Narrative

Narrative

• The structure and organisation of media texts e.g story
• Narrative chain of cause and effect - the plotlines in a story that are triggered by action and enigma codes ( something happens that causes something else to happen)
• Narrative is correlated with genre - some genres have typical storylines

In Media Studies, it is important to tell the difference between narrative and story;

Story = a sequence of events, known correctly as the plot

Narrative = the way those events are put together to be presented to an audience

Once we move beyond seeing film and television programmes as transparent representations of the world we need to consider some of the ways in which media texts mediate the world to us. One of the most important of these is through the codes and conventions of NARRATIVE.

Narrative Enigmas

Theses are codes that limit the audience to information, it lets them have to figure what is going off in the story. They have to figure out the puzzle, things the audience should think about are who,what,when,where,how?

This keeps the audience attention to what they are watching. They are interested/curious with what is going to happen next so they are going to watch it till the end so they know the final outcome.

Narratives Themes

Narrative contains different elements, such characterization, plot and setting, that all work together to create the narrative’s theme. The theme is the main meaning of a narrative. It tells the reader what the work is about. The theme is devised through what the characters say, do and think and through the actions that take place within the story. The theme also is revealed in how the plot and setting of the narrative are constructed and presented.

Narrative Structure and Theory

Russian theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.

The structure and format of the storyline e.g. closed/open, three act structure,four act structure, linear/non linear, asynchronous, single stranded/multi-stranded

Examples of films where time in manipulated in narrative

- Flashbacks

- Dream Sequence

- Repetition

- Different characters POW

- Flash Forwards

- Real time interlude's

Comprehending Time

Very few screen stories take place in real time. Whole lives can be dealt with in the 90 minutes of a feature film, an 8 month siege be compassed within a 60 minuet TV documentary's. There are many conventions to denote time passing from, the time/day to type up each new scene on X FILES.