Fictional film, fiction film or narrative film is a film
that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. In this
style of film, believable narratives and characters help convince the audience
that the unfolding fiction is real. Lighting and camera movement, among other
cinematic elements, have become increasingly important in these films. Great
detail goes into the screenplays of narratives, as these films rarely deviate
from the predetermined behaviours and lines of the classical style of
screenplay writing to maintain a sense of realism. Actors must deliver dialogue
and action in a believable way, so as to persuade the audience that the film is
real life.
Probably the first fictional film ever made was the
Lumière's L'Arroseur arrosé, which was first screened at the Grand Café
Capucines on December 28, 1895. A year later in 1896, Alice Guy-Blaché directed
the fictional film La fee aux choux. Yet perhaps the best known of early
fictional films is Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon from 1902. Most films
previous to this had been merely moving images of everyday occurrences, such as
L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Méliès
was one of the first directors to progress cinematic technology, which paved
the way for narratives as style of film. Narrative films have come so far since
their introduction that film genres such as comedy or Western films, were, and
continue to be introduced as a way to further categorize these films.
Narrative cinema is usually contrasted to films that
present information, such as a nature documentary, as well as to some
experimental films (works such as Wavelength by Michael Snow, Man with a Movie
Camera by Dziga Vertov, or films by Chantal Akerman). In some instances pure
documentary films, while nonfiction, may nonetheless recount a story. As genres
evolve, from fiction film and documentary a hybrid one emerged, docufiction.
Many films are based on real occurrences, however these
too fall under the category of a “narrative film” rather than a documentary.
This is because films based on real occurrences are not simply footage of the
occurrence, but rather hired actors portraying an adjusted, often more
dramatic, retelling of the occurrence (such as 21 by Robert Luketic).
Unlike literary fiction, which is typically based on
characters, situations and events that are entirely
imaginary/fictional/hypothetical, cinema always has a real referent, called the
"pro-filmic", which encompasses everything existing and done in front
of the camera.
Since the emergence of classical Hollywood style in the
early 20th century, during which films were selected to be made based on the
popularity of the genre, stars, producers, and directors involved, narrative,
usually in the form of the feature film, has held dominance in commercial
cinema and has become popularly synonymous with "the movies."
Classical, invisible filmmaking (what is often called realist fiction) is
central to this popular definition. This key element of this invisible filmmaking
lies in continuity editing.
The epic trilogy The Human Condition is 9 hours, 47
minutes long, not including intermissions – the longest fiction film ever made.
Narrative filmmaking
refers to the types of movies that tell a story. These are the films most
widely screened in theatres, broadcast on TV, streamed in the internet, and
sold as DVDs and Blu-rays. Though fictional
filmmaking is another
term for narrative cinema, the word “fictional” doesn’t imply that such movies
are purely based on fictive events. In some cases, veracity and creation blend
together.
One of the storylines in James Cameron’s Titanic, for instance,
pertains the steamship RMS Titanic that struck an iceberg in her maiden voyage
and sunk soon afterwards – a real, greatly documented incident that happened on
April 14, 1912. However, the romance between Rose and Jack, another prominent
storyline in the movie, is a product of Cameron’s imagination, just like both
characters.
The terms “fictional cinema” and “narrative cinema” carry
the understanding that the filmmaker has the freedom to create storylines and
alter historical facts as he or she sees fit. This freedom allows the director
to shape the movie and perfect the story. One of the many reasons why Titanic broke a box office record was because
the audience could identify with Jack and Rose and root for them.
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