PROPP’S THEORY –Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today.

TODOROV’S THEORY – Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end. The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).

Narrative theory

In media terms, narrative is the organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience.

Representation Link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzMsPqssOY

Representation is the way people and things are represented. This means that representation can often be a biased view which often occurs within the media with young males. In our film our main characters represent you working class males. Although they have bad habbits they are seen not to be heartless unlike the media portrays them.

Ideas

 We will be making a social-realism film with Jamie Garton and Danny Hegarty about working class life for teenagers in Britain. It is about two 17 year old boys who both get themselves into serious problems. One of the boys impregnates a 14 year old girl and the other gets involved with drugs. This leads them both being homesless as they both get kicked out of their house.