Narrative Analysis

'One Man Band' is a film by Pixar. I chose this for my narrative analysis as the narrative is, essentially, the core of this film. This is due to it not having any dialogue, which is due to the very simple nature of the story. The film basically tells the story of a person who is a one man band who is attempting to get money from a girl. A rival busker then turns up and the two compete for the money, which accidentially falls down a drain. The girl, annoyed, then takes an instrument, plays well for a minute and is rewarded with a bag of gold by a mysterious stranger. She then proceeds to put all the money in a fountain. This story is told purely through the animation and, as a result, is a good example of narrative told in a short film.

 

The film is notable for it's simple storyline that doesn't, really, need explanation. Despite the fact that it appears to be quite a foreign place 'One Man Band' is set in, it's still familiar enough to the audience to be taken as generally familiar information. For example, the film uses large gold coins; it is not common knowledge of any currency, in the modern society, to use large gold coins, yet it is obvious to the viewer, without the need for explanation, that it is money. As a result, this is a good example of a film pushing the boundaries of what is normal yet making sure that everything is still understandable to the average person. If it didn't do this it would be a failure of narrative technique that a film not only is very different but also doesn't explain any of the abnormality.

 

This film is a good example for me to learn from when creating my own short film. It can assist in knowing how to expand on a storyline without having to expand dialogue and shows that the use of a lack of dialogue can actually be beneficial to the narrative, as show in this case. The music of the film is very prominent, despite the fact that it contains no dialogue, and it seems to use this as an alternative to text or speaking to explain the emotions of the characters. As a result, it seems as though 'One Man Band' uses music to tell the narrative, or atleast in terms of what the characters are thinking or trying to do, in a very prominent way. This shows that dialogue is not entirely needed in order to tell a story in a film as it can easily be effective to turn to another method of telling the narrative.