Class Exercise – Narrative Structure of PB3

1. What is the ‘controlling idea’ (Robert McKee) of your portrait? In other words, what is the most interesting thing about your participant/interviewee that you want to communicate?

  • Nic’s (interviewee) experience as a volunteer in San Francisco at a homeless shelter.

2.  How is your portrait film structured?  (Remember there might be multiple forms of structure employed)  E.g. Discussion and depiction of an event or process? A Journey? Use of voiceover narration? Other?

  • sound: hearing Nic’s voice as he recounts, provides an intimate view of his compassionate personality
  • visuals: coloured moving snippets of Nic’s professional self accompanied with black-and-white photos faces of homeless which depict his inner monologue
  • sounds and visuals are not in tandem but compliment each other

3. What do you want your audience to make of your interviewee? (e.g. What are you saying through them and/or human nature, human folly, or noble human inspiration?)

  • to view Nic as an all-rounder; professional and compassionate

4. How is your portrait being narrated? Why? How does it affect the structure?

  • inspired by structure of Music Videos; how music and video may not be directly related (also working with constraint: subject doesn’t want his face shown)
  • subject has described location in relative detail. the lack of an accompanying image of the location allows audience to engage their imagination.

5. What role will the ‘found footage’ play in your portrait? For example, reinforcement? Ironic counterpoint? Contrast? Comparison? Other?

  • found photos of (black and white) homeless faces depicts character’s inner and private narrative, juxtaposed to coloured footage of his movements at work that does not show faces
  • viewers get to see Nic as a multi-dimensional character

6. Does your portrait have a dramatic turning point?

No

7. When does this turning point in your portrait and why? At the beginning? At the end? Two-thirds through?

N.A.

8. How does your portrait gather and maintain momentum?

  • portrait is generally descriptive so like a storybook, the longer you follow, the more information you receive
  • subject’s engaging tone of voice accompanied with sound effects and stills give audience more clues
  • viewers may wonder if subject’s face will ever be revealed

9. Where will your portrait’s dramatic tension come from? The gradual exposition of an overall situation? A volcanic, climactic moment? An impending change or crisis? The contrast between what the interviewee talks about and the found footage?

  • some information is deliberately hidden (e.g. absence of subject’s face and image of exact location in story) to 1) engage audience’s imagination 2) add mystery 3) allow audience to question
  • difference in time: Subject’s recount of the past contrasts with video depicting present working life
  • parallel narrative: videos portray physical narrative while the still images compliment subject’s recount and portray an inner monologue

10. Does the portrait have a climax and/or resolution? Outline them.

N.A.

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