Introduction to narrative theory - Up

• Up is an animation, and is a mix between the comedy and adventure genres.
• The story takes place in present time over the period of a few weeks, and is of a old man, Carl, who ties thousands of balloons to his house in order to fulfil his lifelong ambition to travel to South America. He manages to take with him the 8 year old scout explorer Russell by accident.
• During the opening sequence of this film, we meet the two characters, Ellie and Carl. There is no dialogue, only music, and so the character's stories are shown in a series of short clips. Firstly we're shown their wedding, where the two character's personalities are seen to be quite different, Ellie being upbeat and confident and Carl being shy and traditional. We then see Carl carrying Ellie into the house in which they met when they were younger, and the next shot is of them refurbishing that same house, making it look that same as the one they dreamt of as children. The following shots consist of a time lapse of their day-to-day lives, showing the audience how strong their relationship is. Unfortunately however, we're shown a sequence of Ellie and Carl preparing a room preparing for a baby and then Ellie crying in the Hospital, suggesting to the audience that she cannot have children. At this point the music slows down and we're shown Carl comforting Ellie by reminding her of her ambition to travel to South America, and the couple then set about collecting money in a glass jar labelled 'Paradise falls'. Another time lapse of their every day lives is shown, and various accidents happen which mean they have to break into their savings for Paradise falls. Coming towards the end of the opening sequence, Carl finds an old picture of young adventurer Ellie and decides to buy tickets to paradise falls to fulfil their life-long dream, but as they are walking up the hill towards the picnic, Ellie falls over. The music slows down again and Ellie is in hospital where Carl has come to visit her, and he hands her the 'My adventure' book. The shot cuts from here to a shot of Carl alone at Ellie's funeral, which fades into a shot of Carl walking up to his house alone.
• This Opening sequence is extremely important to the rest of the story as it explains why Carl is on the adventure in the first place. It also explains why his character is so gloomy and unsociable. The order of events in the opening sequence is also important as it tells the story of Carl leading up present time, where the film is set.
• At the start of my film, I believe what the audience needs to know depends on the chosen genre of my film and also the order of events within the film. For example, in Inception, you're pretty much thrown into the deep end where the backstory of characters is concerned, compared to Up where the back story of the main character is essential to explaining the rest of the story.