Narrative Paradigms and 21st Century Narratology - Essay Example

Narrative Paradigms and 21st Century Narratology Order No. 508606 Introduction Narrative paradigms are indispensable tools for script writing. A narrative is a series of events, arranged sequentially and structured to make a complete and intelligible story. Narrative has made good progress over the years due to the advancement of technology based on research. The digital era has ushered in a plethora of new approaches to Storytelling and in order to create good stories, it is necessary to comprehend the right way of structuring and approach. Equally important is our understanding of the audience pulse and how they have evolved in their tastes and expectations and how technological developments have improved over time. In this essay, we are going to attempt to understand these concepts and how to apply the same techniques, within the framework of scriptwriting which is the most important aspect for any good story. Christopher Booker (2005) in his scintillating book titled ‘The Seven Basic Plots’ sheds light on the art of storytelling, explaining that stories impact upon us in a more significant and deeper manner than we ever realize. Christopher Booker (2005) However, on examining the different plots of films, he explains that there are seven basic plots which are rags to riches, a quest, the hero depicted as a monster, voyage and return and rebirth etc. According to Booker, plots are only the gateways through which we travel to find the ‘hidden universal language’ Christopher Booker (2005) of which stories are made. Freddie Gaffney sheds light on the layout of a ‘Master Screen script’ and the techniques used to make it more effective. He takes into consideration the layouts for both film as well as television explaining that the commonality between the two is the absence of camera direction. Though screenwriters could offer a few suggestions contributing to a particular shots, yet framing terms for camera direction such as CU, MS, LS and camera movements like ‘Crane,’ ‘Track’ ‘Crab’ etc. and in- shot changes such as ‘Zoom’, ‘Angle’, ‘Focus’, ‘Canted’ and ‘Pull’ are solely the premise of the director and cinematographer. While editing, a suggestion such as ‘Montage’ from the screenwriter, to draw disparate shots together in a coherent presentation, is considered to be valid, but otherwise editing is best left to the editor and director. The primary aim of the ‘Master Scene Script’ is to provide a detailed and clear description of every scene. It gives the identification of all the characters in the story, and describes their speech and intonation clearly at different points in each scene. After reading a good screenplay, the characters within the story become life-like within our mind’s eye, while the movie runs through our head, proving that there was a good Master Scene Script, which is nothing but a blueprint of how the story should appear on screen. An excellent Master Scene Script will inevitably create a positive impact on producers, agents and production companies. No matter how good the content of a script is, yet the magic lies in the way it is formatted and presented in ‘The Master Scene Script’. Initial effort and time spent on ‘The Master Scene Script’ would save precious time in the future and does not encourage re-writing of any kind because every sequence in the script is well thought out and executed on paper. Freddie Gaffney. (2008) also enlightens us on the format of writing a good screenplay. He explains that the ‘Master Scene Script’ should always be presented in a single column format with the pages numbered consecutively on the top right near the Header. The Footer of each page should have the letters ‘mf’ (more follows) in the bottom right corner. The last page of the script should have the words ‘Ends’ which should be centered. The title of the screenplay should be written in capitals and centered on the first page of the script which should always be single sided. Below the title on the left side the words ‘Fade in’ should be written in capitals. Thereafter, all consecutive pages should stick to the same formatting. A Slugline that provides critical information to the technicians should begin every scene. In the UK people use consecutive numbering before every slugline, but this is not so in the American market that does not use numbering for it scenes. Important words describing the scenes are written on the left hand side. E.g. INT means interior settings and lighting, EXT means exterior settings and lighting. etc. The Scene/Action Descriptor should appear right below the Slugline and this gives a short but relevant description of what is taking place in the scene. When a character is introduced for the first time, his/her name should be written in capitals but for the consecutive pages names should be written in the lower case. Character names could also be used. The scene descriptor also identifies the key action or happenings in the scene and these are inserted between the scenes on a separate line between the dialogues which should be written under the name of each character. Paul Joseph Gulino enlightens us on the Screenwriting Sequence Approach, explaining that most motion pictures comprise of “twelve sequences that are broken down into a 3-6-3 act breakdown.’ Gulino, P. (2004) that is typed in 12 pt. font Courier style. Gulino and Wright explain that breaking down the story into sequences is quite a useful tool to keep a firmer grip on the movement of the story. However, a story can be broken down into a different numbered sequence approach. Some examples of his eight sequence approach are ‘The Graduate’, ‘Nights of Cabiria’ by Fellini etc. Gulino explains that a feature film should last between one and a half hours to 3 hours which is the prime attention span of humans after which it suffers. According to Aristotle’s influential work titled ‘The Poetics’, tragedy is described as the whole action, which according to him means, ‘the beginning,’ ‘the middle’ and ‘the end’ for the formulation of drama in 3 parts. For the same three act structure Syd Field describes it as ‘the beginning’ ‘the confrontation’ and ‘the resolution’ that is separated by ‘turning points’. The popularity of his book titled ‘Screenplay’ (1979) has made the three- act structure the most accepted common model. However, there are many exceptional variations like Kristen Thompson’s book titled ‘Storytelling in Hollywood’ (1999) that depicts four acts and David Bordwell’s book titled ‘Narration in the Fiction Film’ (1985) describing 6 act sequence. However, during the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood films (1930’s to 1940’s) there were very successful playwrights such as Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes who did not follow or base their work on Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’ neither did they have access to Syd Field’s book on scripting. However, these playwrights worked within the framework of their own specific conventions and formulas. In drawing our attention to the important components of filmmaking Kristen Thompson states that – “the techniques of continuity editing, set design, and lighting, developed during this era, were designed not only to provide active images, but to guide the audiences attention to salient narrative events from moment to moment.” (Kristen Thompson, 1999, p.1) William Archer (1856 – 1924) describes drama in his book ‘Playmaking’ as ‘any representation of imaginary personages which is capable of interesting an average audience assembled in a theater.” William Archer (1912) Christopher Vogler (2007) in his popular screenwriting text book directs his attention to the theory that most stories can be presented ‘as a series of native structures and character archetypes types that are most often described through mythological allegory.’ Christopher Vogler, (2007) Vogler’s work is based upon the writings of Joseph Campbell, a mythologist where he states that most of the successful films are based on these principles. In his book he describes the stages of the journey which are – 1) the ordinary world, 2) The Call to Adventure, 3) Refusal of the Call and so on. According to Vogler’s analysis, the journey is filled with archetypes of standard type of characters and recurring patterns of human behavior in most stories. Some of these common characters are Heroes who are the central figures in the story, Shadows are those who are villains or antagonists, Mentors who are guides to the hero, Herald could be a person or an event that calls for an adventure, Threshold Guardians are forces that come in the way during important turning points in the movie, Shape-shifters are werewolves or vampires who change their shape or it could also be change in people’s perceptions, Tricksters are people who are mischief makers or even clowns and lastly are Allies – characters who help out the hero to make a change. It could be a buddy, girlfriend or a side hero. Christopher Vogler. (2007) These archetypes help us humans to understand the duality of our natures. We experience an ongoing conflict within us to want to do the right thing rather than encourage our dark side of life. Therefore, when we view a film, all our energies are directed towards wanting the hero to win and punish the evil one. According to the psychoanalytic theory of Carl Jung (1954; 1959; 1968) these archetype images exist in our collective unconscious and are time and again manifested during our cultural experiences such as watching films or television or even in real life. Voytillia, (1999) References Booker, C. (2005) The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.  Gaffney, F. (2008) On Screenwriting, Auteur Gulino, P. (2004) Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, New Ed Edition, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd Kristen Thompson, Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999) p.1 Vogler, C. (2007) The Writer’s Journey, 3rd Edition, Michael Wiese Books Voytilla, S. (1990) Myth and the Movies, Michael Wiese Books William Archer, Play -Making: A Manual of Craftsmanship. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co. (1912) pg. 32 Read More