Closed Ending

Closed endings, by contrast, do just what the phrase suggests, namely bring closure to a story. They present a definite end to the story being told. 



The Revenant has a closed ending scene which allows the audience to notice that it is a closed ending and it closes the storyline of the film. After the final fight Leonardo Dicaprio has with Tom Hardy, you can see a ghostly figure of a woman who is Dicaprio's wife within the film which indicates he is dying. On top of that you can hear heavy breathing when the screen goes black and tells the audience he is about to draw his last breathe. 

Open Endings

·        An open ending is one that leaves the major conflict initiated by the suspense plot unresolved. An open ending leaves an audience with a definite sense that the story is unfinished or may continue after the section of the narrative we have seen. 

Inception is a perfect example of an open ending. The narrative for Inception is about dreams and how they try and extract a piece of intel from someone, but the deeper into the dream they go the harder to tell whether it is reality or not. Christopher Nolan uses the use of this concept to end Inception as Leonardo Dicaprio's character gets his kids back but as his symbol of the spinning top tells him whether he is in a dream or not. The spinning top doesn't stop spinning from what we can see before it is cut to a black screen which can leave the audience in an opening ending and makes them think whether he is in a dream or it is reality.

Anti-Realist

·        An anti-realist narrative has the freedom to indulge in the presentation of events that could never happen in ordinary life. Superhero films have their own realism – and internal logic that establishes the “special powers” possessed by the characters which govern what protagonists and antagonists can and can’t do. 

     Even given this realism, they are not what we would describe as “realist”. In everyday life men cannot stretch their arms around buildings. 

Realist

·      Realist narratives aim at representing life as we know it. Phrasal terms such as “social realism” extend this idea and focus on issues that confront us in the everyday actualities of our own lives.

The vast majority of films made for mainstream audiences aim to be realistic, that is to say, they aim to preserve and internal logic established early on in the film regarding. In order for realism to be maintained, the rules established at the beginning of film governing the way the film world works cannot be broken later on.

A realist narrative draws its power from the portrayal of real events. Realist narratives focus on the life that we know and are bound by the same rules that our own lives are bound by.  We do not expect a male character in a realist narrative to suddenly zoom up into the sky. Realist narratives often focus on the kinds of issues and challenges that face ordinary people in their everyday lives. 

Linear Narrative

A narrative  is a story that includes plot, characters, setting, climax and resolution. Linear narratives present stories in a logical manner by telling what happens from one point in time to the next without using flashbacks or flash-forwards and then returning to the present. 

Beginning, Middle and End

Linear narratives live up to their name, meaning you could draw a straight line from the beginning to the end of a story. These narratives start the story at the beginning and tell consecutive events until the finale. 

An example of a linear narrative is Soap Opera's. Soap Operas rarely jumps around with time and they aim at actuality, representing real life as it is lived and experienced. 

Flashback

A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory.

Flashbacks are a key signature of the hit US TV show Lost. In every episode there is a fragment where a character remembers something from their past and it shows the audience how they got to the island. Flashbacks are useful because they allow the audience to see into a characters past and allows any loose ends to be tied up within the narrative.

Non-Linear Narrative

 Non-Linear narratives are story-lines that don't always stay in a straight line they jump around with time and use a wide range of flashbacks. Directors such as Christopher Nolan like to play around with the narratives and whose films are normally in a non-linear form. A film such as The Prestige jumps between the present and past to unravel the story for the viewers and keeps them engaged to what has happened and why it has happened. 



This extract is from the beginning and the ending of The Prestige and Nolan uses his non-linear storytelling to jump between the present and the past to unravel the story Nolan has wrote and directed for his audience. 

Narrative Structures

Story – The whole diegisis

Plot – Is the arrangement of story units

Narrative – The narrative includes everything including the film devices. The overall arrangement of parts that a media text comprises.

In film, the narrative includes:

• ·      The story content
• ·      The plot, the particular ordering of the story units
• ·      All the technical and stylistic elements that are used to deliver the story content. 

Comedy

Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television that combines elements of comedy and drama, having both humorous and sometimes serious content. 

In the comedy genre it has a range of sub-genres they are:

• Alternative comedy - This type of comedy differs from traditional punchline jokes which features many other forms of comedy such as observation, satire, surrealism, slapstick and improvisation.

• Anecdotal comedy - Anecdotal is a Greek word for 'unfinished' and anecdotal comedy refers to comic personal stories that may be true, or partly true but embelished.

• Black comedy or dark comedy - Black comedy deals with distrubing subjects such as death, drugs, terrorism, rape and war and it can also be related to the horror movie genre.

• Blue comedy - This form of  comedy means the comedic punchlines are usually sexual in nature or they use profane language and often uses sexism, racism and homophobic views. 

• Character comedy  - The humour is ooften invented by a performer and they often use stereotypes. 

• Cringe comedy - Cringe comedy is a comedy of embarrassmentm in which the humour comes from inappropriate actions or words. This form of comedy is usually popular in television shows and films. 

• Deadpan comedy - This form of comedy is when the performer is telling jokes without changing facial expressions or the  change of emotion.

• Improvisational comedy - This is a type of comedy that isn't planned out and they are usually just given an idea and they improvise on the spot. 

Soap Opera

A soap opera, sometimes called a "soap" for short, is an on-going, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. 

Soap operas were historically broadcasted  on the radio during the daytime slots and usually five days a week and the majority of listeners would be housewives, and the shows were aimed at and consumed by predominantly female audience. 

The fist serial considered to be a soap opera was Painted Dreams, which debuted on October 20th 1930 on a Chicago radio station WGN. Shows like Painted Dreams was broadcasted weekday daytime slots and would run five days a week. 

The name "soap" refers to soap and detergent adverts originally broadcasted during the shows, which were aimed at women who were cleaning their houses and "opera" refers to the melodramatic characters of the show.

We know soap operas as shows like Eastenders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street. 

Crime

Crime films are films which focus on the lives and activities of criminals and/or those men and women who pursue them.

The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains.

Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies as successive generations of viewers become inured to the nastiness of the crimes focused on.

Crime Sub Genres:

Mod/Gangster

Mob/Ganster films are a sub-genre of crime films that center on organised crime. Often the plot revolves around the rise and fall of the organised crime leader and many gangster films explore the destructive nature of organised crime. 

There are many example of Mob/Gangster sub-genre films they are:

• Goodfellas
• Scarface
• The Godfather trilogy

Film-Noir

Film-Noir is a distinctive genre purely because it is a stylistic type of crime drama that was popular throughout the 1940's and 1950's. Film-Noir is categorised by a black and white visual style and its stark lighting effects. The Film-Noir genre relies heavily on a narrative voice and various flashbacks to explain the plot.

Examples of different Film-Noir's:

• Sunset Boulevard
• The Maltese Falcon
• Sweet Smell

Neo-Noir

Neo-Noir refers to modern film that takes on characteristics of Film-Noir. Modern updates are made within Neo-Noir in terms of media and visual elements. Neo-Noir films update themes and content to fit with current society. 

Examples of Neo-Noir sub-genre films are:

• Sin City
• L.A Confidential
• Chinatown

Crime Thriller

Crime thriller is a sub-genre that incorporates the suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot. This sub-genre usually centers around a serial killer, murderer, robbery or manhunt. This is different to traditional crime films because the storyline focuses on the protagonist and the criminal. 

Example of Crime thriller sub-genre films are:

• The usual suspects
• Seven
• Reservoir Dogs

Period

A costume drama or period drama is a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular era.

The term is usually used in the context of film and television. It is an informal, crossover term that can apply to several genres but is most often heard in the context of historical dramas and romances, adventure films.

There has been many TV dramas such as Peaky Blinders and Downton Abbey. These are a few TV dramas that were/are very popular and they are all set in a particular era. 

 











There has also been a range of period films that have been created for example, The Kings Speech is a period film as they have got a range of costume and is set in a historical context.

Genre

Genre is a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterised by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Genre is a French word for "type" is important for both consumers and media producers. 

Codes

Codes are where the produced encodes the elements that are being shown to convey meaning and the audience has to decode what is happening. For example in a horror film a character may be walking down a dark hallway where he/she may not be able to see in front of them and the audience will decode what is going on and to think that something bad will happen to the character.

Conventions

The conventions of a film is what the audience expects and they will see the conventions pop up in films within the same genre. For example a horror film will have dark or dim lighting, blood, scares for the audience etc.

The different types of genres can include:

• Action/Adventure
• Science Fiction
• Drama
• Horror
• Comedy
• Crime
• Western
• Thriller
• Indie

Single Camera Production

The single camera setup, or single camera mode of production, is a method of filmmaking and video production.

A single camera – either motion picture camera or professional video camera – is employed on the set and each shot recorded to make up a scene is taken individually.

A production using the single camera setup generally employs just one camera.

Each of the various shots and camera angles is taken using the same camera, which is moved and reset to record each change of shot. The lighting setup is typically reconfigured for each camera setup.

History

Traditionally, the single camera mode was used in film productions where celluloid was running through the camera because very often the cost entailed by the celluloid process excluded the option of shooting with more than one camera.

Contrast

The single camera film set up can be contrasted with the 2 camera or multiple camera set ups which are regularly used in digital film productions in TV.

Multi-Camera:

Single Camera:

Format

In this assignment I will be looking at different formats to show an understanding of different elements of the single camera production. I will be looking at formats such as series, serial, single drama and more. 

Single Drama

Single dramas are used as a one off on television and are quite rare to come by now. Single dramas are based on a topical issue/subject that is more suitable for television than the cinema. 

An example of a single drama is Murdered by my Boyfriend. It is based on a true story of a young girl who falls in love with this guy but her boyfriend abuses her and controls her. This is a dark single drama of the devastating and traumatic experience anyone can have and captures what really happened. 

Serial

A serial is usually a fictional story, which is divided into different parts so they either get broadcasted everyday like the British Soaps such as Eastenders or they can be broadcasted every week, and a lot of Television shows do this more rather than a series. Shows such as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy.

Serials rely on keeping the full nature of the story hidden and revealing elements episode by episode to keep viewers tuning in to learn or uncover the story.

Series

A series is not always a work of fiction. Channels such as National Geographic or the Discovery Channel programmes dealing with the natural world can be a series. 

A series is a set of related programmes and does not carry onto the next episode. An example of a series can be Friends, Modern Family and How I Met Your Mother.