Narrative in Film

Define a 'story' and 'plot' and the differences between them:

• A story- is a series of events recorded in their chronological order.
• A plot- is a series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance.
• A story is in order whilst the plot is arranged for effect on the audience.

Define a 'narrative':

• A narrative-a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.
• Linear narrative- is the most conventional storyline, introduce characters at the start then story builds then an ending.
• Open narrative- has no sense of an ending therefore it could go on for ever. There can be more than one storyline and many more characters. E.g. Coronation Street.
• Closed narrative- has a few main role characters and have a hierarchy.
• Circular narrative- the story ends in the same place from where it started.

Modular Narrative in Contemporary Cinema by Allan Cameron. Cameron argues modular narratives 'articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation'. Allan Cameron has identified four different types of modular narrative in film.

• Anachronic-relating to or involving anachronism.
• Forking paths-
• episodic-containing or consisting of a series of separate parts or events.
• split screens-is also known as a composite shot. Movies, Television. a type of process photography in which two or more shots are juxtaposed and projected simultaneously on the screen.