Lecture 5: Film & Narrative PDF

LECTURE 5 Images from: https://medium.com/@catherinewatts/filmmaking- 101-establishing-connection-with-your-audience-360d482605f2  SOURCES Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin 2010. Film Art....

LECTURE 5 Images from: https://medium.com/@catherinewatts/filmmaking- 101-establishing-connection-with-your-audience-360d482605f2  SOURCES Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin 2010. Film Art. An Introduction. 10th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Corrigan and White 2015. The film experience. An introduction. 4th edition. Boston, New York: Bedford/St.Martins. Film content links as provided are available on open- source internet sites, and students are encouraged to read further on these.  THIRD PERSON NARRATION Omniscient narration is the classic form of third-person narration. All elements of the plot are represented from many or all potential angles. Omniscient perspectives arrange the story for a rich consumption by the viewer. Restricted narration, in contrast, provides a limited third-person perspective by organising the story through the viewpoint of only one or two of several characters. This perspective also assumes width and objectivity, but it is confined to the experiences of these characters. Reflexive Narration is used in films that complicate or subvert their own narrative authority as a consistent perspective on the world. Such strategies are often used in avant-garde (innovative) films, e.g. The cabinet of Dr Caligari. (adapted from Corrigan and White 2015:237, 242,243,249)  UNRELIABLE NARRATION https://people.com/movies/the-usual-suspects-20-year-anniversary/ Bryan Singer's, The usual suspects (1995) Unreliable narration: The viewer realises at some point in the narration that the narration and the assumed order of the plot are not viable or surreal (e.g. Fight Club). (adapted from Corrigan and White 2015: 242,243,249) Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) https://za.pinterest.com/pin/21884748182261391/  THIRD PERSON NARRATION Multiple narrations are used in films with various perspectives for a single story, often loosely tied together, which may appear as coincidences (e.g. Crash, Babel). Smaller narratives may be combined into an impressionist plot (e.g. Daughters of the dust). (adapted, and images sourced from, Corrigan and White 2015: 242,243,249)  NARRATION: THE FLOW OF STORY INFORMATION “The plot may arrange cues in ways that withhold information for the sake of curiosity or surprise. Or the plot may supply information in such a way as to create expectations or increase suspense. All these processes constitute narration, the plot's way of distributing story information in order to achieve specific effects. Narration is the moment-by-moment process that guides us in building the story out of the plot. Many factors enter into narration, but the most important ones for our purposes involve the range and the depth of story information that the plot presents.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:87) For example, in the exposition sequence of Tsotsi, the viewer is introduced to four gang members who show characteristics of juvenile delinquency and social neglect. Their violent actions in the train are logical consequences of this condition. However, the emotional concern and flashbacks that Tsotsi experiences when he finds the baby in the hijacked car and tries to “keep it” are not communicated to the gang members, only the audience and the Miriam character know this side of the villain anti-hero.  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “Some films will offer us a very broad range of knowledge. The narration can be very unrestricted: We know more, we see and hear more, than any of the characters can.” For example: “D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) begins by recounting how slaves were brought to America and how people debated the need to free them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xiwsAnI3r8 The plot then shows two families, the northern Stoneman family and the southern Camerons. The plot also dwells on political matters, including Lincoln’s hope of averting civil war.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:87) This is a silent movie and depicts some historical racist angles on black Americans that are represented from white perspectives of the period, with disclaimers in onscreen text. However, these scenes will still cause offence to present day viewers. There is a new version of this film, released in 2016. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i18z1EQCoyg  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION Birth of a Nation (1915 original): “From the start, then, our range of knowledge is very broad. The plot takes us across historical periods, regions of the country, and various groups of characters. This breadth of story information continues throughout the film. When Ben Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, we know about it at the moment the idea strikes him, long before the other characters learn of it. At the climax, we know that the Klan is riding to rescue several characters besieged in a cabin, but the besieged people do not know this. On the whole, in The Birth of a Nation, the narration is very unrestricted. We know more, we see and hear more, than any of the characters can. Such extremely knowledgeable narration is often called omniscient (“all-knowing”) narration.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:87)  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “However, some films will not allow us to see or hear anything that only one character can't see and hear. Consider the plot of Howard Hawks’s The Big Sleep (1946). The film begins with the detective Philip Marlowe visiting General Sternwood, who wants to hire him. We learn about the case as detective Marlowe does. Throughout the rest of the film, he is present in every scene. With hardly any exceptions, we don’t see or hear anything that he can’t see and hear. The narration [and visual representation] is restricted to what Marlowe knows.” https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3817406745/?playlistId=tt0038355&ref_=tt_ov_vi The filmic conventions of the period (directly after WW 2) were rather dramatic, orchestral soundtracks loudly accompanied the visuals. A remake of this film was released in 1978, with the visuals exploring the sexuality of the characters in 1970’s style. The hippie movement of the late 1960’s initiated the new style in filmic representations of sensuality and sexuality. https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1755430681/?playlistId=tt0077234&ref_=tt_ov_vi  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “Each alternative offers certain advantages. Omniscient narration is thus essential to creating the sense of many destinies intertwined with the fate of the protagonist. Similarly, a film derives functional advantages from its restricted narration. By limiting us to one character's range of knowledge, the film can create curiosity and surprise. Restricted narration is important to mystery films, since the films engage our interest by hiding certain important causes. Confining the plot to an investigator's range of knowledge plausibly motivates concealing other story information. In each case, the narration's range of knowledge functions to elicit particular reactions from the viewer.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:88)  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION For example, in the Fast and Furious 7 exposition The viewer is assumed to know the characters from the (covered in Tutorial 1), all five drivers are shown as ready previous films in the series of films, their backstory is thus to begin the action, which relies on each group member’s omitted. skill in the rapid action scenes. The group’s POV narration is later interrupted by Here, narration is thus restricted to the group of unpredictable actions of the “villains”. Suspense is created by characters, to create suspense. The viewer is curious to such “dangerous” action and the usual fast driving (physically see what this action is and how it unfolds, through the impossible) and character movements, which form the rapid sequence of the individual action shots. entertainment value and lead to plot resolution in this genre. RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION Lebanon (2009), set during the June 1982 Israeli-Lebanese war, comes very close to purely restricted narration. Apart from the beginning and ending, the entire film is set inside a tank, where we are limited to what the four team members know. Usually films with such strong attachments to characters cheat a little by cutting to action taking place outside. Here, there is no violation of the setting. https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2237466393/?playlistId=tt14838 31&ref_=tt_ov_vi Necessary information from outside comes via radio communications. Director Samuel Moaz has said that his goal was to make audience members experience young soldiers’ sense of the horror of war and their oppressive confinement. “You see only what they see. You know only what they know.” Yet there are still moments when one soldier’s reactions aren’t noticed by the others, so we gain a slightly wider range of knowledge than any one character has.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:88) RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “Unrestricted and restricted narration aren't watertight categories but rather are two ends of a continuum. Range is a matter of degree. A film may present a very broad range of knowledge and still not attain omniscience. Any film may oscillate between restricted and unrestricted presentation of story information. Across a whole film, narration is never completely unrestricted. There is always something we are not told, even if it is only how the story will end. Similarly, a completely restricted narration is not common. Even if the plot is built around a single character, the narration usually includes a few scenes that the character is not present to witness.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:88) For example, a soap opera episode follows several storylines in several subplots, presenting exciting scenes in the characters’ lives and moments of conflict in the larger story. A fragment of the main storyline, usually covering most of the episode’s screen time, thus frames the episode’s sub-plots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2unLROtAT7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZWYEONfnl4  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION The protagonist remembers how she murdered another character. The characters all “belong together” in the larger storyline, but their respective conflicts and experiences are structured for entertainment in fragmented parallel narratives, due to the genre of soap opera. The complex (and often twisted) backstory to each subplot has been developed in many previous episodes, so that viewers get the impression that they “know” the characters and “find out” more about each character. The narration in this genre is thus alternatively unrestricted, because viewers already “know” a lot, and restricted, as each sub-plot brings surprises. This familiarity is entertaining because it seems to provided an alternative, dramatized reality to the viewers’ daily lives, as indicated by an audience comment: Phumzile Sinorita Nyawose 3 years ago I truly enjoy this show, I get sick if miss a Episode yoh got it bad for the river (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZWYEONfnl4)  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION Hierarchy of Knowledge in Storytelling: The plot's range of story information creates a hierarchy of knowledge. At any given moment, the viewer may know more, less, or as much as the characters do. Analysing Narration: An easy way to analyse the range of narration is to ask, "Who knows what and when?" The spectator must be included among the "whos" because: They may have more knowledge than any one character. They may have knowledge that no character possesses. Hitchcock's Approach to Suspense: Hitchcock emphasized that unrestricted narration helps build suspense. Example: Scenario 1: The audience is unaware of a bomb under the table. The explosion surprises them but follows an ordinary scene. Scenario 2: The audience knows about the bomb and the time it will explode, increasing their suspense as the characters engage in trivial conversation. Conclusion: Informing the audience can create longer and more intense suspense. Application of Theory: Hitchcock applied this theory in his film Psycho. (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:89-90) RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION Narration can achieve powerful effects by manipulating the range of story information. Restricted narration tends to create greater curiosity and surprise for the viewer. For instance, if a character is exploring a sinister house, and we see and hear no more than the character does, a sudden revelation of a hand thrusting out from a doorway will startle us.” In contrast, a degree of unrestricted narration helps build suspense. In Psycho, Lila Crane explores the Bates mansion in much the same way as our hypothetical character is doing above. There are isolated moments of surprise as she discovers odd information about Norman and his mother. But the overall effect of the sequence is built on suspense because we know, as Lila does not, that Mrs. Bates is in the house. (Actually... our knowledge isn’t completely accurate, but during Lila’s investigation, we believe it to be.) As in Hitchcock’s anecdote, our greater range of knowledge creates suspense because we can anticipate events that the character cannot. The filmmaker guides the viewer’s expectations.”(Adapted from Bordwell and Thompson 2010:90) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBQKRmgbWEU  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “A film's narration not only manipulates the range of knowledge but also manipulates the depth of our knowledge. Here we are referring to how deeply the plot plunges into a character's psychological states. Just as there is a spectrum between restricted and unrestricted narration, there is a continuum between objectivity and subjectivity. A plot might confine us wholly to information about what characters say and do: their external behaviour. Here the narration is relatively objective. Or a film's plot may give us access to what characters see and hear.” In Slumdog Millionaire (2008), protagonist Jamal remembers his past while shown participating in the quiz. Flashbacks fade in or out or are intercut with his presence on stage. (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:91)  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “We might see shots taken from a character's optical standpoint, or we might hear sounds as the character would hear them, what sound recordists call sound perspective. Visual or auditory point of view offers a degree of subjectivity, one we might call perceptual subjectivity. There is the possibility of still greater depth if the plot plunges into the character's mind. We might hear an internal voice reporting the character's thoughts, or we might see the character's inner images, representing memory, fantasy, dreams, or hallucinations. This can be termed mental subjectivity. In such ways, narrative films can present story information at various depths of the character's psychological life. But some imaginary actions may not be so strongly marked.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:91) Suppressed cues for subjectivity in Slumdog Millionaire: Furious with Salim, Jamal grabs him and rushes toward the edge of the building. Several shots present their fall, but then the narration cuts back to Jamal, glaring at Salim. This shot reveals that he only imagined killing both of them.  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “Does a restricted range of knowledge create a greater subjective depth? Not necessarily. Range and depth of knowledge are independent variables. Manipulating the depth of knowledge can achieve many purposes. Plunging to the depths of mental subjectivity can increase our sympathy for a character and can cue stable expectations about what the characters will later say or do. A plot can create curiosity about a character's motives and then use some degree of subjectivity - for example, inner commentary or subjective flashback - to explain the cause of the behaviour. At any moment in a film, we can ask, “How deeply do I know the characters’ perceptions, feelings, and thoughts?” The answer will point directly to how the filmmaker has chosen to present or withhold story information in order to achieve a formal function or a specific effect on the viewer. Most films insert subjective moments into an overall framework of objectivity. We can then ask about what effects the narration has on us, the viewers.” (Adapted from Bordwell and Thompson 2010:92-93)  RANGE OF STORY INFORMATION “Flashbacks offer a fascinating instance of the overarching power of objective narration. They are usually motivated as mental subjectivity, since the events we see are triggered by a character's recalling the past. Yet, once we are inside the flashback, events will typically be presented from a wholly objective standpoint. They will usually be presented in an unrestricted fashion, too, and may even include action that the remembering character could have no way of knowing. The manipulation of story information is not just a matter of what action takes place in the film. Any choice about range or depth affects how the spectator thinks and feels about the film as it progresses.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98) Example: Tsotsi remembers his mother. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4IdlUpnQQI  THE NARRATOR “Narration is the process by which the plot presents story information to the spectator. This process may shift between restricted and unrestricted ranges of knowledge and varying degrees of objectivity and subjectivity. Narration may also use a narrator, some specific agent who purports to be telling us the story. The narrator may be a character in the story. The Michael Moore films on firearm use in the USA are narrated by Moore as character narrator. A film can also use a noncharacter narrator. The narrator in Hoop Dreams is never introduced, merely functions a voice that ties the stories together. Noncharacter narrators are common in documentaries. Fictional films may employ this device, as well.” (Adapted from Bordwell and Thompson 2010:93) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2NgEi-BeNU  THE NARRATOR The Road Warrior (also known as Mad Max 2) offers a neat summary of how narration contributes to a film’s overall effect. At certain points in the film, director George Miller and writers Terry Hayes and Brian Hannant chose to supply information that builds expectations and help us grasp the story. At other points, they decided to withhold information for the sake of surprise. The plot opens with a voiceover commentary by an elderly male narrator who recalls “the warrior Max.” After presenting exposition that tells of the worldwide wars that led society to degenerate into gangs of scavengers, the narrator falls silent.” The question of his identity is left unanswered.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:96) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdv5EtZQ6jg  CHARACTER AND NONCHARACTER NARRATORS “A film may play on the character/noncharacter distinction by making the source of a narrating voice uncertain. Note that either sort of narrator may present various sorts of narration. A character narrator is not necessarily restricted and may tell of events that she or he did not witness. A noncharacter narrator need not be omniscient and could confine the commentary to what a single character knows. A character narrator might be highly subjective, telling us details of his or her inner life, or might be objective, confining his or her recounting strictly to externals. In any case, the viewer’s process of picking up cues, developing expectations, and constructing an ongoing story out of the plot will be partially shaped by what the narrator tells or doesn’t tell.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:96)  FILMIC DEVICES USED FOR RESTRICTED NARRATION “ Point-of-view shot: The camera position and movement simulate the visuals seen by the character’s eye, shots are “taken from a character’s optical standpoint, the point-of-view (POV) shot.” (Bordwell and Thomson 2010:90) Sound perspective: Viewers hear what the character does, both voices and soundtrack. Perceptual subjectivity: Viewer sees what the character sees: an optical point-of-view shot. “Perceptual subjectivity in North by Northwest. Roger Thornhill looks into Van Damm’s window (objective narration)and an optical point-of-view shot follows (perceptual subjectivity).This is followed by another shot of Roger looking (objectivity again).” ( adapted from Bordwell and Thomson 2010:90)  FILMIC DEVICES USED FOR RESTRICTED NARRATION “Mental subjectivity: the plot explores the character’s mind, viewer sees and hears what the character experiences, even if only imagined. The illusion of “magic”, hallucinations, “hearing voices”, unstable state of mind are created by various means of camera angles and camera movements, lighting, sound effects, costume, acting and set décor, emphasised by post- production digital work such as colour grading.” (adapted from Bordwell and Thomson 2010:90) Robert Zemeckis', Castaway(2000) https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/01/07/on-being-a-castaway/  THE CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CINEMA “The tradition is called “classical” because it has been influential since about 1920 and “Hollywood” because the tradition assumed its most elaborate shape in American studio films. The same mode, however, governs narrative films made in other countries. For example, The Road Warrior, although an Australian film, is constructed along classical Hollywood lines.” Even “many documentaries, such as Primary or Super Size Me rely on conventions derived from Hollywood’s fictional narratives. Typically, the plot focuses on one or two central characters who want something. Characters’ desires set up a goal, and the course of the narrative’s development will most likely involve the process of achieving that goal. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has a series of goals; at first she wants to save Toto from Miss Gulch, and later she seeks to get home from Oz. Her desire to get home creates short-term goals along the way, such as getting to the Emerald City and then killing the Witch. If this desire to reach a goal were the only element present, there would be nothing to stop the character from moving quickly to achieve it. (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98)  https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Strike “If this desire to reach a goal were the only element present, there would be nothing to stop the character from moving quickly to achieve it. But in the classical narrative there’s a blocking element: an opposition that creates conflict. Typically, the protagonist comes up against a character with opposing traits and goals. As a result, the protagonist must overcome the opposition. Dorothy’s desire to return to Kansas is opposed by the Wicked Witch, whose goal is to obtain the Ruby Slippers. Dorothy must eventually eliminate the Witch before she is able to use the slippers to go home.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98) Image sourced from Corrigan and White (2015:223).  THE CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CINEMA Many fairytales and legends are based on predictable story templates and the exaggeration of personal characteristics. Read about the principles of narrative as defined by Vladimir Propp, in this summary. https://www.movieoutline.com/articles/vladimir-propp-narratemes-and-morphology-of-the-folktale.html. “His Girl Friday shows how the two main characters’ goals conflict until the final resolution. The classical plot traces a process of change. Often characters achieve their goals by changing their situation —perhaps they gain fame or money or just survival — but they also change their attitudes or values. At the end of Jerry Maguire, the hero has found a measure of professional success but also has learned the value of friendship and a loving family.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98) Milk traces the activism of a gay man to have homosexual people recognised as senators. Image sourced from Corrigan and White (2015:223).  SOVIET AND JAPANESE EXAMPLES OF NARRATIVES “But don’t all narratives tell stories of this sort? – Actually, no. In 1920s Soviet films, such as Sergei Eisenstein’s Potemkin, October, and Strike, no individual serves as protagonist. In films by Eisenstein and Yasujiro Ozu (social change after WW2, in The Tokyo Story), many events are seen as caused not by characters but by larger forces (social dynamics in the former, an overarching rhythm of life in the latter).” “In narrative films such as Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura, the protagonists are not active but rather passive. A filmmaker need not put the striving, goal-oriented protagonist at the center of a film’s story.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98) https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tokyo_story/reviews?intcm p=rt-what-to-know_read-critics-reviews https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Strike  THE CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CINEMA: CAUSE-EFFECT “Classical Hollywood filmmakers tend to let psychological causes motivate most events. Throughout, motivation in the classical narrative film strives to be as clear and complete as possible — even in the fanciful genre of the musical, in which song-and-dance numbers express the characters’ emotions or display stage shows featuring the characters. When there are discontinuities of character traits, those need explaining. In one scene of Hannah and Her Sisters, Mickey (played by Woody Allen) is in a suicidal depression. When we next see him several scenes later, he is bubbly and cheerful. What caused the abrupt change? Mickey explains via a flashback that he achieved a serene attitude toward life while watching a Marx Brothers film. Now the cause-effect pattern is clear. In creating a classical film, the filmmakers adjust time to fit the cause-effect progress of the story. Every instant shows something that contributes to the flow of the story, and stretches of time that don’t contribute are skipped over.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98)  THE CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD CINEMA TIME AND CAUSE-EFFECT For example, in The Wizard of Oz, the hours Dorothy and her entourage spend walking on the Yellow Brick Road are omitted, but the plot dwells on the moments during which she meets a new character. Specific narrative devices such as appointments and deadlines make plot time depend on the story’s cause– effect chain as well. When characters agree to meet and then we see them meeting, the stretch of time between the plan and the meeting becomes insignificant. Similarly, a deadline forces the action to reach a certain stage at a specific time. (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:98-99) https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/movies/11karate.html https://www.silveremulsion.com/2011/01/28/the-karate-kid-2010/ ENDINGS “most classical filmmakers prefer a strong degree of closure at the end. Leaving few loose ends unresolved, the films seek to wrap things clearly. We usually learn the fate of each character, the answer to each mystery, and the outcome of each conflict. This ensures that audience members have clear cues as to the story, and that films remain predictable within each genre, for which the film industry will continue to create more products, thus ensuring a stable market.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:99)  ALTERNATIVE FILM STRUCTURES “Again, none of these features is a law of narrative form in general. There is nothing to prevent a filmmaker from presenting the dead time, or narratively unmotivated intervals between more significant events. Jean-Luc Godard, Carl Dreyer, and Andy Warhol do this frequently, in different ways. The filmmaker’s plot can also reorder story chronology to make the causal chain more perplexing. Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet’s Not Reconciled moves back and forth among three widely different time period without clearly signaling the shifts.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:99) Run Lola Run has three versions of the story, or parallel plots, where the protagonist has to make different decisions while trying to save her boy- friend’s life in 20 minutes. This is a very tight deadline structure, combined with an parallel plot narrative. (Image from Corrigan and White 2015:234)  ALTERNATIVE FILM STRUCTURES Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind uses flashforwards and flashbacks with the main plot action; Only gradually do we come to understand the causal relations of these to the present-time events. The ending maintains the sense of ambiguity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-QBnEkgXU “Puzzle films tease the audience to find clues to enigmatic presentation of story events.” (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:99) ALTERNATIVE FILM STRUCTURES The filmmaker can also include material that is unmotivated by narrative cause and effect, such as the chance meetings in Truffaut’s films, the political monologues and interviews in Godard’s films, the intellectual montage sequences in Eisenstein’s films, and the transitional shots in Ozu’s work. Narration may be unexpectedly subjective, as in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, or it may hover ambiguously between objectivity and subjectivity, as in Last Year at Marienbad. Finally, the filmmaker need not resolve all of the action at the end; films made outside the classical tradition sometimes have open endings like that of The 400 Blows. (Bordwell and Thompson 2010:99) Note the absence of shadows except for persons in this memory scene.  AMBIGUOUS ENDINGS In films using alternatives to the classic Hollywood structure, the ending may leave the audience guessing as to which parts of the plot really happened or were falsely stated by a character (e.g. in The usual suspects) and which are figments of a character’s imagination, often under some form of psychological pressure. The Life of Pi shows the protagonist answering questions from his hospital bed. After the long period at sea that he survived, his mind is not always stable and he narrates various events differently. It is left to the viewer to reconstruct his experiences and form some conclusion as to what actually happened on the lifeboat. Image sourced from Corrigan and White 2015:232