Group Narrative
Group Member 1 - Olivia Burke
Idea: My narrative is about a young girl who lives with her father after her mother passed away. Within the two minute sequence we are introduced to pictures f the two of them throughout the years, showing family pictures over a fireplace. The beginning of the film will be filmed from the perspective of the killer by using a hand held camera it will look like the killer is filming inside of the families house. The audience will not see who is holding the camera which will create tension and suspense within the audience. When the father and daughter arrive home they feel as if someone has been in inside their house and that someone may still be watching them. This is where the audience are properly introduced to the father and his daughter. The two of them become disturbed as they realise some of their possessions have been moved around (little do they know the killer is still watching them from inside the house). They convince each other that they are both over reacting and that there is nothing to worry about. Both the father and the daughter are mentally attacked during their sleep that night yet. These clips will be accompanied by slow passed music which is conventional to the thriller genre. The audience see the daughter become disturbed by a shadow outside the house. All the sounds and images build up tension.
Strengths: By filming from the killer's perspective it allows the identity to be hidden which is conventional as this creates suspense for the audience as they want to know who the killer island why they are doing this. The role of a female victim can be used as a plot device that the male victim will have to protect, showing the he may be strong enough to defeat the killer, while the attacks on both of them connotes that the killer is in fact stronger than both the girl and her father.
Weaknesses: Filming the scenes for someone getting mentally attacked would be hard to film if they were going for a disorientating feel for their work. This seems like a lot to feature in a two minute sequence so some parts could get cut that leave the narrative with a weaker effect than could be achieved.
Group Member 2 - Nojus Cinkus
My idea of a narrative for my two-minute intro scene is the story of a teenager who is relentlessly threatened and stalked by the gang he once used to call his own. He was once part of a gang that trafficked drugs to young people in east London - his only family. After giving away vital information to the police, the gang is destroyed, with only two members escaping. The two track and hunt the teenager down, eventually ending his life. In my two minute sequence, the film will show two thugs breaking into his home, leading to a chase. He will eventually become slowed down and stopped, resulting in a brutal death from hate-filled stabs to the chest. The scene ends with a friend arriving at the house and walking through the smashed door suspiciously. He finds the body and calls the police, closing the scene.
Strengths: This narrative is conventional due to the inclusion of the chase scene which shows the killer's desire to kill the victim. The setting of a house will allow the audience to engage further with the narrative as the setting is more relatable and so will increase the shock, surprise and suspense created in the audience.
Weaknesses: This may not be ideal as it seems like the main character dies in the opening sequence, so unless the narrative was based around the outcome of what happened this would end the film before it really started. It would be hard to show the background of the victim unless dialogue were added while they were breaking into his home, so that the audience is not confused but this would get rid of the chaotic nature of the scene otherwise.
Group Member 3 - Harry Warren
My individual narrative that will be used in my opening sequence will feature an ordinary girl that believes she is being stalked by somebody at school, with many shots showing the stalker in the background and never in the central frame to suggest that he is striving to be hidden, with many people disbelieving her as nobody ever sees the stalker while the climax of the sequence features the stalker coming to finally attack the girl but as he comes up on her she turns around and brutally stabs him with a knife before putting it away and walking off as if there is nothing wrong.
Strengths: This narrative is set in a school and the events happen to teenagers which are relatable to the audience so they will feel more connected to the characters due to the audience being in that situation also. The use of a female victim shows that the killer is powerful over others and does not mind killing victims that are weaker than himself rather than showing mercy. A plot twist will also engage the audience into the narrative as it engages them further into the events of the film as they need to try harder to find out who the killer is, this is conventional as the audience expect to see something that separates their plot from that of other films.
Weaknesses: The surprise of the female victim being the killer may confuse the audience as it is not very conventional as the audience expect the killer to be a male. The killer's identity is also shown in the opening sequence so the audience will not feel as much suspense as they would in a normal thriller film due to the identity of the killer being revealed early on in the narrative.
Our group narrative is based on my individual narrative that will be adapted to use in our group's opening sequence, with influences from from both Nojus's and Olivia's in order to create a narrative that everyone has contributed to and that has had ideas from each group member in order to create something that, while using the base of my narrative, has been changed to include elements of everyone's narrative. We decided on this because it would be easy to film due to it being set in around the school and also relatable to a teenage and older audience. This narrative will feature an ordinary girl that believes she is being stalked by somebody at school, with many shots showing the stalker in the background and never in the central frame to suggest that he is striving to be hidden, with many people disbelieving her as nobody ever sees the stalker while the climax of the sequence features the stalker coming to finally attack the girl but as he comes up on her she turns around and brutally stabs him with a knife before putting it away and walking off as if there is nothing wrong. Our group narrative appears to follow Aristotle's theory as it features an inciting incident when the girl is attacked by the killer when she is walking home alone and subsequently kills her attacker, as this can be seen as unconventional to the audience and inciting as they do not expect this to happen from the female 'victim', as the audience would expect to see the victim being overpowered by the killer and being killed. Another feature of Aristotle's theory that is present is the dramatic question of whether, when and where the killer will strike against the victim as this is left unanswered throughout the scene until the very end, as the audience see the killer watching the victim and following her around although no indication is given to when he is going to attack her, following the dramatic question as there is no way for the audience to have an inclination of exactly when he will attack and will simply have to wait for it to happen. Another feature of Aristotle's theory is the character goal as the killer is shown trying very hard to kill the victim before she notices that he has been stalking her, shown by how he will try to stay out of her view and in a place where she will not think to look, and he will instead appear in disguise where he can, in order to deceive her and make sure she does not see that he is following her, showing his character goal as he is trying his hardest to kill her without being found, showing his need to be superior over her. Our narrative does not fit into Propp's theory as our group narrative will not feature that many characters because that many will confuse the audience and leave them not knowing who's role is who's. Another reason why Propp's theory does not apply to our narrative as our genre is a thriller film while Propp's theory is used with fairytales in mind, two different genres with two different styles of narrative. Todorov's theory can not apply to our narrative as he believed that a narrative should start at an equilibrium while our narrative starts at a disequilibrium due to the victim already being stalked by the beginning of the film rather than this developing later on. Our narrative also features a plot twist showing that the girl is the killer and that the opening sequence ends in a disequilibrium rather than a restored equilibrium while Todorov says that this format should be followed rather than leaving off on a disequilibrium.
Before our group started filming, our group split up into myself and Olivia and Nojus due to us not working well together and not being very well organised, so that once we were split up we could work at our own paces.
Idea: My narrative is about a young girl who lives with her father after her mother passed away. Within the two minute sequence we are introduced to pictures f the two of them throughout the years, showing family pictures over a fireplace. The beginning of the film will be filmed from the perspective of the killer by using a hand held camera it will look like the killer is filming inside of the families house. The audience will not see who is holding the camera which will create tension and suspense within the audience. When the father and daughter arrive home they feel as if someone has been in inside their house and that someone may still be watching them. This is where the audience are properly introduced to the father and his daughter. The two of them become disturbed as they realise some of their possessions have been moved around (little do they know the killer is still watching them from inside the house). They convince each other that they are both over reacting and that there is nothing to worry about. Both the father and the daughter are mentally attacked during their sleep that night yet. These clips will be accompanied by slow passed music which is conventional to the thriller genre. The audience see the daughter become disturbed by a shadow outside the house. All the sounds and images build up tension.
Strengths: By filming from the killer's perspective it allows the identity to be hidden which is conventional as this creates suspense for the audience as they want to know who the killer island why they are doing this. The role of a female victim can be used as a plot device that the male victim will have to protect, showing the he may be strong enough to defeat the killer, while the attacks on both of them connotes that the killer is in fact stronger than both the girl and her father.
Weaknesses: Filming the scenes for someone getting mentally attacked would be hard to film if they were going for a disorientating feel for their work. This seems like a lot to feature in a two minute sequence so some parts could get cut that leave the narrative with a weaker effect than could be achieved.
Group Member 2 - Nojus Cinkus
My idea of a narrative for my two-minute intro scene is the story of a teenager who is relentlessly threatened and stalked by the gang he once used to call his own. He was once part of a gang that trafficked drugs to young people in east London - his only family. After giving away vital information to the police, the gang is destroyed, with only two members escaping. The two track and hunt the teenager down, eventually ending his life. In my two minute sequence, the film will show two thugs breaking into his home, leading to a chase. He will eventually become slowed down and stopped, resulting in a brutal death from hate-filled stabs to the chest. The scene ends with a friend arriving at the house and walking through the smashed door suspiciously. He finds the body and calls the police, closing the scene.
Strengths: This narrative is conventional due to the inclusion of the chase scene which shows the killer's desire to kill the victim. The setting of a house will allow the audience to engage further with the narrative as the setting is more relatable and so will increase the shock, surprise and suspense created in the audience.
Weaknesses: This may not be ideal as it seems like the main character dies in the opening sequence, so unless the narrative was based around the outcome of what happened this would end the film before it really started. It would be hard to show the background of the victim unless dialogue were added while they were breaking into his home, so that the audience is not confused but this would get rid of the chaotic nature of the scene otherwise.
Group Member 3 - Harry Warren
My individual narrative that will be used in my opening sequence will feature an ordinary girl that believes she is being stalked by somebody at school, with many shots showing the stalker in the background and never in the central frame to suggest that he is striving to be hidden, with many people disbelieving her as nobody ever sees the stalker while the climax of the sequence features the stalker coming to finally attack the girl but as he comes up on her she turns around and brutally stabs him with a knife before putting it away and walking off as if there is nothing wrong.
Strengths: This narrative is set in a school and the events happen to teenagers which are relatable to the audience so they will feel more connected to the characters due to the audience being in that situation also. The use of a female victim shows that the killer is powerful over others and does not mind killing victims that are weaker than himself rather than showing mercy. A plot twist will also engage the audience into the narrative as it engages them further into the events of the film as they need to try harder to find out who the killer is, this is conventional as the audience expect to see something that separates their plot from that of other films.
Weaknesses: The surprise of the female victim being the killer may confuse the audience as it is not very conventional as the audience expect the killer to be a male. The killer's identity is also shown in the opening sequence so the audience will not feel as much suspense as they would in a normal thriller film due to the identity of the killer being revealed early on in the narrative.
Our group narrative is based on my individual narrative that will be adapted to use in our group's opening sequence, with influences from from both Nojus's and Olivia's in order to create a narrative that everyone has contributed to and that has had ideas from each group member in order to create something that, while using the base of my narrative, has been changed to include elements of everyone's narrative. We decided on this because it would be easy to film due to it being set in around the school and also relatable to a teenage and older audience. This narrative will feature an ordinary girl that believes she is being stalked by somebody at school, with many shots showing the stalker in the background and never in the central frame to suggest that he is striving to be hidden, with many people disbelieving her as nobody ever sees the stalker while the climax of the sequence features the stalker coming to finally attack the girl but as he comes up on her she turns around and brutally stabs him with a knife before putting it away and walking off as if there is nothing wrong. Our group narrative appears to follow Aristotle's theory as it features an inciting incident when the girl is attacked by the killer when she is walking home alone and subsequently kills her attacker, as this can be seen as unconventional to the audience and inciting as they do not expect this to happen from the female 'victim', as the audience would expect to see the victim being overpowered by the killer and being killed. Another feature of Aristotle's theory that is present is the dramatic question of whether, when and where the killer will strike against the victim as this is left unanswered throughout the scene until the very end, as the audience see the killer watching the victim and following her around although no indication is given to when he is going to attack her, following the dramatic question as there is no way for the audience to have an inclination of exactly when he will attack and will simply have to wait for it to happen. Another feature of Aristotle's theory is the character goal as the killer is shown trying very hard to kill the victim before she notices that he has been stalking her, shown by how he will try to stay out of her view and in a place where she will not think to look, and he will instead appear in disguise where he can, in order to deceive her and make sure she does not see that he is following her, showing his character goal as he is trying his hardest to kill her without being found, showing his need to be superior over her. Our narrative does not fit into Propp's theory as our group narrative will not feature that many characters because that many will confuse the audience and leave them not knowing who's role is who's. Another reason why Propp's theory does not apply to our narrative as our genre is a thriller film while Propp's theory is used with fairytales in mind, two different genres with two different styles of narrative. Todorov's theory can not apply to our narrative as he believed that a narrative should start at an equilibrium while our narrative starts at a disequilibrium due to the victim already being stalked by the beginning of the film rather than this developing later on. Our narrative also features a plot twist showing that the girl is the killer and that the opening sequence ends in a disequilibrium rather than a restored equilibrium while Todorov says that this format should be followed rather than leaving off on a disequilibrium.
Before our group started filming, our group split up into myself and Olivia and Nojus due to us not working well together and not being very well organised, so that once we were split up we could work at our own paces.
This post demonstrates proficient group planning and discussions about the group narrative. It is clear to see that you and your group have considered the strengths and weaknesses of each others ideas, before coming up with the group narrative. However you need to explain in more detail how you and your group came up with the final group narrative. What ideas did you incorporate from the other members?
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1) Explore how you and your group came up with the group narrative
2) Explore Aristotle's theory in more detail and elaborate on the theory points that you have included, by explaining your examples in more detail.
This post now demonstrates good planning techniques, as it is now clear to see how you and your group planned the narrative of your sequence. You have also explored the role of narrative theories, which helps to demonstrate further planning techniques of your narrative.
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