Developing the story SUBJECT Subject=Content SUBJECT The media production THEME FORM Form=structure, representation, depiction Theme=idea, intention

From The Poetics of Artistotle We represent people as better/worse than they really are. The reasons for poetry: imitation is “planted” from childhood instinct for harmony and rhythm “…most important is the structure of incidents.” “A whole that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.” The unity of plot: time, place, and action Practical Result: economies of dialogue, characters, and scenes

Dramatic Structure: Rising Action Major crisis: Climax Crisis: Setback for protagonist Denouement Crisis or turning point Exposition Complication Climax Resolution Functions also include Foreshadowing/Deflection and Character Trait

Dramatic Structure: A Detailed View

Dramatic Structure: The Act

Dramatic Structure: Multiple Plot Lines

Encoding the Narrative: Creating Identification Protagonist: The person with a problem Person: Sympathy Empathy Antipathy Problem: Antagonist Adversarial Forces person v. person person v. nature person v. self person v. institution person v. society EMOTIONAL CATHARSIS

Nick Browne “Evidently, a spectator is several places at once--with the fictional viewer, with the viewed, and at the same time in a position to evaluate and respond to claims of each. This fact suggests that like the dreamer, the filmic spectator is a plural subject: in [his/her] reading [s/he] is and is not [him/her]self.” From “The spectator-in-the-text: The rhetoric of Stagecoach” (1975)

The Cinematic Narrator: Apparatus

Developing the story SUBJECT Subject=Content SUBJECT The media production THEME FORM Form=structure, representation, depiction Theme=idea, intention