ASSESSMENT

This part of the exam will require you to discuss:

• Ideology
• narrative

NARRATIVE

Narrative structure requires consideration of the whole film, most obviously in the way a story is told through plot. A practical approach to narrative is to be found in the practice of screenwriting with the idea of the narrative ‘arc' and the commonly used three-act structure. In addition, mise-en-scène, cinematography and sound can all have a narrative function.

You will be able to demonstrate the following:

• how narrative construction reflects plot and expresses temporal duration and ellipsis
• narrative devices including voiceover, flashback, the framing narrative, the open ending, repetition and other forms of narrative patterning
• how the dramatic qualities of a sequence or scene are constructed, including through dialogue
• how narrative construction provides psychological insight into character
• ambiguity in narrative including the ambiguous relationship between cause and effect and uncertainty over character identification
• how narrative construction is used to align the spectator and how that alignment encourages the adoption of a particular spectator point of view
• the significance of narrative structures which are alternative to and/or in opposition to conventional narrative structures, particularly in regard to experimental film
• film poetics: what elements of film filmmakers select and how they combine them to create meaning
• the relationship between the screenplay and the realised film narrative
• narrative conventions of mainstream screenwriting, including the construction of dialogue, character and the use of images and sound to convey narrative

Critical Approaches to Narrative

• the formalist conception of narrative based on the distinction between story and plot
• the structuralist conception of narrative based on binary oppositions
• how narrative can function as an ideological framework

Genre (where relevant to the film studied)

Although not all films will necessarily follow an overt genre structure, the way some films conform to a genre structure will affect the way all the key elements of film are used, including the kind of narrative created for the film.

• You will discuss the concept of genre, genre conventions and genre in relation to narrative

IDEOLOGY

The concept of film as ideological involves exploring what ideologies are conveyed by a film as well as those which inform it which may, for example, reveal that a film reinforces or challenges dominant beliefs and attitudes within a society.

You will be able to demonstrate the following:

• the connotations of visual elements and sounds
• binary oppositions, both those contained in the narrative and those contained in film’s use of formal elements
• the implications of spectator positioning and address
• ideological perspectives appropriate to the text (such as a feminist or a political perspective)
• an evaluation of the ideological critical approach to film.

WHAT IS THE EXAMINER LOOKING FOR?

An example question for Component 1, Q3 (British Film since 1995)

How useful has an ideological critical approach been in understanding the narrative resolution of your chosen films? [40]

How you could answer this question...

You may consider an ideological critical approach based on either a deductive analysis of ideological features contained in the films or an approach in which a particular ideological field, such as gender, race, class, is the basis for analysis. Either approach is acceptable.

You could include...

• an understanding that narrative resolutions will have ideological implications – which may be discussed in terms of how conventional the narrative resolution of the film is.
• a discussion of how the ideologies conveyed by the film inform the resolution (which may be expressed in terms of key representations or issues raised by the film)
• some reference that ideologies are not always intended by filmmakers
• a conclusion that ideological analysis has been significant in understanding the narrative resolutions of the two films.
• Band 5 responses (see bands below) may recognise how far narrative resolutions either confirm or challenge dominant ideologies.

Assessment objectives for for this question

Another example question could be...

How useful has an ideological critical approach been in understanding binary oppositions in the narratives of your chosen films? [40]

How you could answer this question...

You could consider an ideological critical approach based on either a deductive analysis of ideological features contained in the films or an approach in which a particular ideological field, such as gender, race, class, is the basis for analysis. Either approach is acceptable.

You could include...

• a discussion of binary oppositions in whatever form they may appear in the chosen films (which could include opposing characters, ideas, representations, mise-enscène)
• an understanding that binary oppositions in whatever form are rooted in ideologies, which will be revealed through applying an ideological critical approach
• a consideration of the way binary oppositions are developed and resolved, which will have ideological implications
• a conclusion that an ideological critical approach provides understanding of the ideological nature of film.
• Band 5 responses may show how the films' ideologies either reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies.