Film Structure

Tzvetan Todorov studied the basic narrative of films and his theory was that they followed the structure: Equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption and the equilibrium again.
I will be analysing the structure of my trailer and also The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones.

My trailer begins with the recognition that there is a disturbance as there is a girl talking about how something is wrong with her boyfriend. It starts with the recognition as it goes back to show and explain what has led to that. It then shows the equilibrium as the girl goes out with her boyfriend in the car and everything seems normal. As she gets in the car with him, there is then a shot of them talking, this is the repair as she is meant to be asking what it wrong. The disruption is then showed as we see that the boy begins to act differently and violently towards others. It would normally end in another equilibrium, however, as this is a trailer it would give the end away so it ends in the disruption. This is a restricted narrative as it doesn't give anything away.

The Mortal Instruments uses the basic narrative structure as it begins with the equilibrium of everything being normal as Clary seems to be a normal teenager. The disruption then happens as she begins to draw and see a certain symbol, she then thinks she sees a murder and is being followed by the murderer. The recognition is that she realises that the so called murderer is a Shadow Hunter, this is someone who kills demons, she finds that her mother was also part of that world and that is why she can see them when no one else can. The repairing of the disruption is that she then needs to help them find a cup which other people are also looking for. Clary finds the cup and then the disruption occurs again as she finds out her father is the other person looking for it, however he wants it for the wrong reasons. He then lies to Clary and tells her that her love interest, Jace, is also his son. Although Clary and Jace end up with the cup, there is no real equilibrium to the film as there will be a sequel.