Story Structure

Now that the group have come up with a story idea, we did a worksheet which allowed us to help with story structures. I had to look at the following stories and answer the questions:

The Slave and the Lion

‘A Slave ran away from his master, by whom he had been most cruelly treated, and, in order to avoid capture, betook himself into the desert. As he wandered about in search of food and shelter, he came to a cave, which he entered and found to be unoccupied. Really, however, it was a Lion's den, and almost immediately, to the horror of the wretched fugitive, the Lion himself appeared. The man gave himself up for lost: but, to his utter astonishment, the Lion, instead of springing upon him and devouring him, came and fawned upon him, at the same time whining and lifting up his paw. Observing it to be much swollen and inflamed, he examined it and found a large thorn embedded in the ball of the foot. He accordingly removed it and dressed the wound as well as he could: and in course of time it healed up completely. The Lion's gratitude was unbounded; he looked upon the man as his friend, and they shared the cave for some time together. A day came, however, when the Slave began to long for the society of his fellow-men, and he bade farewell to the Lion and returned to the town. Here he was presently recognised and carried off in chains to his former master, who resolved to make an example of him, and ordered that he should be thrown to the beasts at the next public spectacle in the theatre. On the fatal day the beasts were loosed into the arena, and among the rest a Lion of huge bulk and ferocious aspect; and then the wretched Slave was cast in among them. What was the amazement of the spectators, when the Lion after one glance bounded up to him and lay down at his feet with every expression of affection and delight! It was his old friend of the cave! The audience clamoured that the Slave's life should be spared: and the governor of the town, marvelling at such gratitude and fidelity in a beast, decreed that both should receive their liberty.’

1. Who is the main character in the story? Why?

In this story the main character is the slave this is because the narrative is based around him. The slave also instigates the actions in the story. And also the story is based around the slave how he faced his problems and challenges.

2. What is the difference between the slave at the beginning and the end?

 At the beginning the slave was shown to be a fugitive on the run, looking and searching for freedom.  At the end he has overcome all his problems and seems more confident than at the start. This story shows the journey of the slave, the path he travels and the goals he has achieved.

3. What are the different goals and aims that the Slave has during the course of the story?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-      <!--[endif]-->Escape from the master

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-      <!--[endif]-->Seek shelter

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-      <!--[endif]-->Give up or get eaten by the lion

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-      <!--[endif]-->The slave wants to help the lion

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-      <!--[endif]-->Wants human company

<!--[if !supportLists]-->-      <!--[endif]-->He wants to survive when ring.

4. Does the story feel finished?

No, the story does not feel finished, as after the long journey and the troubles the slave had to endure. As a reader I want to know what happens after the slave gains his freedom.  

5. What is the story ‘about’? Have the characters learned anything?

Both the lion and slave have learnt about friendship, cruelty, kindness, humanity and beastliness. The slave taught the lion kindness and the lion then returned that kindness.

Subject matter - Heartbreak

In our group we came up with ideas for short film, as a group we decided to pick two of the subjects below to base our film on. We believe that these would be the best option  they are both good subjects to portray 'rite of passage'. The subject  that was chosen was heartbreak. At first we considered prom as well but decided against it.

Subject Matter - Heartbreak

Characters

'Without a character you have no action, without action there is no conflict, without conflict there is no story' - Syd Field


Characters are the main focus , without a character there is nothing and the narrative reveals round the character. 


What Makes a Good Character?

Next activity was to look at character development and why characters are important to a narrative.

Carnelle Scott

‘Carnelle Scott is young and beautiful and full of dreams and is feeling marooned in the Yazoo city, Mississippi. Her only way out is by winning the town’s beauty pageant on the Fourth of July. Carnelle Scott Successfully escapes from her home town by winning the beauty pageant’

1. Why would this ending not work?

This ending would not work as it is a fairytale ending and it is too predictable which makes it boring. This is because there is no character development and the story ends without having a moral.

 

Here are bullet points for an alternative ending for this story also the progression of the character Carnelle Scott and her back story.

-          The only way Carnelle can be happy is to win the pageant.

-          Her dad disagrees with beauty pageants as it reminds him to much of Carnelle’s mum who is dead. Also he does not want his daughter to become a sex symbol.

-          To pay for the pageants Carnelle takes multiple jobs behind her dad’s back and to do this she has to drop out of college.

-          Carnelle spoke to her godmother who used be in the pageants with her mother and the god mother agreed to help Carnelle with the pageant preparations.  And she gives Carnelle her mums winning dress.

-          Carnelle’s dad finds out and gets angry and gives the her the big speech and tells Carnelle that she is not going

-          The godmother and Carnelle go behind her father’s back and enter the pageant. Her dad finds out and follows them to the pageant where the godmother has a serious and deep conversation with him.

-          Carnelle comes runner up in the pageant, she doesn’t get the trip of a life time but she gets money to help towards the trip that she wants.

This story ending is much better to the first as it is not predictable, and you can see how the characters develop throughout.  

From this activity I have learnt how to progress on a story also how to do a character back story as the history of a character is important to the narrative.

Luna 

• Age: Ten years old
• Gender: Female
• Her Dad became a ice cream man after he re-married because his pervious wife that passed away and her favourite food was ice-cream
• Luna also has a love for ice cream
• Is isolated from friends after grievance
• Due to the period of loneliness before remarrying, Luna has a very close bond with her dad
• Luna accompanies her dad when he is working because she is hesitant to leave him alone, also because she likes ice cream just like her mum did
• The family came from a poorer background so felt isolated amongst other children because she couldn’t afford things (e.g. scooters)
• She is shy and timid and has no confidence, due to the nightmares she has every night which makes her very nervous and frightened when he comes

Different 'Rites Of Passages'

Below are example of a a few possible different 'rites of passages' 

'Rite Of Passage'

Short films

A short film is any film not but it is not as long as a feature film.  Professional actors and crews still choose to create short films as alternative form of expression.

Short filmmaking is growing in popularity as equipment becomes cheaper and more amateurs are making films. "Prosumer" or semi-professional cameras now cost under  £1,889, and free or low-cost software is widely available that is capable of video editing, post-production work and DVD authoring.

These are examples of  websites that show short films both low budget and high budget and idependant:

www.futureshorts.co.uk , www.thesmalls.com, www.pixar.com/shorts/ , www.independentshortfilms.org/, http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk/

Below is a short film from www.futureshorts.co.uk.