Narratology is the study of how stories are put together. It involves the study of various terms we already know: such as genre, narrative structures, storytelling strategies, conventions, and symbols.
A little rhetoric: narratologists/English majors, critics, writers, etc. are interested in the ways in which writers get ideas, then send or ENCODE their ideas into stories, which are then sent to us (the viewer, in film's case) to communicate the idea (DECODE). It's the communication process we discussed from 9th grade!
Film, just like fiction, works in a similar way. We can have a first-person POV: a character whose VOICE-OVER tells the narration, or an almost invisible 3rd person POV, often mistaken for the writer.
In REALISTIC films, the 3rd person POV narrator is almost invisible. Events speak for themselves. A train pulling into a station or a the landscape of New York's skyline (actualities) should be taken at face-value. There's nothing tricky in this. What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).
In CLASSICAL films, we know there is a writer, or in film's case, often, many writers. This writer is referred to as the AUTEUR, and may include more than one creative voice.
In FORMALISTIC films, the author or AUTEUR is manipulative, heightening or restructuring "reality" to maximize meaning or thematic content. The story is often told from a subjective POV.
As viewers, we should be aware of the kind of film we are watching.
HOMEWORK: This weekend, try to fill out the CONCEPT CREATION worksheet. We'll play around with a few of these in the next few days. Eventually, one of these concepts will be used to create a script.
A little rhetoric: narratologists/English majors, critics, writers, etc. are interested in the ways in which writers get ideas, then send or ENCODE their ideas into stories, which are then sent to us (the viewer, in film's case) to communicate the idea (DECODE). It's the communication process we discussed from 9th grade!
Film, just like fiction, works in a similar way. We can have a first-person POV: a character whose VOICE-OVER tells the narration, or an almost invisible 3rd person POV, often mistaken for the writer.
In REALISTIC films, the 3rd person POV narrator is almost invisible. Events speak for themselves. A train pulling into a station or a the landscape of New York's skyline (actualities) should be taken at face-value. There's nothing tricky in this. What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).
In CLASSICAL films, we know there is a writer, or in film's case, often, many writers. This writer is referred to as the AUTEUR, and may include more than one creative voice.
In FORMALISTIC films, the author or AUTEUR is manipulative, heightening or restructuring "reality" to maximize meaning or thematic content. The story is often told from a subjective POV.
As viewers, we should be aware of the kind of film we are watching.
HOMEWORK: This weekend, try to fill out the CONCEPT CREATION worksheet. We'll play around with a few of these in the next few days. Eventually, one of these concepts will be used to create a script.
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