Narration and focalization

Stories

• Stories don’t just exist—they must be told• The telling affects the story and how it is

experienced

Narration

• Narration is the telling of the story• The narrator is the person (entity) who tells

the story

Storytelling levels in literature

Source: Jahn, Narratology

Narration in audiovisual texts

• However, in audiovisual content the concept of narration is more problematic than in literature

• There may be no single narrator– Some say there is no narrator at all– Others say that the ‘auteur’ is the narrator (usually

the director)• Jahn: “Filmic Composition Device” [FCD]

Narration in film

An important piece of vocabulary

• The fictional world within which the characters live and act is know as the ‘diegesis’

Narration

• Narration can come from ‘within’ the fictional world (“homodiegetic”) or ‘outside’ the fictional world (“heterodiegetic”)

• Narration can be very obvious (“overt”) or may be hard to detect (“covert”)

• The narrator may take the viewpoint of a character, may present the views of several characters or may approach the story from a godlike view (“omniscience”)

Homodiegetic narrative

• The homodiegetic narrative is delivered by a story character—someone actively involved in the narrative. Usually, but not always, she uses the first-person pronoun in her address. She may be the protagonist or just a bit player, but she is somehow affecting or affected by the actions going on in the story.

• The Wonder Years• Inside Man• Desperate Housewives

Homodiegetic narrator

• The author/auteur must decide which character will narrate.

• The perspective of the narrator influences what the audience member will see, hear and know about the plot, other characters, etc.– Minor characters may have very limited

knowledge• The nature of the narrator will also affect the

tone and emotional implications of the narrative

Limitations of homodiegetic narration

• “she is subject to 'ordinary human limitations' . . . she is restricted to a personal and subjective point of view; she has no direct access to (or authority on) events she did not witness in person; she can't be in two places at the same time . . . and she has no way of knowing for certain what went on in the minds of other characters.”

• Jahn, Narratology

Homodiegetic narrators

• The Lovely Bones• Atonement• Apocalypse Now• Malcolm in the Middle• Fight Club

• Rashomon• Goodfellas• The Usual Suspects• Apocalypse Now• A Clockwork Orange

Displacement of time

• Homodiegetic narrators often tell a story about things that they experienced some time in the past– A common form of such narration gives an

account of the narrator’s earlier life• The Wonder Years• Stand By Me• Titanic

Heterodiegetic narration

• Heterodiegetic narration comes from a narrator who is not a character in the story.

• Heterodiegetic narrators vary widely in their knowledge and perspective. They may be restricted to the perspective of a single ‘person’ or may have ‘omniscience’—boundless ability to know all there is to know about the plot, characters, setting, etc. in a story.

Heterodiegetic narrators

• News anchors• Documentary voice-

overs• Commercials• Scroll in Star Wars• VO in Lord of the Rings

• Almost all Westerns• The Lost Boys• The Client• The Graduate• The Hulk• Stranger than Fiction• Lord of the Rings

Narrator personality

• The personality and characteristics of the narrator will affect the audience response to the narrative– How serious is he?– How authoritative is he?– How ‘normal’ is he?

• Some voices project certain traits– VO Narrators can make a lot of money

Overtness

• How obvious (or overt) is the narration? An overt narrator is out in the open—a focus of the audience member’s attention. A hidden narrator is covert. • An overt narrator makes the telling or construction

of the story an important focus for the audience

Indicators of narration in audiovisual media

• In film, television, videogames, etc. five main indicators of narration are present:• Voice over (VO) narration—an off-camera voice speaks to

the audience member• More rarely, an onscreen narrator is present• The point of view of the camera• Intrusive visual effects• Onscreen writing

• Much of the craft of traditional Hollywood style is in making the narration covert.

Overtness

Overt narration• News anchors• Game show hosts• Inside Man• Extreme Makeover

Covert narration• Big Bang Theory• CSI Miami

– But note visual effects• The Client• A History of Violence

Point of View• Physical point of view: the position or angle from

which the camera or a particular narrator or character observes an event or a scene

• Mental point of view: the perspective taken by a particular narrator or character in a story in seeing and hearing an even or scene, reflecting on an idea, creating a relationship between two or more things, or remembering events or dreams

Focalization

• Focalization refers to the viewpoint from which the story is told– Usually the viewpoint of the narrator• omniscient

• However, the viewpoint can be split from the narration– The narrator (or FCD) can tell the story from a

character’s perspective

Three major types of POV (Jahn)

• View of narrator– Homodiegetic first-person– Heterodiegetic omniscient

• Narrator becomes covert and presents viewpoint of story character– Internal focalization

Advantages of omniscience

• The viewer/reader can be made aware of things that are unknown to the characters– plot, characters (and what they are thinking), setting,

backstory– The maniacal killer is right behind you, idiot!

• The position allows for evaluation of characters and their actions– He got what he deserved– He knew he would get caught—that’s why he did it

Advantages of omniscience

• The story can be more ‘expansive’—it can include a much wider set of characters, motives, actions– While he was doing this, she was doing that, and her

friend was with her brother, etc.

Internal focalization

• The story can be told from the viewpoint of a character even if the narrator is heterodiegetic– The narrator ‘gets inside the head’ of that

character, often relating their perceptions, fears, beliefs, etc. to the implied audience member.

Internal focalization

• “One of the main effects of internal focalization is to attract attention to the mind of the reflector-character and away from the narrator and the process of narratorial mediation.” (Jahn)– The goal in this case is to draw attention to the

story and not its telling

Representing focalization

• Focalization can be represented by ‘subjective’ camerawork• over-the-shoulder camera shots, shot-reverse shot

representations of interactions among characters, focus on a character looking into the distance then turning to adopt the sightline of the looker, etc.

• Things that only one character can see may be presented to the audience– Sixth Sense

• Internal thoughts may be represented by VO

Objective and subjective visualization

Objective• CSI• Big Bang Theory• NCIS

Subjective• A Beautiful Mind• Gladiator• Lord of the Rings• Rashomon• Wolfen• The Fisher King

Shifting narration and focalization

• Narration and/or focalization can shift within a given text—perhaps between omniscient and first-person or from one character to another. – Commonly, narrative begins with character

narration, then it shifts to omniscient heterodiegetic FCD• Grey’s Anatomy

Can You Trust the Narrator?

• Sometimes narrators can’t be trusted. A narrator whose account you cannot trust is known as an “unreliable narrator.”– Limited view/Limited access– Self interest/Deception– Personal perspective– Mental instability

Unreliable narrators

• Rashomon• The Usual Suspects• A Clockwork Orange• The Murder of Roger

Aykroyd• Goodfellas

• Fight Club• Dexter• A Beautiful Mind

Paralepsis (Jahn)

• An infraction caused by saying too much; a narrator assuming a competence he does not properly have; typically, a first-person narrator (or a historiographer) narrating what somebody else thought . . . or what happened when he was not present.

Paralipsis (Jahn)

• An infraction caused by omitting crucial information; saying too little; typically, an omniscient narrator pretending "not to know" what happened in her/his characters' minds, or what went on at the same time in another place, or distortively censoring a character's thought, or generally pretending to be restricted to ordinary human limitations.

• “Paralepsis and paralipsis are instances of violations of Grice's (1975) famous principle of co-operation -- the notion that speakers (narrators) are socially obliged to follow an established set of 'maxims': to give the right amount of information, to speak the truth, to speak to a purpose (tell something worth telling), to be relevant, etc.”

• Audiences will assume narrators are following the rules until it is demonstrated that they are not.