Narration in Films

DEFINING FILM NARRATIVE

Defining Film Narrative

 Narrative is generally accepted as possessing two components: (1)

the story presented and (2) the process of its telling, or narration,
often referred to as narrative discourse.

 Story is a series of represented events, characters, and actions out

of which the audience constructs a fictional time, place, and
cause-effect world.
Defining Film Narrative

 Throughout cinematic history, as films expanded in length and

technical options, narrative strategies increased as well. Stories could
develop more complex characterization, thematic concerns, and
temporal development, along with increasing devices for the narrator
to manipulate and present those events.

 While many sorts of films employ some storytelling strategies, when we

speak of narrative film, we are typically referring to fiction films.

 Narration is a set of representational, organizational, and discursive

cues that deliver the story information to the audience. The fiction film
should be thought of as a text, a collection of narrative systems, each
of which functions and exists in its own history, with its own stylistic
options.
Defining Film Narrative

 Narrative – a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time

and space; a narrative is not a random string of events
 Cause-Effect – usually the agents of cause-effect are characters; by reacting to
events, they create causes and react to the twists and turns in the story line
 Time – cause-effect take place in time, but the film may present events out of
chronological order; the viewer should consider these temporal factors when
viewing a film:
 Temporal Order: may be in or out of chronological order, including flashbacks and
flash-forwards (moving between past & present)

 Temporal Duration: (1)Screen time is the duration of time it takes to watch a film
(usually between 90 minutes to 3 hours); (2) Story time is the duration of time
covered by the story (may cover a day, several years, decades, or centuries)

 Temporal Frequency: includes how many times the story is told in one film; the
majority of films tell the story only once, but there are some exceptions
Defining Film Narrative

 A narrative film will begin in medias res, Latin for “in the middle of
things.” The viewer speculates what went on before based on plot clue.
The portion of the plot that sets out story events and character traits is
called exposition, and this set-up is generally the first 30 minutes to ¼ of
the film.

 Patterns of Development in Narrative Films:

 Change in Knowledge: a character does something that turns the plot
 Goal-Oriented Plot: a character takes steps to achieve a desired
goal/object
 Search or Investigation: this pattern is often seen in crime dramas and
mysteries as characters are on a mission to find the answer(s) to some
question(s)
 Journey: there is an actual journey for a character or a metaphysical one
Defining Film Narrative

 Narration – The Flow of Information – Range & Depth

 Unrestricted: The audience knows more, sees more, and hears more
than all the characters. Also called omniscient narration, this is where
the audience knows the outcome of an actual historical event that the
characters are living through on the screen (think Titanic)
 Restricted: The characters and the audience learn story information at
the same time. This is useful in creating suspense.
 Most films are a mixture of these types of narration.
Defining Film Narrative

 The Narrator
 The narrator is a specific agent who purports to be telling the audience
the story.
 1. The narrator may also be a character in the story.
 2. A non-character narrator is the anonymous “voice of God.” This type
is a matter of fact commentator who may be objective or subjective.
 Sometimes the narrator is not revealed until the end of the story.