Narrative TheoristsTeaser Trailer

Toderov’s Narrative Theory His theory follows the idea that the narrative follows certain different stages for the protagonist. There are five different stages:

1. A state of equilibrium.

2. Disequilibrium.

3. Recognition of disequilibrium.

4. Resolution of the disequilibrium.

5. A new state of equilibrium.

This is very similar to the ‘three-act structure’ that is a very old principle that has stuck when creating stories right up to the present day. It seems to be a highly successful method, that has worked in the past many times. Being three acts, the main five story stages can be turned into three simpler stages: setup, confrontation and resolution. It is more commonly known as the beginning, middle and end. In terms of film narrative, a feature film’s three acts can be divided further into eight different sections, or sequences, and is often referred to as “The Sequence Approach” or the “Mini-Movie Method”, alluding to the idea that the film is written in the form of 8 ‘mini-movies’ combined together to build the feature film. Another narrative structure was derived from Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth from his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces. This was than adapted by Christopher Volger. This structure is called the ‘Hero’s Journey’ or the ’12-Stage Journey’.

For teaser trailers, this only partially works. This is because if the teaser trailer gave away the new equilibrium at the end of the film, it would therefore give away the ending of the film and spoil it, and so there would be no point of going to see the film and the teaser trailer would be unsuccessful. However, part of this narrative theory can be applied to a teaser trailer. If the trailer shows the issue/disequilibrium to be featured in the film and perhaps the attempt to find resolution, then this will be more interesting to the audience, since they will be asking questions about what may happen to the protagonist and whether or not they will be able to resolve the disequilibrium.

Toderov (cont.)

Criticisms to Toderov’s narrative theory often relate to how simplistic it is. It tries to generalise narratives into five main points, which does work when describing films in general, however, it could be argued as too simplistic and vague to analyse a narrative.

Certain aspects of it are also falling out of favour also. For instance, it is now sometimes argued that modern filmmakers skip the first part of setting up a world in equilibrium then taking it to disequilibrium and it has been seen that filmmakers go straight for the problem and disequilibrium. The simplicity of the theory is also criticised because many modern texts are a lot more complex than Toderov’s five stage concept, which is due to producers trying to keep things fresh and try new things so that audiences do not get bored.

While I would argue for this to an extent, I would still say that it is important to the narrative to see the world of the protagonist before the disequilibrium since the audience can relate to the protagonist more and as a result enjoy the film more, since they would feel more involved in the protagonist’s journey to complete their goal.

Levi-Strauss’s Binary Opposites

Levi-Strauss theorised that film narratives need to contain opposite themes that are alternated between in order to progress the narrative. There are two main types of these:

Conceptual opposites (themes throughout the film, e.g. good/evil) Physical opposites (physically seen in the film, e.g. light/dark)

Perhaps one of the most common examples of this in a film, is the conventional character opposites of protagonist/antagonist, which appears in many different forms in nearly every single film.

For teaser trailers, featuring these opposites works well for the audience to gain a basic idea of the narrative that will feature in the film, by showing the protagonist and the antagonist. This shows the conflict that will feature, and will make the audience wonder more about this conflict and therefore will make the teaser trailer more successful by sparking this interest and making it more likely for them to find out more about the film, and so the teaser trailer will have fulfilled its purpose.

Binary Opposites (cont.)

There is a universally accepted rule of binary opposites that operates in every single film, and it applies to the protagonist. It deals with two themes: hope and fear. Or rather, hope vs. fear.

In every narrative, these two universal themes are in constant battle with one another, with the needle shifting across the scale every single time anything is done in the narrative, creating a constant conflict that entices the audience into watching and progresses the narrative of the film.

If you add more hope to the narrative at a particular point, progressing it in favour of the protagonist, then you add excitement for the audience, because the protagonist is closer to achieving their goal.

If you add more fear to the narrative at a particular point, progressing it in favour of the antagonist, then you add tension for the audience, because the protagonist is in greater jeopardy of not achieving their goal.

HOPE

FEAR

Propp

Vladimir Propp developed many different character types that he identified whilst reading a lot of different books. His theory stated that characters have to have a narrative function, so that they help develop the plot of the story.

The main character types that are featured are: Hero (seeks something and is there to deal with the disequilibrium), villain (is in opposition to the

hero), donor (provides the hero with help in order to complete his journey) etc. These character types all have a purpose in the story to help its development.

In relation to teaser trailers, some of this theory can be applied, but it would be likely for a teaser trailer to feature the main characters (i.e. the protagonist and supporting cast) and the antagonist for the film. This can be seen in the Superbowl teaser trailer for Jurassic World.

However, although the teaser trailer will somewhat feature the characters in order to entice the audience, by developing compelling characters, a teaser trailer will not reveal all about any of the characters, to give them a sense of mystery about them, so the audience can learn more about their journey in the film. This is seen also in the teaser for Jurassic World, since the antagonist (the Indominus Rex) is somewhat described to entice the audience, but is not physically revealed to the audience.

Barthes Barthes had a theory called the ‘Enigma Code’ and it said that media text contains elements of mystery

about them that makes the audience intrigued about it and it makes them ask questions about the text so that they will find out more about the text. This applies to other forms of media product other than film.

He also theorised about five different codes that were woven into any narrative: The Hermeneutic (HER) The Proairetic (ACT) The Semantic (SEM) The Symbolic (SYM) The Cultural (REF)

The Hermeneutic is the one informally known as the ‘Enigma Code’, since it refers to any element of the story that is not explained. This can easily be applied to teaser trailers, since teaser trailers often exclude elements of the film’s story, in order to attract an audience, so the audience can find out the answers to those questions when they watch the film.

The Proairetic code, or the ‘Action’ code, builds tension and suspense and refers to action in the media product. This code can work in conjunction with the Hermeneutic code to develop the tension and keep the audience interested. This would also work in a teaser trailer, since showing certain parts of action from the film will keep the audience interested, especially if it does work in conjunction with the Hermeneutic, since the action featured might create more questions, making the audience more eager to find out what happens. For instance, in an action scene featured in a teaser trailer, e.g. a fight/chase scene, tension is built (ACT), however, we do not see what the outcome of the fight is, and we do not know what happens to the protagonist, leaving an unanswered question and developing some intriguing enigma (HER).

Barthes (cont.)

The Semantic code refers to deeper meanings (connotations) behind certain elements. It would be more likely to see this sort of thing in a whole movie, where certain elements have greater meanings in the film, e.g. colour theory: a certain recurring colour in a film may have a deeper meaning to it, which is the connotation. However, it could perhaps be applied if a certain element is prominent to the film and important to main narrative.

The Symbolic code is very similar to SEM. However, it elaborates, and proposes the use of opposites to show contrast and deeper meaning to develop the tension and characters. This is similar to Levi-Strauss’s theory of ‘Binary Opposites’. This can be used in a teaser trailer to show the audience the antagonist in the film and the protagonist, giving the audience a basic idea of what journey the protagonist will be facing to try and defeat the antagonist and restore equilibrium, and so the audience will want to follow that journey and find out what happens (linking back to the HER code).

The Cultural code: this refers to anything in the media text that makes a reference to an external body, primarily cultural.

Conforming to Barthes’s Theory

Of the five codes, I think that the first two are most likely to be included in our teaser trailer: the Hermeneutic and Proairetic (enigma and action, respectively). These two codes are known to work well together, allowing for tension development and to keep the audience interested. Showing certain action filled parts, but perhaps not resolving them or giving them much context develops the enigma and makes the audience want to find out more about the action. The collaboration of these two codes works well together to make a successful teaser trailer, fitting to its purpose. The action intrigues and involves the audience, and the lack of resolution to this action (only featuring the action) develops the enigma, making the audience want to find out more about the film, which would incite them to search for the film and what it is about, with a potential lead to them going to see the film, which provides success to the film and success to the teaser trailer as marketing material, because it will have served its purpose at creating hype for the film and successfully advertising it and persuading people to find out more.

Inclusion of the other codes, like the semantic, especially when applied to production design (mise-en-scene), is also important. This could help establish a feel, tone and themes to the film. This would help the teaser trailer as a form of marketing to help the film because it would show the audience the sort of things they can expect from the film and the sort of tone it will have, which will help attract the target audience. However, this code can be deviated from in the advertising of the film in order to advertise to a wider audience, however, this may be dangerous since it will not necessarily draw in the target audience, giving the audience a false impression of the film that is being advertised.

Conclusion

Barthes’s codes seem to have strong similarities with the other theories aforementioned. They also relate a lot to teaser trailers, so this may be worth considering when creating our teaser trailer. This will help us make more educated decisions when deciding on the elements that we will show in our teaser trailer, and if some of these theories (when applied to teaser trailers) should be followed or contradicted to better fulfil the purpose of the teaser trailer in advertising our film, to make it more successful.

References/Sources: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/articles/barthes_five_codes.htm https://

www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/modules/barthescodes.html http://www.elementsofcinema.com/screenwriting/three-act-structure/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CNzJ1Tq-fY