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Narrative

Different narrative structures.


by Mel is sa S il v a Badi n ca

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Narrative view points


When films use different narrative techniques, they can lead us into reading the film in particular way. To make the audience feel more involved and part of the film the director may use a restrictive viewpoint where the audience only know as much as the characters in the film. Making the audience having to work everything out just like the characters in the film are and thats why Crime films often use restricted narrative to work out the clues alongside the detective.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Omniscient Narrative
Films make the audience feel powerful, where they are aware of much more than the main characters in the film, which always builds suspense and tension as the audience know the potential consequences of the events. Horror films often let the audience see the killer before the victim, letting the audience know the character is in danger but the character wont know. Independence Day; Starts with the moon and a space ship heading for Earth and then shows people on Earth going on with their lives normally as they dont know what is about to happen, but the audience do.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Linear Structures
Linear films start at a point, for example A and in order will end at point C. A being the beginning of the story, then B being the story developing and finally C being the end of the story. Each event happens in a chronological order Its very easy to follow as its so clear and its commonly used in mainstream film and other media. Wreck it Ralph; The film starts in an arcade with many games and Ralph (the main character) tells the audience about his life and what he has to do and how no one likes him and it chronological order it shows the things he does to try and make people like him.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Circular Structures
The story can begin at B where something has already happened or C when the outcome of something that has happened in the story and it goes around to A to show what has happened to get to those stages and often many flashbacks to help tell the story. The Titanic (1997); The film starts with people finding the Titanic under water, then moves on to Rose (main character) who is now old, then it flashbacks to when she was younger and on the boat and she narrates the story, and it eventually goes to the beginning showing how the ship sank and how she fell in love.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Episodic Structures
There are many scenes not in any particular order which move around all in one film, A plot structure made up of a series of stories all linked together by the same character, place or theme, but also apart by their individual goals and purpose. Slumdog millionaire; The film starts with the main character winning a game show, and he is suspected of cheating because he grew up in the slums and throughout the film while he is being interviewed he flashbacks to all the times in his life to why and how he would know the answers.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Open Narrative
An open narrative is when there is no apparent end to the story and the film would normally end in a cliff-hanger, open narratives are commonly used in soap operas because the cliff-hanger keeps people interested and makes the audience want to watch more, thats why when a film has a open narrative usually continues with a sequel. Twilight, Eclipse; The film finished with Bella turning into a vampire, making the audience wanting to see her as a vampire.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

Closed Narrative
A closed Narrative is when the story has a conclusion and all questions raised by the narrative are answered, so there is no confusion at the end of the film and the audience knows how the story has ended. For example; In The Notebook, the main characters died in each others arms so the love story has ended.

Tuesday, 19 February 13

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