Narrative
Narrative is used to describe and explore the conventions of:
An example of this is a short film entitled 'Black Hole.' The plot was that a worker in an office discovers a black hole on a printed piece of paper. He then decides to use this to his advantage and does so by stealing a chocolate bar from a vending machine. He takes this further by then going to the safe and stealing all the money. When trying to reach for the money he accidentally falls through the black hole, causing him to trapped and locked in the safe.
The narrative of this is evident: don't be greedy, appreciate what you have and don't put money above all else, its sure to end in failure.
Narrative Structure
There are many different forms of narrative structure, which explain how the story is told.
Linear Structure:
Beginning- Audience is introduced to the characters and story.
Middle- The main events, the story builds.
End- Closure.
This is the typical structure you would find in most stories, particularly those in cinema or mainstream media.
Open Structure:
The audience are left to wonder what happens next and make sense of it themselves. This is something that is often seen in soap dramas. Within these shows it is also noted that it is rare to hear any non-diegetic sounds or music, as they are on almost every night throughout the week and made to feel as realistic as possible, and therefore also often going in chronological order.
Closed Structure:
The story has a definite ending, there is a clear conclusion for the audience. Again, this is a regularity in common cinema.
Circular Structure:
The narrative begins at the end events, often with the climax. The audience are taken on a journey arriving back where they started. An interesting short film I watched recently, 'The Pig Child', used this very effectively. It is something I am interested in incorporating into my own film.
Modular Narratives in contemporary cinema by Allen Cameron
Modular Narratives 'articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation.'
Anachronic Modular Narratives:
Involve the use of flashbacks and/or flash-forwards with no clear dominance between any of the narrative threads. These narratives also often repeat scenes directly or from a different perspective.
Split Screen Narratives:
These are different from the other types of modular narratives; their modularity is articulated along spatial rather than temporal lines. They divide the screen into two or more frames, juxtaposing events within the same visual field in a sustained fashion i.e. Timecode.
Forking-Path Narratives
This is where narratives juxtapose alternate versions of a story and introduces a number of plotlines that usually contradict one another. It show the possible outcomes that might result from small changes in an event. Such examples are Groundhog Day, Run Lola Run and Final Destination 5.
Episodic Narratives
Wherein lots of small stories/narratives takes place and eventually all connect together, such as Love Actually.
- Genre
- Character
- Form
- Time
An example of this is a short film entitled 'Black Hole.' The plot was that a worker in an office discovers a black hole on a printed piece of paper. He then decides to use this to his advantage and does so by stealing a chocolate bar from a vending machine. He takes this further by then going to the safe and stealing all the money. When trying to reach for the money he accidentally falls through the black hole, causing him to trapped and locked in the safe.
The narrative of this is evident: don't be greedy, appreciate what you have and don't put money above all else, its sure to end in failure.
Narrative Structure
There are many different forms of narrative structure, which explain how the story is told.
Linear Structure:
Beginning- Audience is introduced to the characters and story.
Middle- The main events, the story builds.
End- Closure.
This is the typical structure you would find in most stories, particularly those in cinema or mainstream media.
Open Structure:
The audience are left to wonder what happens next and make sense of it themselves. This is something that is often seen in soap dramas. Within these shows it is also noted that it is rare to hear any non-diegetic sounds or music, as they are on almost every night throughout the week and made to feel as realistic as possible, and therefore also often going in chronological order.
Closed Structure:
The story has a definite ending, there is a clear conclusion for the audience. Again, this is a regularity in common cinema.
Circular Structure:
The narrative begins at the end events, often with the climax. The audience are taken on a journey arriving back where they started. An interesting short film I watched recently, 'The Pig Child', used this very effectively. It is something I am interested in incorporating into my own film.
Modular Narratives in contemporary cinema by Allen Cameron
Modular Narratives 'articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation.'
Anachronic Modular Narratives:
Involve the use of flashbacks and/or flash-forwards with no clear dominance between any of the narrative threads. These narratives also often repeat scenes directly or from a different perspective.
Split Screen Narratives:
These are different from the other types of modular narratives; their modularity is articulated along spatial rather than temporal lines. They divide the screen into two or more frames, juxtaposing events within the same visual field in a sustained fashion i.e. Timecode.
Forking-Path Narratives
This is where narratives juxtapose alternate versions of a story and introduces a number of plotlines that usually contradict one another. It show the possible outcomes that might result from small changes in an event. Such examples are Groundhog Day, Run Lola Run and Final Destination 5.
Episodic Narratives
Wherein lots of small stories/narratives takes place and eventually all connect together, such as Love Actually.
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