Todorov & Propp Transformations

Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, literary critic, sociologist and essayist. He is the author of many books and essays, which have a significant influence in anthropology, sociology, semiotics, literary theory, thought history and culture theory.

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

• A state of equilibrium (stability) at the start
• A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
• A recognition that there has been a disruption
• An attempt to repair the disruption
• A reinstatement of the equilibrium

This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many ‘mainstream’ film narratives.



Propp

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (1895 – 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements.

Propp suggested that all characters could be resolved into seven character functions:

1. The Villain — Struggles against the hero.
2. The Dispatcher — Character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) Helper — Helps the hero in their quest.
4. The Princess or Prize and her father — The hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. The Donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
6. The Hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
7. The False Hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Todorov Transformations

We take the movie Toy Story (1995) for example. Todorov's theory fits quite well with Toy Story's general plot:


A state of equilibrium (stability) at the start.
Woody is the leader of toys and all is well.

A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
The arrival of Buzz Lightyear and the Woody's reactions, and the groups new 
A recognition that there has been a disruption
Main antagonist Sid attempting to destroy the toys with a mail ordered rocket dubbed 'The Big One'.
An attempt to repair the disruption
Woody and Buzz try to escape and reunite with Andy.
A reinstatement of the equilibrium
Woody and the toys have Christmas in Andy’s new home.

                         Sid, main antagonist & toy abuser.

Propp Transformations

We take the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) for example:


Hero:

The main hero is Frodo, while the secondary hero is Aragon.

Mentor: 

The Fellowship is Frodo’s mentor.

Threshold (Guardian): 

Gollum and Saruman are the main guardians, the minor villains of the story that test the hero.

Herald: 

Gandalf is the herald, the character that urges the hero to begin his quest to destroy the ring.

Shape-Shifter: 

Aragon by the end of the movie transitions from a ranger to the king of the realm.

Shadow: 

The forces of Sauron and Saruman. The shadow can also be the temptation of the ring on Frodo’s conscience and sanity. Furthermore as Frodo approaches Mount Doom the ring’s corruptive influence mentally weakens Frodo considerably.

Trickster: 

Frodo’s cousins Merry and Pippin can be considered tricksters. Their characters presence in the storyline has minimum impact on the outcome of the events of the story; they are present mainly for comic relief. The same can be said of the dwarf Gimli.

Camera Angle Shots

Blade Nightclub Fight Scene

Movie: Blade (1998)
Director: Stephen Norrington

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/?ref_=tt_rec_tt

This scene begins with a shot of a traumatized man (who had been led to the nightclub by a vampire) looking up at the main protagonist named 'Blade.' While the camera is looking down on the man, the camera slowly pans up starting from Blade's waist to his face while cutting to medium close ups and close ups of vampires who are shocked by his presence, thus backing away in a crowd. This gives the impression that Blade is powerful and is feared by the vampires. Shortly after this the fight scene begins with one the vampires rushing out of the crowd, attempting to attack blade, but dies when Blade shoots him with a shotgun.

During the fight scene, certain vampires are shown to be more powerful than others simply by having the camera looking up at them but never as much as the camera looks up at Blade. This really adds depth to the scene as if this were not the case it would be just Blade slaughtering a nightclub of unarmed regular vampires, which is not as entertaining as there being some more dangerous vampires attacking him as well. 

About halfway through the slaughter, another vampire enters the main floor of the nightclub led by at least seven tough looking vampires wearing all black and armed with guns. This quickly cuts to a slow motion close up shot of Blade turning around to face his new enemies. As he fights them off he makes his way into a circular shaped shower room which is the only time the camera is looking down on him. This is more than likely due to cramped environment in which the action is taking place, which in turn makes you feel Blade is somewhat vulnerable in this situation but alas, he slaughters everyone and jumps up to higher ground within the shower room. 

This scene contains an interesting angle where there is a medium close up of Blade standing up against the upper regions of the shower room holding a boomerang-esque weapon which then cuts to three enemies entering the room who end up with their heads cut off buy said boomerang weapon. 

Overall, this is a great action scene which contains many shots that are attuned to the action hero/superhero genres. 

Example of great movie editing.

Heat Shootout Scene

Movie: Heat (1995)

Director: Michael Mann

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113277/

Setting the scene

The scene starts off with each of the three robbers casually entering the building dressed in business suits with most of the screen time being on the lead actor Robert De Niro. They each position themselves near the guards and eventually incapacitate them then finding the bank manager and his key to the vault. 

After successfully robbing the bank, the robbers make their way outside to the getaway car thinking they’ve escaped with the money. As they’re doing this, several police officers armed with assault rifles make their way towards the bank, careful to be not seen by the robbers. Eventually they are seen and the gunfight ensues.


Camera Work


This scene contains a a lot of OSS(over the shoulder) and fast paced editing. This helps to create a tense atmosphere throughout and suits the overall aggression of the scene. 

The scene is very tense throughout due to several reasons.

*Frantic pacing.

*Collateral damage is significant throughout. (e.g - bullet holes in cars, smashed

*Over the shoulder camera angles on the bank robber while he is shooting at the cops.
*You can see the recoil of the assault rifles when being fired.

*Added realism - Weapons are actually reloaded as opposed to other movies where there seems to be a never ending supply of ammunition.

The Rule of six

1 - Emotional - does the edit give the emotion that the director wants to give the audience or does it subtract or distract?

The scene were one the cops is gunned down and Al Pacino’s character runs over to check if he is still alive contains a medium close up shot of Al Pacino’s face which signifies that he was at one time good friends with this man or had some emotional connection.

2 - Story- Is the story advanced as a result of the edit?

The story is advanced as a result of the edit in the context that Al Pacino’s characters friend just died and the question of will this impact his persuit of the robbers or will he look for revenge is on the audience’s minds.

3 - Rhythm-Does the cut happen at the right point with the music? Is it in keeping with the pace of the movie?

The cut differs from the fast paced action as when the cop is gunned down, it focuses on him just for a second longer than it may have on other shots and when Al Pacino checks if he is still alive the shots are held a little longer. This all fits as the sound of gunfire continues throughout this scene.

4 - Eye-tray – do we know where the audience is looking and is that being taken into consideration when the cut is made? Is the movement of the audience’s gaze disrupted by the cut? Could a disruption of the audience gaze be deliberately interrupted to enhance the film (eg scenes of horror or violence)

When the cop is gunned down the audience is looking to see if he still alive by looking to see if he is still moving and to see his facial expressions. When Al Pacino runs over to check on the cop it shows a medium close up of him with his face being what the audience is looking at to gauge his emotional response. This scene somewhat disrupts the action but enhance’s the movie.


5 - 2-D Plain (the problem of dealing with 3 dimensional objects in a 2 dimensional world). This deals with the concept of the stage line and do the characters appear to be looking at each other or not.



6 - Coherent movement of 3-dimensional people and objects

An example of coherent movement is when two people are shooting at each other one person will duck and cover while the other stands and shoots. However, there is a scene where both cop and robber stand and shoot at each other with one taking cover and subsequently one of them dies. It is to say that if you do not take cover you will more than likely die. With that being said, the robbers in general are more aggressive and are more likely to continue to stand and shoot.