Story Development: Film and a Hero's Journey!

The Hero’s Journey relies on some variation of the three act structure. There are a number of ways to recognise this particular narrative structure the three act structure can help construct the story into three acts that the audience can familiarize with as initial beginning middle and end in some cases it doesn’t have to be in that particular order argues Jean-Luc –Godard.

" Every movie needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order."

Jean- Luc- Godard.

Demonstrating the three act structure from a most recent film such as Twilight: Breaking Dawn seems rather easy but explains the hero’s quest to freedom, the story consists of the three act structure to be useful in terms of describing the protagonists story, for example most narratives consists of an exposition or in other words an equilibrium of the story this suggests the normality of the beginning, for e.g. The wedding of Bella and Edward and following the journey to the honeymoon, at this point in the narrative the equilibrium is established and act 1 has occurred and the protagonist makes a commitment which leads to the main action of the movie. Enter Act 2 which suggests how the equilibrium changes due to some sort of conflict or complication which disturbs the equilibrium and this happens to create a sequence of events, for instance Bella finds out that she is pregnant with Edward the vampire’s baby this immediately changes the path of the protagonist and it results in conflict with Edward who doesn’t want to keep the baby if it means losing Bella.

The protagonists journey gradually changes through many obstacles such as romance, pain and conflict which results in the protagonist in danger of this creates a new equilibrium and follows through to act 3 which is the resolution and to amend the disturbance in hope to find a better and new equilibrium such as the protagonist character Bella gives birth to the half-vampire half-human child and dies and overcome the threats and the danger that followed which ends in a new equilibrium where Bella turns into a vampire and this helps create a cliff-hanger that makes the audience to want to watch more, and have pleasure in finding out what happens in the end.

The Hero’s journey is about someone in this case the protagonist sheltered in some way, who receives a call to adventure- Bella and Edwards’s magical wedding. This protagonist must leave the comfort of her world she has always known and set forth on a dangerous quest. Gaining allies and learning new things along the way, the protagonist faces many challenges and barely escapes death all to gain insight or freedom. Joseph Campbell demonstrates the different stages of the hero’s journey that are familiar to the audience. This helps the audience identify the situation or dilemma and ultimately engage within the story and follow the hero’s journey till the end. The three act structure helps dominate the narrative in a structured plan that enlightens the audience on the journey and taps into an archetypal pattern.

Production and Outcomes: Interpretation and Delivery!

It is considered important when looking at a creative consisting on its zeitgeist of their time, and how it has value over its messages, the content and the interpretations of the piece, researching the content of a piece can have its influence on you as a practitioner. Many designers interpret zeitgeist with many communication whether it is in photographic format or illustrative format, both formats have a similar interpretation, for example Alice in Wonderland is demonstrated in many shapes and forms over the years each era demonstrated the character of Alice in a different way but interpreted similar elements of Alice whether it is photography or a film or illustration. Time and place has a massive effect on the production whether it is on the content or the making of the piece.

 For instance the interpretation of Cinderella has been demonstrated in many ways in time, each era shows the character blossom from a servant to a princess but the interpretation of the character in its time shows a great deal of inspiration from the story, To demonstrate the poster of the 1950’S Cinderella is shown in an animated content which shows the illustration of the character’s appearance the poster shows the posture and the style of the character to be less complex and illustrative to suit the time it was originally created. Whereas the poster of the 1997’s Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella is somewhat different in race and color, but also interprets the similarities and likability of the Cinderella character for example the costume and posture of the appearance is somewhat similar to how the character of Cinderella is portrayed giving a sense of archetypal value and also fits in with the zeitgeist of its era.

Furthermore through the years and the time and place in which Cinderella was initially created shows how the story and character has improved and inspired other creative’s to interpret its message. For example looking at photographer Annie Lebovitz reminisce in Disney dreams,  has captured that spirit in time and interpreted it to create a sense of inspiration as well as merely a use for fashion photography such as the beautiful blue gown, which is a stereotypical view of the characters appearance and costume.  Cinderella has been inspiring to different creative’s during their time, portrayed in platforms such as movies and books etc. It also comes to show that most inspirations come from other creative’s but the interpretation points out that the initial piece lives on throughout time and place of its production, reminding the audience of its key marketing ploys behind the making of the piece and the use of platforms that help deliver the message to the audience.

Lebigiblity and Tone of Voice!

Legibility consists on how a visual communication is portrayed whether it is clear or unclear. However the most prevalent uses of visual imagery can be shown in many types of forms using numerous elements and sometimes half of those images are often seen as illegible, on the other hand it is not often the case that a visual piece is completely illegible as there are always two sides to each story. A piece can be artistically illegible intentionally, for example a photograph that is shown out of focus can be seen as a blurry image but also can have a concept behind it. Tone of voice can also be often used in this particular practice, for example looking closely at Steve McCurry’s photography which consists on documentary photography can often have an intentional illegibility towards it but can also portray its message that it sends across, This Steve McCurry image initially portrayed an image of an Afghanistan girl but can also encode many messages including the ideologies behind the photograph, the typography in the image is encrypted over the poster to have a blurry effect but also demonstrates what the content illustrates.

Tone of Voice can be very effective when illustrated in a visual communication it becomes of great importance when delivering a message to a particular audience by the use of color, layout and style of typography which all contribute to the overall tone of a piece.  Typography tells a lot about the tone of voice of a creative as it demonstrates how the message is put across and has suitable factor about it for example when seeing a the word shout written you initially think of it being portrayed in a big bold type to specify the word and bring the meaning of the word in motion for example SHOUT, this shows the density of the typography to have tone of voice on the type.

Typography is shown in many different formats and various colors the layout structure of a type is highly recognized in specifying a tone of voice as it can suggest a meaning to the audience, For example my personal interest in all things 60’s helps me to recognize its style from either creative practices for example this illustration of a concert/gig poster is designed in a 60’s style this is recognizable by its use of bright colors such as green, purple and orange these three colors are used for different purposes within the layout for instance the purple color is used for the background of the poster and the to highlight the key elements within the image such as the key image and the artists name this suggests the layout structure is portrayed in a 60’s style for either signifying the identity of artist/event or to create a sense of a retro style of a psychedelic concert poster. Alternatively this suggests that legibility and tone of voice of a creative piece is highly valued when inspiring or informing an audience.