2. He says in any film the narrative starts on an equilibrium,
a constant state where everything is normal, followed by something
causing a disequilibrium that the characters have to resolve. The
disequilibrium is followed by acknowledgement and resolution of the
disequilibrium and leaves the film back in a state of equilibrium
where the characters may not be in the same situation as they
started in but in a new constant life. My chosen genre is British
Gangster and this theory is evident in a lot of them. Snatch is an
example from the main characters perspective, as a boxing promoter.
It all goes wrong when their boxer disobeys orders and wins a
boxing match but it is solved and they end up with a very expensive
diamond at the end of the film.
3. He says there are certain roles within any story including a
protagonist who goes on the quest, an antagonist to get in their
way, heroine, father figure, helper/sidekick, donor who gives the
hero something and a mentor. Snatch, again is an example, including
a father figure, protagonist, antagonist and sidekick.
4. Came up with codes of understanding narrative for example an
action code is maybe a shot of a gun or weapon that tells you there
is about to be an action scene. An enigma code is when the audience
has more questions about what is going on than answers. Lock Stock
and Two Smoking Barrels uses action codes including shots of
weapons, close ups of objects of significance and close ups of
fists to tell the audience the action is about to start.
5. His theory is that in every film you can tell a lot about
something by its opposition. Every film is driven by a series of
conflict and opposition. For example light and dark or good and
evil. You can tell who is the good character by their opposition to
the evil character. This is harder to distinguish between in
British Gangster films as even the protagonists are not good people
nor are they light. However there are themes including age and
youth that come into British Gangster films.