Narrative Theories

Vladimir Propp was a Russion scholar who analysed the narrative structure of Fairy tales. He found common themes of the narrative, and of characters within the story. He identifies 31 functions of a fairy tale, in 4 speres of the story; 1st sphere: the introductory sequence, 2nd sphere: the body of the story, 3rd Sphere: the donor sequence, and the 4th sphere: the hero's return. Within these spheres are several parts of the narrative. He also propsed 8 character types; the villain, the hero, the donor ( a magical character that gives advice to the hero), the helper, the princess/prize, the princesses' father, the dispatcher and the false hero.

Tzvetan Todorov  is a French-Bulgarian philosopher. His narrative theory suggests that all stories begin with an equilibrium; everything is fine. Then there is a disruption of this peace, which has to be solved by the end, for everything to be restored as it should be, creating a new equilibrium.

Roland Barthes was a french literary theorist. He described text as "a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..." He categorised narrative codes in five ways; Hermeneutic Code: elements of the storyline that are unexplained and therefore remain a mystery to the audience, Proairetic Code: action or events that cause tension, Semantic Code: connotations of the story, Symbolic Code: similar to semantic code, but organises semantic meaning in a broader and deeper way, and Cultural Code: the basis of which everything is founded upon, which is not challened and is assumed to be true. 

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist. He focused on narrative theory specifically to do with binary oppositions. These opposite values could be the cause for conflict. e.g. good & evil, alien & human, known & unknown.




Reference: Wikipedia, changingminds.org

Convergence of Game Show

Bamboozle is a game show where the contestents have to answer quiz questions based on general knowlege. It has several interesting twists, such as the wheel of fortune and the wicked wango card. The scores are based on a point system depending on the participants answers and luck on the wheel. The winner at the end is 'Bamboozled' and goes home with a cash prize.

The Game show, Bamboozle, will be converged in several ways. Firstly it will feature as a computer game for the wii, xbox and playstation, and also as a download for your iPhone. This allows the audience to participate in the game, even if they are not able to go on the show. The show will have it's own website, in which live episodes can be watched, which has several features such as being able to choose which camera to watch the show from, allowing them to see the contestents faces and expressions close up, and to be immersed in the action. It will feature profiles from all the previous winnerss of the show, and have competions and downloads available. The main feature of the website, however, is that people can sign up to be included in the draw to be contestents on the next show. A selcetion of people get chosen at random, who then have to complete another task before they are entered into the show.

The game show will also be converged into a children's version, which can be accessed at any tim the main show is playing be pressing the red button.

Production Converegnce will affect the production stage as the competetors are picked by the internet website. The porduction team will have to create several on stage cameras for the website feature of allowing the consumer to view the stage and the action in 3D while the show is live.

Marketing This will improve due the wide audience appeal, as the game is availaable for children, and as a video game, which allows families to take part themselves at home. Advertising will appear via TV, websites and on similar products on sale.

Exhibition This will change as the audience can stream the show direct to their iPhone app. The show will also be available online, and of course on TV.

Technologies The show will need specialist cameras to allow the inernet audience to view the show live with a 3D, self viewing feature.

Consumption The show will be available online, on the iPhone app, but also through the game versions, the website and the childrens version.

The Male Gaze; Laura Mulvey '85

Mulvey was born 15th August 1941, and is a film theorist, as well as a strong feminist. Mulvey argued that in film, women are often portrayed as sexual visual pleasures for men, a technique is used where the audience is put into the role of a man, and on screen the camera lingers on the female, displaying her as visual pleasure for men. The theory implys that women are seen as objects of men, and are made to view the media as in the perspective of a man.

Final Evaluation of Thriller Opening

Evaluation

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