Tomas Mann McLeod

Narrative theories:

Studying the narrative theories and deciding which ones I can use and not use within my own short film is both helpful and interesting because there are certain patterns that I may or may not have that make the film more interesting to a viewer because they can identify the different narrative theories I may have in it. 

Todorov:

Todorov’s narrative theory is the idea that he believed could be applied to any film. He came up with this in 1969 and the idea was that all films went through 4 stages:

Equilibrium (everything is as it should be), disequilibrium (a disruption in the natural order), solving (where the characters make an effort to solve the disequilibrium) and then equilibrium again (when a new state has been introduced)

Many film follow this theory such as War of the Worlds (2005), World War Z (2013), and Oblivion (2013). These films all go through the stages of equilibrium, disequilibrium, solving and equilibrium once again because they have that type of set up.

Many films however do not follow this state because they have a non-linear, non-chronological time frame. Memento (2005), Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2 (2003) and 500 days of Summer (2009).

These films all work well because they still tell the story even though they don’t have the same structure to them. My own film will not follow the narrative theory because it starts straight on the disequilibrium and then jumps back to the start of the narrative arc to have it tell the rest of the story.

Propp:

Propp’s theory was to do with the conventional characters. There are typically 7 conventional characters within the story. This theory doesn't typically apply to short films because the film usually requires 5 or less characters so that it doesn't get too complicated.The seven conventional characters are usually:

1. The Hero – Protagonist of the tale and gets married to the Princess2. The Villain - Struggles against the hero.3. The Dispatcher - Character who informs the hero on lack and sends him on his quest.4. The (magical) Helper - Helps hero during quest.5. The Princess/Prize - Hero deserves to marry her, but cannot throughout the film because of the villain, often the quest is ended with the Hero and the Princess getting married.6. Her Father - Gives Hero task and identifies False Hero, Propp noted that the Princess and the Father cannot be clearly distinguished.7. False Hero - In order to marry the Princess, he takes credit for the Heroes actions to impress her.

Tomas Mann McLeod

For practical reasons my short film will not have the seven conventional characters because I don’t want to over complicate things within in. Also because my film has to be 5 minutes I can’t have too many characters with their own plot line. 

Levi Strauss:

The theory that Strauss came up with was that a film is made up of binary opposites; that if one force was to exist then the other must also be included. These tend to be struggles such as Good vs Evil, and Dark vs Light, Right vs Wrong, Poverty vs Wealth.

It is the idea that one force in his narrative has an equal and opposite. 

Usually these forces fight for control until the point that they either come to a solution or one destroys the other.

I started reviewing short films before I had decided that my film should be in the genre of thriller and looked generally at what short films consisted of and what made a good short film.