Carlos.

• Most of us have been watching movies and tv for so long that we dont realize our instanteneous adjusting to an unfolding plot.
• Like a PC, our brains click away in many "languages" simultaneously: pictures, spatial, kinetic, vocal, histrionic, musical, sartorial, etc..
• we bring a set of expectations to a movie even before we have seen it. (ex. western movies)
• Convention: when the narrative fails to act according to tradition, we either adjust to the author's presentation, or we reject it

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Scotty Nielsen (pp. 356-357)
knowledge that we have of a film star defines the narrative parameters. Certain actors follow a certain archetype and they are limited to only one style of acting. Arnold Shwasrtzenegger has done only action adventure heroic movies, so if the audience knows that he is n a new movie, they can expect him to have similar narrative parameters. SOme actors like Johnny Depp or even Jim Carry have such a broad acting spectrum that the audience is less certain to expect one kind of acting style.

The movie can be judged according to its title. Gianneti gives the exapmle that Attack of the Killer Bimbos would not be played at the highly prestigious New York Film Festival. A title like Lady Windermere's Fan sounds too aristocratic and arrogant, so it probably wouldn't play at the local mall. The title of a movie has connotations that help the audience judge it.

Other things that help us determine narrative limits:
style of credits
accompanying score
the beginning scenes
expository scene
These help us establish the internal "world" of the story and know what's possible probable, and not likely to happen.

A critic asked the radical innovator Jean-Luc Godard if he believed a movie should have a beginning, middle and an end, and he replied: "Yes-- but not necessarily in that order."

narrative parameters- the limits that are established in the audiences own mind about how the story wil flow.
flashbacks- scenes that haven taken place in the past but are shown in the present

Gabeh (Iran, 1997)
This movie was praised for the visual poetry and allusive narration that was "as multilayered and modernist as a bovel by Rushdie or Ondaatje."


Hannah and Her Sisters (USA, 1986)
Using the Grand Hotel formula is used by director Woody Allen to include a dozen interesting characters who all live in NYC and are connected in some way to these three women.


FILMS REFERENCED
Gabeh (Iran, 1997)
Hannah and Her Sisters (USA, 1986)
E.T.: The Extra- Terrestrial.









Ghassan Shamieh (p. 358-359)

• As the movie progresses, the audience tneds to notice how complex the plot may be. and the more complex the plot, the more the audience attempts to imagine a twist or sudden action to occur. This is especially seen with thirllers, detective movies, and police films.
• The audience is naturally curious as to how the story is going to end, so even if the movie does not really intrest the audience, the audience will follow along because they want to know the ending, and this is only possible if we follow the plot.

Movie References

• 8 1/2 (Italy, 1963 Directed by Federico Fellini)
• This movie is one that audiences commonly do not understand ont heir first viewing.

• Fellini, thoroughout the duration of the film, often swithces back and fourth between reality and fantasy
• This makes it difficult for the audience to distinguish the two and causes confusion and a deeper thought into what the ending will be.

• My Life As a Dog(Sweden, 1985 Directed by Lasse Hallstrom)

• The Insider(U.S.A., 1999 Directed by Michael Mann)

Both of these movies, My Life As a Dog and The Insider, have such complex plots, the director successfully makes it impossible for the audience to guess where the plot leads too.

My Life As a Dog is the story of a young oy who becomes a hero who is sperated form his parents and moves n with his wild Uncle and Aunt. His journies into the country are crazy, funny, and virtually impossible to predict.

The Insider focuses on a character, Dr. Jeffery Wigand, who exposes the tobacco industry and thir lies to citizens. The film was made very well and very aritstically, however was a flop at the box office and not many people were intrested in it.