Studying Narrative in Short Film

Claude Levi-Strauss

28/11/1908 – 30/10/2009Claude Levi –Srauss found out that narratives are arranged around the conflict of binary opposites.

Supernatural vs Genuine

In Night Swim we are presented with the binary opposite of supernatural vs genuine through the antagonist who is the protagonist after she’s been killed but is around before she was killed. The protagonist is the genuine as she is shocked by seeing herself like that and we can tell she’s human.

How is the narrative organised?

The SYUZHET of Night Swim is straight forward and doesn’t go out of order. Although there is an aspect of this short film which might suggest that something is in the wrong order, the fact that the girl’s dead body is haunting her before she even dies tells me that somehow the narrative has taken a strange twist and the SYUZHET might not be as simple as the film makes it out to be.

What is the audience’s role in relation to the narrative?

The audience’s role would be to interact by creating their own theory to the supernatural event that occurs in Night Swim.Personally, I put myself into her shoes and was thinking about what I’d be doing/thinking in that situation.

What does the film maker do to engage our attention and tell the story?

The film maker used FABULA such as the pool, the arrow on the wall and the mysterious figure who keeps on disappearing to engage the audiences attention. This drew my attention to the short film as it made me eager to find out who the mysterious figure was, what the pool’s role in the film would be and why there was an arrow on the wall of their house.The film maker used the character, location and action to tell the story. The girl was used to tell us that she was going to be a victim and give us a little background information about herself. The swimming pool was used to tell us that something was going to happen in the pool. The action tells us that the girl is clearly quite a good swimmer and that she does it regularly, it also shows us that she isn’t too fond of seeing her dead self by the side of the pool.

What are the narrative themes?

• Horror• Supernatural• Fear• Isolation – The girl in the pool saw the figure

on all sides of he pool which indicates that she had no way out, so really she was put into checkmate from the start.

What moral values or ideologies are present?

• If you see a mysterious figure by the side of your pool, don’t stay in the pool.

Vladmir Propp

17/04/1895 – 22/08/1970Vladmir Propp believes that there are 8 roles in every narrative structure:• The villain• The donor• The helper• The princess• The father• The hero• The false hero

Night Swim

Seeming there are only 2 characters in this short film it seems that this theory can not be applied to Night Swim. Also, neither of the characters can be applied to any of the 8 roles apart from perhaps the supernatural dead girl being the villain, but there is no struggle with the hero.