WORLD BUILDING
PRODUCTION DESIGN
FOR FILM, TELEVISION, THEATER, ARCHITECTURE AND THE ATTRACTION INDUSTRY
WEEK ONE
UNDERSTANDING THE NARRATIVE TRIAD
BACKSTORY - PARITY - PROTAGONIST - CHARISMA, MISSION'S ETHICS & NARRATIVE WORLD'S UNIQUENESS
To better understand the architecture of storytelling, we will use a mandala we refer to as the NARRATIVE TRIAD.
This approach ensures that the key storytelling functions of PROTAGONIST, MISSION & WORLD BUILDING are present and compliant. The goal the storyteller attempts to achieve is audience immersion, which leads to suspension of disbelief. Any discord or contradictions present in the triad will result in a loss of audience immersion.
NARRATIVE WORLD BUILDING - To achieve narrative parity and eliminate discord, the designer creates a narrative world in which the Protagonist and the story's Mission are well served and complementary. We look to the narrative environment (world) as a keyway and tumbler that requires that the protagonist and mission fit comfortably, and when inserted and turned, unlock audience immersion. Critical to a successful key/keyway construct is that the narrative world be intriguing, UNIQUE, and dramatically compelling for fusion to take hold.
THE PROTAGONIST / ANTAGONIST - In many cases, a compelling hero needs a strong villain to overcome. Alternatively, if the hero is villainous (antagonist), a protagonist must serve as a foil. The key to protagonist/antagonist success is CHARISMA. We strive to have a hero we love and a villain we dislike with passion.
THE MISSION – What does our hero-villain need most of all? Our hero/villain needs a mission rooted in a code of conduct driven by ethics accepted by the target audience.
In our Film of the Week, THE RED OCTOBER, we will point to how a mission to abduct a Russian submarine by a protagonist captain of high charisma takes place aboard a unique world underwater in a nuclear submarine.