Research Blog

RP3 – Narrative Sequences

12 October, 202222 November, 2023 by ward2021

Sequential Photography

Film reels were invented over 100 years ago, they are essentially made up of a series of sequential images and when projected, create a short film. This was the main form of media for decades – until we entered the era of digital media which we know today.

In the old days, when people would go to the cinema, they would project reels with an average length of around 305 meters with a screen time of 11 minutes. If we were still to use this form of media in the modern day, a typical movie that has 90 minutes of screen time would require more than 18 reels.

Figure 1 is a clear example of what frames of a film reel look like, and figures 2 and 3 are examples of a Mickey Mouse short film in reels.

Figure 2 is a much older version of part of a film reel. This displays part of Mikey Mouse’s ‘Steamboat Willie’ film which dates back almost a century ago. It was estimated to have been realised in 1928. This scene was thought to have been lost, however, it was found by Jason Liles Films in 2013 when he had purchased a projector from eBay. Unfortunately, a lot of older reels were lost over the years so there aren’t many great examples available to view.

Figure 1: An image of part of a Mikey Mouse film.

Figure 2: An image of the original film reel of a scene in the Mikey Mouse Steamboat Willie film.

Figure 3 is a close-up of one of the frames from the Steamboat Willie reel. This is how the viewer would see the short film, and they did so through a projector.

Jason Liles had spent a lot of time analysing the frames in order to establish the script of the scene. The following quotation is the conclusion in which he came to.

A smiling Mickey Mouse is walking on a prairie. He sees a pig with piglets getting milk and picks up the mother. One of the dark-coloured piglets hangs on by the nipple. Mickey’s eyebrows change to show a bit of anger. He kicks the piglet off the mother pig, causing the piglet to go up into the air and then land on its head.
Jason Liles Films, 2013

Furthermore, below is figure 4. The video shows an animated version of the scene, made from the reels that were found.

https://youtu.be/R5kQy5dTm2Y

Figure 4: A YouTube video of a scene from the Mickey Mouse Steamboat Willie film.

Film Sequence

In this scene, Deadpool, who is played by Ryan Reynolds, is surrounded by the bad guys, in which he makes a witty comment about wearing a red suit so bad guys can’t see him bleed. He then points to one of the bad guys and says “This guy’s got the right idea. He wore the brown pants”, this is insinuating that this guy is about to defecate himself. Said character attempts to shoot Deadpool, to which he said he only has 12 bullets to use against many of the bad guys. The action rolls out from there on.

Figure 5: An early scene taken from the movie Deadpool which shows an example of a narrative sequence.

Storyboard

Figure 6 is a storyboard displaying a short timeline of the major events that occurred during the suffragette movement. The 6 frames display events that took place in just under a century, they collectively sum up a time in history in a simple, less complicated way.

In August of 1832, a lady named Mary Smith, along with a few other women began a petition for the MP Henry Hunt to allow women to have a say when it comes to elections.

In 1897, many groups of suffragettes joined together to form the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society. However, 6 years later the group split into 2 with a new group named Women’s social and political union.

In the same year that the new group was formed, the movement started gaining more attraction through posters, marches, propaganda and many other forms of publicity.

At the beginning of the First World War, men had to go and fight for their country which meant that women had to step in to do their jobs. This then sparked the thought of men and women having equal rights.

In 1928, a law had been passed that allowed women the right to vote.

Figure 6: A storyboard based on the major events that happened during the Suffragette movement.

Personal Sequence

A flipbook is a small book with a series of printed images which create the illusion of motion when the pages of the book are rapidly flipped.
Mary McMahon, 2022

Figures 7 to 10 display a video and some images of frames taken from an original flip book. The flipbook consists of 22 sequential images and when combined and then flipped, create a short animation.

The flipbook has a simple script, a stick figure enters from the right of the frame – after it is a third into the frame, the figure waves and then exits to the right of the frame.