Blog Three - understanding media structure

Narrative

What is it? My definition for a narrative is that; its a device used by the creator to communicate with its audience. Simple but its how I can understand it. When I see Disney and their old traditional animations, I find that I am always drawn to the way that these animators have brought so much more depth to a story such as beauty and the beast, Mulan and The little mermaid. These films have been created in a way to convey a message and alter the way in which our preconceived notions on war, adventure and reoccuringly love is viewed. However, they still attain a certain theme as they are subjected towards a younger audience. The writer for these needs to interpret and join up the bare facts of the case, not just present that information and wait for the reader to understand what it all means. Narration is also a way of engaging the reader with some kind of emotional tug – the story can attract readers’ attention and make them care about the topic.

After my Critical thinking class, I discovered that my understanding of the term narrative was indeed under estimated and in actual fact a narrative or narration is something that can be broken down into different areas, story plot and narrative. From this I went ahead and researched the term 'Narrative' the results I found that I found interesting was from Communication, Cultural and Media Studies. third edition written by John Hartley.

"Narrative is a continuous story. It has two facets. The first is the chain or plot. The second facet of narrative involves choice or presentation – the way the story is realised or told. "

now while I was interested in this, what I wanted to pick apart from was the choice of these facets. and through the story and plot - the way the story is realised or told will have differing outcomes.

Story - how it was told

Story is something that everyone can recite when asked about their favourite film. My example; Glen Keane leaves his stories very straight forward and foretelling in what the character is doing and where they will go. Often inspired by Biblical texts; psalm. From an article I found dialog of an interview between Glen Keane and animated view. Which derives the notion that a story is how the consumer will initially be engaged with a narrative on a tangible like level.

"For me, Nephtali is more of a visual poem, just like Duet was; a visual poem based on a poem that is Psalm 42. For me, animation is more of a poetic way of communicating emotion without having to follow the traditional Hollywood story."

This first facet in effective narration between the consumer and the creator is flexible but its role is still ever present. To add additional context and depth to the initial message that is being discussed as no one likes to be told 'follow your heart' or 'good triumphs evil' its just tacky and blunt. however if these messages are incorporated with an interesting plot and underly the lead story. the effect for this type of media piece that was created to have more of an emotional impact than a logical one.

Plot - How these things happened.

Next, comes the plot. Or the how the story was conveyed. Does it come in some form of structure? why yes, Glen Keane acknowledges that his animations are non linear. The opening shot is usually something that cannot be understood without the following context of the story. The plot that this creates is a feeling of anticipation and excitement to watch.

The plot for Natalie is of a deer sitting to then be transformed as a girl. the audience then watch as this figure is freely jumping and 'prancing' across the screen. The use of 2D traditional animation allows for the environment to be very loose and alter quickly from a place surface to be jumping up the slopes of a mountain terrain. Glen Keane has discussed how his experience with 3D technology such as tilt brush (which generates your art into a virtual reality) has brought new ideas on how a narrative could be presented to an audience in the development of the story, as an audience will feel often further engaged- if as they look around the room they can see these characters unfolding from the left and right of the screen- to be running across in front of them.

This choice in the second facet- too use traditional animation in a time where most animated media is 3D? it was stellar as it separated Glen Keane's work from other short films and your eyes where constantly draw across the screen; taking in the details of the dancer to a soft music that furthered this story of a dancer being youthful and free in their movements. triumphing the standard which was expected to be perfect and flawless in their movements.

Narrative

it is our interpretations and messages received from the media piece. These ideas, feelings and or experiences which we can retrieve from the media is often carefully crafted dependant on the media form. For this animation, the focus was on the emotions and the movement of the dancer which allowed the audience to feel connected to her.

What I've learned and how Narrative affects me in animation?

Animation is dependant on this mode of communication (narration) for its delivery to the consumers to be effective and memorable. Without a narrative to drive the animations, it would become a series of animated images that have loss the meaning of there lifelike movements much like how a dancer without a song looses its meaning and just becomes something aesthetically pleasing.

Thanks for reading!

References

(2018). Nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2018, from https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2000/december-2000/ward.pdf

Animation visionary Glen Keane talks about Nephtali - Animated Views. (2018). Animatedviews.com. Retrieved 11 March 2018, from http://animatedviews.com/2015/animation-visionary-glen-keane-talks-about-nephtali/

Login. (2018). Moodle-sae-au.axis.navitas.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018, from https://moodle-sae-au.axis.navitas.com/pluginfile.php/393405/mod_resource/content/1/Communication%2C%20Media%20and%20Cultural%20Studies%20Key%20Concepts.pdf