Narratives and Non Linear and Linear

Narrative Structures

Todorov's theory consists of 5 stages, these stages are:

1. Equilibrium everything as it should be.

2. Disruption which something happens, that disrupts the peace/norm

3. Recognition realisation that disruption has occurred

4. Repair an attempt to repair the disruption

5. NEW equilibrium a restored order

A Linear narrative is film the follows a chronological pattern, majority of films use a linear narrative construct, whereas other films that do not follow this pattern is categorised into Non-Linear, this can be easily spotted by techniques such as flashbacks. I will be firstly analysing Linear Narratives first in the paragraph below.

                                     An example of a Linear film would be: Avatar (2009).

This screenshot shows the main character entering the virtual machine to be transported to his avatar.

This screenshot shows the protagonist on a mission after entering the new body. This was right after him entering the virtual machine, by doing this it gives the audience a straight thrill and it entertains them through the continuous plot instead of giving flashbacks as it is not as intriguing, because the storyline is interesting especially in sci-fi films the audience would want to know what is going to happen next so by using a Linear Narrative there is no delay.

Audience benefits from this because they may of scene the pre-sequel and if the new film changes up the narrative the audience may not like it or the film may lose its certain style/touch. But films like hunger games people watch it because of the plot where Katniss the protagonist wants to change up things so people do not become tied up with rules and the government and the audience follows behind Katniss and wants her to achieve this therefore having a Linear narrative is perfect.

A Non Linear film is a film that does not follow a chronological order, a non-linear film uses techniques like flashbacks:

By using flashbacks this gives a better understanding to why something is happening as it unfolds the story in a unique way, similar to like consequential-ism theory,  The use of flashback gives the audience ‘back story’ and a additional understanding.

You can get a richer story by using non-linear which may appeal to the audience more as it could have a unique style.

Non linear films are popular amongst action films where a scenario where a character is almost about to die and his flashback shows how far he has come and it encourages him to not give up therefore the reinforces his strength and resolve therefore engages the audience and possibly give them a personal identification as relation to how the characters represents the past or current self therefore making it realistic. 

Another example:
Scott pilgrim Vs the world really benefits from a non linear, Scott the protagonist gets a lot of second chances to change the plot of the film because of the decisions he has made because of this the audience gains a pleasure of completion or beating the bad guy and prevents a ending of a different outcome which isn't as great where the bad guy dominates instead of Scott.

Call sheets

Production schdule

Weekly production

For this weeks weekly production meeting we discussed the location of where we were going to film, at first we wanted to use someone's house but we couldn't get hold of anybody willing forehence we next decided to film on the first sofa when we enter the 3rd floor of sixth form but we realised we could not turn the lights off therefore it would be inconvenient for us to show the female character watching tv so we changed locations once again to the sofas next to the kitchen which we got permission of Mr Wilson and the lighting is perfect. Filming in the sixth form mean that there might be a lot of noise constraints such as traffic from people walking by but however this will ensure us that we will get the best out of lessons since the filming location is on campus meaning that we have more time to perfect each shot. Nonetheless if this doesn't work out we can still choose to change locations.

job sheet

weeekly 3

This weeks production meeting we discussed the availability of our actors, at first we was going to use Ibrahim as the male actor in our film but his time schedule didn't fit in with ours therefore we are going to use Omario in year 13 because he is able to make the schedule. We also discussed the most suited camera angle for our film, we are going to shoot in a high angle in relation to the superiority of the male character towards the female. We are going to prioritise the female character by focusing the camera most of the time on the facial expressions or whatever shots needed at most time compared to showing the male character to a minimum, by doing this it puts the audience in the shoes of the main character as she is abused by the male character, this portrays that the female is scared to look directly in the males eyes. We plan to follow our storyboard, and each box would be 1-2 scenes which will last approximately 20 seconds.

Weekly last

This week our group discussed how we are going to edit our clips together in one place and checked if we have the correct scenes in place. I were to contribute to the majority of the editing as i had previous experience with editing software before.

In terms of time management i think we handle it pretty well, the clips we got sufficed as it finishes to the whole plot-line, however some shots were a little 'wobbly' which may not be as noticable but however if we were to re-film it, we may not find another day where all of us are available as we are to create an addition production schedule plan.