The Narrative Arc

 This is perhaps a topic that most animators myself included do not want to involve ourselves in. Most of the time we consider our work to be technical and want to leave issues about the story in itself to others. But in the recent weeks and especially on some of the work I've been required to do, thinking about the narrative has become more important. Even in very short stories such as the ones I have been involved in, thinking about how stories start and how they end and how these two parts links have become critical.

The basic narrative arc can be depicted with a pyramid shaped linear path drawn on a graph. The bottom line represents the chronological progression of a story while the vertical plane represent the rising height of complexity in a story. The rising part of the pyramid describes the initial crisis that characters are introduced to in establishing the story. This represents the Exposition stage. The complexity in the story must then rise until an apex is reached. In terms of complexity, early literature involved Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, and Man vs. Self . In more recent times however, the kinds of complexity and conflicts possible have increased to include Man vs. Society, Man vs. Technology,and Man vs. Alter Ego, Man vs. Alien Society, Man vs. Biotechnology, and Man vs. Cloned Self.

The final descending slope on the pyramid describes the stage of resolution, as the answers that have been asked are answered. A few types have been culled from a fairly descriptive article at the Sandhill.edu website here linked. They are:

1. Comic resolution: The conflict is resolved favorably for the protagonist; he or she is better off than when the tale began.  
2. Tragic resolution: The conflict is one in which the protagonist loses ground. He or she is worse off than when the tale began. 
3. Linear resolution: Despite the ensuing complications and conflicts, the protagonist is largely unchanged by the events of the story. 
4. Dénouement: In some tales, a portion of the story at the end is devoted to tying up the loose ends. Think of Murder, She Wrote, in which each episode includes a segment at the end during which Jessica Fletcher fills in her audience on how she figured out the identity of the real killer.[1]

For me, paying a bit more attention to these details have become essential especially as I realize that there is a more aware audience who will judge the quality of a film however short, based among other things, on the plot and cohesive links in a story.


References

Sandhills.edu, 2009. Plot, Theme, the Narrative Arc, and Narrative Patterns. [online] Available at: <http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html> [Accessed 28 December 2011 ].

What's In a Story: The Humor Factor

 work in progress - 

Exploring humor and adding a slight twist to something 

we all do each morning can bring smiles

to faces in an audience

In an article by Matthew Butler & Lucie Joschko, called Final Fantasy or The Incredibles: Ultra-realistic animation, aesthetic engagement and the uncanny valley, the notion of the importance of the narrative to the success of an animation and any film for that matter was explored through a comparison of two feature length animated films in Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within (Hironobu Sakaguchi, 2001) and The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2005). Although the article sought to relate the success of The Incredibles produced by Pixar Animation Studios over Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within produced by Square Studios to the effects of the uncanny valley, there were strong allusions to the fact that the lack of a clear narrative arc in the Final Fantasy contributed to its poor receiving among audiences. This article is however not interested in the robust topic of the uncanny valley but in how narratives make or mare an animated feature and most especially how i have been learning to harness the power of the good narrative to create work that audiences can relate to.

Pixar is a studio that has been known to focus first on the narrative aspect of each animated feature, perfecting it in the Toy Story Franchise, Cars, The Incredibles and others. It was said that it took close to 36 months to write the first Toy Story (John Lasseter, 2005). This incredible attention to getting the story right is what I have found inspirational in the creative process. The ability to know where and how a story should start, taking the audience through a well formed arc of narrative and dialogue where appropriate and leaving them with a sense of fulfillment at the end while picking the right punchlines across the story is what differentiates one film from another and consequently influences the way audiences receive it.

In some work that I've been doing, I've learned that showing the audience how we come to be where we are at the beginning of a story is as important as the story itself. I am realizing that audiences will instinctively search for a reason why the things that are happening are happening. As the creator of the story we must have envisaged this and through the most subtle of story-telling techniques embedded the synopsis of the narrative within it. The phase "Show don't tell" is one which the script writers at Pixar use often to describe the art of embedding the narrative synopsis and other sub-plots etc., within the main story in an unobtrusive way that make the audience feel there way through the story, uncovering facts they can piece together to fill in the holes the story intentionally left untold at the beginning. I find that this is a great way to involve the audience in the story as they become not just spectators but characters albeit passive, putting together pieces of the puzzle that eventually tell the whole story. This gives audiences a better and more fulfilling emotional experience altogether.

Ending well is just as important as starting well, even though it is at the mercy of the creator to either decide to leave the narrative open ended or closed, it is common knowledge that each narrative must have a resolution. The concept of " The Happily Ever After" may not be true in real life but it must carry on as an idea that  has always worked in the stories we tell. The emotional rise and falls we have taken the audience through must come to an end somewhere, else they are left feeling unfulfilled and dissatisfied. What kind of resolution in itself is left to the creativity of story teller but it must be there all the same. It is here that I think the importance of Humor cannot be understated, you want to leave your audience laughing or at the very least with a smile on their face at the end of a film. Animation itself has always been seen as an artificial medium and those who are able to understand that people don't expect to see something real and therefore approach an animated film with more open minds can make the most of it. Unexpected twists and turns in the tale, mixed in with a reasonable dose of gags and wise cracks help an animation to look less serious and entertaining. Salient life lessons can be passed along in this way without appearing to lean too heavily to one side or another in a debate or issue. This has been shown in animated cartoon series such as The Simpsons (Matt Groening, 1989 -2011) and Family Guy (Seth MacFarlane, 1999 - 2011) etc.

Pushing the narrative to that next level, is a task that I am taking seriously and hopefully audiences will respond to it.

References

Matthew Butler & Lucie Joschko (2009) Final Fantasy or The Incredibles - Ultra-realistic animation, aesthetic engagement and the uncanny valley, Available at <http://journal.animationstudies.org/2009/07/16/matthew-butler-lucie-joschko-final-fantasy-or-the-incredibles/#more-70>, Accessed 8 November, 2011

 

The Incredibles, 2004. [Film]. Directed by Brad Bird. USA: Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios

Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, 2001. [Film]. Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. USA, Japan: Square Company

Toy Story, 1995. [Film]. Directed by John Lasseter. USA: Pixar Animation Studios

The Simpsons, 1989 till date. [Animated TV Series]. Created by Matt Groening. USA: Gracie Films, 20th Century Fox Television

Family Guy, 1999 till date. [Animated TV Series]. Created by Seth MacFarlane,   USA: 20th Century Fox Television, Film Roman Productions