Developing the story

1. Developing the story Subject=Content SUBJECT The media production THEME FORM Form=structure, representation, depiction Theme=idea, intention

2. From The Poetics of Aristotle • We represent people as better/worse than they really are. • The reasons for poetry: imitation is “planted” from childhood instinct for harmony and rhythm • “…most important is the structure of incidents.” • “A whole that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.” • The unity of plot: time place action Practical Result: economies of dialogue, characters, and scenes

3. Encoding the Narrative: Creating Identification Protagonist: The person with a problem Person: Sympathy Empathy Antipathy Problem: Antagonist Adversarial Forces person v. person person v. nature person v. self person v. institution person v. society EMOTIONAL CATHARSIS

4. Dramatic Structure: Rising Action Major crisis: Climax Crisis: Setback for protagonist Denouement Crisis or turning point Exposition Complication Climax Resolution Functions also include Foreshadowing/Deflection and Character Trait

5. Nick Browne “Evidently, a spectator is several places at once--with the fictional viewer, with the viewed, and at the same time in a position to evaluate and respond to claims of each. This fact suggests that like the dreamer, the filmic spectator is a plural subject: in [his/her] reading [s/he] is and is not [him/her]self.” From “The spectator-in-the-text: The rhetoric of Stagecoach” (1975)

6. The Cinematic Narrator: The Apparatus

7. Developing the story Subject=Content SUBJECT The media production THEME FORM Form=structure, representation, depiction Theme=idea, intention