Narrative Construction Path of Film Character Relationships from the Perspective of Aesthetic Expression
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/bxv41h14Keywords:
Film aesthetics, character relationships, narrative construction, actantial model, visual grammar, sound designAbstract
The connections among the characters provide the foundation for the story of a film and are also used to present beauty. This paper takes the subject of character relationships in films from the perspective of aesthetic expression and explores how to construct a narrative of character relationships in films. Four analytical paths are proposed along with their justifications: The structuring path uses the Greimasian Actantial Model as a tool to abstract character relationships into deep grammar and addresses how these relationships are understood; the visualised path employs spatial composition and close-ups to give the relationships a visible form in the frame and responds to how these relationships are seen; the auditory path uses sound design, silence handling and layers of environmental sound to allow the relationships to be experienced sensually and responds to how these relationships are heard; finally, the naturalisation path builds relationships gradually through life-flow narration and emotional details in the daily texture, addressing how these relationships are felt. The four paths have both tension and complementarity, and the choice and balance of these paths are an expression of the director's artistic personality as well as an operational analytical framework for understanding the aesthetic mechanism of film narrative.
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