Neha Ashok Raj AS Level

Propp’s Character Theory Vladimir Propp studied classic folk tales and noticed that no matter what the story was about, the characters often played similar roles. It wasn’t about who they were as individuals but what part they played in the story —like whether they caused problems, helped the hero, or were the hero themselves. He identified 8 common roles that tend to show up in most stories: How We Used It  When we first wrote the film opening, we didn’t sit down with Propp’s theory in mind—we just focused on what felt natural for the story. But after learning about his character roles, we realized… we actually followed his structure without meaning to! Here’s how our characters match his theory: Jay is clearly the hero— he gets the dare and enters the creepy room. Sabari , the friend who dares him, acts as the dispatcher— starting the chain of events. But later in scene 3, that same friend reappears in a mysterious, eerie way—which makes him feel more like a false hero or maybe ...

Todorov’s Narrative Theory Tzvetan Todorov believed that most stories follow a simple structure made up of five stages. This sequence helps create a full, satisfying narrative arc—from normal life to conflict and finally to some kind of resolution. Here’s a breakdown of the five steps: How We Used It  Since we only created a short film opening, we couldn’t show the full five stages—but we still used the first three to build tension and curiosity. And About the Voiceover… The voiceover in our film shares Ethan’s story from the past. It sets a dark, mysterious tone and provides some backstory—but it doesn’t represent the “normal life” part of Jay’s story, so it doesn’t count as the equilibrium.