COMENTARIO DE TEXTO AUDIOVISUAL II

UNIT 1: NARRATION

1. The structure of films

The standard Hollywood film is approximately 2 hours long: 120 minutes = 120 pages of
screenplay.

The three part model (but some films differ from it), back from Aristotle

● Act I: Set-up (20/30 min, we are introduced to characters and circumstances). At

the end there is a problem.
● Act II: Confrontation (the problem)
● Act II: Resolution (solution for the problem)

The Paradigma Worksheet: adds Plot Points I (20/30 min) and II (80/90 min), and the Mid
Point in between.

Barsam and Mohanan, 2016, Looking at Movies. Action peak (crisis and climax).

Key concepts

● Plot Point I: significant events that turn the narrative in a new direction.
● Crisis/ Plot Point II: a critical turning point in a story when the protagonist must
engage a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. • Kristin Thompson also calls this
“the ‘darkest moment,’ the scene in which a crisis forces the protagonist to take
action” (in Bordwell, 2006, p. 38).
● Climax: the highest point of conflict in a conventional narrative; the moment of
the protagonist’s ultimate attempt to attain the goal by overcoming the final
obstacle.

Examples:

● Cast Away – Tom Hanks: Plot Point I (23’) is an explosion on the plane. Moves the
narrative into a completely different direction.
● The Martian – Matt Damon: Plot Point I (8´50´´), a launching without Mark.

The five part model by Richard Barsam (but for the purposes of this module, the
three‐part structure seen before is probably the most useful)

● Exposition: provides background information on the characters, setting and basic

conflict, and ends with an Inciting Action that sets the action going, the Plot Point
I.
● Rising Action: the principal conflict develops. It may be complicated by the
introduction of secondary conflicts.
● Climax: turning point, the Plot Point II.
● Falling Action: main conflict moves towards resolution.
● Epilogue: denouement, resolution.

The four‐part model by Kristin Thompson:

● Setup (PPI)
 ● Complicating Action
● Development (PPII)
● Climax (+ epilogue)

Thinking about the narrative structure of Promising Young Woman (2020).

● Act I, Set-up: introduction to Cassie’s background, family, night life…Cassie

playing drunk and teaching a lesson to guys who try to rape drunk women. Cassie
lives at her parents’ and Works at a coffee shop. She bumps into Ryan, a classmate
from college.
● Plot Point I: Ryan and Cassie start dating, and she discovers that he’s still in touch
with med school people. Ryan mentions other students from college, Madison and
Al Monroe, who raped Nina. Cassie looks Al Monroe up online, and possibilities
are open for future revenge (32’-34’).
● Act II, Confrontation: Cassie starts her revenge against the 5 persons, trying to
settle the score. Cassie settles Nina’s score with Madison, the Dean, the lawyer.
Cassie and Ryan go on dates, her thirst for revenge diminishes, opening
possibilities for the conflict to end.
● Plot Point II: Cassie discovers the video, although she was starting to set the
revenge plan aside in order to live a normal life and to truly date Ryan. Madison
gives the recording of Nina’s rape to Cassie, who finds out that Ryan witnesses
Nina’s rape (1h 15’-18’).
● Act III, Resolution: phone messages arriving to Ryan and the police coming to the
wedding. Cassie decides to confront Al and crashes his bachelor party disguised as
a stripper nurse. She fights with Al, who kills her.
● Epilogue: Letters/messages get sent and the police arrest Al at his wedding.

It is relevant for the structure the fact that scenes are numbered (Roman numbers),
according to the steps in her revenge:

I. Madison
II. Dean
III. Lawyer
IV. Party
V. Wedding and arrest

Story and Plot

● Crime conceived
● Crime planned
● Crime committed
● Crime discovered
● Detective investigates
● Detective reveals a, b and c.

● Story: from a to f = Fabula, including information previous to the plot. All the
events of the narrative as they occur in chronological order from beginning to
end, including not only those that are present explicitly, which we see and hear,
but also those we infer.
● Plot: from c to f = Syuzhet, the information we are shown in the film.
Explicitly-presented Fabula events arranged in a certain order (which of course
does not need to be chronological order).
● Puzzle films: films in which the viewer has to reconstruct the story, made messy
by the fragmentation of the plot.

Story and Plot in Promising Young Women (2020)

Fabula (story):

● Nina’s 16th birthday party, Nina threw up on the swing, a boy stole a vase.
● Nina and Cassie, med school, great students. Al graduated with honours.
● Al raped Nina in front of his friends. Ryan witnessed it.
● Nina was traumatized, depressed.
● The video circulated among students.
● The Dean did not pay attention to her case.
● The lawyer threatened and bullied Nina until she dropped her case.
● Madison did not believe Nina. She thought she was crying wolf.
● Nina took her life, Cassie dropped out of med school.
● Ryan has kept in touch with Madison, Al, other people from college…
● Al was invited to give a talk at Med school
● Cassie lives at her parents’ and works at a coffee shop.
● Cassie playing drunk and teaching a lesson to guys who try to rape women.
● She bumps into Ryan, a classmate from college.
● Ryan mentions other students from college: Madison and Al Monroe
● Cassie settles Nina’s score with Madison.
● Madison loses consciousness and Cassie leaves her with a guy in a hotel room, but
later tells her that the guy did not do anything to her. He only made sure she was
OK after drinking so much.
● Cassie tries to settle Nina’s score with the Dean, she picks up the Dean’s daughter
and leaves her at a diner while she waits for one her favourite music bands to drop
by. Yet, Cassie tells the Dean that she has left her daughter at the same room
where Nina was raped with a few guys older than her daughter.
● Cassie goes to the lawyer’s house to settle Nina’s score with him.
● Cassie and Ryan keep going on dates, her thirst for revenge diminishes.
● Madison gives the recording of Nina’s rape to Cassie. Ryan witnessed Nina’s rape.
● Cassie crashes Al’s bachelor party. Al kills her. Joe helps Al get rid of the body.
● Letters/messages get sent and the police arrest Al at his wedding.

Syuzhet (plot)

● Cassie playing drunk and teaching a lesson to guys who try to rape drunk women.
● Cassie at her parents’ / working at a coffee shop.
● She bumps into Ryan, a classmate from college.
● Ryan mentions other students from college: Madison and Al Monroe (who raped
Nina). Cassie looks Al Monroe up online.
● Cassie settles Nina’s score with Madison.
● Cassie tries to settle Nina’s score with the Dean.
● Cassie goes to the lawyer’s house to settle Nina’s score with him.
● Cassie visits Nina’s mother
● Cassie and Ryan keep going on dates, her thirst for revenge diminishes.
● Madison gives the recording of Nina’s rape to Cassie. Cassie finds out Ryan
witnessed Nina’s rape and shows him the video.
 ● Cassie decides to confront Al and crashes his bachelor party. Al kills her. Joe helps
Al get rid of the body.
● Letters/messages get sent and the police arrest Al at his wedding.

Diegetic and non-diegetic material:

● Diegetic: any element that is seen on screen.

● Non-diegetic: any element that the audience can see or hear but the characters on
screen cannot.

Activity: Portrait of Jocelyn (1956), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1x28)

1. Narrative structure (organization of the plot, Plot Points)

● Set up: introduction of the Hallidays, it is their anniversary.
● Plot Point I: wrong painting, a portrait of Jocelyn (disappeared, she is older).
● Confrontation: She went to Europe (brother and exhusband), now she is supposed
to be dead. Mrs Halliday is disappointed, she has always been there in their
marriage. She was very beautiful, seems to be an obstacle for their marriage.
Clymer painted the portrait and it got mixed with Mr Halliday’s, maybe she is
alive and in Shell Harbour (where the painter if from). They go to the house Mr
Halliday used to live in, there are Jocelyn’s favourite flowers, and they are fresh,
and there are also clothes that belonged to her, and a statue of her. Clymer appears
and picks up the sculpture he made months ago and the clothes. Mr Halliday goes
to Clymer’s, who thinks he wants to see Jocelyn because of her beauty, she does
not come down. She writes letters to him everyday, he says she is dead
(divagations about death). They used to date but there was another man.
● Plot Point II: Mr Halliday reveals he killed Jocelyn.
● Resolution: Jeff and Clymer (Ivison) planned everything to make him reveal the
truth and arrest him.

2. Segmentation of the episode (Syuzhet)

● Art gallery, they wait and receive the painting (Debbie is shocked).
● Jocelyn’s brother (she went to Europe and disappeared).
● The marriage talk (argument) and decide to go to Shell Harbour after a phone call
with Jocelyn’s brother.
● They get the keys to Willman cottage (is the only available one).
● Old cottage in Shell Harbour (flowers, clothes, sculpture). We are made to believe
that Jocelyn is alive. Clymer appears and picks up the sculpture and the clothes.
● Clymer’s house, Mr Halliday “expects” Jocelyn to appear, they argue.
● Confession and arrest of Mr Halliday.

3. Reconstruction of the Fabula

● Mark and Jocelyn get married. Debbie and Jocelyn meet, she thinks Jocelyn is very
attractive. Jocelyn (probably) has affairs with other men and wants a divorce.
● Mark kills Jocelyn because of his jealousy and her desire to get divorced.
● Mark and Debbie get married.
● Jocelyn’s body is found by the cliffs by fisherman. Jeff and Clymer (Ivison) plan
everything and make the painting.
● 1 year anniversary, they wait and receive the painting (Debbie is shocked).
 ● Jocelyn’s brother (she went to Europe and disappeared).
● The marriage talk (argument) and decide to go to Shell Harbour after a phone call
with Jocelyn’s brother.
● The Hallidays drive to Shell Harbour.
● They get the keys to Willman cottage (is the only available one).
● Old cottage in Shell Harbour (flowers, clothes, sculpture). We are made to believe
that Jocelyn is alive. Clymer appears and picks up the sculpture and the clothes.
● Mark walks to Clymer’s because he was “walking by the sea”.
● Clymer’s house, Mr Halliday “expects” Jocelyn to appear, they argue.
● Confession and arrest of Mr Halliday.

4. Are there any plot holes?

5. What are the effects and implications of this arrangement?
6. Think of different ways the Fabula could have been organized. There could have
been flashbacks.

Concepts:

● To frame a character
● Plot holes/gaps
● Plot twist (ex. Black Mirror, “Shut Up and Dance” (2016))
● Discourse: the message a film conveys.

Difference between suspense, surprise and mystery: Degree of Knowledge.

● Suspense: the spectator knows more than the character.

● Surprise: the spectator knows as much as the character.
● Mystery: the spectator knows less than the character.

2. Narration and time

The plot/Syuzhet manipulates the temporality of the story/Fabula.

The duration of a film is the length of time that the events in the movie take to occur.

A distinction must be made between:

● Story time (Fabula time): the amount of time that the implied story takes to occur.
● Plot time (Syuzhet time): the time of the events that are represented by the
Syuzhet.
● Screen time: movies running time on the screen.

Ex: The Portrait of Jocelyn

There are different durational relationships among Fabula, Syuzhet and style:

● Equivalence (=): Syuzhet duration equals screen duration. This is difficult to

achieve, but some means are the lack of ellipsis, long takes simulating a single
shot. For instance, Before Sunset, 2004 (the Fabula time is longer, as there are
previous mentioned events), Rope and 1917.
● Reduction (<): Fabula time is reduced in the Syuzhet. It is a very common
strategy, and some means of achieving it are the use of visual and narrative
strategies to summarize, or the use of montage sequences, summarized and
condensed series of shots. For instance, Notting Hill (where we have the feeling
that life goes around and feelings do not change) and Up.
● Expansion (>): Fabula duration is expanded in the Syuzhet. One means of
achieving it is slow motion, used to highlight tension or climatic moments, or for
comic purposes (playing with our expectation about its meaning). For instance,
The Untouchables and Friends.

The Syuzhet can present the events of the Fabula in:

● Chronological order: even if the Syuzhet follows a chronological order, many

films (but not all) employ it. However, sometimes there are ellipses (1-3-4),
which may be functional or have a deeper meaning related to the plot. They are a
means of reduction.
● Non-linear way: there is temporal manipulation for different reasons.
● Flashbacks (2-1-3). For instance, in Bohemian Rhapsody (objective and
impersonal flashback, not a memory of any character), Titanic and Casablanca (the
flashback adds essential subjective information, it is part of the Fabula).
Sometimes they happen at the very beginning of films. Difference between
subjective and objective flashbacks and whether they are part of the Fabula. They
can also present information in advance (My Policeman).
● Flashforwards (1-3-2): less common.
● Repetitions (1-2-3-1-4): at Fabula or Syuzhet levels. It can provide different
perspectives. For instance, The Last Duel or Groundhog Day. Run Lola Run, 1998 has
three different perspectives (three different endings). Time-loop films
(characters are trapped in a loop, usually because they have to learn something).
● Puzzle films/ Mindgames (5-2-4-1-3-6-7): manipulate time and space in radical
ways. They embrace nonlinearity, time loops, and fragmented spatio-temporal
reality. These films blur the boundaries between different levels of reality, are
riddled with gaps, deception, labyrinthine structures, ambiguity and overt
 coincidences. They present a complexity that is not needed to tell the story, and
their aim is to confuse and trick the spectator. For instance, Looper: the timeliness,
Memento, Cloud Atlas and Pulp fiction.

The Code (Hays): censorship code (violence, sexual content). One of the main reasons for
ellipses. 1930s-60s.

Film: 500 days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009).

488) Introduction of the story. A couple together and engaged.

1) Boy and girl background. The girl loves her dark hair but cuts it, and then she
appears at the office; he knows it (she is the one). The narrator says it is not a love
story.

Credits) a montage of their respective childhoods.

290) A little girl looks for Thomas in his flat, he throws plates away and drinks
vodka. She is his sister, and Thom tells her what happened with Summer: things
were going well and she decided to stop being together (we get some flashbacks).
His friends listen too, and say they will talk about it later. Summer says he is still
her best friend, and they try to comfort him, but he wants her back.

1) Thomas is at the office, and Summer appears (she just moved from Michigan).
She is introduced to the team. The narrator says there are only two types of
people: each of them. Summer is average height, weight and shoe size, just
another girl, but she was very attractive and striking; faith brought her there.

3) A friend of Thom’s says she is a bitch, pretty hot, but Thomas thinks he is crap
for saying that.

4) Elevator scene, she says “Smiths? I love the Smiths”. Summer sings and he is
astonished (“holy shit”).

8) There is an engagement party at the office, Summer recognizes him as “the

Smiths’ fan”, and they talk. Summer tells Thom she moved because she was
bored. We get to know that Thomas works writing slogans but studied
architecture. He draws a building because he feels inspired.

154) He is in love with Summer and tells it to a friend. He loves a lot of things
about her, and also how she makes him feel.

11) Thomas tells her sister about Summer, saying that she is amazing.

22) Thomas is with some friends. He tells them about an elevator encounter, they
talked about her weekend (maybe she is not interested or there is another boy). He
has given her lots of ‘indirects’ (not really), flashbacks. They tell him to ask her
out, for him it is a stupid idea.

27) Thomas is at the office, there is an event the whole office is going to, and he
decides to go because of her.

28) It is a bar, a karaoke. She sings, they talk about music and they (Thomas and
another boy) ask her about any boyfriend, but she says she would not be
comfortable with that, she likes things on her own and she is young. Thomas says
“what happens if you fall in love?”. Her parents are divorced, and his also. He says
“you know it when you feel it”, and Summer says “we can agree a disagree”. He
sings and she looks at him. Then, they talk and the friend sings but he is very
drunk and tells her that Thomas likes her. She asks if it is true and he says it is (but
just as friends), she says that he is interesting. They look at each other and they
leave (separate).

31) They meet at the office and she kisses him unexpectedly. He tells his friends,
she is at Thomas’ home, and Paul and her meet but he leaves, they go to eat
something.

282) They are in a kind of Ikea, she seems bored.

34) They are again in Ikea, they seem comfortable. They play in the different
rooms and act like a married couple. They have fun and kiss in a bed, there is a
Chinese family. She says she is not looking for anything serious, he says it is okay
(she says that some people freak out) and he says he likes casual things. They are
in Stockholm. They are now in a house, making out, he goes to the bathroom
because he is nervous; when he enters again she is naked. The next day he is happy
and feels confident, dances in the street. A band appears.

303) Thomas seems devastated at the office, and the friend suggests him to read.
He receives an email from her, saying that they can be friends.

44) They sing to each other on the phone while they are at work.

87) They go to a video-club and enter the adults only section, watch a film at
home and have a shower together.

95) They walk along the street and look at the buildings. They go to his favourite
spot, a bench, and he talks about buildings. He draws on her arm some buildings.

109) They are at her apartment, the narrator says everything changes at that
point: her barrier of being casual is breaking down because there (at the
apartment) is her intimacy and inner world. They lay on the bed and talk about
their childhood and dreams (she says “I’ve never told anyone before”, and he
replies “I am not anyone”). He tells his friends about it, but says that they are not
a couple and they do not need labels (they say that he sounds gay) but it has been
too long since they had girlfriends so they are not authorities in modern
relationships.

118) Thomas is at his sister’s match, and she says they should put labels. She says
that it also happened with her and John (she is a child), and she says he is afraid.
They are driving, he asks Summer what are they and where are they going, and
she says she does not know and who cares, they say they are happy.

259) They are at a bar and talk about tattoos. A boy tries to flirt with her, she is
rude to him. He laughs at Thomas for being her ‘boyfriend’, and they fight briefly.
They arrive home and he recalls the fight, she is mad at him and says she does not
need his help. She tells him to leave indirectly, but he says they had to talk (“what
is going on?”), and she says they are only friends and he gets mad because
friends do not do those things. He is very mad and leaves the apartment. They are
both thinking instead of sleeping. She goes to his place and apologises to him, and
he says he needs consistency but that labels are not needed, and she says that
nobody can give him that. They kiss and sing together. He asks her about previous
boyfriends: Marcus, Charlie, Fernando. They talk in a park and try to say penis
without laughing, each time louder.

191) They are at a museum and then at the cinema because they did not like the
museum.

314) Thom is alone at the cinema seeing a French film he is the main character of.
It is a montage.

321) The boss wants to see Thomas, and says “has something happened to you
recently?, does it have to do with Summer leaving?”, “everyone knows, “your
work performance has been off”. And then, “you are one of the best ones”.
Thomas says that things have been difficult. He is in charge of funerals now (?).

167) He used to be very good at his work, she was his inspiration.

322) Thomas says he hates Summer (her features), and everything he said to his
friends. He shouts at the bus that he hates a song (probably he used to listen it
with Summer).

345) Thomas goes on a blind date with a girl, but he seems bored. He says “this is
not going anywhere”, and then he tells her about Summer, as he is drunk. “She is
the only person in the universe that could make me happy”. The girl thinks
Summer is either evils or she is …she asks her if she cheated to him or took
advantage. He sings at the karaoke.

402) A phone call with his friends, he is at a train and there is she. They look at
each other and then they talk. She asks how is he and they have a coffee, talk and
laugh. They are at a wedding (of some work mates) and they compliment each
other. They sit together, she says ‘penis’ (it was a joke they had). At dinner they
keep talking, she grabs the bouquet, they dance together, she invites him to a
party at her apartment. They sit together back in the train; he seems to be
thinking. Montage of his friends, boss talking about love, then Thomas (he does
not say anything). He is at her apartment (narrator talks, says expectations maybe
would align with reality), there is a comparison between both. He brings a book, a
present, and she says to a friend he would be a great architect if he wanted to. He
sees her talking to other boys, the comparison is sad. SHE HAS AN ENGAGEMENT
RING. He runs downstairs and leaves, mad. The landscape turns into a draft, a
drawing, he is alone.

408) 440) 441) He turns the clock off and goes shopping in a robe, and talks to a
couple in the street.

442) He goes to the office in sunglasses and seems devastated, hasn’t shown up to
the office for days. He insults the idea of a woman; he is very negative. “What does
love even mean? Everything is full of lies and we are responsible, we do a bad thing
here. People should speak for themselves”. He quits and leaves.

450) He is at her sister’s match, he is drawing. The sister asks if he is okay, he

draws a killer Summer. She says her friends are in love with him, and that she does
not think she was the one and that he is only remembering the good things. There
 are some flashbacks of the good things and the argument they had. They watch a
film about a wedding, characters seem sad and Summer cries and says she is being
stupid.

They go to the video club, she had not listened to the mix he sent her. She seems
sad, he tries to grab her hand but she refuses. She wants to go home, as she is
tired. He suggests making pancakes.

456-476) Him bored at home, throwing everything that was on the walls, starts
reading about architecture and trying to enter some enterprises. There is a
drawing at home (buildings). Crisscrossed montage, meanwhile she is getting
married.

488) He is wearing a suit, goes to his favourite spot and she is on another bench
and calls him. She says she wanted to see him. He congratulates her on the
wedding, she asks if he is okay and he says he will eventually be. He says she
should have told him, she says it just happened (she woke up and knew she was
not sure of him), he says it sucks. She talks about faith, how casual it was that she
met her husband, it was meant to be (Thom was right). Summer says “it was not
me you were right about”. She says she is happy to see he is doing well, and he
says he really hopes she is happy.

500) The narrator says “most days have no impact in life as a whole”. It is May
31st. Thom is waiting for an interview, and there is a beautiful woman (they are
competitors). They talk and she thinks she has seen him before in his favourite
spot (the bench). Everything is a coincidence. He learnt that there are no miracles
and faith, nothing is meant to be. He invites her to meet after the interview, but
she has to meet someone, although then she rethinks it. She is called Autumn: day
1).

Brainstorming about 500 days of Summer (2009)

1. Did you recognize any aspects discussed so far in class in the film?
● Fabula: the proposal is not included within the Syuzhet.
● Montage: interview talking about love.
● Slight reduction
● Non-chronological order
● Flashbacks (subjective)
● Puzzle film: altered chronology (non-linearity)
● Repetition (Syuzhet level):
- Thomas talking about her when he is in love, and later after the breakup.
Repetition of the same exact event from two different perspectives.
 - Thomas trying to wake up (the alarm clock) conveys the idea of routine,
monotony and boredom, increased by reduction (only showing the most
monotonous event of the whole day). Repetition of the same kind of
situation (not exactly the same), days 440, 441, 442 (chronological order).
- Thomas and Summer at the bench, looking at the buildings. Repetition of
the same kind of situation (not exactly the same).
- Thomas and Summer at Ikea.
- Thomas leaving the elevator (happy, then sad).
● The present is the end of the film, when he goes from day 500 to 1.
● Ellipsis (sexual relationships)
2. How would you describe the manipulation of time in the film? Combination of
past and present alternatively, in an apparently random order (non-linear
chronology). Use of flashbacks, contrast. It is not always from good to bad, but
also at the inverse.

3. What is the relationship between Fabula time, Syuzhet time and screen time?
● Screen time: summary of the Syuzhet, reduced in approximately 1h and a half.
● Fabula time: (childhood) > University studies, her previous boyfriends > proposal.
● Syuzhet time: (childhood) > ellipsis > 1st day Summer and Thomas meet > 1st day
Autumn and Thomas meet.

4. What’s the point of the Syuzhet’s specific arrangement of Fabula time in this
film? Why does this film use scrambled temporality instead of a chronological
one? What do the constant temporal jumps in the film achieve?
● Reminders of the bad ending of the story
● Create suspense (we know that they break up, but we do not know any details)
● Imitate ups and downs in real relationships.

3. Narration and space

Space is a crucial element in movies, as it may be the representation of the personality or

mental state of a character. For instance, in Up in the air, the mise-en-scene of the empty
apartment of the main character reflects his personality and approach to relationships
and life in general at the beginning of the film.

We tend to narrow the plot of a film to the characters and their interactions, but plot
issues are also represented in films throughout spatial problems. For instance, Grand
Torino is about US identity mainly in relation to other cultures, which is also conveyed by
using space: the boundaries of the main character’s property stand for the US.

A distinction must be made between:

● Fabula space: the totality of space in which film action takes place.
● Syuzhet space: the places we actually see onscreen.
● Screen space: the way in which the places we see onscreen are portrayed by means
of mise-en-scene, framing, etc.

Ex. Portrait of Jocelyn.

 - Fabula space: places of the Syuzhet + places we never see but are mentioned (for
example Europe, Switzerland, the cliff…).
- Syuzhet space: the Art Gallery, the Police station, the Halliday’s apartment and
some places in Shell Harbour.
- Screen space: specific representation of the places in the Syuzhet (for example the
cottage in Shell Harbour is represented by using American and medium shots at
the beginning, and close ups later).

Space is portrayed by endless means, but the most usual ones are:

● Real locations in space: real cities (we learn about them by the way they are
portrayed in movies, as for example New York). However, some parts of the cities
are highlighted or distorted, and real places are manipulated. Films create specific
discourses about cities by means of the onscreen representation of them. For
instance, in 500 days of Summer, Los Angeles is distorted.
● Imaginary places, fictional locations: portray abstract concepts. For instance, in
Ralph breaks the Internet, the location is a representation of the worldwide web.
They tell a lot about the characters who live there.

● Spatial omniscience: access to what different characters are doing at the same
time in different locations (cross-cutting). For instance, in The Godfather we have
access to the church and other two places.
● Restriction to a single location: forcing the viewer to stay in a restricted space. For
instance, in Buried, the main character is trapped in a coffin, and there are no
flashbacks nor other people; there are other spaces and characters but we do not
see them.

Space in Vicky Cristina Barcelona / Biutiful

1. Think about Fabula, Syuzhet and screen space in this scene. Different touristic
points of Barcelona, idyllically portrayed / crowded everyday streets of Barcelona.
2. What would you say is the function of space? And the impact it has on characters?
There is a difference in the approach of both films towards the city. The first is
more idyllic, and the second more realistic and pessimistic.
3. Color, lighting, sound, editing, framing, camera movements. Yellow and orange
lightning (golden hues) vs blue. Fades in and outs vs intensified continuity.
Difficulty to make out an overall image of the city.

Film: Already tomorrow in Hong Kong (2015)

Girl talking on the phone, trying to meet up with some friends. A boy is listening and
gives her directions (she does not have gps on the phone). They are in Hong Kong. He
suggests accompanying her to the place but she refuses. Eventually, they go together.
Ruby (from LA) and Josh (from NY). They say goodbye but he decides to take her to the
place. They talk about their lives. She is a toy designer but likes fashion. They joke a lot
and mess with each other. He is writing a novel called “Living on Hong Kong time”, one
of his bosses used to say “it is already tomorrow in Hong Kong”. She says “it is yesterday
in LA”. He has been living there for 10 years. Her ancestors were Asian but moved to the
US, now she is back there. Ruby takes a photo of a couple, and they take one in exchange
(she did not want to). They walk past a huge building where he has the office. They see a
couple taking a picture. She almost gets hit by a car. She says she will meet her friends
the following day, and they go grab a drink and talk about work. He talks to his girlfriend
on the phone and says he has to get back to the party (birthday party), she seems
disappointed and leaves. He does not know whose birthday it was.

1 year later he is at a boat and sees and approaches her, she lives there now. Josh
apologizes and she asks about the girlfriend, they are still together. Ruby has a boyfriend
in LA, he accompanies her to a “dangerous area” because she has to pick up a suit for his
boyfriend, but it is not ready. Josh speaks Cantonese and gets a discount. They go to have
a drink and he says he quit his job after meeting her last year; he starts following her on
Facebook. He is Jewish. She says stalking is okay but talking is not allowed. Ruby says she
is not in love with the city, because people are superficial, food is weird. They get on a
bus and she looks at a couple (the man is much older), and she thinks people may think
of them as a couple. They talk about interracial couples. Josh says there is a cultural
barrier between him and his girlfriend. They go shopping and get a selfie stick, she sees
toys that were designed by her. They have dinner, he mentions Sam (his girlfriend), she
is a banker and did not like him quitting, she finds it weird that they do not support each
other and share tastes. A couple sits next to them. Josh and Sam have been together for 2
years; she is younger than him. There are people singing and he tips them. She is worried
about the toys. They go to a future teller that has a bird, she wants to know about love. It
talks about marriage, she seems disappointed. The teller says Josh will have lots of
money at 40, and he asks whether they are married. He guesses Josh was engaged but
now he is not, his girlfriend cheated on him. Ruby and her boyfriend have been dating for
5 years. Josh receives a call and she thinks it is his boyfriend but it is only a friend; he
invites her to a concert saying “she won’t be there”. They get a taxi and have fun
together. Josh tells her that his boyfriend got mad at him the day they met because of a
photo of them. They dance together and look at each other. A friend of his girlfriend
appears and seems to disapprove the dance; Ruby leaves the place and her boyfriend is
calling. They smoke;she says “what are we doing?”, and he says they are just hanging
out.

They split a cab, they seem to be overwhelmed, she says they are “emotionally
cheating”, “you know when you feel it”. She admits she is engaged, her boyfriend is
coming next week, he seems disappointed (similar to what happened the time they met
but at the inverse), it was a mutual proposal (Josh says it is not romantic). She says she
does not know what she wants; the driver asks whether they want a second stop or not,
they think about it (open ending).

● 1 day in the past and 1 day in the present.

● The whole film is only about 2 nights.
● Open ending.

4. Classical Hollywood narration and exceptions

The classical Hollywood film presents psychologically defined individuals who struggle
to solve a clear-cut problem or to attain specific goals. In the course of this struggle, the
characters enter into conflict with others or with external circumstances. The story ends
with a decisive victory or defeat, a resolution of the problem and a clear achievement or
non achievement of the goals.

An example may be Bringing Up Baby

- Psychologically defined characters

 a. Alice (David fiancé) ´- working lady, organize, responsible, strain ford
woman, dinosaur bigger than their own life, update
b. David: silly, intelligent, care about other things, update, clumsy, chatty, not
concerned about money, lofty ideas (day dreamer and ambitious)
c. Susan – intelligent, spontaneous, lively

- Clear-cut problem(s): money, a ball that gets lost, the car, the marriage…Personal
and professional problems

a. Personal: raising money.

b. Personal: the marriage and future life, David not being able to make his
own choices

- Goals: to raise money (connected directly with the bone).

- Causality (character-centered), cause-effect events: the bone has arrived, there is
a meeting to be held. Character’s actions determine what happens next.
- Redundancy: (repetition, the movie repeats an idea over and over again) David
presented as a dubitative person, David and Alice repeat “nothing must interfere
with our work”. Also, the lack of control and the bone.
- Deadline: personal and professional. Both are going to happen the following day

a. Professional: arrival at the bone

b. Personal: marriage

- Romantic and professional plotlines

- Ending. High degree of closure
- The primacy effect: initial information establishes a frame of reference to which
subsequent information is subordinated as far as possible.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong as an exception, as in contemporary films, there is more

variety (how does the film depart from the template of classical Hollywood narration?).
An attraction forms when a Chinese American girl visiting Hong Kong for the first time
meets an American expat who shows her the way, but timing may not quite be on
their side. A walk-and-talk romance set in the beautiful city of Hong Kong, the film asks
the question - what happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time?

- Open ending and its implications.

- Non-goal oriented characters.
- Causality, beginning, goal.
- Space, redundancy, ellipsis (1 year gap).