UNIT 2 - STORY FORMS
Unit 2 is all about story and the varying forms it takes across many different platforms. Story is fundamental to humanity. Some say it is fundamental to human thinking because everything is a story we construct. What you learnt about story in Unit 1 is foundational. It will be important in all stories you construct or respond to for the rest of your course.
You will learn about the underlying structure of stories and the ways that they communicate meanings using technical and symbolic codes. You will also learn about the genre conventions of stories, and the ways these change according to contexts.
Stories are ultimately produced for audiences. It is audiences who play a key role in creating meaning out of them. By engaging with stories, audiences also gain a range of benefits in their own lives. You will learn some of the techniques of engaging with audiences.
Stories are systems of meaning. The ways that meanings are represented in stories can influence the ways audiences think about things. You will learn how media representations of people, places, events, ideas and emotions are constructed. Learning how others make representations will allow you to make your own.
By the end of Unit 2, you will have made a production using genre conventions. You will have also carefully analysed and appraised the way others have used representations and story conventions to appeal to audiences.
AREAS OF STUDY
REPRESENTATIONS: How do representations function in story forms?
AUDIENCES: How does the relationship between story forms and meaning change in different contexts?
LANGUAGE: How are media languages used to construct stories?
ABOUT STORY
We have been telling each other stories since the beginning of time. the media are just the most recent entrants on the storytelling scene. While each medium uses story, it is film that has made storytelling its primary role.
A narrative is often defined as a way of expressing a chain of events in a cause-and-effect relationship occurring in time and space. Put another way, a narrative is a construction that, for a period of time, tells a sequence of events with a particular setting. Narratives begin with characters in a situation. An event causes a change that results in a snowballing series of effects. Finally, the changes come to rest in a new situation that brings about the end of the story.
Difference between narrative, story and plot
In casual discussion, people use the terms 'narrative', 'story' and 'plot' interchangeably. The meanings are so similar that usually there is no problem doing this. However in the study of narrative, it is necessary at time to define what separates each term.
NARRATIVE: This is the way the entire storyline is communicated to the audience. For instance, a film has a different narrative approach from that of a novel. Both may deal with the same story, but the way it is communicated to the audience is different.
STORY: Events that have happened and characters who exist but are not shown on screen are still part of the story. This refers to all the events that have ever happened in the world of the story. The story includes events that are shown on screen, together with those that are not. Example MCU.
PLOT: The part of the story that happens on screen is called the plot. This can also include material that the characters cannot see or hear but the audience can (non-diegetic material). This may include the musical score, titles cards and voice over narration (from a source other than one of the characters). Can you think of any films with non character narrators?
In combination. These definitions lead to a narrative equation that illustrates how story, plot and narrative fit together and get presented to an audience.
NARRATIVE = (way audience is told) Story + Plot.
STORY is the presumed and inferred events as well as events is presented.
PLOT is the presented events along with added non-diegetic material.
SHOW LATE!
Diegesis - world of the story
The ancient Greeks originally called the narrated world of the story the diegesis. In modern narrative film theory, the diegesis is the whole world of the story, including the characters, setting and events. it also includes the inferred aspects of the story (those not shown). Everything on the screen that is part of the world of the story is the diegsis. All films contain elements that are both diegetic and non-diegetic. The audience sees and hears the world of the characters, but also some things that the characters cannot hear or see. For the audience, the total film experience includes the following:
DIEGETIC ELEMENTS. Anything within the world of the story is a diegetic element. If the actors can hear it or see it, then it is diegetic. Gunshots, street noises or sounds of a band playing on- or off- stage are diegetic if they occur in the world of the actors. Can you think of any films that have diegetic music?
NON-DIEGETIC ELEMENTS. Anything outside the world of the story is non-diegetic. Anything added by the director that the audience can hear or see, but the actors cannot, is regarded as non-diegetic. For example, romantic orchestral soundtracks and voice-over narration are non-diegetic elements. Characters cannot see titles, credits and inter-title cards. They are not part of the world of the story, even though they add to the audience's experience of the narrative.
In pairs:
What are some memorable moments in film narrative that really moved you?
What are some moments of high excitement in film narrative that have almost produced a bodily reaction?
When are times when the filmmakers have suspended disbelief, you have been completely taken in, or you have had to actively remind yourself that 'this isn't real'?