Narrative

Theories of narrative are an interesting way to read trailers and, we considered the narrative structure in our genre when we were planning and scripting our production for our G324 portfolio.

Narrative in media refers to storytelling, by organising the different elements of a story to make it meaningful for example facts in a documentary or actions in a drama. Additionally, Narrative and genre work simultaneously in telling the audience about the context of the media.

Our trailer follows a liner structure due it being in chronological order, the effect of having a liner structure keeps the audience emotionally invested and interested. Theorist Todorova suggests that there are five key stages to the narrative structure: Equilibrium, Disruption, Recognition, and Attempt to repair and Resolution stage. In our production “One Day” we adhered to the narrative theory by using establishing shot to show the equilibrium phase of the two characters at the park bench watching the sunset, which symbolises them looking into the future. At the development stage we composed different montages of the three characters spending time together; to illustrate the past we adjusted the scene to bulish-ish grey tone, as it’s conventional in drama. The complication stage lies in the scene after the development stage it can be recognised in the scene where Belle and Rose are seen fighting, we removed the audio and replaced it with non-diegetic soundtrack to intensify the scene. Our trailer concludes with an open ending where Belle is seen standing at the edge of a roof top, which leaves the audience unsure about her faith. Barthes defines enigmas, as any elements of the story that is not fully explored, hence becomes a mystery to the audience. It teases the audience leaving them with unanswered question for example Will she jump?

Propp’s studied folk tales and founded the idea that certain types of character were found in every narrative structure: villain, hero, dispatcher, helper, princess, donor hero, false hero. In our trailer Belle conforms to the villain in the aspect that she isn’t able unable to ease Rose when she needed it most. On the other hand Rose conforms to the princess because she is helpless and confides in others to relive her feelings of despair- effect .

Another theorist our trailer conforms to is Levi Strauss, Binary opposition, stated that world is arranged in terms of oppositional forces and values. He was not so interested with exploring the order in which things happen but more focused on the arrangement of these oppositional themes in media text e.g. good vs evil. We purposely, decided not use his theory, as it’s not conventional in drama – conformed to his theory last year we wanted to challenge our self and our audience by not providing these very obvious binary opposition.

Evaluation: Post- production

Adobe premiere elements 15 provided us with editing tools that would help make our trailer look professional. Lighting is key in creating the right atmosphere. Usually, Drama tends to use lighting that is naturalistic or cool- blue/ green tones. We adjusted the colour grading lighting black to 13, which dimed the brightness in the footage. Furthermore, also changed the colour grading (RGB) to red-98, green 108 and blue-113, and colour saturation to -29.0. This helped illustrate the seriousness of the trailer, which helped create a tense atmosphere- conforming to drama.

Post-production is the final stage of the film production, which is time-consuming and usually takes longer than actually shooting for the film/ trailer. This is because it involves the complete editing, music, sound, and colour correction to finalise the product.

    Editing is one aspect of the post-production process and requires rearranging and constructing the video footage we gathered for our trailer. To do this we used the software Adobe premiere elements 15, which is the same software as last year but just an updated version.  We separated the footage into sections to make it easier to edit; also prevent the software from crashing and being overworked.

      The transaction cross dissolve was used in our trailer multiple times because this editing technique symbolises passage of time and change in location. In this particular scene, the use the transition was to emphasise the connection between the character and her flashbacks from the past. This indicts to the audience the narrative is based on those haunting memories, which suggests drama because it follows characters life journey. Originally, this was not part of our storyboard, while editing we realised that we had a lot of improvised footage that was unused. Therefore we started playing around with editing and liked the outcome, as it made the scene for dynamic.

  

      It’s conventional for a drama to contain some form of conflict. To construct this scene we used the effect dip to black to signify time has passed; used “cross dissolve” to transition into the argument scene.  Using continuity editing cross cut we were able to alternate between the two characters; to intensify tension we used the tool time remapping to speed up camera movement between the two characters by 8.00x. Initially, we were going to keep the audio in the footage however during editing, we decided to replace it with a voiceover of the ambulance services, which I feel is impactful and leaves enigmas. 

       Lighting is key in creating the right atmosphere and another important element to create an effective trailer. Usually, Drama tends to use lighting that is naturalistic or cool- blue/ green tones. We adjusted the colour grading lighting black to 13, which dimed the brightness in the footage. Furthermore, also changed the colour grading (RGB) to red-98, green 108 and blue-113, and colour saturation to -29.0. This helped illustrate the seriousness of the trailer, which helped create a tense atmosphere- conforming to drama.

      In our trailer we focused on the use of sound, this was an area of weakness in our production for AS, we used a combination of non- diegetic, diegetic and voice-overs this year. We used conventional soundtracks that conformed to drama such as Orchestral and instrumental. Depending on the stage in the narrative we applied different soundtracks.For example in development stage we layered the different music together, the software provides us with a timeline making it simple to do. Additionally, we adjusted the volume to make sure it didn’t overpower the dialogue and also for a smoother transition between soundtracks we used effects fade in and fade out. In our production, we didn’t use much dialogue between characters because there were problems with the audio in some of the footage. However, we decide to add voice over instead such as the ambulance services, which I feel is more effective because it leaves audience curious to find out more.

Evaluation: Camera shots

Establishing shot

As a trailer only gives the audience a teaser to a film it’s important that we incorporated an establishing shot. This camera shot is usually found at the beginning of a film trailer to show the audience, where the action is taking place and also to introduces new settings and location. For our production we decided to remain conventional by opening the trailer using this shot for our first location the park. The fact that the setting of the park is established right at the start of our trailer, consisting of the two characters, may help the audience identify their relationship e.g. signifies they are close and share special and key moments at this place. 

Close up shot

We used multiple close- up shots throughout our production to convey the emotions and facial expressions of the characters, in the scene. This type of camera shot consists of little background and shows the important subject for the audience to focus on. As our trailer is a drama the narrative consists of emotional peaks and troth .We used close-up shots to frame and capture the characters at their best as well as in their vulnerable and unstable mental state. Close up shot are quite intimate, which is impactful because the audience able to emphasise with characters and build a strong connection. I thought the use of this shot was most effective during the argument scene in our trailer. This is because although the original audio was removed from the scene and replaced with the ambulance services, it clearly shows that there is a conflict between the two characters due to their angry and distressed expressions.

Longshot

Long shot

 

 Similarly to an establishing shot, a long shot is used to shows a new setting, environment, and surroundings, but at a shorter range. It creates a realistic viewpoint for the audience, allowing them to be apart of the action-taking place in the scene. For the running scene, this shot was effective, especially with the panning motion because it appears more engaging and intense for the audience, rather than just having a stationary camera shot. Drama is all about the realness, therefore, it is important to have realistic aspects of the story so the target audience can relate to. For example, locations long shot is able to capture the character and their surrounding in a single frame. We used locations that are seen every day such as the park, home, and café, which the audiences are familiar with; characters in same age group as our target audience  

Medium shot

The purpose of a medium shot is to show the viewers the character's body language and gesture, which is important in showing emotions. This shot can vary between two to three figures. We used the medium shot a few times in our trailer. For example in the park scene with the three main characters there relaxed and natural body posture suggests they are comfortable around each other and share a close bond. In the argument scene, Belle body gesture shows that she is angry and frustrated, which informs the audience that the characters relationship is complicated and contains conflict – this causes the audience to question their friendship and closeness.