G325 Section A: b)

What kind of narrative made up your thriller film opening? 

My AS production 'The Unhinging' was a thriller set in 2015, involving a protagonist, India McKaine who is desperately trying to escape the threat and brutal assaults committed by mentally unstable antagonist, Jack. The protagonist, India, is unexpectedly 'grabbed' and kidnapped,whilst walking home alone, by the antagonist Jack; this leads to India being confined to surviving in the squalid, cramped and dark basement of Jacks large period house. Living on little sustenance hesitantly provided by Jack, India slowly and painfully becomes 'mad', using a bloody shard of mirror to cut herself free from the tight thick ropes tied around her wrists and ankles to a wooden chair. Quietly India creeps out of Jacks house thanks to a door being unlocked and frantically escapes running through large clearings of forest to 'freedom' - however it ends tragically for India being shot by Jack unexpectedly.  




The issue of narrative refers to the organisation given to a series of facts or events. To understand a storyline the narrative is necessary to understand. Audiences connect a series of events and make interpretations based on the connections made - a beginning, a middle and an end. Audiences understand and construct meaning using their experience of reality and texts read previously.

My thriller film opening conveys Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposition. My production constantly had examples of visual light and darkness; an example took of this took place in the basement of Jacks house when India is forcibly tied to a wooden chair in the basement. A tiny ray of light shines of her face/body allowing her to slightly focus on what she is doing. The 'darkness' of her being brutally kidnapped by the antagonist Jack, leading to being confined to survicing in a squalid, damp, unlit basement is complimented by the 'light' ray of sunlight conveying hope, freedom and promise; allowing India to escape the mentally manipulating and abusive Jack. Another example of viusal binary opposites is in the form of movement and stillness. An example of this opposition is when India is confined to surviving in a squalid, damp and dark basement on a small amount of sustance and water. A result of this is her lack of energy; she is sleep deprived, emotionally exhausted and on 'tender hooks' making her jumpy and develop mannerisms such as constantly tapping her fingertips and balls of her feet. This 'stillness' is complimented by India's frantic movement escaping the basement in Jack's period style property as well as Jacks manipulation and mental bullying. India is frantically running throughout the end of the film opening; she is sprinting through large clearings of forest to 'freedom'. She is experiencing day light for the first time, the smell of nature and the feeling of the wind on her skin. She is experiencing 'freedom' she has been dreaming of for a large period of time. There is also evidence of conceptual binary oppisition, in the form of control and panic. India is in control at the begining of the film opening but this emotion of control and self power is flipped when Jack kidnaps India creating an atmosphere of hostility, panic, fright, terror and jurisdiction on Jacks part. According to Claude Levi- Strauss narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict; this is evident in my film opening with the antagonist of my storyline, Jack, resorting to killing the protagonist, India, as a result of her escaping his control and jurisdiction which is highly influenced by his mental instability.

There is evidence of Vladamir Propps theory, agreeing that a certain amount of characters will be evident in narrative. Propps theory agrees with my projects narrative, the protagonist, India, leads the narrative with her being the main focus from the begining of the story to the end. According to Propp the protagonist is looking to fulfil a quest or a mystery, in my case India is looking to escape Jack and his mental manipulation. Also Propps theory states that the antagonist prevents the protagonist from succeeding in her quest. This is true to my film opening, Jack prevents India from gaining freedom and escaping his dictatorial and manipulating control. An example of this is when India gains freedom from Jack having used a shard of glass from mirror Jack broke to cut ropes tightly wrapped around her legs and arms to a chair. India quietly and hestitantly opens the basement door and creeps across the hallway and gently opens the solid yellow Victorian front door, making sure to not alert Jack to her actions. Indias freedom is abruptly cut short when Jack is alerted to her footsteps on his gravel drive way and runs after her in the forest. He closely keeps watch of her and abruptly ends her freedom with a gun shot hitting her in the head.

Roland Barthes describes a text as "a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds", he claims "it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances" with no "main one". He also claims that "the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable". Barthes reveals that a text needs unravelling, we therefore encounter a plurality of potential meanings.  Text may be ´open´ (unravelled) or ´closed´ (there is only one obvious thread to pull on).

Barthes also developed a theory for the texts that can be unravelled, these are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the five sections: The Hermeneutic Code, The Engima/Proairetic Code, The Symbolic Code, The Cultural Code and The Semantic Code. There is evidence of the Hermeneutic Code in regard to Jacks mental instability. His mental 'illness' is never announced or shown; this is presumed by the audience however there are clues dropped throughout the film opening. Examples of these clues are when India is locked in the basement without any comforts or warmth. A sane person wouldn't be doing this; this action in itself creates mystery making the audience wonder what Jacks motives are. This creates enigma. The Enigma/Proairetic Code builds tension and audience is left wondering what will happen next; there is evidence of this when India is first kidnapped and taken by Jack at the Nuffield Health Club. Barthes Cultural Code is touched upon in the form of Jacks actions. His brash, harsh and abusive actions towards India make the audience feel wary of Jack and wonder whether his actions are morally correct and accepted by society.

For Aristotle, the most important aspect of a thriller opening "is the plot, the ordering of the incidents; for tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness and unhappiness - and happiness and unhappiness are bound up with action, it is their characters indeed, that make men what they are, but it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the reverse." Relating to my thriller opening, the storyline strongly focusses on India's escape from Jacks control; my thriller film opening agrees with Arisotle's requirements of a successful story - the characters life changing throughout the story. 

The narrative of my thriller partially agrees with Tvzetan Todorov's theory that narrative is a series of different states of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. Todorov believed that a storyline starts with a state of equilibrium however as the story evolves the equilibrium is broken creating a disequilibrium. The equilibrium is commonly restored at the end creating a new equilibrium for the characters involved. As my AS production was only a film opening the audience never got to see the protagonist India's equilibrium being restored. Throughout the opening India does gain freedom (this could be seen as her gaining equilibrium) however the two characters, India and Jack, never come to an agreement or new state of equilibrium where they are both happy, for example India gaining freedom with Jack loosing his power to pursue her and prevent India escaping.