Tag Archives: narrative

THE SUBSTANCE OF STORY

‘The Substance of Story’ discusses the role of the protagonist in Narrative. McKee’s checklist of creating a well-rounded character and story is helpful, but I think it’s best to keep it in mind as a list of pointers as opposed to strict guidelines. Yes it is important that the protagonist has a chance to attain his desires, but I don’t believe it is always necessary for a story to have closure for example. A few loose ends can leave it open to interpretation for the viewer, and is engaging. McKee touches on some solid points though.

It is important for the protagonist to be relatable or empathic, whereas being likable or sympathetic is an option, so McKee says. Macbeth being a ruthless killer, yet still an empathetic hero enhances this point. In McKee’s words, “in the hands of the greatest writers, even the most unsympathetic character can be made empathetic”. This empathy is created through a deep connection formed between the audience and the character. Take for example nearly every character on Game of Thrones. We feel empathy for each of them, but this doesn’t translate into sympathy.

When you think protagonist, generally speaking, you consider only one character. McKee’s explanation introduced me to various forms of protagonist/s within a story. The multi-protagonist approach employed frequently by Quentin Tarantino follows multiple individual story lines. This is evident in Pulp Fiction. And in fact, within Pulp Fiction we have the plural-protagonist approach in action, i.e. the story of Vincent and Jules played by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson respectively. Vincent and Jules experience some of the same highs and lows, but they also experience their own set of highs and lows.

I want to play around with this multi, plural protagonist idea. It’s something I haven’t paid attention to before.

Reference

  • McKee, Robert. (1997). ‘The substance of story.’ In Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York, USA: HarperCollins, pp. 135-154

– Gabriel

NARRATIVE SEMINAR

Let’s be honest, everyone’s seen a pretty shit film. I watched Grown-Ups 2 once and it probably goes down as the worst I have seen. I have some respect for Adam Sandler, his SNL days are some quality half-baked viewing. But Grown-Ups 2 defied all logic of filmmaking and still made $247 million in Box Office revenue. I’m not here to rag on about Grown-Ups though; it’s just an example of a shocking narrative, or lack thereof.

Dan’s summary of Narrative was pretty much what I’ve been taught before, and almost completely contradicts Grown-Ups… All the key elements of Narrative were there; character development, plot and resolution. But I haven’t ever visualised a story as a graph with peaks and troughs relating to emotion. I found this mapping of emotions an effective way to summarise key events relating to the protagonist.

It was when we were watching “We Have Decided Not to Die” though, that this mapping process became difficult. As it is, WHDNTD is a possible example of a film with no narrative. This is very arguable though. The soundtrack of this film reminds me of a lot of house music, where an emotional atmosphere is constructed to provide a form of narrative. Just like in WHDNTD, the similar elements of the soundtrack tie each evident section together to form parts of a bigger picture. On this basis, I felt it possible to construct a visual map of the plot points.

Twisting Narrative and recreating old stories captured my attention. The unexpected nature of ‘Red Hot Riding Hood’ was great because our understanding of the story was challenged. This is what I enjoy about film and Narrative; being taken by surprise, and I took this as the main point of the seminar.

– ‘We Have Decided Not to Die’ and ‘Hot Red Riding Hood’ can be viewed below.

Source


Tex Avery – MGM 1943-05-08 – Red Hot Riding Hood by barayluis

 

– Gabe

TRIVIA IDEAS

It’s been a while since I’ve attended a trivia night. The last time I turned up was in September last year and I had just shaved my head for the first time. It was a gooood Grand Final weekend.

But things have changed since last time. My good friend Daniel has taken over from Michael “Chuck” Norris as Trivia Master and besides a couple of minor hiccups, he did a damn good job! Finding out that Danny was $150 the wiser for his services got us all thinking though. $50 an hour plus beers and a meal is a recipe for a terrific story.

My friend Caius introduced me to the idea that Danny would play the part of the perfect Corrupt Trivia Master. Friendly enough to be in with the pub owners, but responsible enough to give his mates the answers. And the reward, a $40 bar tab. Between 15 people.

As silly as an idea it is, there seems to be a bit of stuff that I can work with. Regarding plot points and character development, the story basically writes itself. I suppose now the next step would be to take the idea and twist it so that the narrative isn’t too predictable. If anything eventuates, I will keep you posted…

– Gabriel

NARRATIVE EXPLORATION

Today’s narrative exercise reminded me of the adult swim short films ‘Too Many Cooks’ and ‘Unedited Footage of a Bear’. Basically, they are made up of seemingly unrelated events linked together on the thinnest string, taking wild directions. I advise people to check them out. At one point our (non-fictional) narrative sequence was:

  • I woke up in a gutter
  • I went insect hunting
  • I lobotomised my sister’s new boyfriend
  • I got $10,000 in debt
  • I sold a mortar and pestle full of toenails to a geriatric Jew
  • I told my sister I loved her
  • I fell asleep in a gutter

This honestly did seem like the most logical progression of events. We did forget to add in “I walked in on my wife in bed with 2 large bees” though. It probably fits in best before going bee bashing. The class was a bit of fun, and although we took a ridiculous approach, it was a form of narrative practice, I guess.

I realised during Liam’s talk that I’ve probably underestimated the power of editing in the past. I wouldn’t say that editing is wholly responsible for progression of narrative; we have other elements of film for that. But it does have a strong ability to affect our understanding. For something like ‘Too Many Cooks’, the editing is a key focus, as it does not adhere to a logical structure. And to be honest, by the end of it, you just feel downright confused. There are some juxtaposed images that will never create meaning; Christopher Pyne has no chance of sitting on The Iron Throne.

– Gabriel