Theory

AIDAN HARRISON

Tzvetan Todorov
Equilibrium there is peace and we are just meeting the characters and understanding the setting. 2. Disruption of the equilibrium there is a problem that has just been introduced. 3. Recognition of the disruption now the characters are starting to understand what the problem is. 4. Attempting to restore the equilibrium the characters attempt to repair the damage that has been done. 5. New equilibrium this now means the problem has been resolved and life can now continue as it was. This theory is applied in film making very frequently as it is a fairly simple way to structure a narrative, I think I will use this as it will help in the less complex parts of planning my narrative as it will give me the base for my narrative. From this I can then move on and develop my narrative to make it more complex.
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Vladimir Propp
Vladimir came up with the theory that there always had to be certain

characters with in the narrative. 1. Protagonist is usually the leader of the narrative and is most likely looking for something or trying to solve something and be heroic. 2. Antagonist the antagonist usually gets in the protagonists way or creates the problem that is trying to be solved. 3. Heroine - Is usually some sort of prize or reward for the hero. If your hero is female, your heroine can be male. 4. Father an authority figure that offers some form of reward for the hero. 5. Helper helps the hero, same as a sidekick. 6. Donor gives the hero something to help with there quest such as a clue. 7. Mentor teaches and guides the hero so they can complete their quest. I think I will be able to use this in my film once it comes to thinking about characters I can build my characters on these descriptions, all of these are used in gangster films as there is a lot of assistance for either the antagonist or the protagonist such as sidekick for example Tommy in snatch is a helper/sidekick for Turkish.

Claude Levi-Strauss
Levi-Strauss developed a theory after lots of research into how we

interpret the world, people and events. He discovered that we see everything with binary opposites. He realised that all narratives are organised through the conflict of such binary opposites. There are a lot of binary opposites I can 1. Good v evil use in narrative as it is the best way to 2. Black v white show conflict and the relationship 3. Peace v war between two opposites. A common one 4. Boy v girl that will most likely be used in my film is 5. Civilised v savage good v evil for example the police v 6. Young v old gangsters. Also strong v weak is very 7. Man v nature common with in gangster films as it is all 8. Motivator v observer about understanding the dominant 9. Strong v weak character and they are portrayed to be 10. Ignorance v wisdom strong.

Roland Barthes
Barthess narrative theory was that a narrative can be looked at from various

viewpoints and be interpreted many ways so it has many meanings. He broke it up into 5 codes; 1. The hermeneutic code this is where the story avoids telling the truth and drops clues through out to create mystery. 2. The enigma code this is the way that tension is built up to allow the audience to guess what's going to happen next. 3. The semantic code this code points to any element of a narrative that gives an additional meaning. 4. The cultural code look at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology. 5. The symbolic code very similar to the semantic code but on a wider scale, organizing additional meanings into larger and deeper sets of meaning. Usually the additional meaning arises from opposing or conflict ideas. I can definitely embed some of these codes into my narrative as they will help structure it. For example the enigma code as applying this will keep the audience intrigued. Also the semantic and symbolic can help to create realism as there are more things going on and the audience feel part of the bigger picture and understand what's going on elsewhere with in the narrative.