Narrative Notes

Your independent learning task is to read a section of Suzanne Speidel's essay on Narrative HERE.

See your selected part below. You will be expected to take short notes, but deliver fully to the class with the help of your tutor on Friday. 

Jacob  80 - 82

Antonia 82 - 85

Leighton 85 - 87

Evie 87 - 91

Finn 91 - 97

Ethan 97 - 102

New Waves

This article on New Waves

Recap Narrative

Task: Read 'notes on narrative' below to remind yourself of the concept. 
Split a page in half, top to bottom. Using the list of prompts below, we are going to revisit a mainstream American film to study the narrative. Then we will look closely at our experimental choice and compare.

Notes on Narrative

The concept of narrative is largely concerned with the story of a film, although several distinctions need to be made between narrative, story, and plot. Narrative is largely the practice or art of telling stories: a representation of a particular situation or process in such a way as to reflect or conform to an overarching set of aims or values. The storyline is the plot of a novel, play, film, or other narrative form and plot is the main events of a play, novel, film, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. Therefore, selecting the order of events into a story is a narrative. The study of narrative is one way of examining the story of a film and exploring how it is structured, ordered and why this has been done. Narrative also asks the viewer to consider from whose viewpoint we are experiencing the story and whether this has an effect on what we see, hear and experience. For example, does the way in which the narrative is presented withhold information from us or only present things from the perspective of a character? Tightly aligned with editing, narrative is a complex and highly ambiguous aspect of film studies.

The study of narrative also incorporates genre Genre can be defined as a style or category of film whereby, developed over time, socially- agreed tropes and conventions help to depict categories. Genre is eminently fluid and often a film may straddle the distinction of many genres. In exploring and analysing genre, a useful starting point is to typically identify key characteristics of genres. These are more commonly referred to as the 'Repertoire of Elements' 

A study of narrative looks at, for example:
• Representation of time
• Use of narration/voiceover
• How dialogue propels the narrative
• Creation of drama or action
• Character development – heroes and villains, ambiguity
• Character alignment and identification
• How narratives present an ideological viewpoint
• Enigma codes
• Generic narratives and formulas
• Binary Oppositions


Questions on Narrative

* Who is the film about?
* When does it take place?
* Where does it take place?
* What happens? And how does it happen?
• How is time manipulated in the film?
• Is the plot linear or nonlinear?
• Are there flashbacks or flash-forwards?
• Is the plot episodic? Is it circular?
• Where and when does the film start?
• Where and when does it end?
• Do various storylines interweave at various plot points?
• Do characters evolve in an arc?
• Does the film follow the traditional three-act structure?
• Are their ellipses? 
• How do the mise en scene, cinematography, editing, and sound contribute to the development of the narrative?
• Is there repetition or a framing sequence, perhaps with an actual narrator?
• Are their clear conflicts built into the film
• Is the film ideological in terms of its narrative construction?
• Is there a twist?
• Is their an enigma in the setup - a problem to be resolved?
• Are characters in conflict?
• How is the story told through narrative techniques (flashbacks/forwards, pov,
chronology, enigma, voiceover)
• What character types are created?
• Who is the audience encouraged to identify with/dislike? What are the ideological implications of this?
• Is the film narrative linear or nonlinear/chronological/multistrand?
• Does the text follow a conventional equilibrium/disruption or re-equilibrium structure or does it do something more unconventional?
• How are drama and tension created?
• Does the film’s genre shape its narrative?
• Film poetics: What is the shot by shot relationship? How have the shots been edited together and what is the impact of this?

Recap Auteurs and Auteur Theory

Class task:
Look back at your notes on auteur from your Hollywood comparison study. Evidence the following questions then feed your responses back to the whole class:

• Define auteur
• To what extent is Hollywood studio filmmaking more of a collaboration?
• Can you think of auteurs who work in Hollywood yet still create personal films and have a distinct auteur
trademark?
• Do you think that working outside of a large studio and producing more experimental films may give a director more freedom?


Independent Learning task - Experimental Auteurs.
Produce a report on your director/maker that investigates:
- What are the director's key films
- What are the director's trademarks
- What makes the director 'experimental?
- What are the director's key motivations when making experimental film
- Who does the director collaborate with and what do they contribute
- Show the group an absolutely typical scene from your director and talk about why this is so quintessentially them.

Leighton - David Lynch
Ethan - Vera Chytilova
Finn - Stan Brakhage
Antonia - Quentin Tarantino
Evie - Lem Lye
Jacob - Jean Luc Goddard

Deadline Monday.
Have fun.

October Interim Test - Revision Resources

Link to doc HERE

Playlist for Silent Film (Keaton's 2 reelers and educational films)

Intro to Silent Film

American Silent Comedy - Read THIS

Don Letts - Skinhead Documentary

This Is England - Opening sequence task

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XK6TI_s3DseJXp4hiKWyc6CQw6IEWOKE
Use the link to access the worksheets :)
Due in on Friday.

Ideology Essay

Gramsci - Hegemony (homework)

Watch the short film essay and take Cornell Notes. Bring to the lesson on Monday 14th for a test.

Semiotics / Denotation and Connotation

3 Audeince Theories

Binary Opposition

Dominant Ideology

Filmaboutit.com is a great site for search film of any theme :) 

Task
Attempt to link beliefs to specific events/characters in films you have seen. 
How does the film form construct these messages?
Try some films from this list or choose your own examples.

Carol
Fast and Furious 9
Wonder Woman
Baywatch
Little Miss Sunshine
American Assassin

Example: 

Film: Carol

Belief: LGBTQ relationships are as valid as heterosexual ones.

How have the producers utilised film form to construct the message? (Cinematography, editing, sound, mise-en-scene)

A sense of intimacy and intense emotion is created by the use of music in the trailer and cuts between CU of the two lovers staring at each other. Their relationship is presented in traditional ‘romantic’ style: as ‘star-crossed lovers’ who are rebelling against society for their love. The disapproval of other people is shown followed by the protagonists’ faces looking upset. We are encouraged to identify with the women and feel both their love and their pain. The sexual element of their relationship is downplayed to encourage (male) audiences to empathise rather than objectify the lesbian characters.

Key Terms - Spectatorship 1 and 'Unpicking Question' HWK

Task 1
An example question could be: 
How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes of your chosen films? 

Unpick the questions and bring your notes to lesson on Friday.

• What is an ideological analysis? 
• What can we use for it? 
• What are the themes of the films? (Captain Fantastic and No Country For Old Men.) 
• Has using this political this analysis been valuable? If so, how?

Task 2 
Revise the Spectatorship terms for a test on Friday.

Karl Marx / Superheroes and Ideology - Homework

Watch both short film essays and take Cornell Notes. Bring to the lesson on Monday 30th for a test.

Key Terms - Ideology and Film 2

Please revise for a test on Friday the 27th of April.

Captain Fantastic - Contextual Research

Key Terms - Ideology and film 1

Please revise for a test on Monday the 23rd of April.

Captain Fantastic Viewing Booklet - homework

Please complete the following viewing booklet for Captain Fantastic over the next week and bring to the lesson on Friday the 20th of April.
Do not attempt to do it from memory, rewatch the specific scenes and make notes using the viewing booklet template HERE

If you can't find it online - Captain Fantastic is on my Dropbox is HERE and on the school student shared area in Film Studies > Films.

You may also want to make up an original name for yourself so that you are unique :)

Students do... Background research for Captain Fantastic

Student Essay Plan - Section A: Hollywood 1930-1990

Click Here for a plan for the Hollywood 1930-1990 essay. Feel free to use it as a guide to structure your response.

We will gather the correct notes and plan during Monday's lesson. 

Your homework will be to write your essay. Handed in next lesson.

Friday's lesson will consist of your writing the paper again in 50 mins, exam conditions.

Unpick and Plan the Auteur question.

Worksheet HERE

Film Noir

Watch the Film Noir video essay. 
Take Cornell notes, you will need the information for your exam.

Discuss.

Visual analysis of Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack - homework.

Watch the 8-minute video essay.
Take Cornell notes
Bring to the lesson on Monday.

On The Edge of 'Blade Runner' | Mark Kermode

Ridley Scott Homework

Exam question (just FYI): Compare how far your chosen films reflect the auteur signature features of their filmmakers. [40]

The exam question will ask you to take into account both Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and Ridley Scott's Bladerunner. 

Watch the youtube clip above and - more importantly - read THIS essay. Make notes using this grid as a guide.

Due in Friday 19th Jan.

German Expressionism film

Task: Watch the short video essays below and use Cornell notes to gather and summarise your research.

Top 10 Hitchcock Films

Falling for Hitchcock

The Masters Touch - Hitchcock's Signature Style

Exam question: Compare how far your chosen films reflect the auteur signature features of their filmmakers. [40]

The exam question will ask you to take into account both Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and Ridley Scott's Bladerunner. 

Watch the documentary and make notes using this grid as a guide.