Narrative and The Birthday Party Task

Narrative explains a series of events that occur in a story. This is important as in terms of film production, this can be a template, for example, a specific genre which helps to promote the film to the target audience.

Todorov identified that in most conventional mainstream films that the narrative is usually structured into five stages:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. An attempt to repair the disruption
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

He also explained the three act structure in which most films are based upon:

Act 1: This act is where the main characters and their lifestyles are introduced along with the world they are surrounded by and the relationships they have with each other. Soon an incident occurs which the protagonist will try to resolve but consequently leads to a turning point in the story as the situation becomes more dramatic. For the protagonist life will never be the same as their role is to now resolve the unanswered question (which will be answered in the climax of the film), this marks the end of act 1.

Act 2: The second act sees a rise in action as the protagonist attempts to find a resolution. At this stage the protagonist needs to acquire the skills and higher sense of awareness to cope and consequently defeat the antagonist (character development). These skills are attained from help by a mentor or co-protagonist.

Act 3: In this act the climax is at it's most intense as the questions raised in act 1 is answered. The situation is resolved an the main characters begin life with a positive outlook and new sense of themselves.

Example of Todorovs Three Act Structure in Doom:


Act 1:The Film begins with a glimpse into a level five breach on the UAC research facility on Mars and a frantic Dr. Carmack - a scientist. Soon after the main characters on Earth are introduced as 8 marines in the Rapid Response Tactical Squad. The characters are supposed to be on leave but receive new orders from their leader "Sarge" to investigate. As they are transported to the research facility where Dr. Samantha Grimm, the twin sister of John "Reaper" Grimm is introduced. There mission is simply to: "eliminate the threat, secure the facility and retrieve UAC property". As Reaper talks to his sister she reveals that they have discovered humanoid remains but with a 24th chromosome which makes them super human as they have super intelligence and the ability to heal almost instantly. As the team start their mission they discover a deranged Dr. Carmack and is attempted to be sedated by Samantha. The team find creatures intent on killing them and consequently the team member "Goat is killed". This has disrupted the equilibrium and revealed the questions: 'what has happened in the research facility?' and 'how is it resolved?'. For Reaper and the team, life won't be the same.

Act 2: A sample from the blood of the creature reveals it is human: a mutation developed from a 24th chromosome. Goat appears to return to life but proceeds to bang his head against the containment unit to kill himself. Samantha uses this knowledge to determine that the creatures use a projecting tongue to spread the 24th chromosome, but the 24th chromosome chooses whether the subject becomes super human or a monster based on their capacity to be evil. They also discover that this is the work of Dr. Carmack who purposely injected an 'evil' subject with the chromosome who consequently broke loose. The team is soon reduced as they are killed by the monsters. A monster breaks loose and gets through the Ark (the gate to Earth). The rest of the team apart from Reaper and Samantha are killed in an attempt to contain the outbreak of zombies on Earth. Reaper is injured and in order to save his life, Samantha injects him with the 24th chromosome - a gamble as he believes the bad things he's done will make him a monster but his sister believes he is a good person. He wakes as a super human with super strength and instant healing abilities. According to Todorov's acts this is where he acquires the skills and self awareness needed to defeat the zombies.

Act 3: Reaper uses his new super human abilities top defeat the zombies and discover his injured sister but is faced with his dead leader Sarge who is turning into a monster and attempts to kill him. The two fight using their new found strength but reaper defeats Sarge as he pushes him through the Ark to Mars along with a bomb, also saving his sister. The equilibrium has now been restored but the protagonist now has new abilities and a new sense of self.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian scholar who researched folk tales to identify their simplest narrative and character structures. He presented seven different character types from the stories he had analysed:

• The Hero: Usually a male who embarks on a mission to restore the equilibrium. He is the target of the villain and the one who saves the victims of the villain.
• The Villain: Responsible for narrative disruption.
• The Donor: Gives the hero something (object/information/advice) to help resolve the equilibrium.
• The Helper: aids hero in the defeat of villain and restoration of equilibrium.
• The Princess/Victim: character most threatened by the villain and has to be saved at the climax by the hero.
• The Dispatcher: sends the hero on his/her mission.
• The False Hero: appears to be good but is revealed in the end to be bad.

The character can be described as more than one character type.




In the birthday party task, we selected a genre and applied the conventions of the genre to a scene of a birthday party. This includes using mise-en-scene to accurately create the tone of the genre. For the task we selected 'Horror'.

At first, our focus was on the attack of the gifts, or as described 'a dark twist on toy story'. This took advantage of using the animal masks as costumes. Eventually, we shifted our focus to the actual 'birthday boy' and how we would make him look the part of the protagonist in a horror film. We had a variety of ideas ranging from tying him up with rope or taping him to a chair or alternatively an exorcism or simply a focus on one part of the body usually symbolic in this narrative (e.g. eyes to give the audience access to his emotion, hands used to present helplessness of the character). We also paid attention to props needed to set the scene of the birthday party such as balloons and a birthday card featuring a subtle hint of horror (Happy Birthday?).

In terms of lighting we wanted to experiment with different positions and intensities. W used a bright side light so that you could see the face but there would be shadows to add to the conventional horror tone. We also experimented with the candle to introduce a subtle glow to the face and hands. With the image of Katie a light from below cast a shadow on the face and the background. We also experimented with the balloon as a red filter to convey death and blood shed.
The main character shows subtle emotion as we wanted to portray fear as well as confusion. The two "toy "characters are positioned so they are looming over the main character and dominating him.
Our camera angles vary from close-ups to mid shots and long shots. This means that we have a chose of whether to include the whole position of the main character or if we want to focus on the fear on the face. These shots also allow space so that in post production other features can be inserted. The main character is centred in the shots as he is the centre of the story.

Final Edit - I used a few filters to create this effect; monochrome and red, so that the two would contrast each other but create the tone for the horror genre. In some areas I have also inserted a "wind" effect which creates the effect movement and roughens the edges. Instead of including the whole human bodies of the 'toy' characters I have also faded them into the background but enough for the audience to see them over the main characters shoulders.

Some comments:

Francesca Wilson: It looks really good and definitely looks like a horror! I love it, well done!

Lucy Allison: The way you tied him up and the red in the background looks like a horror. It kind of look like a comedy too, maybe like a spoof? the way you put a smiley  mouth on the tape.

Printha Muthukumar: I think it looks like a horror.