Tzvetan Todorov
Born 1939 France-Bulgarian Philosopher
wrote 22 books and visiting lecturer in Harvard.
5 Stages (in a simple explanation)
1.The Equilibrium
When everything is normal
2.The Disruption
Something happens
3.The Recognition
Realisation that there's a problem
4.The Repair
Take steps to correct the problem
5.The Restoration
Return to normality
During the the group activity we were given tasks to create a short 1 take 1 minute film using Todorov's theory.We actually made two because the first one was done in quite a low standard and the plot wasn't related to our film opening at all.
However,this is the first one.
The second video made is a short story line played by Jess,Guy and me where Jess(the one using her phone and laughing) are supposed to be a couple with Guy(the first guy).As soon as Jess started laughing on the she sees on the screen Guy started becoming over protective and gets mad at Jess for no reason.This idea links in with the idea of how relationships are sometimes complicated and the fact that Guy started hurting Jess because he was suspicious that Jess was talking to someone else ties with one of the factors we have in our film which is sexual abuse made by the protagonist.
The first action which was supposed to be the equilibrium where everything is normal was when both Guy and Jess were sitting on the sofa and playing their mobile phones.The disruption then starts when Jess started to laugh on something she saw on her phone.Guy then started to get mad at Jess and began to hurt her filling in the third stage as Recognition.Me myself then walks in to talk to Jess and actually made her feel better which the repair stage(4th).The last stage "The Restoration" then occurred where Jess came back to her normal mood and continues using her phone on the couch.
In addition,the scene where both Jess and Guy which are a couple in this case, use mobile phones rather than actually making a face to face conversation reflects and in someway represents pretty much today's society where people often don't see the real value of actually being together face to face as before.The definition of spending time with someone either if it's a family,couple or best friends had differ in some people's mind and to be honest this is something which can be commonly seen in everyday's life for instance, a group of friends sitting on the same table and all using mobile phones while waiting for their food.
Rather than filming the scene in one take and poorly showing each stages from Todorov's theory like the first video.We decided to simply try not moving the camera at all and shot everything in one setting which in this case actually helped us avoid the problems of shaky camera,characters being out of focus and people acting in the wrong timing sequence.Setting the camera and filming just from the same spot for the whole scene also helps us to try out new technique in filming which is found in some artistic films and old films where all actions are carried out in one place/setting and the camera is shot horizontally and straight to give the audience's the experience as if they are watching everything in a frame and be able to notice more detailed changes which occurred in the same setting of the scene.