Tzvetan Todorov

Theory of Narrative (Russian Folk Tales)

1. A state of Equilibrium
2. A disruption of the Equilibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. Dealing with the Disruption
5. A reinstatement of Equilibrium (Usually different from the start)

Genre

How do we categorise film?

1. Process? - Animation, CGI
2. Audience Response? - Comedy/Horror
3. Story - Coming of Age
4. Location - Western, Sci-Fi

Genres are not a system, they are a process. That process is dynamic & evolves overtime Genres are instances of repetition & difference.

Hollywoods generic regime has two interrelated functions. One, is to guarantee meaning & pleasure for audiences. Two, to offset the considerable economic risks of film by providing, Cognitive Collateral Against Innovation & Difference.

Sound

• Diegetic
• What the Characters can here
• Non-Diegetic
• Sound added in post production
• What characters cant here

Continuity Editing (Invisible Editing)

• Editing that is used to create logical coherence for the audience.
• The flow of time & space
• Eye Line Match
• When a character looks off screen, &, the image shifts to match a higher gaze
• Establishing Shots
• Sets the Scene
• Location
• Time of Day
• Period/Place in History
• Mood
• Match on Action
• The movement of an object/character matches that of the previous cut/scene
• 180 degree line
• Duration & Order

Conventions & Codes

• Conventions are the generally accepted way of doing things, they are what the audience expects to see.
• Codes
• Codes are systems of signs, which create meanings. Codes can be divided into two categories - Technical and Symbolic
• Technical
• Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example camera work in a film.
• Symbolic
• Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example a characters actions show you how the character is feeling.
• Some codes fit both categories - music for example is both technical & symbolic

Semiotics

• Semiotics is the study of signs, &, Signs have two parts. 
• The signifier, which we see, hear and touch. 
• The signified which is the effect of the signifier.
• Denotation - The common sense/obvious meaning
• Connotation - The cultural/personal association

Roland Barthes

• Barthes's many monthly contributions that were collected in hisMythologies (1957) frequently interrogated specific cultural materials in order to expose how bourgeois society asserted its values through them. For example, the portrayal of wine in French society as a robust and healthy habit is a bourgeois ideal that is contradicted by certain realities (i.e., that wine can be unhealthy and inebriating). He found semiotics, the study of signs, useful in these interrogations. Barthes explained that these bourgeois cultural myths were "second-order signs," or "connotations." A picture of a full, dark bottle is a signifier that relates to a specific signified: a fermented, alcoholic beverage. However, the bourgeoisie relate it to a new signified: the idea of healthy, robust, relaxing experience. Motivations for such manipulations vary, from a desire to sell products to a simple desire to maintain the status quo. These insights brought Barthes in line with similar Marxist theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes#Semiotics_and_myth
• 3 Types of Sign
• Icon
• The signifier has a resemblance to the signified
• Index
• The signifier is connected, directly or casually
• Symbol
• The connection is arbitrary

The Zodiac

The Zodiac Killer

• Director: David Fincher
• Fight Club
• Se7en
• The Game
• Panic Room
• Gone Girl
• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Alien 3
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Actors
• Mark Ruffalo
• David Toschi
• No Nonsense
• Stylish
• Experienced
• Balanced Life
• Solid Evidence
• Due Process
• Does things to the book
• Follows the Rules
• Jake Gyllenhall
• Robert Graysmith
• Obsessed
• Boy Scout
• Unique
• Nice Guy
• Disorganised
• Frantic
• Method to the Madness
• Stands out from the crowd
• Outsider
• Robert Downy Junior
• Paul Avery
• Nonschalante
• Drunk
• Up-Front/Straight Up
• Genre
• Crime Thriller
• Serial Killer
• Biographical
• Historical - Period Film
• Serial Killer --> Calm --> Victim --> Investigation --> Victim --> Tracking --> Closing In on Killer --> Killer Brought to Justice
• In the movies about serial killers, the Killer is conventionally portrayed to be obsessive about his killings, however in "The Zodiac" the obsessive character is the cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhall). There is also no closure in the film as they never catch the killer, this is due to the film being based on a true story. He is a californian killer and he will never be shot(convention) due to the lack of death penalty. The investigators also never seem to get the upper hand in the movie, this is also due to lack of plot conventions as the killings in this case were completely random.
• The Zodiac & Serail Killer Conventions -
• There is no Closure, Never caught him in real life 
• There is no calm, the movie opens to a killing 
• Investigators never in control
• Narrative Range
• Unrestricted - Big Picture
• The audience knows and sees more than the characters
• Know about the killings
• Know the killer was never caught
• 1968-1990, very big case
• Big Picture
• High Angle Shots (Often Establishing Shots)
• Reminds us of the big picture of the plot
• Omnipotent
• Cold, Unemotional, Clinical, Floating (Overly Perfected)
• Restricted - Detail
• Characters and audience learn story simultaneously
• Details of the case
• Arthur Leigh Allen becomes a suspect
• Complexity of the investigation
• Detail
• Inside of Cars - Claustrophobic, Trapped
• Gives a POV of the scene to provide evidence