Differences between Feature and Short films?

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When choosing my genre I am going to take into consideration the difference between a feature film and a short film. I feel that only certain genres work for a short film e.g. horror, adventure and teen short films as they don't need complex story lines and plots.

Narrative Structure

• The Conventional Narrative Structure follows the basic pattern in terms of constructing a story/plot. 
• The conventional structure is Tzetan Todorov's which can be used in all genres of film. It has a certain beginning, middle and end.
• Classical Hollywood narrative Structure:

1. Situation or exposition
2. Complication
3. Climax
4. Resolution

• A marker- is a media language which provides information to audiences quickly. It can provide information on:
• The Location of the text.(geographical marker)
• The time or era of the text.(historical marker
• The genre of text. (generic marker)
• Information on the characters.(character marker)
  
• Avant Garde/ Experimental Narrative films: some films do not follow the rules of IMR and the classical Hollywood narrative structures.
• Some films 'break the rules' of Hollywood cinema by changing the conventional camerawork, editing, sound and narrative structure/story.
• I don't like this style of film as I find it hard to understand the concept of the film and what they are trying to portray, e.g. the film 'Daisies' (Dir. Vera Chytilova,1966) I found pointless and risky as none of the scenes go together or flow.

Research Methods

There are 4 different types of research methods in media:
 Primary, Secondary, Qualitative and Quantitative.

PRIMARY RESEARCH:
Is information that you have started and gathered myself through questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, feedback and interviews. 
ADVANTAGES:
- you know that your information is correct and up to date
- you can find new information that nobody else knows.
- you can choose exactly what you want to research.

DISADVANTAGE:

- your information that you collected could be incorrect and unreliable.
EXAMPLES: 
- interviews, brainstorming, individual websites, questionnaires/surveys, focus groups, phone calls and emails.

SECONDARY RESEARCH: 

It is where you have collected existing information that has already been produced. You can research through newspapers, magazines, internet and company reports.

ADVANTAGES:

- you will get a very large amount of information.

- there is a large variaties of different sources for you to search from.

DISADVANTAGES:

- some of the information that you obtain maybe outdated or the information may be incorrect.

- if the information that you find in both sources are both different then you know that some information is unreliable.
EXAMPLES:

- magazines, TV, radio, apps, books, lectures, textual analysis, industry websites and newspapers.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:

It originated from social and behavioural sciences, it explores issues and answers and analyses all of them and is an unstructured research. This type of research happens in nearly every workplace nearly everyday. Usually survey a small number so they get the answers they want and makes it more precise.

QUANTITIVE RESEARCH:

- It is used to develop mathematics models and theories. It's about asking questions and is more structured so it produces exact facts at the end of the surveys, questionnaires and interviews. In this research method to get a more reliable result they survey people in large numbers. 

However I am not going to use Quantitive or Qualitative research as I think primary and secondary research would be the best types for information about short films. I am going to give some advantages and disadvantages of primary and secondary research that I may use to make my short film.
INTERNET: (secondary research)
Advantages- easy to access, there is a lot of choice in information and easy on the go.
Disadvantages- can't use without wifi, not always reliable and too much information to choose from.
SURVEYS/QUESTIONNAIRES: (primary research)
Advantages- find out peoples opinions, free research and can choose the questions.
Disadvantages- unreliable as its an opinion, include closed questions e.g. yes or no.
MAGAZINES: (secondary research)
Advantages- easy to get hold of, have a lot of different types of magazines, you can reuse them and locally found.
Disadvantages- hard to read and can be false.
FOCUS GROUPS: (primary research)
Advantages- specific target audience, ask questions which you have planned and ones on the spot and can get detailed answers.
Disadvantages- people can agree with each other and wouldn't get a range of opinions ad answers.

Overall, I am drawn to using primary and secondary research is it is the easier way to get suitable research for my short film. I will try use more of my own primary research but back it up with secondary research but I will look in to everything I get online as I want to make sure its accurate and reliable.

Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian literacy theorist, his theory states tat most plots/stories. There is a 5 step plan:

• 1.Equilibrium- the first part of the story shows a happy start and all the characters are equal and content. It is the balanced normality of the world of the story.
• 2.Disruption- the second part shows a problem occurring and disrupt the happiness.
• 3.Realisation- this part shows the characters realising what the problem is. It shows the unbalanced world between the problem and the climax.
• 4.Restored order- this part is where the characters attempt to repair the problem.
• 5.Equilibrium again- the final part of the plot is where the problem is resolved and everything goes back to normal. It is a return to normality at the end.
• Todorov structure of narrative is an example of a linear narrative story as there is a clear beginning, middle and end.

Which narrative structure between Propp and Todorov do you prefer?
I personally prefer Propp's theory as Todorov's structure is very restricted and predictable. But Propp's character theory can be used in mostly all types of genres and makes it easier to cast the roles for a film and make the audience understand easily.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp was a Russian literacy critic, he believed that there is a certain character which appears in every narrative structure especially fairy tales. He made names for the 7 different types of characters.

• hero
• villain
• dispatcher
• helper
• princess or prize
• donor
• hero
• false hero

Here is an example of Propp's characters in the film 'Star Wars'.

• The Hero - Luke Skywalker
• The Villain - Darth Vidor
• The Donor - Obi Wan
• The Helper - Obi Wan
• The Princess - Leia
• The Dispatcher - Obi Wan
• The Father - Leia

Narrative in Film

Define a 'story' and 'plot' and the differences between them:

• A story- is a series of events recorded in their chronological order.
• A plot- is a series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance.
• A story is in order whilst the plot is arranged for effect on the audience.

Define a 'narrative':

• A narrative-a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.
• Linear narrative- is the most conventional storyline, introduce characters at the start then story builds then an ending.
• Open narrative- has no sense of an ending therefore it could go on for ever. There can be more than one storyline and many more characters. E.g. Coronation Street.
• Closed narrative- has a few main role characters and have a hierarchy.
• Circular narrative- the story ends in the same place from where it started.

Modular Narrative in Contemporary Cinema by Allan Cameron. Cameron argues modular narratives 'articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation'. Allan Cameron has identified four different types of modular narrative in film.

• Anachronic-relating to or involving anachronism.
• Forking paths-
• episodic-containing or consisting of a series of separate parts or events.
• split screens-is also known as a composite shot. Movies, Television. a type of process photography in which two or more shots are juxtaposed and projected simultaneously on the screen.