Narratives:

Open narrative:

An Open Narrative structure is usually found in television series, in particular, ongoing soap operas such as EastEnders or Holby City. In these narratives, the story has no apparent beginning, middle or end, in terms of the actual events. A familiar device in open narratives, especially soap operas, is a cliffhanger ending to each episode, from which the next episode can follow on. As a result, these stories can last a long time, and the program itself can continue for years.

Movies do not usually use Open narrative structures, as they usually ‘stand alone’ as one separate story. An example of an open movie narrative would be Planet Of The Apes (1967), which leaves Charlton Heston’s character in an ambiguous ending, leaving the audience with questions that can be answered in a sequel. It was, unsurprisingly, followed by numerous sequels.

Closed narrative:

A Closed Narrative structure is most commonly found in movies. As mentioned before, movies generally exist as one unique story, and contain a beginning, middle and an ending. A story is unraveled before an audience, and then ultimately brought to a conclusion. A closed narrative in a movie does not necessarily mean no sequels can be made. There can be prequels, set before the chronology of the first movie, or a sequel that can create an all-new story, with the same characters. But strictly speaking, they can still be movies in their own right. The James Bond movies (1962-2015), which total 24 separate movies involving the same characters, provide a good example of this.

Multi-stranded:

Many different films and TV programs ECT. Are made up of many different “strands”, for example, the film “Love Actually” has several different strands (around 8) that all link up in the end. “By juxta-positioning the strands, the audience will not only be concerned about the action, but also the outcome of each strand and how they’re related to each other” (classroom.synonym.com)

POV:

The third-person objective employs a narrator who tells a story without describing any character's thoughts, opinions, or feelings; instead, it gives an objective, unbiased point of view. Often the narrator is self-dehumanized in order to make the narrative more neutral. An example of this would be Shawshank Redemption.

Plot Devices:

Plot Twist:

A plot twist is an unexpected turn of events found within TV shows, films etc.

MacGuffin:

The MacGuffin plot device is where the pro/antagonist has an objective or object to find. Whether it is a weapon to beat the other main character, or finding the other main character.

Deus ex machina:

Where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object.

Red Herring:

A “Red Herring” is a misleading piece of information or an object that one of the characters may find, which they believe will lead them to victory or success, but in the end, does not.

In media res:

Meaning “into the middle things”. Films following this plot device open into the midst of action. Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, either through dialogue, flashbacks or description of past events. For example, Hamlet begins after the death of Hamlet's father. Characters make reference to King Hamlet's death without the plot's first establishment of said fact. Since the play focuses on Hamlet and the revenge itself more so than the motivation, Shakespeare utilizes in media res to bypass superfluous exposition.

Batman vs. Superman

(At the start)

Protagonists: Wonder Woman, Batman

Antagonist: Superman, Lex Luther

(At the end)

Protagonists: Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman

Antagonist: Doomsday, Lex Luther

Exposition: The first scene, the introduction of Batman and Superman. When they 1st meet.

Rising action: When Batman is chasing criminals and fails, then superman threatens him.

Climax: The fight between Batman and Superman.

Falling conflict: when Superman and Batman join forces with Wonder Woman to fight Doomsday.

Resolution: Doomsday is defeated and Superman “dies”.

Action

There are several fights and even some deaths in this film. Making it an action film.

Generic conventions:

Mise en scene: the arrangement of scenery, props and stage.

The Mise en scene here is the tissues they are sitting on being props, and the scenery being some public toilets. Other props include the briefcase and bags.

Visual style: In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories." or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed and made."

All of these films/series have different visual styles, sin city is in black and white, but anything that is red stays red. The film 300 has a filter on throughout the film, toy story is animated and the series danmachi is drawn and animated.

Setting: The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place. The setting here is at night in the rain.

Theme: An idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.

The theme in I Am Legend is loneliness.

Ideology: An ideology is a view (similar to theme)

The ideology in the film Of Mice and Men is about living the American dream, as well as companionship/friendship.

Stereotypes: A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. The stereotype here is that American football players are big and strong, and that women are smaller/weaker than men.

1. Narratives: a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.

2. In Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman narrates the film.

1. Iconography: The use of well know symbols or “icons”.

2. Such as this pose being used on the cover of the film Sex Drive which has been used on the cover of many different films.

Cinematography: How the images and film has been captured. This film has been captured with a black and white filter.

“Sound” refers to everything we hear in a movie — words, sound effects, and music. Sound is used in film to heighten a mood, provide us with information about the location of a scene, advance the plot, and tell us about the characters in the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGT87k_CVJ0

SFX: Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, SPFX, or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the film, television, theatre, video game, and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world.