The TELLER

POINT OF VIEW

When we talk about the TELLER, we are talking about NARRATION or PERSONA.

Who (or what voice) is telling the story?

This is a conscious choice made by storytellers of all genres, including the visual genres, such as film or graphic novels.

What they are:

Narrative Point of View—the perspective from which the events in the story are observed and recounted.

To determine the point of view, identify who is telling the story, that is, the viewer through whose eyes the readers see the action (the narrator).

Whether the voice of an unidentified, anonymous speaker or that of an observer/character in the story, the narrator is never the author [never], not even if the character has the same name as the author.

Types of Narrative Voice

Omniscient - a story told in the third person; the narrator's knowledge and control of the story and the characters in it is unlimited.

Limited Omniscient - a story told in the third person in which the narrative voice is closer or limited to one character, major or minor.

First Person - the story is told from the first person "I” personal point-of-view, usually that of the main character.

Types of Narrative Voice

Second Person—monologue addressed directly to the reader (one part of a dialogue with no other characters—you as a reader are the 2nd character)

Objective or Dramatic – an objective teller of the story. Compared to a roving camera with sound, or a fly on a wall, this narrator just recounts the story as it unfolds in present time.

Other Genres:

Focus—chooses what we can see and from what angle; frames an event; creates proportion, emphasize or de-emphasizing or distorting; focus can be fixed or mobile.(film, graphic novels, manga, comics, etc)

Persona—voice or figure of the author which tells the story and may or may not be like the real author (poetry, song, and vignettes)

What it looks like: 1st: “If you really want to hear about it, the

first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

2nd: “The next semester the writing professor is obsessed with writing from personal experience. You must write from what you know, from what has happened to you. He wants deaths, he wants camping trips.”

3rd Limited:

“This Anselmo had been a good guide and he could travel wonderfully in the mountains. Robert Jordan could walk well enough himself and he knew from following him since before daylight that the old man could walk him to death. Robert Jordan trusted the man, Anselmo, so far, in everything except judgment. He had not yet had an opportunity to test his judgment, and, anyway, the judgment was his own responsibility."

3rd Omniscient:

"And what right did he have to look at him like that?" thought Anna, recalling how Vronsky had looked at Alexei Alexandrovich.

The house was big, old, and Levin, though he lived alone, heated and occupied all of it. He knew that it was even wrong and contrary to his new plans, but this house was a whole world for Levin.

Can you identify?

http://youtu.be/UPEHygqoKZU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1RnYfFZK2k

Identify the point of view in the following clips from Jaws and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou