2. Task (1) Propp
Vladimir Propp was a Russian
Scholar who developed a theory
that identified basic characters in
each story. He went through
hundreds of Folktales and found
only 8 characters that were in each
of them. They came from 31 plot
elements which became known as
Propp’s Functions.
3.
The Hero represents Jack
which is due to the fact that
he is as Propp said looking for
something and has a goal. In
this story it is to get inside the
giants house and again run
away with something as also
mentioned by Propp. Jack can
be identified as the Hero in the
narrative as it is made clear
the reader wants Jack to
Succeed and is portrayed as
the ‘Good guy’. This is because
he is the main character in the
narrative and is the one who
has been given the quest, also
it is seen in the narrative that
he is heroic when called upon.
4. The Villain in this particular
novel or the ‘Bad Guy’ is
represented as the Giant.
This becomes clear as he is
seen chasing Jack and the
way the story is told, the
character is portrayed to eat
Children, this only makes the
reader support the Hero more
and start to feel anger
towards the giant. The
manner in how the woman
told jack to avoid him has
only made the giant look
more evil and sets the story
for Jack to become a hero
and be brave enough to take
him on.
5. In this narrative the Prize is one of
two things, this may be the Guitar
stolen as the physical aspect however
the prize could be the long term effect
of the family getting their Dog back
and becoming wealthy. It is clear the
prize may well be the guitar as this is
what is stolen from the Giant and he
wants it back, therefore chases Jack
down the beanstalk.
The Donor is the person who gives
the Hero something special. In this
narrative this person is considered to
be the Old man who gave the Magic
Beans to Jack in return for the Dog.
This is because it allowed the Hero to
complete his quest of becoming
wealthy and without the beanstalk
this would not have happened
6. The Dispatcher is seen as the Mother of Jack in
the novel as she tells jack to go to the market
and it is where he meets the Old man with the
Beans. Even though she was disapproving this
still lead to the Quest being made and from her
throwing the beans in the garden created the
beanstalk overnight.
The Mother of Jack is also seen as the
Princesses Father as this is where the quest is
set ready for the Hero to take part in that
certain goal. She has created the quest of the
beanstalk and now up to the hero to take part in
it.
7. The Helper In this story it is to
be seen as the Wife of the Giant.
This is due to her Warning Jack of
the Giant and what he is capable
of as well as telling him where to
hide when he was inside the
giant’s house. The helper offers
guidance for the hero on the
quest and help when called upon.
The False Hero in the novel is the
Dog of the family as he the main
source of income and down to him
why the quest took place. Jack
also stole the Guitar and started
earning money so he could buy the
dog back. The false hero can be
seen to be taking away the lime
light from the hero.
8. Propp’s Functions
Propp’s Functions used in my own narrative are that of Interdiction where someone
is warned. The Hero (Jack) is warned by the Helper (The Giants Wife) to stay away
from the Giant, as he will eat him.
Another Function is that of the Violation of Interdiction and where The Hero
ignores the warning and goes ahead with what they want to do (in this narrative
going into the House of the Giant) Villainy or Lack is then seen as a need is
identified. Here this function is seen as Jack wanting to climb the Beanstalk and see
whom the man was. Mediation the next function of realising what the Lack (Need) is
which here is the Guitar of the giants after he was hiding.
The next function of Propp’s that is similar to my own is that of the Departure where
Jack sets off on the quest, this is where he starts to go back up the beanstalk and to
find out who the man looking out of the window was. The next function that is
identified is that of The First Function of the Donor and where the Hero is
challenged to prove heroic qualities and in this case where Jack is to run away from
the Huge Giant back down the beanstalk.
This leads onto the next function of Hero’s reaction and how he responds to the
challenge. In this Narrative Jack is seen as the hero because of the heroic act in
chopping down the beanstalk and killing the Bad guy. Thus meaning another function
is covered which is Victory and that the Villain is defeated.
In the Narrative after Jack starts to leave the giants house, this covers many of
Propps’s functions such as Return, where the hero sets off back, and the
pursuit, where the Hero is chased and here in this narrative Jack chased by the
Villain. Also the Rescue is covered where the pursuit ends, this is where Jack cuts
down the beanstalk and the giant dies. This all leads to the last similarity between
Propp’s functions and this Narrative as the Solution is discovered. This is where the
Task is resolved and done by Jack being able to afford to buy his dog back and
becoming wealthy.
9. Todorov
Todorov was a Russian structuralist that believed all story's followed the same path,
the 3 path version.
Equilibrium- this is where everything in the Narrative is normal and as expected. In
this Narrative this is seen right at the start of the story when the family is happy and
their dog is winning competitions.
Disequilibrium- something goes wrong in the story and the rest that happens is
because of that certain moment. This strikes a similarity with the Narrative in
question of Jack and the beanstalk. In this narrative the Dog has a major role in
disturbing the equilibrium and as him hurting himself puts the Hero (Jack) in the
Position to sell him for Magic Beans and Beginning the quest.
New Equilibrium- this is also found in the story as the conclusion is seen as
completely different to the start and that the family have become wealthy due to the
fact that Jack completed the quest.
Binary opposites
This is seen as where two opposites conflict and is believed without this the story
cannot be a good folktale. Examples of opposites that occur are Good vs. evil, Black
vs. White, Women Vs. men and Tall vs. small. There are many however the ones that
strike similarity in this narrative are Good vs. Evil like many folktales, where conflict
occurs between Jack and the Giant. This is because Jack is seen as the Good guy
even though he does steal the giant’s property and the Evil of the story is the Giant
as he is made to be a killer and to hate children. Without these conflicts the Todorov
believed would not create a good narrative.
10. Task (2)
The narrative of Jack and the Beanstalk is a linear as it
starts from the beginning and goes in order until the end.
If the Graphic narrative chosen was to be a Non-Linear it
would have to include examples such as flashbacks as it
would not be in order and told in another way to a linear
narrative. This is a linear as it is a common Folktale that
is split into sections of setting the story, a clash between
the hero and villain and then a happy ending. This is
seen in this story from Jack getting the quest, taking on
the giant, killing him and getting the reward which here
is the dog returning to the family.
The story is a closed narrative as there is an ending, in
this case where Jack can afford to buy back his dog that
he sold. Should the story not have an ending and be left
on a cliff-hanger then it would be an open narrative.
This narrative is a single strand, meaning that there is
only one storyline happening that of Jack and the quest
up the beanstalk. Should there be many storylines
happening and many quests then it would have multiple
strands however this is a common folktale that only has
the one as they were originally made for young children
to be easy to follow.
Jack and the Beanstalk is an anti-realist narrative as this
does not reflect real life and could not possibly be recreated. This is because of the house at the top of the
beanstalk and the huge giant aspect of the narrative.
This has a fantasy type genre and impossible to see in
real life. If the story was to be life like and containing
characters that are seen to be real then it would make
the narrative a realist one.
11. Task (3)
Image construction: I think that overall I have
constructed my images well as it is clear to see that a
lot of effort has been behind making the image from a
simplistic photograph to a professional image ready to
go onto a graphic novel. I particularly liked the way in
which the colours stand out after the effects on
Photoshop have been made, they really bring out the
picture and makes the character stand out. On the
second image the difference in the shades of colour
from the first is huge. You can see that the Black coat
contrasts with the many types of greens that are seen
in the background. The texture of the images
becomes clear as the many layers are made more
visible. Using the filter gallery to adjust the layers was
a very good way in making the image look cartoony
however still keeping some of that real life style.
12. This was the first stage of the image construction; this was taken
by a camera and the first process of capturing the characters in
order to develop at a later date. This was done by going to a
location where there was a tree similar to that of a beanstalk as
well as making sure the emotion was coming through the
characters face. In this picture it was seen as the giant and him
being angry at the hero Jack.
This was the next stage in developing the images for the graphic
narrative. This was created in Adobe Photoshop and using the
filter gallery to create the almost cartoony effect. In filter gallery I
chose the style ‘Cut-out’ and this is where the colours are made
to look less life like. After reducing the simplicity and adding the
number of layers the picture started to look more professional
meaning it was almost ready to start to put it in the final stage of
construction.
The last stage before having the image ready for the graphic
narrative was to develop the facial features and put the image
back to some sort of person. Using Photoshop, the Polygonal
lasso tool was very helpful in creating the detail towards the
face. This now would be the end of the image construction and
ready to add speech bubbles and text to the character.
13.
Anchorage: The way the images combine with
the text is a subtle yet effective way as it is clear
to see that the text being said is happening in
the image and the way they both are you could
almost look at the image and know what is being
said in the text. For example this image below is
perfect in showing how one piece of image and
text can flow to the other and thus meaning
easier to look at for the reader. You can see from
this where it says Jack started to come down the
beanstalk and takes the axe. The images go
together well and adding the speech bubbles and
thought bubbles only increase the detail to the
work.
14.
Signification: Signs and meanings for certain actions can be
seen as representing something. For example Jack coming
down the Beanstalk and taking the axe to chop it down
could be seen as bravery and that good always defeats bad.
If there was to be a certain code for relation to other
narratives it would have to be that the giant is dressed in
black. The colour black suggesting that he is hidden from
the world and a bit mysterious. This code would mean that
the reader psychologically knows that the bad guy is the
giant as he is dressed in black, without reading the text.
The mother being dressed in blue is significant as the
colour blue can be seen as honest and caring. The colour
green is used frequently in the novel as it is trying to
suggest growth such as the beanstalks rapid increase in
size as well as self reliance which in this story applies to
Jack and his quest escaping the giant. The reason Jack is
dressed in brown for the end image holding guitar is to
show protection and security. This is because he became
wealthy and could provide money for his mother. The
variety of brown and yellows on the old man who gave Jack
the beans suggests optimism and intellect.
15.
Representation: The work represents different groups
as it makes it clear that Young is against old however
the twist to the modern story here is that Nation is
against nation and in this narrative it makes a clever
point of how England and Scotland have a rivalry and
that should it establish a rivalry again against the two
sides it will again become easier for the reader to
know who the good guy is and who the bad guy is.
They are shown indifferently as the Hero Jack may be
seen as England defeating Scotland again however
the narrative was not made to offend Scotland by
having the bad guy as the giant, only to show the
rivalry between two sides. So the narrative may be
seen as a negative light towards one side however the
way the story is told it distinguishes the difference
between the two sides and the different cultures.
16.
Historical and cultural content: The
novel made compared to other
existing work out there completely
stands out as no other book has
established the modern twist nor
have used their own photographs.
Instead illustrations have been
made Another difference is that
most other content out there has
been made for a younger audience
and this novel made can be viewed
by older children. Many Graphic
Novels have been made such as the
picture on the right however there
are no results on photo-edited
ones. The novel here is targeted at
a demographic of children and the
Photoshoped version made is for an
older generation.
17.
Production Process: Overall the work that has been produced
during the production process has been very good, this is
because not only has the work included the aspects that were
asked for, a lot more content has been included than
needed, this would mean that the detail towards this project
has been very precise. Having asked for 4 pages if a Graphic
Narrative was to be made, Making 8 detailed pages telling the
story of Jack and the Beanstalk has more than enough
covered what was in the specification. The way how the
technology went has determined the amount of work
produced. Using Photoshop to develop the images went well
as the images started to look a lot more professional due to
the more layers being made. As the first few images went
good in the experimental stage it was looked at as a good
idea to tell the story in this way and over a lot more pages.
The narrative is seen as very creative as there is many
aspects put together to make one page look good. The
images and text are important but more so the composition
and how they are to be laid out. The way the test panels
were created helped a lot in the production process as I could
determine what shape the images had to be.
18.
For example the layout of this image clearly shows that the size of the images was
thought about before taking them and that how they would work alongside other
images. Here on the right hand side has a lot of room for the image of the Beanstalk
whereas the window is relatively small. The creativity can be seen through predicting
what the images were to look like as well the actual taking of them and more
importantly placement of the images. The Speech bubbles are used well as they are in
the picture but not in the way of the actual image and the text is containing the content
of what is going on but also keeping it short to keep the aspect of a Graphic Narrative.
19. The elements that have been most effective I believe are that of the detail in the images.
When you develop images on Photoshop it is easy to lose the actual picture and stray way
from what you had taken beforehand. However here the number of layers has increased but
the detail has been kept in many images due to the Simplicity tool being kept low. To see the
difference in the two, the images below are before and after versions of what has been made.
From this it is clear to see that the image looks very different due to the use of the colour
green. This is so it keeps to the rest of the images and theme of the Beanstalk and being
outside. You can still notice that detail is kept in the person as well as the Tree itself, looking
at the branches on the image on the right you can still see the precise nature of how the
technology has been used and not over abused.
20. The elements I found to be least creative were the Speech
bubbles on each page. Should Photoshop have a tool for creating
perfect bubbles then the creativity would have been kept at the
same level for everything however this is feel was kept too
simplistic. I would have liked to have a colour coordinated bubble
such as Jack having a blue bubble meaning it would be easier for
the reader to know who was talking, and the giant having an red
bubble. However overall all the elements in making the final piece
were up to standard and everything went well.
The Time management was used well as the schedule was kept to
and everything went good meaning the time left for a contingency
plan was used to look over the work and add detail to certain
aspects that needed adding to. The work as well as all other parts
of the project was uploaded on time when asked for. This was
managed by advice from people looking over the project as well
as individual time keeping and knowing what work was needed to
be complete and if not enough time in college it had to become a
priority in own time in order to stick to times set for each piece.
I agree with the all the feedback given and should I do this again
I will take all the advice on board.
