Storytelling is the combination of the story and the narrative. Think about some of your favourite stories (these can be from literature, film, fairytales, etc). What are the various elements in the ways in which these stories are told that attracts you to them and gives you pleasure (not the story itself, but the way the story is told).
Examples:
Memento (2000) starring Guy Pearce, Carrie Anne-Moss and Joe Pantoliano The Butterfly Effect (2004) starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart Vantage Point (2008) starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Forest Whitaker
Some people enjoy a linear type of narrative, where the story is told consequently and without too much mystery, as they consume pleasure from other elements of the specific type of media, for instance horror, suspense, laughter, etc. I particularly enjoy narratives that are broken, upside-down, inside-out. Whether the film starts with the ending and ends with the beginning or all of its parts are mixed in a way that makes it difficult to follow the story, it is a pleasure for me to watch. Clearly, that is not to say that the story itself is irrelevant to my deriving pleasure from it, but when it comes to a good story (or, in rare cases, a great one), the best stories are the good ones being told in a more interesting way.
Being a big Hollywood consumer myself and, film consumer in general, it is easy to notice how mass produced films are being easily influenced by the mass's desire for a linear narrative, easy to understand, easy to make laugh, cry or scare. That is not the same in foreign productions, mostly independent, that don't fall within the same requirements, due to their different audiences. However, Hollywood does produce good narratives once in a while, unpredictable endings that leave the viewer with their mouth open, trying to construct the story in their heads. Of course, that excludes those films that construct complicated narratives only to reveal the whole story consequently with flashbacks for those who were not paying attention - mass requirement, once again, as cinema is being viewed as a tool of mass satisfaction and escapism, rather than something that makes the audience think and feel heavier than they already do.
Task 2 Different media (fictional film, documentary, news report, music video, etc) and different genres within each of those media (fictional film - film noir, ganster film, rom com, etc) have different codes, conventions and rules for their narrative forms. Identify two different media and compare and contrast some of the main differences and techniques in their narrative forms, are certain types of camera work, editing, scripting permitted in some forms and genres whilst not in others? Think of examples.
News report vs. perfume advertisement
The differences in the techniques for constructing a narrative within different media derives from their different purposes. For instance, a news report is meant to inform and sometimes alert. It is expected to be clear, consequential, there are certain elements that are expected to be present, such as interviews or voice overs. An advertisement is meant to sell, mainly relying on semiotics as its primary tool, and there is not a huge necessity for a linear narrative, as the advertisement sells attraction or need or plays on the viewer's lack of something.
For the purpose of proving my argument, I picked two random perfume advertisements from youtube to compare with a news report and a video that ridicules news reports. Although this video is obviously made to make fun of the way the BBC does news reports, it actually reflects the way most news features are done all over the world and exposes some of the expected elements and conventional techniques used.
Hugo Boss Commercial
Armani Commercial
How to Report the News
Fox News Report
Comparing those videos on just a basic level it is obvious that they differ in a lot more than their narrative structures. A lot of their other elements will be unsuitable or even inappropriate if used in the other genre. For instance, the camera angles in a perfume advert may vary quite a bit, whilst the camera needs to be steady in a news report, giving a sense of actuality and real life. Music in a news report (on serious news) would be quite unsuitable and even fun news reports limit the usage of sound, while adverts rely a lot on jingles and music. Adverts also rely on flashing images and attractive celebrities, while news reports keep it simple and informative. And this is just basic level comparison.
There are many genre conventions that would be inappropriate if their genre is changed, although some of them might be transferrable to genres close to them in form or purpose. For instance, the lack of necessity for narrative and the variety of camera angles are also common for music videos, while news report share similar techniques with documentaries. It is the purpose of the media form that would have set those conventions in place and once the audience expects something from a certain genre, that genre has to follow those requirements in order to produce pleasure for the viewer.
