Narrative Structure And Style In Film

A deep-dive exploration of how stories are told on screen

What you'll learn

Move beyond three-act structure to more specific and more diverse forms of storytelling

Better understand the visual language filmmakers use to tell stories onscreen

Become familiar with a variety of literary traditions and how they have appeared and evolved onscreen

Gain a deeper appreciation for film and develop a broader set of tools to tell your own stories onscreen

Requirements

A love of movies!

Description

In this class, we'll be diving into a wide range of different kinds of films and different modes of cinematic storytelling. There are many ways of telling stories, and learning more about these different traditions can be a little bit like becoming multilingual – it makes you more film literate and it opens you up to a much greater variety of possibilities as a filmmaker, screenwriter, and film appreciator. In each of the following fourteen lectures, we'll be looking at a different tradition of cinematic storytelling, ranging from comedy to tragedy to Hollywood blockbusters to art films, analyzing how each of these different modes works and how they frequently interact and overlap with one another. We'll also be exploring some of the traditions in literary, art, and theater history that developed before or in tandem with these different approaches to film storytelling. So buckle up, and let's get ready to watch some movies!Topics covered:Three-act and basic Aristotelian story structureMyth, archetype, and fairy tale cinemaPicaresque narrativeTragedyOld Comedy: Parody, spoof, and satireNew Comedy: Romantic comedy, commedia dell'arte, farce, and screwballSocial realism and naturalismMelodramaBrechtian epic storytellingEnsemble storytellingExpressionismDadaism, surrealism, and naturalismAbsurdismTranscendental style and slow cinema

Overview

Section 1: Three-Act and Basic Aristotelian Story Structure

Lecture 1 Three-Act and Basic Aristotelian Story Structure

Section 2: Myth, Archetype, and Fairy Tales

Lecture 2 Myth, Archetype, and Fairy Tales

Section 3: Picaresque Narrative

Lecture 3 Picaresque Narrative

Section 4: Tragedy

Lecture 4 Tragedy

Section 5: Old Comedy

Lecture 5 Old Comedy: Parody, Spoof, and Satire

Section 6: New Comedy: Romantic Comedy, Commedia dell'Arte, Screwball Comedy, and Farce

Lecture 6 New Comedy: Romantic Comedy, Commedia dell'Arte, Farce, and Screwball

Section 7: Social Realism and Naturalism

Lecture 7 Social Realism and Naturalism

Section 8: Melodrama & Wagnerian Gesamkuntswerk

Lecture 8 Melodrama & Wagnerian Gesamkuntswerk

Section 9: Brechtian Epic Narrative

Lecture 9 Brechtian Epic Narrative

Section 10: Ensembles

Lecture 10 Ensembles

Section 11: Expressionism

Lecture 11 Expressionism

Section 12: Dadaism, Surrealism, and Non-Representationalism

Lecture 12 Dadaism, Surrealism, and Non-Representationalism

Section 13: Absurdism

Lecture 13 Absurdism

Section 14: Transcendental Style and Final Thoughts

Lecture 14 Transcendental Style and Final Thoughts

Anyone who enjoys or creates or would enjoy creating movies