Narrative Research

I'm going to be discussing the different types of narrative that my groups trailer could follow. Before I start I should probably mention that the narratives in trailer can be at times bizarre this is because most trailers try not to tell you a lot about the films story as it has a chance at of ruining the experience for some of the audience as whats the point of going to see a film if you know whats going to happen in it? This can be seen in many film trailers such as Castaway (2000) which shows Tom Hanks character escaping the island which is what the entire film is suppose to be building up to constantly making the audience wonder if he will survive but as this scene is shown in the trailer it makes the entire build up to the film pointless, Another recent example of this would be Terminator Genisys (2015) where John Connor the main protagonist of the entire Terminator franchises is revealed to of been transformed into a T-3000 terminator who is also the main antagonist of the film which ruins arguably one of the biggest plot twists in the terminator series. This means that when audiences went to see the film they would not be shocked by the plot twist as it was already spoiled for them when the trailer was released. Because of this when we create our film trailer we will try to implement basic story elements but also including scene that keep the audience thinking such as showing the killers victims before the killer is revealed to make them wonder who or what the killer is, this is also so that the films plot is not spoiled which would ruin it for the audience.

Looking at narrative structures there are 3 types of narrative that I'll be analysing these are linear, circular and episodic all of which serve different purposes than the other.

Linear

Linear is the most basic form of narrative which can be described as a single path way that never loops. It consists of a beginning a middle and a end and can link very well with Todorov's equilibrium theory as the beginning will show the first equilibrium and its disruption, the middle shows the protagonists acknowledging said disruption and the ending shows the restoration of the equilibrium intern forming a brand new one. Linear narratives are seen in a large majority of films that are released due to the fact to they can be easily followed by a large audience which can range from children to elderly people. Because of this many linear narrative films are part of the family film genre so that it can be enjoyed by all ages an example of these can be many of the films that Disney release as they are targeted to families. However when applying this narrative to my groups film trailer I can see that no matter how linear the narrative is film trailers consist of parts of the film cut into pieces and rearranged which is why the things we see in the trailer don't always appear in that same order when the film is released. Furthermore, in some ways trailers break the linear narrative as the purpose of a trailer is to hype up the audience for the film but not spoil it for them this can be seen. Trailers break up linear narratives through editing techniques such as cutting to black before showing another clip from the film to make this more entertaining for the audience these cuts to black will usually include text for the audience to read while the transition happens.

Lucas Films Logo

The Mysterious Man

Here you can see the trailer for the film Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015) which is an example of a film with a non-linear narrative. This can be seen as the trailer fades/cuts to black to change the scene showing the audience a variety of  different characters and locations with no connection to each other so that they feel like they haven't been spoiled. This can be seen at the start of the trailer as it starts of showing us Rey the films protagonists scavenging through a destroyed star ship after this scene the trailer fades to black showing us Lucas Films (the production company) logo so that the audience can recognise who is making it which can also hype up the audience as they will associate Lucas Films with the Star Wars Franchise. The trailer then fades in to an army of Stormtroopers attending a speech from their commander, the trailers tone drastically changes at this point despite keeping the same music as before the fade the tone was mysterious and mystifying as we wonder what Rey is doing but after the fading the tone becomes more eerie as while the music is the same the we are being shown more violent scenes such as a TIE fighter getting blasted out of the sky as it falls towards the planet. Another fade happens after this where the music becomes more sinister and ominous as it fades to a mysterious man shrouded in darkness with the camera closing in on him the red tint on the camera makes him appear even more threatening and powerful.

The next major fade to black can be seen is just after the millennium falcon chase scene as it fades to Rey and Finn another one of the films protagonist listening to someone speak it is then revealed that this person is Han Solo one of the most famous Star Wars characters of all time. Because of this fans will immediately recognise him which excites them for the film as without spoiling anything it suggests that other beloved characters from the franchise could return. This provides the audience with key information about the film as it shows us a character who is going to be very important to the plot of the film without spoiling their role in anyway which pleases the audience.

All of these cuts and fades have been used to keep the audience fascinated with whats going on in the trailer by connecting a variety of different scenes from many parts of the film they are also rearranged into a new order so that the audience can not see any potential plot points or connections among each scene. However it still manages to show intense action scenes and vital key information about the film without ruining the story for any fans of the film series. The text in the trailer is also included for the audience as it gives them important information about the film such as its release date this conforms with Blumler and Katz 1974 theory as it is educational for the audience as they are learning more about the film which will get them interested in seeing it when it is released.

Circular

A circular narrative is arguably the most complex narrative I'll be analysing. How it works is that as the story progresses it will ultimately end where it all began making it go into a big circle. Unlike linear circular narratives don't follow Todorov's equilibrium theory as it would start at the end which would skip past the entire disruption of the equilibrium. The main ways that circular narratives work is by showing a sequence from the films climax (usually a fight or war) and the rest of the film is a flash back of how the characters got to that point usually than playing the clip from the beginning again so that the audience can realise that the plot has gone full circle. As this can be complicated to follow the films are usually targeted to older audiences as children may not be able to full understand what is happening in the film. A good example of a circular narrative film is Citizen Kane (1941) which starts at the end of the film and the rest is a flashback of how Kane got there.

Episodic

The last form of narrative that I'll be analysing is episodic narrative. This is when the story is broken up into multiple segments these are commonly seen in TV series with each segment being a different episode which furthers the overall story and if the story does not progress in an episode it is a usually a filler episode to give the audience something while are more complicated episode is being produced. This type of narrative also appears in many forms of media such as books as if a book is popular a sequel (volume) will be released further progressing the story. Episodic narratives also appear in video games such as The Walking Dead (2012) by Telltale games who released new episodes every couple of months to progress the games story. Now looking at episodic narratives in films like books if a film is very popular it will receive a sequel which progresses the original films story by expanding upon its elements such as revealing more about a characters back story or introducing brand new characters who are important in the films story. This type of narrative can attract a large audience except the audience will have to be patient to find out how the story progresses as they will have to wait for the next film to be released. A great example of a film series that follows this narrative is the original Star Wars trilogy with second film The Empire Strikes Back (1980) expanding on many things from the first films such as showing that the empire is still a threat even without the death star and revealing the shocking truth about Luke's origins showing that he is Darth Vader's son. 

After analysing the 3 types of narrative I believe that the best one for our groups film trailer would be a linear narrative. This is because a trailer is meant to attract an audience to whatever it is showing (film, game, etc) so they need to be able to understand what they are looking that and decide if it is something they would be interested seeing and as a linear narrative is the most basic narrative many people will be able to follow it. This can be explained through John Fiske's genre theory which states that genre is convenient to both the audience and producers as if the genre is easy to follow a genre such as action/adventure as they are usually targeted to larger audience including families so they are made to be understood by young audiences but still be enjoyable for older audiences. The same thing applies for narratives as a linear narrative film would have to be simple enough for younger audiences to watch but still interesting for older audiences. because of this will try to make the genre in are film trailer very clear from the start so that a large audience can easily follow the trailer. Also if we were to use a more complex form of narrative such as circular we may accidentally spoil key parts to the film as most parts of the films trailer would most likely appear near the climax of the film as that's how circular narratives in films work and episodic narrative won't work in a trailer as they are a continuation of a films story and the story doesn't appear in detail in a films trailer as it may spoil the film for some people so using episodic is out of the question.