1. Critical Perspectives Exam
NARRATIVE
A2 Media Studies
Critical Perspectives Exam
UNIT G325
Question 1B

2. THE EXAM
Question 1(B) requires candidates to select ONE PRODUCTION & evaluate it in relation to a media concept.
You will focus on your FILM TRAILER ONLY.
The concepts to which questions will relate to are as follows:
Genre
NARRATIVE
Representation
Audience
Media Language
In the exam, questions will be set using one of these concepts.

3. “Apply the concept of NARRATIVE to one of your coursework pieces”
QUESTION
“Apply the concept of NARRATIVE to one of your coursework pieces”

4. TASK 1. What is Narrative? Feedback
2. What similarities do you find in narrative elements? Consider;
Storyline, Scenarios + Plot/Events ( Sub-Genre Specific) Brainstorm 
3. What is ‘Montage Editing’ & ‘Continuity Editing’? Discuss + Feedback
4. What are ‘Linear’ & ‘Non-Linear’ narratives? How does this affect
the construction of a trailer? Discuss + Apply
5. What is the ‘Horror Genre’ and why do audiences
consume horrific content? Feedback

5. NARRATIVE & ITS PURPOSE
A narrative is a story that is created in a constructive format (Word, Song, Film, TV, Theatre) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events.
The word "story” is a synonym of "narrative“.
Each narration has a narrative code – a set of methods a narrator uses to communicate directly to the reader.
Constructing narratives is a key way in which meanings & pleasures are organised/made dramatic.
Narrative theory suggests that stories in whatever media and whatever culture share certain features.

6. LINEAR/NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE
A non-linear narrative does not proceed in chronological order, such as where an author creates a story's ending before the middle is finished.
A linear narrative is the complete opposite, when a narrative runs smoothly in chronological order and is not broken up.
What is your trailer in terms of linear and non-linear narratives?

7. WHAT IS HORROR?
Horror is a genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience’s primal fears.
Horror often deals with the viewers/audience’s nightmares, hidden fears, revulsions and terror/fear of the unknown.
Plots often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage.
Prevalent elements include ghosts, aliens, vampires, werewolves, demons, vicious animals, monsters, zombies, cannibals, and serial killers.
Horror is often used as a form of escapism for people that enjoy (or don’t enjoy it as much) being scared and frightened.

8. NARRATIVE QUOTES Include one/two in your answer
“When considering the narrative form, popular contemporary cinema has displayed a deliberate turn towards narrative complexity” – Allan Cameron.
“Great films have an appeal felt by everyone, they well up from a universal source (narrative structure) in shared unconscious” – Chris Vogler.
“Story is the irreducible substance of events, while narrative is the way the story is related (Once upon a time there was a princess…)” – John Fiske.
“Most narratives follow the same narrative stages and contain universally recognisable characters and situations (archetypes)” – Joseph Campbell.

9. TODOROV
THEORY 1

10. TODOROV - NARRATOLOGY
The idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another.
The idea that these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or what Todorov refers to as disequilibrium.
The idea that the way in which narratives are resolved can have particular ideological significance.
THEORIST
Tzvetan Todorov
is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher who argued that conventional narrative structure consists of a pre-considered order.

11. TODOROV - NARRATOLOGY 1.EQUILIBRIUM (STATUS QUO): 2.DISEQUILIBRIUM:
Todorov’s narrative theory suggests that any story will coherently move through five separate stages, in a chronological order.
1.EQUILIBRIUM (STATUS QUO):
An initial situation, the ‘once upon a time moment’ that gives balance/stability.
2.DISEQUILIBRIUM:
The balance is disrupted by a problem/event, setting off a series of other events.
3.RECOGNITION: that this disruption has taken place
4.ATTEMPTS: are made by characters to repair the disruption
5.RESOLUTION:
The problem is solved, allowing reinstatement of the initial equilibrium/new equilibrium.

12. Describe – Apply – Back Up
TODOROV - NARRATOLOGY
D.A.B
Describe – Apply – Back Up

13. LEVI-STRAUSS
THEORY 2

14. STRAUSS - STRUCTURALISM
The idea that media texts can best be understood through a detailed examination of their underlying core structure.
The idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions.
The idea that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved can have particular ideological significance.
THEORIST
Claude Lévi-Strauss
was a French 
anthropologist whose work searched for the underlying patterns of thought in forms of human activity.

15. STRAUSS - STRUCTURALISM
Claude Lévi-Strauss had the insight that how we understand certain words depends on our understanding of the difference between its ‘opposite’.
1.BINARY OPPOSITION:
Lévi-Strauss referred to this process as a ‘binary opposite’ (the process being ‘Binary Opposition’). For example, our understanding of the word ‘coward’ surely depends on the difference between that word and its opposing idea of a ‘hero’.
2.SOCIAL VALIDATION:
Levi-Strauss also noted an important feature of ‘binary opposites’ was that one side of the binary pair is always seen by a particular society or culture as more valued over the other.
3.EXAMPLES (BINARY OPPOSITES):
Good vs Bad. Pure vs Evil. Black vs White. Peace vs War. Democracy vs Dictatorship. Young vs Old. Protagonist vs Antagonist. Man vs Woman. Strong vs Weak. Ignorance vs Wisdom. Civilised vs Barbaric.

16. STRAUSS - STRUCTURALISM
D.A.B
Describe – Apply – Back Up

17. POSSIBLE STRUCTURE P1: INTRODUCTION.
What is the Theoretical Concept & its Purpose?
What is Your Project? What is Horror & Why Do Audiences Watch?
INCLUDE A QUOTE FROM A THEORIST
P2: TZVETAN TODOROV NARRATOLOGY THEORY
Describe Theory + Apply Theory to Trailer + Backup With Real Film
P3: CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS STRUCTURALISM THEORY
P4: CONCLUSION
How could this concept develop in the future?
How will this relate to audience behaviour ?

18. TASK CONSTRUCT AN ESSAY ANSWER LEVEL 4 21-25
INCLUDE: INTRODUCTION + THEORIES + RMT’S + CONCLUSION
LEVEL
“Candidates demonstrate a clear understanding of audience and relevant media theory and can relate
concepts articulately to the production outcome, describing specific elements in relation to theoretical
ideas about how media texts are produced for and received by audiences in various ways. Candidates
offer a broad range of specific, relevant, interesting and clear examples of how their product can be
understood in relation to relevant theories of audience and reception. The use of conceptual language is
excellent. Complex issues have been expressed clearly and fluently using a style of writing appropriate to
the complex subject matter. Sentences and paragraphs, consistently relevant, have been well structured,
using appropriate technical terminology. There may be few errors of spelling/punctuation/grammar”.