Apply the Concept of Narrative to one of your Productions

Narrative is the way in which a story is told through the use of codes and conventions. Within our AS production, narrative played a huge role as the production we created was a film opening in the genre of Film Noir. The film opening we created was called ‘A Dame with a Clue’, and it was based around a woman going to the detective’s office with a murder case.

Within this opening there were multiple displays of Strauss’ Binary Opposites, for example in the locations which we filmed, going from the dark, night light with dull rainy weather when the ‘dame’ is walking to the office to the light, indoor, 1940’s themed detective’s office. Although the key Binary Opposite that we concentrated on was gender (men vs women). This is because our two protagonist are opposing genres, with the ‘dame’ acting in a distressed manner and the detective holding control and power, trying to calm the woman. This is something that we continued to develop further throughout the narrative for the rest of our film with the personalities of these two protagonists reversing, giving the woman control and power as the murder case was all part of the ‘dame’s’ plan to trick the detective.

Our detailed placement of mise en scene throughout the film opening also follows Strauss’ Binary Opposites, with specific symbols that shaped our characters’ personalities. For the ‘Dame’ we completed this through the costumes she wore. In the film opening, she was wearing a dress, which is stereotypical for women in the film noir to wear. However we also made sure that her whole outfit was black, suggesting the idea that she was a widow, but by contrasting this black with the bright red if her lipstick, it enabled us to show her as a mysterious character who is hiding something, making her a seductress and a ‘sweet talker’. This once again showed a binary opposite throughout the detective who was wearing a smart suit, this added to the narrative that he was clever, straight talking and honest. Although through the continuous holding of a whiskey glass it portrayed that he had an alcohol issue.

Also as our production was a film opening the narrative was linear. This is because particularly in the opening otherwise it would be hard to follow and understand. This linear narrative was used, as we showed the ‘dame’ walking to the office (outside), then entering the building and office, and then sitting down in the office and talking to the detective. However as the film is a film noir detective’s mystery film, in order for the final reveal of the murderer to be understood by the audience, other parts of the narrative will have aspects of non-linear narrative due to the use of flash backs.

This linear set up of our opening further enabled us to follow the theory of Todorov, with the film opening creating Equilibrium and the beginnings of Disruption. This is because for the setting of the scene and equilibrium the ‘dame’ is making her way to the office in the dark with a slow reveal (e.g. through the use of extreme close ups and panning long shots) and then the disruption is started as she hands the murder case to the detective with the note that says ‘You’re Next’.

The slow, mysterious reveal that we completed on the dame also applies to Barthes Theory, as it creates Enigma Codes in the narrative which is important if you are to keep the audience interested. So, by not showing the whole of the dame’s face before she enters the office and not fully showing where she is going, by the inclusion of extreme close ups and panning long shots, it causes the audience to want to know the answer and therefore watch on. This is an extremely important theory that we involved in our narrative as it is key in creating the shock factor at the end and following the codes and conventions of the film noir genre. Within Barthes’ theory we completed this further particularly with the detective and his glass of drink, because it meant we followed the idea of the Symbolism Code, as the use of the prop enabled us to show to the audience he was possibly an alcoholic, without having to have a character say it.

In conclusion, all of the theories mentioned were vitally applied to the creation of our narrative, because without these theories being applied for their best effect, the narrative would not be interesting or desirable to watch for the audience as it would make it easier for them to become bored.