Narrative: blog task

 Complete the following questions using the Media Factsheet resource available on the Media Shared drive. 


You'll find them in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. You can also access them online here if you use your Greenford Google login.

Read Media Factsheet 14 - Telling Stories: The Media's Use of Narrative and answer the following questions:

1) Give an example from film or television that uses Todorov's narrative structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 
In the television show 'Shaun the Sheep' the equilibrium is that Shaun has to stay in the farm that he belongs in . The disequilibrium is that Shaun always finds a way to escape the farm where he is being kept by the farmer who's in control and it is the watchdogs duty to look after the sheep. The new equilibrium is the watch dog chasing after Shaun and trying to get him back into the farm before the farmer realises that he is missing sheep as the watchdog is in charge of looking after the sheep. 

2) Complete the activity on page 1 of the Factsheet: find a clip on YouTube of the opening of a new TV drama series (season 1, episode 1). Embed the clip in your blog and write an analysis of the narrative markers that help establish setting, character and
plot.
Opening of 'Friends'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZlx7yrDu3c 

The setting of this opening scene in friends is set in a coffeehouse where all the key characters accept 1 are in there talking about normal day to day things. The narrative in the opening scenes of friends is when the last main character (Rachel Green) comes in wearing a wedding dress and then the narrative begins as she is running away from getting married to someone who she doesn't love and then it's up to the other 5 characters who are her friends (Joey, Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Chandler) to save her. 

3) Provide three different examples from film or television of characters that fit Propp's hero character role.

EastEnders (Soap Opera)
The Hobbit (Film)
Avengers Assemble (Film)

4) Give an example of a binary opposition.

Black and White.

5) What example is provided in the Factsheet for the way narratives can emphasise dominant ideologies and values?

When the police officer captures the criminal, the value of upholding law and justice is emphasised. When the girl wins the heart of a guy she likes in a romantic comedy, the ideas of a heterosexual relationship and monogamy are emphasised 

6) Why do enigma and action codes (Barthes) offer gratifications for audiences? 

Enigma codes control how much we know and help hold our interest. It creates mystery during narrative. For example a cliffhanger.
Action codes are when events or actions in the story that are important in developing the narrative, e.g. a gun being cocked signifies that a violent scene will follow.

7) Write a one-sentence summary of the four different types of TV narrative:
  • Episodic narrative (the series) - The narrative arc of these types of text are resolved by the end of the episode and can be watched in any order without expectation that the audience would have needed to watch any previous episodes

  • Overarching narrative (the serial) - The narrative arc is not resolved at the end of the episode but instead is resolved at the end of the series (season), and therefore will have recaps at the start and cliff-hangers to keep the audience up to date and hooked (interested)

  • Mixed narrative - A mix of both episodic and overarching as there are episodes that deal with minor conflicts and are resolved, however there are also larger developments that can occur in certain episodes and will be revisited multiple times in later episodes.

  • Multi-strand overlapping narrative (soap narrative) - The soap narrative has multiple stories going on at once of which some might be resolved in 1 or 2 episodes while others will take much longer and as each episode ends with a cliff-hanger, it keeps the audience interested and the fact that there are so many stories occurring even when some are resolved, the soap retains its fan base (develops a loyal following)
8) How does the Factsheet suggest adverts use narrative?  

Adverts are set up to have a problem, such as having bad breath, and then immediately resolving this with a product, toothpaste, that will offer an immediate solution, good breath. So the idea of having a problem and solution is crucial in advertisement to create this effect of narrative.

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