Narrative, Story and Plot

Story and plot is what we looked at this week, and how they differentiate from eachother. Plot, is in the most basic terms, what is going on in the film for example. And the story is how the plot is portrayed, where it is how we understand it. For example, in the film Avatar, the plot is about a government corporation who want to take control of an island inhabited by others for financial gain. The story is about how a marine learns to live with its residents, and ends up turning against his own people because of their greed and the way that they are treating them. So what are the basics of story and plot? Most obviously beginning, middle and end. Also we need to be told what is happening in the film, Narration. Narration can be done in different way on screen, for example there does not need to necessarily have a narrator, every film will tell some of the story through the script some will tell all through the script. Some may begin with a narrator explaining the background of the story, and some film, such as Curious case of Benjamin Button have a narrator giving you an in depth insight to what is happening on screen throughout the whole film.
  Most films the plots order will follow in a chronological way, for example starting in 2000, and finishing in 2011. Some films will switch this around to give the film a bit of a twist, for example the movie Memento starts at the end and the chronological order is mixed up through out the whole movie.
  Every film must also have the most obvious thing, Characters. Usually each movie follows a certain list of stereotyped characters. The most frequent ones we see in film today is the villain, the hero and the Princess, and we can find these in most films. Example? Man on Fire - Villain - the man who kidnaps a wealthy girl for ransom. The princess - The little girl. The Hero - Denzel Washington, her minder who gives his life in order to get her back to her family. Not every film has to follow this order directly, but will usually have one of those kind of characters involved. Other examples are the helper (sometimes magical) who helps the hero. And a Donor who offers something that helps the hero, whether this be information, or a physical item.