Kamini's Thriller Blog: Narrative

Narrative: what happens or what is depicted in the film- actions, characters and events.
Narration: how the narrative is presented to the spectator- controlling how the viewer gains information.

All media texts have a narrative, whether they soap, drama, documentary series, one paragraph newspaper story or a glossy magazine photograph. Here we focus on film narrative.

There is a basic universal structure to mainstream films narrative which is composed of four stages.

Beginning/Exposition- This gives us an introduction to the story and the situation that is present.

Gotham City in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" is presented as a city that is corrupt and overridden with crime, crooks and drugs.

Complication- The situation presented is disrupted.

The antagonist, is revealed to be poisoning the water system of the entire city. There are also several other important factors which are threatening the city.

Climax/Crisis- turning point in the film.

The protagonist, Batman, is seen saving the city by defeating the antagonists and stopping any further effects of the villains plans from occurring.

Resolution- after the crisis a new situation is established.

The protagonist is shown to team up with a member of the law force as he is a vigilante. The film ends by showing Batman continuing his fight against evil in Gotham City by going after another villain.

We can apply this structure to almost every film in the cinema today, however as film has evolved over the years it is clear that viewers are after a much more interesting and engaging viewing experience, therefore this structure can be argued to be outdated and too simple.

Therefore many writers use subversion to create a more intricate and compelling narration by having a segment of film which breaks the chronological order of the storyline. Techniques with example include:

-Flashbacks/Analepsis (Bourne Trilogy)