Analysis of my Children's film

Does your text have a clear story?
Yes I believe that the text has a clear story as there is some background information given by the narrator which clues in the audience to who the characters are and where they are. The dialogue is direct and any references from the past in the film are explained by the characters. For example the characters talk about why they are sitting outside instead of their secret base.

Is the structure linear / non linear / montage etc?
The structure of our film is linear as everything happens in the film as it would in real life (in sequence).

Are there key roles within the narrative?
Yes there are several key roles in the narrative, Levi Strouss' theory ties in with this as the key characters are binary opposites. For example Zig-Zag (hero) and Dr Fabulous (villain), even though the audience do not see Dr Fabulous in the extract he is an essential part of the narrative as he creates un-equilibrium for Zig-Zag and Barnarby. Hero / Villain binary opposites are very important for any movie as this is what makes the narrative interesting. The Hero / Villain character types are also part of Propps theory as he labeled all the different character types, he believed that all of these stemmed from old fairy tale and Mythological characters.

Is my text structured by cause and effect?
Yes as there is preparation at the beginning of the film which shows the usual equilibrium for the characters, then there is a complication which is when Zig-Zag's monkey is stolen aka the Chimp of Power by Dr Fabulous. Then there is transference when Zig-Zag acts upon this problem by going after Dr Fabulous to get the Chimp of Power back. As this was only the opening scene the struggle, return and recognition were not filmed. This is the structure that Todorov has set out, he says that the audience demand to have a beginning, middle and end, our film fits with this however many modern films no longer follow this structure and actually try to challenge the audience's expectations. Another point in Todorov's theory is that the audience always want to see the underdog succeed, I think that our film complies with this as well because the heroes are a bit down on their luck at the time as their previous Secret Hideout had been blown up by mistake. This makes them the underdogs and therefore the audiences favourites to succeed.

What are the audiences expectations of narrative in this genre?
The genre of the film that we made was comedy / mild action as it was intentionally made for children. Therefore I would have to say that audiences would expect this film to be quite light hearted and not offensive either. I think that one of the key characteristics of this film that make it upkeeping of the genre is it's easily distinguishable character types plus clear and common binary opposites. For example Zig-Zag (hero) and Dr Fabulous (villain) are clear character types and obvious binary opposites (rivals/enemies). This ties in with both Propp's and Strouss' theories.

What is the function of the narrative for audiences + institutions?
One of the functions of this video for audiences and institutions is to make them feel comfortable that the chracters will be ok and that nothing too dire will happen to them. Also it provides humour that is acceptable to anybody, this means that there will be no contraversie especially for the institutions like the producers so they won't have to worry that anybody will have a problem with it.