Evaluation - Narrative theory

James and I decided to restrict our narrative due to it being a trailer and we didn't want to give too much away. We knew that it would make the audience curious and want to watch the whole film. 
We see our trailer as a point of view of two characters, with some shots being other point of view. We knew that either point of view would work for our trailer idea but we felt that having an objective point of view would be overcomplicated to produce and is very much rare to find in modern day media.

Todorov's Narrative theory

Todorov produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He stated that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1.      A state of equilibrium - (All is as it should be.)

2.     A disruption of that order by an event - (Me disappearing)

3.     A recognition that the disorder has occurred - (Kidnap? Death? etc...)

4.     An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption - (James trying to find me)

5.     A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium - (All back to normal? I die? etc...)

This was predominantly produced by Todorov for a movie piece of text but still can be applied to a trailer with the exception of the last step as that is giving too much away. We wanted to make our trailer conventional but also wanted to differentiate it by not following all the steps. We felt that this would help the audience ask more questions in which were one of the factors that we had identified to say whether the trailer was a success or not.

We followed steps 1, 2, and 4 but left out 3 and 5. The reason we left out step number 3 was that it would get the audience asking about how I disappeared. This tells the audience that the film includes the answer and they should watch it. We still wanted to keep the trailer fairly conventional as we didn't want the audience to ask too many questions as it could be argued that we didn't include enough information and hence we followed three steps. We don't know much about where I disappeared or how James will find me but we know it’s based around the cemetery which we felt was adequate information but still possess enough unanswered questions consequently building interest in the movie.

Propp's character theory

Vladimir Propp developed a character theory, for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:

1.             The villain (struggles against the hero - we don't come across him/her in the trailer)

2.            The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object - not used)

3.            The helper (helps the hero in the quest - was me at the start until I disappeared)

4.            The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative - not used but can be argued I was, as James was fighting the villain to find and rescue me)

5.            The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil - not used)

6.            The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero of - James as he realised himself he needs to save me)

7.            The hero (AKA victim, reacts to the donor, weds the princess - James)

Barthes’ Enigma Code

Barthes theory suggests that there certain elements of the story that are not explained on purpose. This can be done in three ways. These ways are:

·        Snares- Deliberately avoiding the truth (Used when James didn’t consent to me being kidnapped or killed)

·        Equivocations- partial or incomplete answers (used this at the car scene at the end)

·        Jamming- openly acknowledge that there is no answer to a problem (used this when I disappear)

The purpose of the director doing this is to keep the audience guessing, eye-catching the mystery, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

Binary oppositions- Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi Strauss's theory suggests that the relationship between conflict and opposition creates the narrative where the narrative can only end with the resolution of this conflict; whether it is positive or negative, for example - Good vs. Evil, Black vs. White, Boy vs. Girl, and Peace vs. War etc.

Our trailer has an origin opposition as it could be argued that James wants to find me because I am a close friend of his. Whether it is that he wants to find me because I am his friend or because he wants to find answers to his project. The trailer does not give it away so therefore I struggled to link this theory with our trailer.

Overall, these narrative theories have been helpful when looking at how conventional our trailer is. I can conclude that our trailer can be classed as conventional with some deliberate unconventional aspects that differentiate our trailer to any other trailer available. For example, we don’t find the recognition of the disorder but I feel as if it makes our trailer unique.