Narrative and Our Film

Narrative

Bordwell and Thompson

This theory created by David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson relates to our 5 minute long film, ‘Greed.’ This theory suggests there is a relationship between story and plot, in which they explained within a diagram. The story includes inferred events which are understood by the audience, yet not seen. This relates to our film as it isn’t shown directly that Destiny has no money. The audience finds this out when the future scenes show Destiny telling her friends that she will not be able to pay the money back she borrowed. Furthermore, within Bordwell and Thompson’s theory of story and plot, explicitly presented events, which the audience see directly happen include the scenes of ‘Greed’ where Destiny reads the letter, stating she has lost her job and house. The plot includes added non-diegetic material that is not part of the story such as credits, subtitles and title sequences. Our film has a title sequence that introduces the audience to the story without being a part of the actual storyline.

Vladimir Propp: Spheres of action

Propp found there were 31 functions in each fairytales and storylines. This suggests that there is a generic structure throughout every storyline. The theory also shows that Propp believed there are similar characters in every storyline, including: The villain, the hero, the doner, the helper, the princess, the father, the dispatcher and the false hero. In our film, the characters may be seen as the following:
The false hero – The loan shark
Destiny believes that the Loan shark is the answer to her money problems, until she goes to the meeting and finds out the task he wants her to do for the money.
The helper – Maddy
Destiny is helped my Maddy, when she is in need of money. Destiny tells Maddy that she might not be able to pay the money back and Maddy reacts positively, helping her further by asking her if she wants to stay at her house seen as she was going away for the week.
The villain – The Loan shark
Furthermore, the Loan shark could be seen as a villain as his intentions were never aimed to benefit Destiny.
The father – Money
Money and wealth play a big part in our film, the whole film revolves around Maddy and her quest for wealth.

Furthermore, Propp’s theory of complication is shown in our film as new problems are introduced throughout ‘Greed’, including the main problem at the end of her having to kill herself.

Syd Fields: Three act plot structure

This theory suggests that all films can be split into 3 sections. Act one is a setup in which the audience get a feel for the film. Our film’s first 30 seconds shows Destiny losing her job and house and telling her friend she’ll not be able to return the money. Act two is usually the longest part, in which the main character is seen in different situations and most of the story is told. The middle of our film is Destiny choosing to go to the loan shark, getting told she has to kill someone for the money, agreeing and spending the money. Finally, act three is the resolution where everything gets brought together. The last 15 seconds of our film finds Destiny opening the expected letter up, stating she has to kill herself. This is the finally and only takes up a few seconds right at the end.

Claud Levi-Strauss: Binary Oppositions

This theory relates to how within many narratives, there are opposites. I don’t believe this can be used to explain ‘Greed’ as there aren’t any opposites in our film. The loan shark and the Destiny make an agreement together and it isn’t really a fight between them both.