2. Narrative: Story and Plot Nanook screening Blog Post 3.
Narrative structure is about two things: the content of a story the
form used to tell the story 4. Story refers to the raw materials of
dramatic action as they might be described in chronological order.
Plot refers to how the story is told the form of storytelling, or
the structure, that the story follows. 5. We can use who, what, and
where questions to look at the story or content of a movie How and
when questions are used to examine plot structure 6.
Conventionally, both story and plot are described in terms of how a
characters life is disrupted by an event or change in his/her
situation. This causes a series of conflicts that the character(s)
must face, including the major conflict that is eventually resolved
at the end of the film. 7. Conflict can take many forms: Emotional
Interpersonal Societal Between the character and his/her physical
environment 8. Where is the story set? What event starts the story?
Who are the main characters? What conflict(s) do they face? What is
at stake? What happens to the characters as they face this
conflict? What is the outcome of this conflict? What is the
ultimate impact on the characters? 9. How and when is the major
conflict in the story set up? How and when are the main characters
introduced? How is the story moved along so that the characters
must face the central conflict? How and when is the major conflict
set up to propel the lm to its conclusion? How and when does the
film resolve most of the major conflicts set up at the outset? 10.
Plot is not just what happens in a story Plot is a pattern of cause
and effect or conflicts upsetting the equilibrium of a situation
Plot is characters responding to those conflicts into some form of
resolution, even incomplete, inconclusive, or unsatisfying 11.
Characters and their goals, desires and actions (good or bad)
Events/landscape that characters react to Editing Sequencing
Something new happening in each scene Inter-titles (silent film)
12. Silent documentary Non-fiction film coined by John Grierson in
1926 salvage ethnography trying to record/save a way of life 13.
actuality films - short non-fiction film genre that used footage of
real events, places, and things ethnographic photography 14. Worked
outside of the Hollywood studio formula Started taking his camera
to the Hudson Bay in 1913 still and film 1916 film on Inuit
scrapped 15. Wanted to avoid a film made strictly on observational
techniques Thought is you shot enough material, the film would tell
its own story; the story would be revealed Then, material could be
organized by editing 16. Flaherty heavy-handed in the shooting and
editing of material His interpretation of the story (salvage
documentary) Objective vs. Subjective filmmaking 17. A narrative
with conflict and resolution (story/plot) Focus on a central
character Landscape/realism Use of inter-titles to tell a story 18.
Not a technically sophisticated film All shooting on location
Flaherty trained a crew of Inuit as film technicians 19. Staged
family Hired non-actors for roles Actors played an integral part in
planning of film Staged scenes Substituted old technologies for new
Cant fake landscape or skill/craft 20. Igloo Building Scene Hunting
the Walrus Seal Hunt Kayak Scene 21. Primal Drama tale of basic
survival in harsh conditions Primal Man skilled, self-reliant,
peaceful, happy, not aggressive, fertile, savage innocents Sense of
Space/Landscape ambiguity, feared and revered 22. The qulliq is the
seal oil lamp and stove of the old days, the only source of light
and warmth. The women tell the story in words and songs as they
install the qulliq in their igloo.
