Film Lecture Series #3 - Structural Theories & Storytelling + Film Review.

For todays lecture we looked at structural theories within films. This came looking at the 3 act structure - linear narrative structure - proposed by Syd Field who modernized and wrote about Aristotle's initial theory of narrative structure who stated that “A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end” Poetics 335BC. Field  also stated that the 3 act structure doesn't necessarily need to follow Aristotle's proposed time schedule and that the middle act (act 2) is usually twice as long as act 1 and 3.

In Field's Paradigm, he lays out the Acts and their structure of what happens and when.

Exposition - introduced to the film’s main character(s) and situation.

Inciting Incident -  Complication/ incident that sets events into motion.

End of Act 1 : Plot Point 1 -The event in which the character takes on the central problem.

Mid-Point (Act 2) - The main character faces increasingly intense and complex problems / obstacles.

End of Act 2 : Plot Point 2 - Is linked to plot point 1 but is a reversal. Shows a change of direction.

Race to the Climax / The Climax - The maximum tension point of the story, the hero confronts the major obstacle.

The Twist? - “A character is not dead after all?”– “The Villain has one last attack” something that causes yet another change in the storylines direction.

Denouement and End - A calmer part of the story in which the strands of the plot are drawn together, which is then followed by the resolution where all the plot strands are brought together..

With linear storytelling you stay with one character from beginning to end and can sometimes give more plot than story so in some cases you don't get to really know much about the characters; but this can also be reversed so there could be more plot than story.

Furthermore, not all stories follow a 3 Act structure, some can follow a 5 Act structure as proposed by Horace (Roman lyric poet) and explored further by Gustav Freytag who studied classical Greek tragedy and Shakespearean drama to construct his 5 Acts through noting the structural patterns in the story line. Freytag's pyramid although originally based on theatrical drama, looks' more at storytelling that could be applied to novels and short stories. ''as a linear dramatic structure, Freytag’s pyramid operates subliminally. You aren’t thinking about act breaks and story beats when you read a novel, but you’re under its structure's spell" (Reedsy, 2020)

Robert McKee is a author, lecturer and story consultant who is mostly known for his work in the rhythm of a story. He talks about rhythm adding tempo and suspense in a film to build up to a climax and how important is to a cinematic. McKee also talks about the idea of the arc, anti and mini plots that a story narrative can be built off of, he also talks about the type of endings that can be seen in linear and non-linear narrative structures (see below).

Arc Plot (example: Gravity (2013)).

• The is the most common storytelling method.
• A linear plot arc that rises and falls throughout the film.
• External conflict, single protagonist, consistent reality, active protagonist, and the ‘Ticking Clock’ plot.

Anti-Plot (example: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)).

• A non-linear or non-plot method of storytelling.
• Deliberately challenging the conventions of the Arc Plot.
• Coincidence, inconsistent reality.

Mini Plot (example: Crash (2004)).

• Focuses on smaller stories.
• Often features multiple overlapping stories told through the eyes of different characters.
• Internal conflict, multiple protagonists, passive antagonist, interaction.

 

Closed Ending (example: Indiana jones and the last crusade (1989)).

• There is full resolution to all aspects of the story.
• No strands are left open.
• There is no future for our characters...Maybe!

Open Ending (example: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)).

• All conflicts are left unresolved.
• The audience is left to make up their own minds
• Common in Art House or European cinema.

Partial Ending (example: Blake 7 (TV: 1978-81)).

• All story arcs are resolved but there’s still the possibility of another adventure
• Did the killer really die? What will our stars do now they’re in love?

Film Review: Locke (2013).

Fig 1. Locke Primary Poster. (2013). 

Written and directed by Steven Knight comes a story about a construction site manager and overall family man (Tom Hardy play character known as Ivan Locke) who receives a phone call on the night right before the biggest construction pour of his career, of which in turn sets off a series of unfortunate events which ultimately changes his life that he has carefully constructed. (Fig 1. See to the left).

Exposition – Starts with seeing Ivan Locke leaving the construction site where he works and informing his family as he drives down the motorway that he won’t be home for the night as he has somewhere to be. Here we see Ivan conversing with other characters (Gareth and Donal) as he tries to sort out the concrete pour that will be going ahead in the morning since he can’t be there to oversee it. At this stage we don’t know where he is going until he is talking to his wife -Katrina- about the situation he is in.

Inciting Incident – Here we are met with the inciting incident of the film where Locke tells his wife he had an affair with one of the company construction secretaries -Bethan- and she is now pregnant with his baby. Locke tries to tell her it was only the once and that it was a mistake, but his wife won’t listen.

End of Act 1: Plot Point 1 –  At this stage Locke finds himself in a predicament, as he had to leave the construction team to deal with one of the biggest pours they have ever done and go to Bethan in London where she is having his baby. Leaving his team in a state of panic especially Gareth who works against Locke as manger and what his duties are since Locke is the construction manager that is meant to be overseeing the pour, at this point we are also introduced to Donal; who acts as Ivan’s main contact point to the site to sort everything out on his behalf.

Mid-Point (Act 2) – Locke makes the decision to fix his mistake and own up to it – with this we see Locke talking to himself between calls, presumably in relation to a father who made a similar mistake as he did, but with the exception of never being there for Ivan as he grew up; Locke didn’t want this for the baby with Bethan as he knows how it feels to be neglected by a father.

End of Act 2: Plot Point 2 –After further calls between Donal, Gareth and his family (wife and sons), Locke finds out from Gareth that he has been fired from his job and someone will be replacing him. Locke seems to remain calm but you can see that he is beginning to get more stressed (Fig 2. See below) as the film progresses; despite being fired Ivan still wishes to over see the pours set up despite someone else taking over his job and continues to converse with Donal over the phone. Soon after he finds out he’s been fired his wife calls and you can tell in her voice she is still struggling to come to terms with the affair and that the boys are beginning to grow worried as she locked herself in the bathroom instead of watching the game with them.

Fig 2. A troubled mind. (2013).

Race to the Climax – Soon after Locke gets a call from Bethan to inform him that there has been a complication with the pregnancy and the umbilical cord that seem to have looped its self around the baby’s neck, you can tell in Bethan voice she is vocally distressed and scared. Locke comforts her as best he can and tells her he will be there soon. In addition to this Donal calls again to sort out the pour for the morning and Locke instructs him to find the folder in the draw that will tell him everything he needs to do to set the pumps up.

The Climax – When Donal can’t find the folder in the draw you then find out that Locke has accidentally taken it with him by mistake, suggesting he was so fixated on sorting out one problem he forgot about the concrete pour and the folder the site needs with all the information to set it up and sort out temporary road closures and so on. Locke proceeds to direct/instruct Donal through the phone and guide his with what to do.

 The Twist? – Donal is obviously bee consuming some this illegal as when a problem with the pumps arise, he states he is not sober enough to drive to Stefan who can sort the pumps out for the morning; so Locke tells him to run to Stefan as that would appear safe than driving in Donal’s hyped up state.

Here you also see Locke receive a call from Katrina telling him that after talking with her sisters she doesn’t want him back home (kick him out) as she states cheating once being and mistake is still cheating even if he was inebriated at the time.

“Ivan Locke: It was once. Katrina: And the difference between never and once is the whole world. The difference between never and once is the difference between good and bad.”

Denouement –Coming the end of the film, Locke hasn’t got much left in terms of family structure and work:

“When I left the site just over two hours ago, I had a job, a wife, a home. And now I have none of those things. I have none of those things left. I just have myself and the car that I'm in. And I'm just driving and that's it.”

Locke accepts his fate at that moment that is all he’s got is his car and the clothing on his back, but remains calms and proceeds to think about thing logically about his situation.

End (Resolution) – In the resolution you see Locke pause at the side of the road and letting it go to voicemail; as he listens to his youngest son go on about redoing the whole night and watching the game with him and Katrina, this presumably gives Locke and the audience to reflect the nights events and how his life has fallen apart within a time span of 90 minutes.  

Locke then receives a second call from Bethan and she tells him to listen and he hears the first cries of his new born for the first time over the phone. You can tell Locke is at a loss for words and settles for proceeding with his course of action of setting things right and owning up to his mistakes; so commits to going a seeing Bethan in hospital and comes to the conclusion that everything will be okay going forward with his family at home (wife and sons) and the concrete pour is all set for the morning as there is nothing more he can do at the moment in time.

I believe this film to follow and arc plot structure, (linear) as within the film you don’t see the main character interact with other people physically, but you do see him interact with others across the cars phone system; thus creating this consistent reality as the whole film is shot in and around the car he is driving, much like in Gravity (2013) where you only see the character Ryan Stone (Sandra bullock) trying to navigate space to the shenzhou space station. Throughout the film you see Locke tackle situations that are out of his control across the phone and tries to gain a sense of control over situation despite not being there. There is also the element of a ‘ticking clock’ idea as the concrete pumps at the construction site need to be operational and ready for the concrete delivery in the morning and this can be hard to do as Locke was having to talk Donal through the stages of getting the machinery ready for use. I also find the film to have a closed ending as everything is pretty much resolved once he decides to continue going to see Bethan at the end of the film; there is also this constant reassurance through the film that everything going to be okay/will be okay in the morning once everything has settled down.

Bibliography:

Reedsy blog, (2020) Freytag's Pyramid: The Five-Act Structure Explained. At: https://blog.reedsy.com/freytags-pyramid-five-act-structure/ (Accessed 17/11/2020) in-text citation: (Reedsy, 2020).

Illustration List:

Fig 1. Locke Primary Poster. (2013) [Film Poster, Advertisement] At: https://www.movieinsider.com/photos/164394/1 (Accessed: 18/11/2020).

Fig 2. A troubled mind. (2013) [Film Still] At: https://thecriticalcritics.com/reviews/movie_review-locke/  (Accessed: 18/11/2020).