Chapter 3

Narrative Form

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Principles of Narrative Form

• Narrative form tells a story.• While common in fiction films, it can be

employed in other types of films.• Narrative construction relies on the viewer to

pick up cues, anticipate action, and recall information.

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What Is Narrative?

• A chain of events in cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space.

• Narratives may also make use of parallelism.

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Plot and Story

• Story: the chronological events in a narrative, both explicitly presented and inferred.

• Diegesis means elements that are assumed to exist in a film’s world.

• Plot includes everything visibly and audibly presented, including nondiegetic elements, but not what is presumed or inferred.

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Cause and Effect

• Usually triggered by characters, but could be events or circumstances.

• Viewers look for causal motivation and this can create mystery, suspense, or other reactions.

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Time

• Time shapes our understanding of narrative. • Temporal order refers to the order of story

events.• Story time is constructed on the basis of what

the plot presents, even though that might not be in chronological order.

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Time

• Temporal duration is the period of time referred to in the film.

• Plot duration includes the stretches of time depicted in the film.

• Screen duration is the length of the film.• Temporal frequency is the number of times an

element is presented.

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Space

• Story space is where the story takes place.• Space can also included inferred or imagined

space.• Screen space is the visible space within the

frame.

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Openings, Closings, and Patterns of Development

• Exposition: the part of the plot that lays out important story events and character traits; usually presented in the opening.

• Patterns of Development: Can be motivated by time and space or by the characters, such as in a change in knowledge.

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Openings, Closings, and Patterns of Development

• Climaxes resolve causal issues by bringing the development to a high point, often involving tension or suspense.

• Some films are anticlimactic and the endings remain relatively open.

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Narration: The Flow of Story Information

• Narration is the way in which a film’s plot distributes story information, often to achieve certain effects.

• Two important elements in narration are the range and depth of presented information.

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Range of Story Information: Restricted of Unrestricted

• Range refers to how much information the viewer is given.

• Restricted: when viewer’s knowledge is restricted to that of a main character.

• Unrestricted: when viewers know more and hear more than any of the characters know.

• It is a continuum.

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Depth of Story Information: Objective or Subjective

• Depth refers to how deeply the plot plunges the viewer into the character’s psychological states.

• This is also a continuum that can vary between objective and subjective points of view.

• The filmmaker’s choice about range and depth affects the viewer’s response to the film.

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The Narrator

• A character (within the story or not) who purports to be telling the viewer the story.

• Can be objective or subjective, internal or external to the story.

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Narration in The Road Warrior

• Max is the center of the plot’s causal chain and the viewer is largely restricted to Max’s range of knowledge.

• This is emphasized by use of point-of-view shots and mental subjectivity.

• Moments of unrestricted narration build suspense and create surprise.

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The Classical Hollywood Cinema

• Historically, in fiction filmmaking the action comes from individual characters as causal agents.

• Time is typically subordinate to cause and effect.

• Often Hollywood narrative is objective and involves closure.

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Narrative Form in Citizen Kane

• Uses conventions of the newspaper, detective, and biography genres.

• The film focuses on psychological states and relationships.

• It both adheres to and departs from Classical Hollywood Cinema norms and rules.

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Plot and Story in Citizen Kane

• Scenes can be broken down into a segmentation that allows for analysis of the major divisions of the plot as well as causality and story time.

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Citizen Kane’s Causality

• Two sets of characters cause events to happen: the reporters and the people who knew Kane.

• Kane’s death creates a connection between them.

• Thompson’s goal drives the plot.

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Time in Citizen Kane

• The order of plot events engages the viewer because of its complexity.

• Earlier parts of the plot show the results of events viewers haven’t seen.

• Later parts confirm and modify expectations viewers formed earlier.

• The newsreel parallels the plot structure of the film.

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Motivation in Citizen Kane

• The narrative revolves around a mystery–an investigation into traits of a character–motivated first by the search for Rosebud.

• Some motivations are left ambiguous.

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Citizen Kane’s Parallelism

• Kane’s search for happiness vs. Thompson’s search for Rosebud.

• Kane’s campaign for governor vs. Susan’s opera career.

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Patterns of Plot Development in Citizen Kane

• The flashbacks provide a clear progression and each offers a distinct type of information about Kane.

• The plot remains relatively open in the end: neither Kane nor Thompson reach their goal.

• Is Rosebud a resolution?

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Narration in Citizen Kane

• We are really only offered recollections of Kane through five narrators, keeping us restricted in our knowledge.

• Thompson is the conduit for the information. He is neutral and barely characterized.

• The narrative is omniscient overall.

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