A narrative theory is the way a story/narrative is told in both fictional and non-fiction texts.
I will be using a JawSplitter Productions teaser trailer for 'The Enthrallment' to discuss the narrative theories embedded into it. I picked this trailer. to discuss because in my opinion, this was the best trailer out of all of them due to the well edited trailer as well as the location and mise-en-scene. From what I can tell, the narrative theory of Binary Opposites by Levi Strauss. A trailer should typically only reveal the equilibrium and disruption, by revealing the resolution gives the whole plot away which defeats the purpose of a trailer. In my summer trailer done with my production team, it can be seen it is a non-linear trailer as the trailer is not in chronological order which causes mystery.
Tzvetan Todorov, a narrative theorist who came up with the theory suggesting that most narratives start with an equilibrium which is normal life, everything going well which is then ruined by the disruption which has to be fought to be bring back the equilibrium, if this is successful it is called the resolution. In our summer trailer we only included the disruption, this is to keep the trailer mysterious as well as not giving a lot away. Our trailer did not follow the rules of being linear which means it was non-linear, this is the same for 'The Enthrallment' trailer as they did not show the stages in chronological order as they placed the start of the disruption first and throughout the trailer. One example from my summer trailer is the beginning of the video, you can tell the characters are running away from something which then leads them to falling over. This suggests the 'thing' they were running away from caught up to them because of the screaming at the end of it. This shows us that it was the disruption, making it non-linear.
This theory is applicable to nearly every horror trailer (& film), for example, it is identifiable in the trailer of Cabin in the Woods because of the calm, normal beginning (equilibrium) which then transformed in to the terror they were living (disruption).
Levi Strauss had a theory of his own, where he believed that ''the way we understood words depends on our understanding of the word', this is when he produced the theory of Binary Opposites. The reason why Strauss introduced binary opposites was to make the world easier to understand, rather than being stuck in the middle, you can choose one or the other like good vs evil. One of the most used example of binary opposites is 'good vs evil' in any horror film as this is very easy to apply to any of them due to there always being an antagonist (evil) and a protagonist (good). Binary opposites are essential to our summer trailer as we want to make it clear what kinds of evil there is in our trailer, for example, man vs woman, young vs old, sane vs insane. Furthermore, the role of 'The Final Girl' can also be seen because, at the end of the trailer, we're able to identify that the girl is the only one left, trying to resolve the situation. One example can be found in Halloween 2, we can see that there is a mix of examples, like young vs old and man vs woman.
Kate Domaille's theory states that every single narrative ever told can be fitted into one of eight types of narrative. Out of all of her 8 types of narrative, Circe which is about the chase typically seen in hero vs villain films and Faust, which is when you sell your soul to the devil are most applicable to horror films. Our trailer conforms mostly to 'Circe', because of the 'chase' to find out the killer or the 'chase' to end all chaos. However, our trailer also relates to 'Faust' as it is visible that one of the characters in our trailer has transformed into something devil-like, nothing she was before.
Vladimir Propp had a theory that said every single narrative has eight different character types, these are : The villain (fights the hero someway), the dispatcher (character who makes the evil known and sends off hero), the helper (helps hero in the quest), the princess/prize (the happily every after the hero deserves at the end of his quest), the father (gives the task to the hero), the donor (gives hero a magical object), hero (person who seeks to wed the princess), and finally, the false hero (tries to take credit for heroes actions). This theory is not very applicable to our trailer due to the small amount of content we receive from it, leaving us wondering what types of characters there are. However, I would say our characters are realistic unlike an the characters from the animated game ; Donkey Kong, which also contains this narrative theory. In both the child's game and Scream, it is visible that this narrative theory is present, in scream there is a girl to save which will become their prize (Sydney), furthermore, the hero (Dewey) is in love with her and saves her. In Donkey Kong, Mario (the hero) gets through the mushrooms (villain) to save Princess Peach (prize). This tells us that horror films are an adult version of a fairytale.
I have made use of the 'rules of narrative' by including the theories of Todorov, Strauss, Domaille and Propps, the use of editing as well as mise-en-scene makes it clear what types of characters there are as well as what kind of narrative it will be.
I will be using a JawSplitter Productions teaser trailer for 'The Enthrallment' to discuss the narrative theories embedded into it. I picked this trailer. to discuss because in my opinion, this was the best trailer out of all of them due to the well edited trailer as well as the location and mise-en-scene. From what I can tell, the narrative theory of Binary Opposites by Levi Strauss. A trailer should typically only reveal the equilibrium and disruption, by revealing the resolution gives the whole plot away which defeats the purpose of a trailer. In my summer trailer done with my production team, it can be seen it is a non-linear trailer as the trailer is not in chronological order which causes mystery.
Tzvetan Todorov, a narrative theorist who came up with the theory suggesting that most narratives start with an equilibrium which is normal life, everything going well which is then ruined by the disruption which has to be fought to be bring back the equilibrium, if this is successful it is called the resolution. In our summer trailer we only included the disruption, this is to keep the trailer mysterious as well as not giving a lot away. Our trailer did not follow the rules of being linear which means it was non-linear, this is the same for 'The Enthrallment' trailer as they did not show the stages in chronological order as they placed the start of the disruption first and throughout the trailer. One example from my summer trailer is the beginning of the video, you can tell the characters are running away from something which then leads them to falling over. This suggests the 'thing' they were running away from caught up to them because of the screaming at the end of it. This shows us that it was the disruption, making it non-linear.
This theory is applicable to nearly every horror trailer (& film), for example, it is identifiable in the trailer of Cabin in the Woods because of the calm, normal beginning (equilibrium) which then transformed in to the terror they were living (disruption).
Levi Strauss had a theory of his own, where he believed that ''the way we understood words depends on our understanding of the word', this is when he produced the theory of Binary Opposites. The reason why Strauss introduced binary opposites was to make the world easier to understand, rather than being stuck in the middle, you can choose one or the other like good vs evil. One of the most used example of binary opposites is 'good vs evil' in any horror film as this is very easy to apply to any of them due to there always being an antagonist (evil) and a protagonist (good). Binary opposites are essential to our summer trailer as we want to make it clear what kinds of evil there is in our trailer, for example, man vs woman, young vs old, sane vs insane. Furthermore, the role of 'The Final Girl' can also be seen because, at the end of the trailer, we're able to identify that the girl is the only one left, trying to resolve the situation. One example can be found in Halloween 2, we can see that there is a mix of examples, like young vs old and man vs woman.
Kate Domaille's theory states that every single narrative ever told can be fitted into one of eight types of narrative. Out of all of her 8 types of narrative, Circe which is about the chase typically seen in hero vs villain films and Faust, which is when you sell your soul to the devil are most applicable to horror films. Our trailer conforms mostly to 'Circe', because of the 'chase' to find out the killer or the 'chase' to end all chaos. However, our trailer also relates to 'Faust' as it is visible that one of the characters in our trailer has transformed into something devil-like, nothing she was before.
Vladimir Propp had a theory that said every single narrative has eight different character types, these are : The villain (fights the hero someway), the dispatcher (character who makes the evil known and sends off hero), the helper (helps hero in the quest), the princess/prize (the happily every after the hero deserves at the end of his quest), the father (gives the task to the hero), the donor (gives hero a magical object), hero (person who seeks to wed the princess), and finally, the false hero (tries to take credit for heroes actions). This theory is not very applicable to our trailer due to the small amount of content we receive from it, leaving us wondering what types of characters there are. However, I would say our characters are realistic unlike an the characters from the animated game ; Donkey Kong, which also contains this narrative theory. In both the child's game and Scream, it is visible that this narrative theory is present, in scream there is a girl to save which will become their prize (Sydney), furthermore, the hero (Dewey) is in love with her and saves her. In Donkey Kong, Mario (the hero) gets through the mushrooms (villain) to save Princess Peach (prize). This tells us that horror films are an adult version of a fairytale.
I have made use of the 'rules of narrative' by including the theories of Todorov, Strauss, Domaille and Propps, the use of editing as well as mise-en-scene makes it clear what types of characters there are as well as what kind of narrative it will be.
"Our trailer did not follow the rules of being linear which means it was non-linear, this is the same for 'The Enthrallment' trailer as they did not show the stages in chronological order as they placed the start of the disruption first and throughout the trailer. " - (A) WHY is this typically not followed in relation to making Teaser Trailers? WHICH sections are included - WHY not equilibrium?
ReplyDelete"The reason why Strauss introduced binary opposites was to make the world easier to understand, rather than being stuck in the middle, you can choose one or the other like good vs evil. One of the most used example of binary opposites is 'good vs evil' in any horror film as this is very easy to apply to any of them due to there always being an antagonist (evil) and a protagonist (good). " (P) It simplifies the storytelling and conflict. (E) WHAT examples are there on screen WHERE are these oppositions apparent in the MES and CAM or EDIT - (A) HOW are they juxtaposed to create meaning?
"This theory is not very applicable to our trailer due to the small amount of content we receive from it, leaving us wondering what types of characters there are. However, I would say our characters are realistic unlike an the characters" (P) WHO is the Hero and Villain, and WHAT do they (A) represent - the subtext of their good and evil? (A) What morality is on offer in your trailer? (P) HOW important are Proppian ARCHETYPES to the Horror Genre?