‘Media text rely on cultural experiences in order for audiences to easily make sense of narratives’ Explain how you used conventional or experimental narrative approaches in one of your production pieces.

 

As part of our work for our foundation portfolio, my group and I produced an opening sequence for a thriller movie; a piece which involved a combination of both conventional and experimental narrative approaches.

 

The first step was deciding which sub-genre of the thriller category we wanted our work to fit into. After researching the different sub-genres and discussing which ones would be appropriate, we narrowed our choices down and went with the 'man on the run' thriller idea. The narrative of these movies revolve around a person whom is on the run from other people (usually the law) and follows their journey as they try to escape, resolve the situation, or prove their innocence. 

 

This fits in with Todorov's theory, that a narrative consists of an equilibrium being established at the start, before a disequilibrium occurs to prompt the main storyline (in this case the man going on the run) before the equilibrium is restored at the end. We slightly differed from this conventional approach as our opening sequence starts right in the thick of the action; the disequilibrium, as our thriller begins with the man on the run being chased.

 

However by beginning the movie in the middle of the action with an exhilerating chase, we support Barthes' enigma code theory, which refers to the idea that all narratives involve some kind of enigma (mystery) to keep the audience hooked and intrigued. This is very important to keep the audience guessing and keep them watching so that they can find out the information behind the events which are not explained from the start. The enigma in the case of our thriller is the fact that with the film starting in the middle of the action, the audience does not know why the man is on the run, who he is, or who is chasers are. By using no close ups of the man on the run, assured that the audience did not get a good look at the man, and therefore kept him as a strong enigma. This however could withdraw from our audience's ability to recognise the genre as they may not even note that he is a key character or is going to be the main man on the run. Another experimental approach is apparent through the way the narrative is set up, as it seems to follow the pursuers rather than the man on the run, with the camera work focusing especially on the menacing man with the weapon, and following his conversations and actions.

 

The fact that the chasers are also an enigma portrays another experimental approach we took. Whereas, as aforementioned, the norm in a man on the run thriller is for the law to be involved as the chasers, however in our sequence the chasers are plain clothed young men, one armed with a weapon, suggesting that they are infact most likely not even law-abiding citizens, let alone law enforcers. However although we did take creative risks, one of the few conventions we stuck by was having a hero and a villain, as the man on the run is the protagonist, although we do not see much of him in the opening sequence. The identity of the antagonists was more clear in our sequence however due to the lethal weapon possessed by one of the chasers, and his intent to use it.

 

Overall it could be argued that we used more of an experimental approach than a conventional one as our sequence goes against Todorov's narrative theory as we started in the disequilibrium stage, however we did stick by some conventions so that the piece could still be easily recognised as a man on the run thriller; most vital was the fact that we kept an enigma, as Barthes' theory suggests a narrative should.