Narrative and codes
- 2. Narrative Structure • The traditional way to tell a story is in a linear structure where the beginning, middle, and finish happen chronologically. In film, linear narrative structures are most common. However, nonlinear storytelling became more popular in the later half of the 20th century thanks to the French New Wave filmmakers. These narratives are structured in a way that allows filmmakers to tell the most effective story, rather than one that may feel stunted by a strict linear structure. • Not every story should be told with a linear structure. Sometimes, the action happens in the middle, and that’s the most logical place to begin. Structure boils down to capturing the audience’s attention and holding it until the end. If you feel the beginning of your story is too slow or doesn’t provide enough information to keep your reader interested, starting in the middle of things is your best bet.
- 3. Narrative Setting • Setting is a crucial part of a film’s narrative. When the setting is right, the movie feels immersive, as if there is no barrier between the audience and film. When wrong, a setting can keep the audience from fully committing to the story. The best settings don’t only pull audiences into the film—they reveal important details about the narrative. Character, plot, and thematic details can all be established within the setting in subtle and interesting ways. • One of the best ways to build setting and adhere to the golden writing rule of “show, don’t tell” in the story is with interactive content. Pairing multimedia elements such as video, images, animations, and GIFs, interactive content allows you to tell a more immersive story to the audience. With many different interactive elements for the audience to engage with, it’s easy to bring the setting to life.
- 4. Narrative Voice • Voice is one of the strongest elements in film. It provides the most information about the characters, giving the audience a better handle on who these people are and why we should care about them. Because voice is such a fluid concept, it can be difficult to nail down. But when you get it right, voice has the power to keep audiences entranced. • The reason digital storytelling fails is because people feel disconnected from the story. A more human voice will help cut through the white noise and build a connection with the audience. Another technique is pairing the right voice with the right story. As mentioned above, narrative voice can be accomplished in a variety of ways. A light, humorous voice, for example, is one way many filmmakers establish connections. Alternatively, applying a more ominous, emotional narration is another way to create a dynamic and interesting voice.
- 5. Narrative Theme • Theme holds a film together. It’s the narrative glue that keeps all the other elements in place. A film with an unfocused theme feels like a ship without a rudder, and when this happens, it’s easy for audience to disengage. When theme is clearly presented and feels strong throughout the movie, it leaves quite the impact. • Establishing a theme for a story will help keep the audience clued in on the content’s purpose. It’ll also help to hone in on the parts of the story that matter most. Themes are particularly helpful when developing episodic content that maintains a common thread throughout each piece. The important thing to remember when developing a theme for a content is to try and limit your theme to only a couple closely related concepts.
- 6. Narrative Tone • Similar to theme, tone helps set the overall atmosphere in a film. The way filmmakers establish tone is by incorporating other narrative elements, such as setting, structure, and voice, and ensuring they all take on a similar quality. If these elements are discordant with one another, the movie will feel confusing. • Tone is a necessary component of any digital storytelling strategy. But remember that tone will vary depending on the type of story. Once this is figured out, creating atmosphere is a matter of controlling the language, visuals, and other multimedia components. If the piece is more emotionally driven, it makes sense to use elements that enhance the touching moments. If the story is educational, highly emotional language or visuals might not pair well with the story that the maker is trying to convey.
- 7. Enigma code • An enigma code refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the viewer, raising questions that demand explication. Most films hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final revelation of all diegetic truths. We tend not to be satisfied by a narrative unless all "loose ends" are tied; however, narratives often frustrate the early revelation of truths, offering the reader what Barthes terms "deliberate evasions of the truth”, "mixtures of truth” and "partial answers“. • Within our short film, we used the enigma code by withholding information from the audience, as they don’t know where the protagonist is. Furthermore, the narrative keeps the audience engaged, giving small hints and pieces of information. For example, the audience follows the protagonist throughout the whole movie, receiving hints where they would go next, when the girl answers the phone. The audience and the girl are at the same pace.
- 8. Binary opposition • A binary opposition is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. It is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as on and off, up and down, left and right. Typically, one of the two opposites assumes a role of dominance over the other. • Our character are binary opposites through their clothes and actions. The Messenger, Kharon, wears black, which is associated with dark and death, while the girl, Irene, wears white, which is associated with light and life. Through their actions, Kharon is the dominant character. It guides Irene through her journey towards the graveyard, by giving her instructions and hints. On the other hand, Irene is vulnerable and obedient towards Kharon, following the figure and its instructions.
- 9. Action code • An action code refers to the other major structuring principle that builds interest or suspense on the part of a reader or viewer. The code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be. We wait to see if he kills his opponent or he is wounded himself. Suspense is thus created by action rather than by a reader's or a viewer's wish to have mysteries explained. • The action code in the film is when the girl firstly follows the trail which leads to the door where the black figure was standing. Suspense is created after the girl knocks at the door and the door knocks back, making the audience feel tensioned.
- 10. Semantic/ connotative code • The semantic code points to any element in a text/ film that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation. By "connotation," Barthes does not mean a free-form association of ideas (where anything goes) but "a correlation immanent in the text; or again, one may say that it is an association made by the text-as-subject within its own system". In other words, Barthes marks out those semantic connotations that have special meaning for the work at hand. • Our film is under supernatural/ mystery genre. The setting is in parks and a cemetery, which are isolated places. Through narrative, the protagonist is solving a quest, being accompanied by a black figure. The supernatural genre is reinforced by the protagonist being a female who doesn’t take the supernatural experience serious until the end. We will use orchestral music for the soundtrack. We are also challenging the conventions, as we’ll use high-key lighting.
- 11. Symbolic code • A symbolic code can be difficult to distinguish from the semantic code. The easiest way to think of the symbolic code is as a "deeper" structural principle that organizes semantic meanings, usually by way of antithesis or by way of mediations between opposite terms. A symbolic antithesis (contradiction) often marks a barrier for the text. • Within the film, there are many symbolic codes. The first one is colour white. The calla lily/ white lily is a funeral flower, that represents sympathy. The white dress emphasises the innocence of the girl and hints the fact that she might be dead. Moreover, the river in the park (river Styx) symbolises the boundary between the living and the dead realm. As the girl never crosses the river with Kharon, the audience might argue if the girl is actually dead or not. This creates suspense and adds to the plot twits at the end.
- 12. Reference/ cultural code • The reference code designates any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge" . In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our knowledge about the way the world works, including properties that we can designate as physical, physiological, medical, psychological, literary, historical, etc. The "gnomic" code is one of the cultural codes and refers to those cultural codes that are tied to clichés, proverbs, or popular sayings of various sorts. • We have used the cultural code, as the film is based on Greek mythology. The myth that we used is about the ferryman Kharon, who transports the souls of the dead on his boat. They cross the river Styx and departs the souls to Hades. The protagonist, Irene, represents one of the dead souls.