Week 5

Last week I began researching narrative theory and narrative theory of horror films as that is my chosen genre.
Narrative theory looks at the conventions governing the development of a story.

Tzvetan Todorov suggested that the stories begin with an equilibrium where any potential opposing forces are in balance. This is then disrupted by an event which sets in motion a series of further events. Problems are eventually resolved so that order is restored along with the original equilibrium.

Vladimir Propp looked at folk tales and suggested that each story had 8 similar character roles:
1. The Hero (The Protagonist)
2. The Villain (The Antaganoist)
3. The Princess (Who is the victim of the villains schemes and the reward for the hero)
4. Her Father (Who rewards the Hero)
5. The Dispatcher (Who sends the Hero on their way)
6. The False Hero (Who is mistaken for the Hero)
7. The Donor (Who provides some object to aid the Hero, usually with some sort of magic property)
8. The Helper (Who Helps the Hero on their quest)


I also did research into the dualistic nature of the narrative which includes:
Story - what narrative is: its content, consisting of events, actions, time and location.
Discourse - How the narrative is told: arrangement, emphasis/de-emphasis, magnification/diminution, of any of the elements of the content.


This week I will begin working on the plot of my film and develop the stock characters that Todorov suggests are in all stories.