On the Baseline Narrative Theory

One The Baseline - Narrative Theory

As part of the advanced portfolio I produced a trailer for a film “On the baseline” which was a hybrid genre combining key conventions of chick flicks and sports films.  The film followed a tennis theme and revolved around the development of a relationship of a new women’s doubles partnership comprising of a champion and an “underdog”. 

The term narrative is defined as “a chain of events in a cause – effect relationship occurring in time.” (Bordwell and Thompson 1980).

My trailer followed a simple linear form of restricted narrative.  It follows a conventional narrative structure in that: in terms of plot development there is a logical relation between one event and another; a sense of closure at the end (although the audience is left with an enigma); the story is focused on the characters and a narrative style that attempts to be more or less objective.  A desire to reach a goal (winning a tennis doubles championship) propels the story.

The meaning of my trailer is established pretty quickly. The overall plot of the story is explained through the use of a first person voice over expressing the point of view of the main character at the start of the trailer.  This added to the realism of the production for my target audience by incorporating a familiar feature that is stereotypical of the chick flick genre.  The use of the voice over also allows the context, cause and effect of the problem to be quickly and clearly established. The tone of the mode of address makes her level of dissatisfaction with her new partner apparent to the audience who are confined to this characters perceptual subjectivity. The extent of the problem is then revealed to the audience through a short action sequence showing the underdog playing tennis badly – a sequence designed to position the audience to support the champion’s view that her partner is “useless” and encourage them to write the underdog off in their minds as well.  Having evoked this initial reaction in the audience their thoughts are then surprisingly challenged by the coaches confident repeatedly expressed belief that the underdog has “potential” and his supportive words of wisdom to her. This is designed to get the audience questioning their initial reaction to the underdog and position them to think positively about what may lay ahead. The meaning and moral evident throughout the trailer is never to underestimate or write off the underdog.

However, in hindsight I did miss out on an opportunity to be more creative with the narrative structure.  In trying to comply with chick flick convention through the use of a voice over I did not consider the possibility of creating a multi strand narrative whereby the different perspectives of the 2 rivals (binary opposites) were presented to the audience for consideration.  This, combined with the clever use of parallel editing would have positioned the audience in the heart of the battle between the antagonist and protagonist – metaphorically being hit from one side of the court to the other!

The structure of the narrative also complies with many aspects of Todorov’s theory of equilibrium.  Todorov sees narrative as following a common pattern of movement from a stable equilibrium to disruption of the equilibrium to a reordered equilibrium (achieved by action being taken against the force causing the disruption.)  Equilibrium is established at the start of my trailer as the audience is presenting with an action sequence showing a series of shots in accelerated motion denoting a superb tennis player. The audiences confidence in the stability of the situation is reaffirmed through the use of a upbeat fast soundtrack playing in the background and a voice over of the player informing them that she has won Wimbledon ‘5 times’.  A picture of a successful star is established in the mind of the audience.   As the trailer progresses the onset of disequilibrium is signified by the sudden stoppage of the soundtrack playing and the character on screen shrieking the iconic John McEnroe saying ‘You cannot be serious’ into the camera (using a close up shot to emphasize the anger in the facial expression) and at the audience when she sees her new partner for the first time.  This marks the start of a period of disequilibrium in which it becomes apparent to the audience and the champion player that her new doubles partner is not capable of performing at the highest level.   Following Todorovs theory the trailer indicates that equilibrium is likely to be re-established in the scene when the underdog beats her new doubles partner in a practice match. By the end of the trailer we hope harmony is fully restored when the pair join forces to compete for the first time in the doubles competition.  This indicates the problem has been solved.

The structure of my goal orientated plot also follows some aspects of Chris Voglers theory that any story about a hero undertaking a journey involves several stages including:  the hero’s ordinary world is established (through the voice over and action sequence) and she is given a challenge or quest (winning a tennis championship); following ordeals (bonding with a new partner /training / practice matches) and the achievement of goals the hero returns to the ordinary world as a changed person.  This transformation in character accurately describes the change in nature of the champions character by the end of the trailer.

Levis Strauss suggested that narrative structure depends upon binary oppositions.  The concept is reflective of the representation of the main characters in my trailer in which the champion and the underdog are shown as the two binary opposites for the majority of the trailer. The champion is athletic, outspoken, fast, mean and serious. She is the stereotypical “chick flick” Queen Bee and the mise en scene presents her as a tall slim, well polished female tennis player, a ‘Male Gaze’ (Mulvey). In contrast, the underdog is presented as unathletic, slow, silly and too nice. Through the use of costume (eg leopard spotted headband, bright make up) and props (oversize clown like tennis ball) she is presented as being out of place in the sporting world and unconfident. However, the audience witnesses the gradual erosion of the binary opposition between them as the trailer progresses.  A slow motion and pause on the handshake following a practice game in which the underdog beats the champion denotes a significant change in the relationship between the 2 girls.  This is followed at the end of the trailer with an establishing shot showing the two girls walking off court in slow motion together suggesting to the audience that they are no longer rivals but ‘a team’. By the end of the trailer the audience has been cleverly positioned to hope that the two girls finish their emotional journey by uniting to win a championship.

On reflection, the handshake symbolised a surprising change in the character of the champion.  Whilst this was emphasised through the use of slow motion, zoom in and pause I do feel that I could have made more of this event by changing aspects of the mise en scene in subsequent shots particularly the costume and appearance of the underdog to give her a more professional image thus creating a sense that she was beginning to belong and be accepted in the tennis society into which she had been thrust.

My Trailer also complies with some of Propp’s theory relating to characters typically found in stories. Propp stated that there were 8 typical roles adopted by characters. Although my trailer on the surface doesn’t seem to reflect Propps theory (partly due to it being a small scale production with a limited number of characters) a deeper analysis indicates that my characters are in some respects multi dimension in nature in that they did adopt multiple roles similar to those described by Propps as the trailer progressed.  For example, the “Villain/false hero” is portrayed in the champions character, whereby at the start we are told in the voice over she has won Wimbledon 5 times, this gives us the impression of a hero. However later we see how mean she is towards the underdog aggressively calling her ‘useless.’  This demonstrates that she is actually very mean and the villain in parts of the story.  The dispatcher/helper role is displayed in the character of the coach, as he always supports the underdog no matter how poorly she plays.  This is shown by his confident repetition of the word ‘potential’ to describe the underdog before a fade in shows the audience her collapsing comically in a push up. The coach is also displayed as what Propps terms the “donor”, although he doesn’t give the newcomer a magical object he gives her the strong words of wisdom of ‘treat those two imposters the same’ and inspiration, just before she starts to improve her tennis. By the end of the trailer the underdog becomes the hero, having risen to the challenge and through meeting the expectations of the villain.

I also used a narrative of events to create suspense during my trailer. This was achieved by using a soundtrack of upbeat music combined with lots of fast cutting action scenes of the underdog desperately training to get better at tennis.  Fast motion and the use of diegetic sound in the form of the coach’s stop watch loudly ticking was used to create suspense amongst the audience as they get the sense that the underdog is in a desperate rush to get better and also creates the enigma of whether she will make it in time or not.

I also created suspense and intrigue using the narrative of drama at the end of the trailer, when the two girls look nervously at each other in the two shot and say ‘You ready’ ‘You bet’, they walk off in slow motion as the title text appears leaving the audience with an enigma.  By the end of the film it becomes apparent that the tagline “a tale of triumph or disaster?” adopts polysemic open ended meaning and can be read as a triumph in that the girls finally bonded but the audience is left wondering whether they will be totally triumphant in their professional goal of winning Wimbledon together. The audience are left to shape the meaning of the trailer and interpret what they understand by the ending through it’s open ended nature.

Due to the time restrictions imposed by the trailer format meaning was also created in other ways such as the use of sound, stereotypical characters and mise en scene.  For example, Sound was used as a narrative device to communicate messages about the plot, characters and what’s to come.  For example, a sound motif is used to reinforce the motivational nature of the coaches interactions with the underdog.  A “boiing” sound effect was also used to add to the ridiculousness of the underdog’s attempts to train.  This use of parallel sound reinforced the image being presented to the audience and added the conventional “chick flick” humour.  The race against time faced by the underdog is emphasized through the focus on the loud ticking of the coaches stopwatch.  Other non diegetic elements of the narrative eg background music are used to establish the tone and mood of the trailer.  Characters “work” on the basis of appearance, clothing, gestures and often embody “typical” traits.  The champion is initially presented as the stereotypical chick flick Queen Bee.  Whilst the underdog is initially the silly bimbo.  Costumes reinforced the representation of the stereotypes. 

Another part of the function of narrative is to make the compression of time invisible to the viewer.  Ellipsis has been used in my trailer as a narrative strategy to organise time clearly moving the narrative forward with a logical order of events.

One of the key features of narrative is to deliver certain gratifications to the audience. My narrative offers the audience a range of “pleasures” or gratifications. In terms of story structure they are “pleasured” by knowing Todorovs pattern unfold before them in a predictable and familiar way.  The character representations are in many ways stereotypical of those found in “chick flicks” and a teenage girls real life!  The key theme of girl rivalry, friendship, teamwork and success or “girl power” are familiar features of the genre and will be within the scope of their previous life experience. The trailer leaves the audience of teenage girls a feel good factor and sense of satisfaction from witnessing and willing a partial resolution to the story as the champion and underdog make friends. They are also left with an enigma (will the girls triumph in the championship) that can only be solved through going to see the full length feature film.