Narratives Closed Narrative Firstly closed narratives This type

Narratives

Closed Narrative Firstly, closed narratives. This type of narrative is to give the audience a satisfactory feeling towards the audience. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the film is going to end on high happy times. It just means the audience has no questions, all answers have been revealed and everything is at peace. One film example is Titanic. The film began all happy travelling on the sea. Two people fall in love. The boat hits an ice-berg and the boat sinks, the man from the couple dies. The woman survives and dies in her bed at an old age.

Open Narrative Secondly, Open narrative. This type of narrative film ends, leaving the audience with questions. There’s no final story ending. Might be up to the audience to decide what’s next. Questions are starting to form in the audience’s head; what happens next? What’s wrong with that? Where are they? One example of a film is Back to the future 1… in this film they trapped back in 1955. He manages to return by powering the car with lightening with the 1955 Doc Brown. He arrives back in 1975 thinking everything is fine till Doc returns to tell him a problem. They then fly off to the future and then it ends.

Multi-stranded narrative is where more than one character has their separate storyline. They then develop and eventually come together to form the overall picture. One example is the avengers… all the avengers are on the own doing their separate tasked to complete. Until the world needs saving and it takes more than one person. This means they’ll join together and battle to save the world.

POV narrative means point of view. This narrative is where the story is told through the eyes or viewpoint of a particular character. Often features the narration by one of the main characters. It maybe where an event or someone’s life was superior or could be tragic. It is then told by someone close by or who experiences the event also. One example is Matilda. This is where she is adopted by an unbiased family that treats her differently; throughout the film a man is narrating her life throughout the film.

Plot devices are used within the narratives to help “spice up” or develop the narrative.

Plot Twists Plot twists- A plot twist is an unexpected development in a book, film, television programme. One example of a plot twist is the Planet of the apes (1968). The astronauts crash land on the earth. No humans rule the world, but no human activity. The final scene sees the surviving astronauts stumbling across a half sunken statue of liberty on shore. He’s been on earth the whole time and not even knew.

Macguffin Macguffin- Macguffin is an object or device in a film or a book which serves merely as a trigger for the plot. One example is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). This is where Captain Jack Sparrow sets a goal to find the fountain of youth and at the end he is able to find it but stumbles across Captain Barbossa.

Deus ex machina Deus ex machina- Deus ex machina is an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation. One example is Iron Man, as he discovers he has an object in his chest that allows him the become powerful in his Iron Man suit.

Red herring Red herring- Red herring is a clue or piece of information which is intended to be misleading or distracting. One example is Gone Girl. The film is revealed not as it seems.

In media res In media res- A tale beginning in medias res opens in the midst of action. One example is Forrest Gump. He begins sitting on a bench waiting for a bus to meet his son. He then goes back and explains how he got to the point in his life to be sitting on that bench.