  Westerns, gangster film and price of crime...
• Genre conventions give viewer insight into film
• Allows information to be communicated quickly
• Rejecting conventions can also add surprise or
  shock to viewers.
• Genres change over time, and originate from
  combining qualities of different genres.

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Summarizing Genre

• Genres comprise some aspects of a film that we
  take for granted.
• Genre categories can shape what we expect to see
  and hear, and to understand a film in certain
  ways.