Narrative analysis & Theories applications.

Todorov's Narrative theory

In order to better our understanding of a film's structure, and therefore help us structure our own film's introduction. I had to understand how Todorov's theory applies in movies. The film I chose to analyze was 3:10 to yuma as it is a conventional western, and would inspire our film's structure.

3:10 to yuma has a very unconventional start as it begins with a negative equilibrium. The main character's barn is set on fire in the first scene though the audience are not told why, this immediately grips and intrigues the audience, making them want to watch the entire movie. Furthermore, the abrupt start to the movie, and the confusion helps to give the story some history and background, that the audience can discover throughout the movie. This also helps eliminate most of the 'building up' that it would have to do, by pushing the audience right into the action.

First scene in 3:10 to yuma

This equilibrium is disrupted as the main character doesn't have enough money to pay off his debt, and he attempts to repair the damage when he offers to escort an outlaw to a train for money. 3:10 to yuma has a fairly simple structure, the simplicity could be used to focus the audience on characterization and dialogue, one of the movie's main strengths.Since we are only working on a movie's introduction, 3:10 to yuma is a perfect example on how to make audiences interested with just the introduction. Our product will introduce a problem, and would actually be showing the attempt to repair the damage. 

Propp's Narrative theory

Vladimir Propp developed a theory by analysis different media texts and productions, he found that there were 7 main character typed in most of the texts he analyzed. 

1. The villain - Struggles against the hero, tries to stop him from reaching his goal.
2. The donor - prepares the hero for his quest or gives him an item that will help him.
3. The helper - Helps the hero on his quest.
4. The princess - Mainly the hero's motivation, or objective. Marries the hero
5. The false hero - Appears to be a hero usually until after the villain is defeated, then back-stabs the hero. Not the villain. 
6. The dispatcher - Sends the hero on his quest.
7. The hero - Main protagonist, motivated by the princess. 

In 3:10 to yuma, not all the stereotypical character roles are filled, though most are, for example; 

The hero - Dan Evans, this is shown as he is the main character, though since this is a western, the character is motivated mainly by pride instead of the princess.

The helper - William Evans, the hero's son joins during his quest to save him several times. 

The villain - Charlie prince, an outlaw, hunting down Dan Evans for capturing his leader. Although there are several outlaws in the gang, Charlie Prince is the villain as he stands out, he's presented as a ruthless cold blooded killer, more evil than the rest of his gang. 

Our piece consists of only two characters, and therefore they must be 'Binary opposites'. A villain and a hero. Though we don't have enough time to introduce them as such, therefore the introduction will be slightly enigmatic.