Evaluation of project, Week 5

On tuesday the 29th of September, we looked at the differences between the plot and the story of a film. We concluded that the story is about the characters in order from start to finish and the plot is about everything from the first shot to the last shot. We then looked at and discussed different theories to describe the plot of a film. We looked at three theories by, Tristan Tadorov, Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss. They had different views on what a film plot is like. We worked mostly on Tadorov's theory, wondering what films are examples of that theory. I can think of many films that follow this theory, which is why it is my favourite out of the three, because I can relate to it most. His theory shows that the plot has five sections: the Equalibrium, which is the normal before something goes wrong; the Disruption, oppositional characters; Recognition of disruption, tension builds as main character life is interwoven; Attempt to repair disruption, highest point of tension, where there is a win or lose; and the Reinstatement of Equilibrium, where things are back to normal or at a new normal, better or worse.

Claude Levi-Strauss's theory mainly reflects the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. This is done by using binary codes, where one image is shown next to a contradicting image. Vladimir Propp has a different based theory, where the films based on his theory have 8 characters and 31 narrative functions. the characters are: the villain; the donor; the (magical) helper; the princess; her father; the dispatcher; the hero/victim; and the false/anti-hero/usurper.

When we wrote our own plot for the film, "The Secret" we based it on Tadorov's theory. On Thursday, the 1st of October, I brought in some modelling clay and pens ready to make our characters for our film. We were given a video camera, which had a flat battery, so while we charged it, we created our characters. We made six characters, none of them had a name: the main character; the queen; the doctor; the investigator; the villain and an extra. Our new plot was very different to our planned plot as our teacher found many flaws with it. After the camera was charged we recorded our film, using techniques like zoom and different camera angles. If we could do it again we would use more camera angles and techniques such as tilted angle and freeze frames to add drama. I would also spend less time wondering how to work the camera, such as how to turn it on.

We managed to finish it just in time and went back to the classroom when we finished. We uploaded all the scenes onto IMovie, we edited them by cutting mistakes and putting the scenes in order. We havent finished as we still need to add special effects.

Using the Apple Mac computers to upload our film was new for me, so the teacher gave a presentation on how to upload them. I've also rarely used a camera, so now i am a little experienced with the school cameras now. Next time I try this, I would spend less time wondering how to upload the footage as I would be more experienced. One thing I am pleased with is that our group worked together well when filming and uploading.