Bordwell and Thompson - Narrative

Bordwell and Thompson (1997)

Bordwell and Thompson offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept and that which the audience actually see. They base this on a Russian film theory:

Fabula (story) is all the events in the narrative that we see and infer. The fabula is defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied.

Syuzhet (plot) everything visible and audibly present before us, Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative.

We imply that Rihanna's music video follows a story that we see in the narrative and infer. The fabula is defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied, in the music video a series of events happen after Rihanna rises from the water in the initial shot, after she appears in several other locations on her own and with dancers surrounding her. Everything is visible and audibly present before us in the video (Syuzhet plot). Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of Rihanna's presentation in the narrative. The plot followers and order, as from the first location then to the second location and so-one, appearing in different locations refers to the song lyrics "I've been everywhere" therefore we she her in different locations which is typical for a music video's narrative plot to be linked with the song lyrics. The manner in which Rihanna presents herself gets more destructive as the music speeds up, so the manner is constantly changing to keep up with the pace of the music. Through techniques Rihanna is presenting herself as a strong female by being dominant in every shot by having centre frame and the camera focusing on her, from this the audience can see that Rihanna is presenting herself as the main protagonist.