Chapter 2 of Essentials of Visual Communication Bergstrom 1 PDF

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But will the audience really be captivated? Isn't it often the case that some seats in the theatre end up empty after the interval? Well, yes, but the opposite is also true. The secret is the art of storytelling, or dramaturgy, which teaches how to get everyone to listen all the way to the end of the story.

EXPECTATION The dramatic set-up creates expectation of how things will progress. Every story has its codes, i.e., recognizable signs. After a dramatic set-up, the audience expects a drama, and after a humorous opening, a comedy. There is a preconception of the play or film's message. And there is great scope to influence a receptive audience. In Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's film Lilja 4-ever, a confused girl runs around an overcast, concrete housing estate. She appears to be being chased and looks battered and bruised. She approaches the railings of a bridge over the motorway and

BELOW I At the beginning of Lukas Moodysson's film, Ulja 4-ever (2002). a young girt is seen going up to the railings of a bridge across a busy motorway.

ABOVE I The bandits silhouetted on the horizon as they approach the defenceless village, in the opening sequence of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1g54).

'We'll take this place next.' The opening sequence of the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai plunges the audience straight into the dramatic action. After only a few seconds, we see a marauding gang of bandits about to plunder an idyllic small village.

This introduction, or set-up as dramatists call it, is deeply involving, as a dramatic conflict quickly unfolds: strong against weak, evil against good. Such conflicts lie at the heart of a captivating, dramatic story, and the deeper the conflict, the stronger the audience's identification with the characters is likely to be. We feel a part of the action when we can relate it to our personal experiences. We have all felt threatened to some degree in charged situations. It is the set-up that kick-starts the story, and it is the story that is the best way of arousing emotions, and of conveying information and messages . The human brain welcomes a wellstructured story, but it is likely to reject a dry, fact-packed report, or a banal detective series on the television that fails to grip the viewer's imagination.

But what is a story? Dramaturges - specialists in dramatic composition - define it as a narrative of integrated events, which involves people, their actions and their struggles. Can we live without stories? Probably not. Rather than 'give me bread', the first thing human beings ever said may well have been 'tell me a story' . Some people have a particular gift for storytelling, others don't. And why is this? Is it about natural talent? Self-confidence? No, it's knowledge. ｬｾｏｌｅ＠

MODELS

We media consumers increasingly search for context and relevance in the splintered world of visual media, where many of us may not feel entirely at home. Actual storytelling, the ability to narrate events and the skill to find the right structure, is therefore crucial for getting through to people. And anyone who can tell a story becomes a role model - it's as simple as that. There are many role models to look to, from Aristotle to Sergei Eisenstein and Quentin Tarantino. We get to know them at the theatre, in the cinema, when watching television, and of course in art galleries and books. Anyone working with text, pictures and graphic design has a wealth of material to draw on.

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goes up to the railings ... What has happened? And what is going to happen?

CHANGE The set-up also heralds change, on two levels in fact: in the actual story and in the audience's consciousness. The characters in the story face conflict and choices that will change them. Someone will become a victor, someone a loser. A good story mustn't stand still - the audience must always be asking itself what's coming next. At the same time, the viewer also faces a change. We will never be the same after sharing a story, since the feelings generated change us to some extent, as with stories from a concentration camp, or epoch-making art exhibitions. The audience shifts from uninvolved to involved, from ignorance to knowledge. The goal of moving and changing their audience unites the dramatist, the dramaturge and the filmmaker with all those who work with text and with images to convey news and commercial

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messages. Such storytellers also share the difficulty that people do not always want to change. Change scares many people, but a set-up that quickly establishes itself as serious and credible will create interest and sympathy among the audience, who w ill decide to stay with the story to the end . And this makes them receptive to change.

Close-up Camera angle A slight worm's eye view Lighting Soft side light ing Editing A long scene with two cuts

ST(mYT ELLING COMPONENTS All stories operate on two levels - these are the action level and the narrative level. The action level (the formal system) describes what happens and the narrative level (the stylistic system) how it happens. The storyteller combines these two elements by drawing on various narrative components, not unlike a composer or conductor making use of the various instruments in a large orchestra. If, like a skilled conductor, the storyteller can create maximum unity by sometimes only using some of them, and then adding several, or possibly all, of the components, he or she can get the audience hooked.

What and how th e audience hears Sound Just a clock ticking Music Strings with low bass notes Dialogue 'What was it you wanted? ' asks the man

THl,EE ST(mYTELLING TECHNIOUES A story can be told in any number of ways - there are as many stories as there are storytellers - but three main divisions can be seen.

The example below illustrates this approach. What the audience sees Person A grey-haired man Clothing Grey suit, white shirt, blue tie Setting An office Props Rings on his finger, a watch and cuff links Time Afternoon How the audience sees Picture composition The man is centred in the picture, and looks right into the camera Cropping

BELOW I A skilled storyteller can employ the components of storytelling like the conductor varies the use of the different instruments in a large orchestra.

ABOVE I Dramatic storytelling is a closed environment - rather like a goldfish bowl. Non-dramatic storytelling is more open the wide oceans, inhabited by whales.

The dramatic storytell ing techniq ue This is closed, with little room for interpretation, and is based on strong identification on the part of the audience, who are almost completely absorbed in the action. Conflict, or a balance which has shifted out of equilibrium, lies at the core of the technique. The non-dramatic t echnique This is an open technique, with plenty of scope for interpretation, and is based on significant participation and interaction from the audience, who almost have to knit together the story themselves. Personal reflections and values become building blocks. The interactive technique This occupies a kind of middle ground between the two previous techniques, and draws in the online audience. The storytelling technique is both open and closed , allowing deep interaction and involvement on the part of the audience.

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The rules of dramatic storytelling were set out way back in history. According to Aristotle a drama must have a beginning, a middle and an end. It should also be constructed according to a unity of time, place and action, i.e., the action must play out in real time and in a space bound by the limits of the stage. The various elements of the story must be intertwined, creat ing a unified plot. At the same time, variation and turning points must vitalize and create interest in the characters and their thoughts, drawing the audience further into the story. The melodrama To take a huge leap forward in history, nineteenth-century Paris saw the growth of a form of theatre that would come to have a major impact on the development of storytelling. Melodrama was (and is) full of exaggerated gestures, spectacular effects, moments of horror, tension and, above all, conflict, preferably in sharp contrasts such as good versus evil, beauty versus ugliness. Dramatists held nothing back, with extreme events such as characters being buried alive, or tied to railway tracks, and bombs being disarmed at the last second, and they attracted huge audiences.

Film really found its voice in melodrama (which, unfairly, has a rather poor reputation). Alfred Hitchcock, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Steven Spielberg are good examples of purveyors of dramatic storytelling, and their work covers everything from social-realist drama to thrillers. Eisenstein In the early twentieth century, the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein recognized the importance of conflict, contrast and struggle for storytelling. Anyone working in a news studio, an advertising agency or as a graphic designer can learn a great deal from his work. He was inspired by Japanese ideograms in which, for example, the symbol for 'eye' and the symbol for 'water' combine to take on the meaning 'weep'. Two apparently disparate images create a third, new image. And so was born the famous Eisenstein montage, which involves cutting together sequences with changing content and camera positions to create a dramatic, captivating rhythm. The classic montage appears in Battleship Potemkin, with innumerable collisions between close shots and long shots of the attacking military and the civilians under fire. The montage has an enormous power, which continues to entrance generation after generation.

ABOVE I Sergei Eisenstein used his classic montage technique in Battleship Potemkin in 1925, and this approach is still to be found everywhere in contemporary media.

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In order to hold the audience spellbound, the director has to introduce a basic conflict, with the lead role placed in the position o f the underdog. The human psyche is such that we almost always side with the underdog (the protagonist) and can identify with the situation, as with the farmers in Seven Samurai. Against this protagonist, we have a character in a threatening position of superiority (the antagonist) to set the narrative in motion. The bandits in Kurosawa's film fulfil this function, and without them there would be no film worth watching . Now it's time to leave the samurai and focus on a contemporary story:

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A confused girl runs around an overcast concrete housing estate.

The girl is called Lilja. The audience gets to know her through her actions, reactions, appearance and clothing. A confused girl runs around an overcast concrete housing estate. She appears to be being chased, looks battered and bruised and is far too underdressed for the weather. The set-up The start of the dramaturgic curve, this lets the audience in on the conflict. It creates a forward momentum that draws us in, compelling us to follow the course of events. Lilja approaches the edge of a bridge over the motorway. She goes up to the railings. The presentation and exposition Presentation and exposition follow, describing the relationships between the different people and characters (the curve dips

LEFT I The dramaturgic curve.

Tension

ABOVE I The contrasting parts of Lilja 4-ever prov ide a forward momentum, leading the audience towards the tragic, d ramatic, yet expected ending .

Forward momentum

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downwards). Flashback to a happy Lilja: the family are planning a trip and looking forward to a new life fu ll of promise. ABOVE & LEFT I 1V cameras roll, allowing viewers in millions of living rooms to see reports - often edited using montage techniques - on defen celess people

(protagonists), w ho are being persecuted by military forces (antagonists).

The rising conflict The drama is gradually ratcheted up (the curve swings upwards again) as the conflict continues to grow. At the last minute, her mother announces that Lilja will not be going with her to the Land of the Free. Her mother (antagonist) writes from abroad, renouncing her parental responsibilities. Lilja can't survive for long and starts taking on clients (antagonists), while also being subject to abuse. A pimp (antagonist) then lures her away to an unfamiliar town in a far-off country, where she is shut up in a suburban apartment as a sex slave. The conflict resolution This contains the climax of the film, which the audience has been waiting for. Lilja sees jumping from the bridge onto the busy motorway as her only way out.

The fade out The film concludes gently. Lilja and her old friend from the original concrete estate are playing basketball in slow motion, wearing angel's wings.

CLOSED SYSTEM The dramaturgic curve is a closed storytelling system, which , in an illusory way, ensures that the audience will interpret the story as the director intended. There must be no scope for departures in interpretation. Obstacles A useful way of creating both identification and forward momentum is to weave an obstacle into the action. When someone faces a difficulty, the interest of the audience increases considerably: wi ll the character get through this difficult situation? A man who is fleeing from thieves and bandits keeps trying to start his car, only for the engine to misfire over and over again, until the battery finally dies.

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Triangle Emotionally charged identification on the part of the audience is created by encouraging sympathy with a person in a difficult situation. The character comes into clear focus through the desperate action. A confused young man tries to shut out the ever-present ringing in his ears with pillows and thick rope. In his heart, he knows that the situation is hopeless. He seems to be screaming inaudibly, 'Can 't anyone help me?' Many dramatists suggest that most human relationships can be reduced to a dramatic triangle, which is why plays and films are often built around a triangular drama. It has also been shown that action, and above all dialogue, becomes monotonous with only two parties ·involved. There needs to be a third party in order for there to be real tension: a hero.

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Someone is threatened by a persecutor and becomes a victim, desperately seeking someone to come to the rescue. The threatened farmers in Kurosawa's film hire seven samurai, who are paid to help and save them from the attacking bandits. So, not one hero, but seven.

Persecutor

Who is the hero, the rescuer in Lilja 4-ever? Tragically, it would appear to be death, as jumping from the bridge was her only way out. Or are we, the audience, the great saviours? By absorbing the message of the film and passing it on through discussion and taking a public stand, we can help to combat trafficking and the all-too-common sexual exploitation of poor, young - often kid napped - women. The dramatic triangle constantly crops up in visual communi cation. A TV channel shouts out an ambiguous headline - 'Time for a crackdown' - alongside pictures of a teenage gang standing in a street corner in a suburb of a big city. At first they are only a few but their numbers grow, making them seem a terrifying power in the dark night, with their faces partly hidden behind hoods and a perceived threat from a knife 's blade. These teenagers, hanging round estates with little to do, are the persecutors, vandalizing shops and cars and making citizens the victims. The rescuers are the police, who are to put their resources into trying to prevent the crimes. The authorities are also rescuers, who must try and find the underlying reasons (poverty, segregation, etc.) for this behaviour. The journalists behind the feature try to rouse public opinion and explore the full story, looking at changes in society.

Rescuer

Victim Dramatic t riangle

BELOW LEFT I The victim is a young man and the persecutor is tinnitus. The rescuer is a medical organization hoping to control the disease through research.

BELOW/ In this advert, poverty and addiction are the persecutors, and children growing up in desperate situations are the victims, with the charity (hopefully) as the rescuer.

ABOVE I Teenagers (persecutors) are seen as a th reat to society (victim) - debate in the media can ensure parents and authonties (rescuers) take responsibility.

RIGHT I Miserable summer weather persecutes us, but an air1ine, w ith its seductive adverts, promises to rescue us.

Cold and wet summer weather 'persecutes' holidaymakers, who feel like caravan-bound victims. The last-minute package deal becomes their 'rescuer'. The rescuer takes us from fear to hope, from anxiety to safety, and presents an alternative plan of action, and thus gets us to act - whether this involves arguing against outlaws or booking a welldeserved trip abroad . Problems and obstacles are there to be overcome, even for the young man with the pillows and rope . He is a victim of tinnitus, a constant buzzing in his head, present every second of every hour of every day of every year, perhaps for the rest of his life. Other sufferers and their close family feel a responsibility and decide to do something positive. The rescuer is a national association for hearing impairment - their research may prove decisive in getting the noise to stop.

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What's going t o happen? It is important that the victim is not in an utterly hopeless situation. Any conflict or struggle cannot be insurmountable. There must be at least a 0.1 per cent chance of the lead character coming out on top. The young man in fact seems to have the power to stand up against his persecutor, in the form of his illness, because there is strength, albeit born of desperation, in his muscles and actions. This strength gets the audience intensely interested in how the drama will unfold, creating that all-important forward momentum . Despite everything, there is a way out.

FIND THE ST1\IHING POINT Aristotle stated that the story must have a beginning, middle and end, but why tell a story in rigid chronological order? A television series about the history of football doesn't have to start with tales from nineteenth-century English boarding schools. Why not start in a dark alley of a deprived suburb in a French city, where a small boy learns the finer points of the game by determinedly kicking a poorly inflated ball against a brick wall? The ball seems to love his feet and soon the whole world loves him. The structure of this book is an example of the same thing. This first chapter is not about strategy and planning, but about storytelling, which is vital for visual communication, and hopefully creates an enticing set-up for the book. ｄｬｾＱ｜ｍａｔｉｃ＠ POINT Dramatization involves creating a limited space, which is naturally not identical to reality but a reinterpretation and distillation of it. In this space, relationships, conflicts and causal c...