2010-11 academic year

Audiovisual Narrative (20444)

Degree/study: Degree in Audiovisual Communication
Year: 3r.
Term: 1st
Number of ECTS credits: 5 credits
Hours of studi dedication: 125 hours
Teaching language or languages: catalan
Teaching Staff: Glòria Salvadó

1. Presentation of the subject

This subject is part of the general itinerary of Ideation and Script. It thoroughly studies the mechanisms and the narrative elements that take part in the construction of an
audiovisual story; it detects the different narrative trends throughout film history. The theory and practice sessions are aimed to achieve a double purpose: on the one hand,
students have to learn the capacity to analyse systems and production processes of audiovisual stories; and on the other hand, apply this theory knowledge in the process of
writing a script for a film.

2. Competences to be attained

General skills:

- Skills in collecting and interpreting relevant data (both within and outside the field of study) so as to be able to form conclusions that includes reflecting on significant social,
scientific or ethical subjects.
- Capacity for communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions in expert audiences as well as non expert ones.
- Capacity for applying knowledge and understanding, as well as skills to solve problems, in new or non familiar environments and in wide contexts (or multidisciplinary) related to
the audiovisual narrative. -Skills in integrating knowledge and confronting complexity, as
well as formulating judgments from incomplete or limited information, but that include reflections on social responsibilities and ethics in relation with the application of knowledge
and judgments.
-Capacity for communicating conclusions, knowledge and conceptual frameworks in which they are based on, in expert audiences as well as in non-expert ones, and in a clear way
and without ambiguities.

Specific skills:

- Capacity in discerning the history and evolution of photography, film, radio, television, through its aesthetic and industrial proposals.
- Social and cultural anthropology of audiovisual languages.
- Capacity for the analysis of audiovisual stories in a specific cultural and historical conditions.
- Capacity and skills in the use of techniques for the production of audiovisual scripts.

-Ability in the processes of production and analysis of audiovisual stories.

- Capacity for creativity and innovation.

-Capacity for the analysis of art pieces.

3. Contents

Unit 1: Introduction. Theory basis of the audiovisual narrative. History and speech. Narrative structure. Mimesis and diegesis. Film, theatre and literature. The story of a film and
the viewer.

Unit 2: The narrator. Narrator in the audiovisual praxis. Statute (typologies) of narrators. Different narrative models depending on the narrator's participation: from the classical
films to the contemporary films. Limitations and alterations of the narrator. Games and experiments in current films.

Unit 3: The point of view. To show and point of view. Perceptive, cognitive and epistemic point of view. Literature models and film models. Focalization: types of focalization;
charm and focalization. The distribution of knowledge. Emotion and distancing.

Unit 4: The narrative treatment of the space. The diegetic space. Pictorial, architectural and filmic space. The field and out of field; movement and absence of movement; unit
and fragmentation. Shooting space and setting space. Space articulation between two shots. The narrative use of the stage. The classical, modern and post-modern space
construction.

Unit 5: The narrative treatment of the time. Time of the story and time of the history. Order, frequency and length. Determination and achronology. Narrative rhythms. Time
and hermeneutics: narrative possibilities of time treatment in the audiovisual story. The creation of expectations: anticipatory strategies; delayed information. Suspense.

4. Assessment

a) Teamwork 60%

b) Exam. 35%

c) General attitude and class participation. 5%.

5. Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

BORDWELL, David. La narración en el cine de ficción. Barcelona: Paidós, 1996.

CHATMAN, Seymour. Historia y discurso. La estructura narrativa en la novela y en el cine. Madrid: Taurus, 1990.


GAUDREAULT, André.; JOST, François. El relato cinematográfico. Barcelona: Paidós, 1995.

GENETTE, Gérard. Figuras III. Barcelona: Lumen, 1989

5.2. Complementary bibliography

BAL, Mieke. Teoría narrativa: una introducción a la narratología. Madrid: Cátedra, 1990.

BOOTH, Wayne. C. La retórica de la ficción. Barcelona: Bosch, 1974.

BRANIGAN, Edward. Narrative comprehension and film. Londres: Routledge, 1992.

BRANIGAN, Edward. Point of view in the cinema. A theory of narration and subjectivity in classical film. Berlin/New York/Amsterdam: Mouton Publishers, 1984. 

CASETTI, Francesco. El film y su espectador. Madrid: Cátedra, Signo e Imagen, 1989.


GARCÍA, Jesús. Narrativa audiovisual. Madrid: Cátedra, 1993. 


GENETTE, Gérard. Nuevo discurso del relato. Madrid: Cátedra, 1998.

GUERIN, Marie-Anne. El relato cinematográfico. Barcelona: Paidós, 2004.

HUET, Anne. Le scénario. París: Cahiers du cinéma, Les Petits Cahiers, 2005.

JOST, François. L'Oeil-Cámera. Lió: Presses Unviersitaires de Lyon, 1987. 


MAGNY, Joël. Le Point de Vue. De la vision du cinéaste au regard du spectateur. París: Cahiers du Cinéma, Les Petits Cahiers, 2001. 


MARTIN, Marcel. El lenguaje del cine. Barcelona: Gedisa, 2002.


MASSON, Alain. Le récit au cinéma. París: Éditions de l'Etoile/Cahiers du Cinéma, 1994.

PÉREZ, Xavier. El suspens cinematogràfic. Barcelona: Pòrtic, 1999.


POUILLON, Jean. Temps et roman. París: Gallimard, 1946. 


VANOYE, Francis. Récit écrit, récit filmique. París: Nathan, 1989.


VANOYE, Francis. Guiones modelo y modelos de guión. Argumentos clásicos y modernos en el cine. Barcelona: Paidós Comunicación Cine, 1996.


VERNET, Marc. Figures de l'absence. De l'invisible au cinéma. París: Cahiers du Cinéma/ Éditions de l'Etoile, 1988.

ZUNZUNEGUI, Santos. Pensar la imagen. Madrid: Cátedra/Universidad del País Vasco, 1992.

5.3. Teaching resources

Film fragments

- Photocopies

- Moodle

6. Metodology

During the course the following learning methods will be combined:

- Master classes
- Practice seminars
- Group assignments
- Viewing of audiovisual films

7. Planning of activities

Week Class activity/ type of activity Out-of-class activity/ type of activity

Week 1 Unit 1 Group formation. First proposal for a film script project.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 2 Unit 1 Film script project development: synopsis and initial memory.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 3 Unit 2 Film script project development: second synopsis version and character
credits.

Film viewing and bibliography reading..

Week 4 Unit 2 Film script project development: first scenes and credit titles.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 5 Unit 3 Film script project development: Start treatment. Narrator's typology
proposal.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 6 Unit 3 Film script project development: Continue treatment. Point of view
proposal.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 7 Unit 4 Film script project development: Continue treatment.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 8 Unit 4 Film script project development: Continue treatment. Space construction
proposal.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 9 Unit 5 Film script project development: Continue treatment. Time construction
proposal.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.

Week 10 Unit 5 Film script project development: End treatment.

Film viewing and bibliography reading.