An Introdution to Narrative

Narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. It is how the story is told. The Narrative theory sets out to show us that what we experience when we 'read' a text is to understand a set of conventions. Narrative explores the conventions of:

• Genre
• Character
• Form
• Time

The difference between the story and plot is that:

• Story - Includes information not shown
• Plot - The key events

There are different types of narrative structures that can be used when making films. Some different types are:

Linear Structure: the story will go in a straight line or in other words in chronological order. Many films follow 
Beginning                                                 Middle                                               End
Audience introduced                                Events stay                                        Closure
to character and story                              behind

Open Structure:
It follows the linear structure until it reaches the end where there is no closure so the audience are left to wonder what happens next and make sense of it themselves. Open structures usually have many characters and no foreseeable ending. As there is no sense of ending it could go on forever. This structure is popular with television soap operas such as Coronation Street. There are many more characters and the focus shifts between them. Often there is more than one story line and time is more chronological and more 'real time'. An example of this structure being used in a film is 'Inception'. By the end of the film, things are so out of control that the audience questions where the dream ends and where reality begins. It's all just a dream within a dream. Or is it?

Closed Structure
There is a definite ending and clear conclusion for the audience. There is a 'The end' and we know the whole story of what happens. The audience is aware that they are watching a complete story so therefore expect a likely end in mind. Unlike open structures, time is compressed and not with the 'real time'. Time and events are usually catered to the particular story and not linked with the outside world. The audiences usually identify narrative roles such as the hero, villain and victim. There tends to be a small number of central characters so the audience gets to know the character in depth. 

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. A circular structure can mean that nothing can change and the story will always return to the base point so that the same happen again ad again. A popular example of film that follows the structure is Pulp Fiction. It's told out of chronological order and follows three interrelated stories that all link together at the ends