What is the difference between narrative and a story?

Most people get the concept of narrative and a story confused because they are thought to be the same thing, however a narrative is the way the director organizes the events together so that they will be presented in the best way for an audience to see where as a story is a sequence of events which alternatively is seen as the plot.

Therefore if you had to analyse a narrative you would need to work out how the director had organized the series of events throughout a story, there are three different ways of analysing a narrative which are:

Technical codes:

This varies from the camera angle to the shot framing to then what editing has been used within the shot. Camera angle is important because if it is looking down on someone it could signify that the character has low authority within the story or if the camera is looking up at the camera it could signify that you should be intimidated by the character on the screen. Shot framing is important because if a close up was to be used it normally connotes that the object or person is significant to what is about to happen or further on. Lastly the editing can be important as part of the editing process could be the lighting which can show the difference between a pure character by there being a lot of natural lighting and the whole shot to be very bright and an eerie character where the shot is very dark and it has a lot of editing.

Verbal Codes:

The way in which language has been used whether it is written or spoken within a scene. Only the best narratives will show rather than explaining to the audience, which gives the best effect as it leaves the audience in suspense.

Symbolic Codes:

These are what the audience spots out themselves and recognizes to being important to the story line, which they also could give meaning too. So in a short term you could see them as the clues of the narrative.

Structure:

Tzvetan Todorov, a Russian Theorist came up with the idea of the three part structure, which is where it firstly begins with the Equilibrium (where everything is balanced) then secondly goes onto Dis-equilibrium (which disrupts the first) then lastly the New Equilibrium (where everything is restored and resulted).

Character:

Once Vladimir Propp has investigated Tzvetan Todorov's theory he came up with the theory that there can only be a certain amount of characters, otherwise it becomes over complicated and it would not be easy to recognize the villain and hero within a narrative. The characters that he said had to be within most or all narratives were the protagonist, the antagonist, the heroine, father, helper, doner and the mentor.

Semiotics

It is a common thought nearly everyday to people to why we say what we say and why things and certain objects have the names that they have been given and where they have come from. Here is the answer. Ferdinand de Saussure, who was a French theorist believed that humans communicated through signs and signals, he named this 'semiotics'. He saw that words were just simply many signs, for example a cat has no relationship or resemblance with the four legged animal that goes 'meow' and purrs. When people identify the animal physically  he called this process the signifier and then once they have experienced the signifier they give the object/living thing its name or code, which is called the signified. Once an image has been recognised through its resemblance it is then called an 'icon' such as when you see an actor/actress such as Megan Fox you relate her with her career, which is acting then give her the icon of an actress.

Genre Evolution

1930: Monsters - Norferatu/Frankenstein
                            Wolves/Werewolves (Animal)
         
          Subconsciously scares you from what you know from childhood

PREDICTABILITY (Genre has to evolve) - Otherwise audience become disinterested

1940; Dracula - Vampires

1950: Sci-Fi/Horror - UFO's, Aliens, Unknown

1960: 'Phycho' - Set in a place where you are suppost to feel safe, for eg: bedroom, bathroom, etc.
       
           ICONIC FILM

1970: Driller Killer (Texas, Chainsaw, Massacre), Slashers

1980: Iconic - A Nightmare In Elm Street (sleep) - Franchise (becomes predictable)
          Halloween: Friday the 13th

1990: Teen Horror - Scream, I know what you did, Cherry Falls - Based on Target Audience.

                                                Genre works in cycles

Combination of codes, conventions and characterisation:

• Themes and Issues
• Narrative Structure
• Iconography
• Settings
• Sound/Sound Track
• Stars (who is featured in the film)

VERTICALLY INTREGRATED: Producing, Distributing and Exhibiting (showing off) the film.

Genre and Regenrefication

Genre is simply the generalisation of a film and putting it into a certain category of which it should meet the expectations (which the audience has given), codes, conventions and characterisations of the Genre you have chosen to give it/ Genre can be both the form of classification or description of a type of entertainment. So therefore you could be asked 'what genre is this film' which if you were to be asked this you would need to be able to describe the specific film and from then you would be able to fit it into the expectations, codes, conventions and characterisations of each Genre. Such as in an Action film you and the audience would expect fight scenes, a plot twist, a character to die, there to be a villain ETC and if they did not fit within these expectations it would be difficult to agree with the terms of it being an Action film and could be easy to argue that indeed it is not within the Genre of Action. However sometimes it cannot be as easy as you think to give a certain film one specific Genre as that it could be fitted into multiple genres, which in media we call 'sub genres' where the film has been given one Genre but after you explain what settings, events and characters are within the film it is easy to give the film another 4 or 5 Genre's. 

Back in 1950 in America they were used to seeing Horrors all the time until the idea of Sci-Fi came around, once this had came about it was all the public wanted to see as it had never been seen before, as well as it shocked them because the idea of invasion from the unknown scared them like none other. Therefore this restricted film makers as they could only make Sci-Fi's within this time period if they wanted to make a profit or any money at all. However then the idea of Regenrefication came because film makers had already had the idea of a horror, they decided to fit in the expectations of a Sci-Fi within their horror film, however label it as a Sci-Fi as then there would be a higher audience interested or otherwise it will not make as not money as they need it too, which of course worked and is still used till some points of today.