Narrative Techniques

Technique	Description	Effect	Example from a film
1. Exposition	Films in the back story of the characters and their situations	Let us know the motives of the character, or about his psychology (but if used wrongly it can be bad for the film)	The narration of the beginning of Amelie explaining the back story of everyone.
2. Dangling cause	Information or action that leads to no effect or resolution until much later in the film	It helps us to have an idea on the ending, thus when the ending comes there is a bigger impact.	Shrek 2, fairy godmother tells the king that he helped him in “affairs from the heart” at the end he is a frog.
3. Obstacle	Stands in the way of the characters reaching their goal	It creates tension in the story and makes the story more interesting	Physcho, when the policemen follows the lead actress
4. Deadline	A time limit placed on a protagonist to accomplish a goal	It creates tension on the story and makes the story more interesting. More goals orientated.	Inception, dreams are synchronized in order to make the inception.
5. Dialogue hook	Creates a link between two consecutive scenes	Helps the story flow

Narrative Strucute in Films

Equilibrium à Disruption of Equilibrium à Restore of Equilibrium

 - I, Robot (USA, 2004 directed by Alex Proyas)

à Equilibrium: Year 2025 (Chicago), robots are common in society and they are used as employees and policemen, they make life easier for lots of people, and robots have been in society since some years before. Robots follow the three laws: Defend humans. Do not injure humans. Robot must obey orders from human, except for injuring other humans.

à Disruption of Equilibrium:  Robots start attacking humans to “defend” them as the only way to follow the 3 laws is to completely supreme the humans to avoid them injure themselves.

à Restore of Equilibrium: Deactivation of all robots, after some fights and thinking by the humans.

 - Jaws (USA, 1975 directed by Steven Spielberg)

à Equilibrium: The Island, is a nice and calm beach people go to relax, and a vacation resort

à Disruption of Equilibrium: A shark appears in the calm water and kills a local teenager there, and causes commotion

à  Restore of Equilibrium: Hunting of the shark after some while they kill it and the beach is calm and peaceful again.

 - Ice Age I (USA, 2002, directed by Chris Wedge)

à Equilibrium:  Ice age animals living happily, minding there own business

à Disruption of Equilibrium: Human baby gets lost and ends up with the protagonist animals

à Restore of Equilibrium:  Animals return the baby to its parents

Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock) / Narration

Narration - it refers to how the narrative is presented to the film. It is how the people watching gets information about the movie and its characters (Example: "Amelie").

 - What is the narrative structure based on?
Narrative Logic
Cause and Effect is what guides the narrative


 - What would be the effect is Psycho began with scene 3? Would it be logical? Why not?

Because in that case we would not know why she is steeling the money. It would make the movie terribly confusing.

 - In what ways is scene 3 an effect of scenes 1 and 2? (In what way are they causes?)

Scene number 3 is the effect of scenes 1 and 2 as it goes by steps. Scene 1, Marion needs money. Scene 2, she has the opportunity to have money, and in scene 3 show that she has actually steeled the money.

 - What is the significance of showing the money in the scene immediately after Marion and Sam talk about getting married?

So we can see the cause and effect, in other words so it makes logic of what, why and how it is happening. Cause is to have money, and the effect is the stolen money.

 - Why don’t we see Sam leave the hotel and going to the airport – or Lowery and Cassidy eating lunch?

It is not important in the story, the audience can tell by itself how the characters got their or the actions he or she makes.

 - What other events are we NOT shown? Why?

We can see Sam in scene number 1 but we do not know what is he doing the rest of the scenes, again because it is not important. The main event is Marion and the money. 

SunDance Film Festival

 - Give some details about the festival itself? When does it take place? How many films are in competition? Who are/were the judges? What are the costs of entry? What are the prizes? What kind of films can enter? When was it founded?

n . Takes place in Utah (USA)

n . There are about 60 films in all the years, take less or give more.

n . Sundance festival open a lot of doors for independent directors and actors, it also promotes the            films.

n . Type of films such as: low-budget films, documentary films, feature length films, short films,  .  .   . American-made films, retrospective films. So basically any type of films, as long as they are qualitative.

n . Founded by Sterling Van Wagenen (1978)

n . To enter a film costs $35 to $100

 - What films won or are in contention at the festival in 2010/2011?

Grand Jury Prize: Documentary	Restrepo
Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic	Winter's Bone
World Cinema Jury Prize	The Red Chapel
World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic	Animal Kingdom
Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, Presented by Honda	Waiting for Superman
Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, Presented by Honda	Happythankyoumoreplease
World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary	Wasteland
World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic	Undertow
Best of NEXT Presented by Youtube	Homewrecker
U.S. Directing Award: Documentary	Smash His Camera
U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic	3 Backyards
World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary	Space Tourists
World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic	Southern District
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award	Winter's Bone
World Cinema Screenwriting Award	Southern District
U.S. Documentary Editing Award - Joan Rivers	Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

 - What is the role of a film festival? 

nTo promote new independent films and their directors since they are unknown. They bring the people who work on these films together, and grant homage to film culture. It is also a good source of finance for these people.

 - What makes a successful festival?

n . Being original

n . Share your audience

n . Start planning early

n . Gets a lot of public

n . Use budget wisely

n . Celebrate quality

 - Why are festivals still important for the film industry and the media in general?

n . Advertisement for movies

n . Express more ideas

n . Recognition for films

n . Propaganda for various brands

n . They work as theatrical distribution

 - Name some of the well-known films that have won in the festival you chose

n

n . Saw

n . Garden State

n . Super Troopers

n . The Blair Witch Project

n . Better Luck Tomorrow

n . Primer

n . Reservoir Dogs

n . Little Miss Sunshine

n . El Mariachi

n . Moon

n . Clerks

n . Thank you for smoking

n . Sex, lies and videotape

n . The Brothers McMullen

n . Napoleon Dynamite

Film Journal

Film is doing just fine, we have been analyzing a lot of movies and I feel that I'm becoming experienced at this. I definitely know a lot more, and feel someone that can actually make a wise and certain comment about any movie. When I first joined the course I never thought that there would be so much facts and things relating to films, and I find it quite interesting. Till now what I call the "theory" part of Film Studies course is very good and I find it easy to participate, but what the activity, what I call the "practice" part of the course is what I find it more laborious and I think I have to put a lot of effort as I don't have the same experience and knowledge that my fellow partners have in editing programs and computers. But even though I find it like I said, I am curious about learning more of the programs used in films as I know that someday I will be able to do amazing things with my movies or any projects at school.
Another things that I was having problems with and was giving me a certain concern, was my future with this course, I wanted to change for some time to Economics, but it wasn't possible. Even though I don't like so much economics i thought it would be more useful for my future, but one of my teacher told me something that made me calm about my thinking and he said: "universities will find you more interesting when they see you did this type of course at highschool"

Universal's History and Interesting Facts

History

 - Universal Channel was a company of “Yankee Film Company”, this company was the one that created Universal Studios, created in 1912

 - The owner of Yankee Film Company was Carl Laemmle, which was Interested in making another company, he convinced the “Stern brothers” (Abe and Julius) to be there partners.

 - Later other people would buy parts of the company and would be divided by other large companies.

• - Laemmle wasn’t a risky person and only paid for “affordable” movies, and used normal sets, making the studio basic (not what people wanted) with that and other factors the profits weren’t so high to keep growing.

- Later in the Golden Age of Hollywood it passed to be an unpopular studio. Laemmle’s  son Carl Laemmle Jr. was the one that risk the business more producing better movies, and putting Universal back in the best studio lists. 

Universal Old Film's 

• - King of Jazz (First movie in colour)

• -  - All quiet on the Western front (Oscar)

• - Imitation of Life (Oscar)

• - Frankenstien

• - Dracula

• - The invisible man

Universal Modern Film's 

• - Jaws

• - Airport

• - The Sting

• - Back to the Future (I, II, III)

• - Jurassic Park

• - E.T.

• - Scarface

Interesting Facts

• - Creator of Universal City (a city with politics and law, destined to the people that would work in the movies. Actors, actress, electricians, decorators, musicians, etc… The city had its own major and police.

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• - Carl Laemmle was the model of many famous studios

 … Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, MGM, 20th Century Fox.

Realistic type of Films (Details)

Realistic Film - Tries to show films as real as possible. Just as you were there.
 - Not very worked, this means just as it would be, in real life.
 - Diagetic sound (sound always come from something in the Mise-en-scene).
 - Lighting is used depending on the set of the movie. Normally regular lighting butthey never altered it from as it would be
 - The set of realistic films, are normally real places. Instead of making sets so it looks as real as possible.
 - Camera angles are always height of real people (camera is commonly at shoulder height) as well as moving of the camera always trying to simulate a neck moving.
 - Long shots and very few cuts only for a change of scene or maybe sometimes withing a scene.
 - Use of deep focus, and simulation of the human eye.

•Example of realistic film: Nine lives  
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