Tzevetan Todorov Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Todorov is known for his theory of the 5 stages of narrative. This theory is that there will be a cycle start starts and ends with an equilibrium (a state of normality or equal balance), but there will be a disequilibrium (a loss or lack of stability) in the middle. The five stages look like this:

Stage 1) Equilibrium - Where everything is normal and functioning as expected, the fictional setting has a sense of  stability. 

Stage 2) Disruption - Something has gone wrong and has destabilised the normal balance. This event can affect a singular person or perhaps the entire world.

Stage 3) Recognition - When the protagonist(s) realise what has gone wrong.

Stage 4) Attempt to Repair- The protagonists will try and bring an end to the disequilibrium.
Stage 5) New Equilibrium - Either the equilibrium has returned and is the same as before or a new equilibrium has been made, such as after a war- the conflict is over but there is still an aftermath that people will adapt to that will become the new normality. 

This is a common or base structure of a film's narrative however not all films use this. In action, thriller or horror films there is likely to be more than one attempt to repair the disruption, where characters are stuck in a cycle of repairing the disruption and then a new one comes along. There is also the case where there is not an equilibrium at all, or that the equilibrium does not end on a positive note. Films that do not feature an equilibrium tend to end on a cliffhanger, this is common with films that are separated into parts or have sequels. An example of this can be The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013, Dir. Peter Jackson) as this film ends with the dragon antagonist setting out to destroy a nearby floating village with the protagonist coming to realise the mistake they had made, asking himself 'What have we done?' before the screen cuts to black. An example of a film with a disequilibrium is The Wickerman (1973, Dir. Robin Hardy) as this ends with the protagonist being burned alive as a sacrifice to a pagan god and as a result dies,  which is a disequilibrium on his behalf, however there is an equilibrium on the behalf of the islanders who sacrificed him. 

Trailer Example: 

Jurassic World (2015, Dir. Colin Trevorrow)

The trailer starts off by showing us two of the protagonists, Gray and Zach, who are young brothers. Their mother tells the youngest 'I'm really proud of you for going on this trip', this give the audience information that these brothers are going away somewhere without their parents, explaining their situation in the beginning of the narrative. A few seconds later the mother tells the boys 'If something chases you, run'. This can be interpreted as foreshadowing for events later on in the narrative, hinting to the audience an idea on what type of disruption the protagonists may face. 

We then see a montage of clips showing a ferry taking its passengers to a remote island, and then see them entering 'Jurassic World' by a train. The next montage of clips show us numerous tourists travelling around the park in various forms of transport up close to the dinosaurs. This is the equilibrium of the narrative as the humans and dinosaurs are living at peace with each other - there is stability. 

The next sequence of scenes show us scenes of a science lab with preserved insects, the creation of dinosaur eggs, and a spinal cord with wires wrapped around it. Over the top of this sequence we hear another one of the protagonists, Claire, explaining what they have learned about dinosaur genetics. What stands out in this dialogue is when she says 'We have our first genetically modified hybrid'. It cuts to another scene where the fourth protagonist, Owen, is shown speaking to Claire about the hybrid, telling her 'You just went and made a new dinosaur. Probably not a good idea'. 

We move onto another scene where Owen and a paddock supervisor are looking at a wall with scratch marks. The supervisor says 'That wall's forty feet high. You really think she could've climbed out?'. Owen is later seen telling Claire to evacuate the island. This suggests that the genetically modified dinosaur they made has gone missing, hinting to the audience that this is the disruption in the narrative. 

We get another compilation of scenes, this time showing Owen and other park workers looking for evidence of where the dinosaur has disappeared to. There are also clips shown of a POV of presumably a worker being dragged away by the dinosaur, and scenes of Owen and the brothers running to escape from it, with the addition of a crowd of tourists escaping the main area of the park. This would be the recognition stage of the narrative as they realise their lives are now in danger. 

Right at the very end of the trailer we see Owen riding on a bike along with three raptors. This is the only clue we are given as to how they are going to attempt to repair the disruption. The trailer deliberately does not show much of the attempt to repair or any of the new equilibrium as this would give away too much of the narrative that the audience would already know what is going to happen so there would be not much point in watching the film. 

How could this theory be applied to my trailer?

In my trailer I will not use all five stages of narrative, and will limit it to the equilibrium, the disruption and the recognition, although there could be small hints towards the attempt to repair. We do not want to give the audience too much information as this will take away the enigma away from the trailer. When showing the equilibrium, this can be a compilation of scenes of the protagonists in their daily lives, or showing the drug addicts hanging around in their meet-up spot messing around, cross-cutting to the serial killer setting up their equipment ready to make their fake anonymous video. The disruption will be the serial killer sending the video to the drug abusers, threatening their lives. The recognition stage will be that the drug users will start to be killed off and the remaining ones will start to realise that the threat was not a joke.