Codes and Conventions
Codes
Technical Codes |
Symbolic Codes |
Written Codes |
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Technical codes are created using technology or skills.
They could be categorised as: Camera, Audio, Lighting and Editing (CALE)...very appropriate for the vegan-based themes of Okja. |
Symbolic codes are those elements that contain deeper, connotative meanings.
They could be categorised as: Colour, Acting, Mise-en-scene, Setting (CAMS) |
Written codes are obviously those that have been written, either text or words that we can see on screen, or the written word of the script, such as character dialogue, or the lyrics of songs used in a film.
They could be categorised as: Printed language and Spoken language (PS) |
Conventions
Form Conventions
A media form is just a type of media, e.g. film, photography, print, radio, etc.
For our form of film, we, as an audience, have certain expectations of how films will be put together, how certain codes will be used and when.
So form conventions are just certain ways audiences expect types of media codes to be arranged.
We, as an audience, when watching a film scene that involves danger and darkness, expect it to be accompanied by a non-diegetic score that is appropriate to the tone and message of what it is we're watching. Additionally, we also expect the acting to further support this.
Watch the two clips from Okja below and think about if you feel that Okja supports the audience expectations associated with this form convention, or whether it is being subverted.
As you watch the two scenes below, think about :
•how does the acting contribute to the tone and messages of the scene?
•how does the use of sound contribute to the tone and messages of the scene?
•Is it creating a dire, sinister atmosphere, or a light, comical one?
•Why do you think the director, Bong Joon Ho, makes these creative choices?
For our form of film, we, as an audience, have certain expectations of how films will be put together, how certain codes will be used and when.
So form conventions are just certain ways audiences expect types of media codes to be arranged.
We, as an audience, when watching a film scene that involves danger and darkness, expect it to be accompanied by a non-diegetic score that is appropriate to the tone and message of what it is we're watching. Additionally, we also expect the acting to further support this.
Watch the two clips from Okja below and think about if you feel that Okja supports the audience expectations associated with this form convention, or whether it is being subverted.
As you watch the two scenes below, think about :
•how does the acting contribute to the tone and messages of the scene?
•how does the use of sound contribute to the tone and messages of the scene?
•Is it creating a dire, sinister atmosphere, or a light, comical one?
•Why do you think the director, Bong Joon Ho, makes these creative choices?
Story ConventionsNarrative structures
Cause and Effect Character construction Point of view |
Genre ConventionsTropes, characters, settings or themes in a particular type of medium.
Genre conventions are closely linked with audience expectations. Genre conventions can be formal or thematic. |
Okja and John Denver |
Doctor Johnny in the lab |
A chase scene that is frightening and traumatic for Okja is given the tone of a fun, slapstick romp by the use of acting and music.
A sinister character that is posing a great threat to Okja is still presented as comical via Jake Gyllenhaal's acting.
What you do feel the intended effect, or eventual effect, may be of structuring these sequences in this way?
A sinister character that is posing a great threat to Okja is still presented as comical via Jake Gyllenhaal's acting.
What you do feel the intended effect, or eventual effect, may be of structuring these sequences in this way?
Practice Questions |
Tips for Answering Questions |
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1. Codes and conventions function together to convey meaning to intended audiences. Analyse how a technical code is used to create meaning for audiences in one of the texts you studied this year. (3 marks)
2. Identify two characteristics of the media form you studied this year with examples to support your response. (3 marks) 3. With reference to two media characteristics explain how they were used in the construction of a character in one of the narratives you studied this year. |
50 words per mark = 150 words for a 3 mark question
One piece of media terminology per mark = 3 terms for a 3 mark question One scene example to discuss, e.g. the chase sequence from Okja, or the lab scene from Okja (the two scenes above) Read the question carefully. It specifically says in question 1, “a technical code”, meaning singular. Just one. If you write about more than one technical code, you’re not answering the question. If you write about a code that isn’t a technical code in question 1, you’re not answering the question either. |
Camera
Key terms: shot types, angles, movement, framing, focus.
It is difficult to write an analysis of film without referring to camera in some way. After all, without the camera there would be no film! Consequently, you should always try to make reference to the camera work even if you are not specifically analysing the camera element, but are instead simply referring to it in your analysis of something else. For example, if you were analysing the production element of acting and wanted to discuss the facial expression that we see when the actor’s face fills the screen, you would also refer to the camera work (in this case, a close-up) that enabled such a detailed view of the actor’s face.
As with any analysis of production elements, when talking about camera you should always use specific terminology and discuss the intended effect on the audience. Remember that the camera is designed to be the audience’s ‘eyes’. It dictates what we see and how we see it - up close or far away, moving or static – and so has the greatest influence on our perception of the narrative. It also allows the audience to see the world of the narrative through the eyes of a specific character, thereby allowing an insight into that character’s experience. An example of a good response that explores this could be:
“When Phyllis first appears at the top of the stairs in Double Indemnity (1944) the low camera angle and medium-to-long shot allow the audience to view her as Walter does from his position on the ground floor. As an audience we don’t just share Walter’s experience, we become Walter, gazing upward at Phyllis as she emerges from the shadows wearing only a towel, her exposed legs tantalisingly obscured by the metal balustrade. We look up to her as a goddess, just as Walter does. When Phyllis later descends the staircase, the tracking close-up of her feet and calves allows brief glimpses of a glittering anklet and the swish of her knee-length skirt. The camera is again presenting Walter’s point-of-view, fetishising her legs before tilting up her body. This adoption of the male gaze cements the audience’s understanding of Walter’s relationship with Phyllis: she is the object of his lust and as he is enthralled by her, so too are we.”
The camera can also indicate status and power through the use of high or low angle shots, with low angles attributing greater power to the figure towering over the camera and high angles achieving the opposite effect. Extremely high camera angles, or ‘bird’s eye views’ as they are colloquially known, can sometimes imply that what the camera looks down upon is utterly insignificant. More commonly, however, they are used to establish a location or suggest ideas of death, as though the camera represents the spirit floating high above or looking down from heaven. For example, in American Beauty (1999) Lester’s opening narration accompanies an extremely high camera angle above the neighbourhood to which he is referring. A poor response might simply refer to this as an establishing shot and leave it at that. An example of a better response could be:
“As the camera hovers over Lester’s neighbourhood, the combined extremely high camera angle and extreme long shot quickly establish the physical setting for the narrative. From this height there are no distinguishing features and the distance creates a sense of detachment, as though we are looking down on a miniature display of model houses all perfectly arranged and equally meaningless. As the camera slowly zooms in on Lester’s street, accompanied by his droll narration, the audience is perceiving Lester’s life as he does: beautifully arranged but small and insignificant. When Lester informs the audience that he will be dead “in less than a year”, the ethereal view afforded by the camera takes on a new meaning, suggesting that Lester is in fact narrating his story posthumously and the camera is showing us the neighbourhood through his eyes as he gazes down on it from heaven.”
As with any analysis of production elements, when talking about camera you should always use specific terminology and discuss the intended effect on the audience. Remember that the camera is designed to be the audience’s ‘eyes’. It dictates what we see and how we see it - up close or far away, moving or static – and so has the greatest influence on our perception of the narrative. It also allows the audience to see the world of the narrative through the eyes of a specific character, thereby allowing an insight into that character’s experience. An example of a good response that explores this could be:
“When Phyllis first appears at the top of the stairs in Double Indemnity (1944) the low camera angle and medium-to-long shot allow the audience to view her as Walter does from his position on the ground floor. As an audience we don’t just share Walter’s experience, we become Walter, gazing upward at Phyllis as she emerges from the shadows wearing only a towel, her exposed legs tantalisingly obscured by the metal balustrade. We look up to her as a goddess, just as Walter does. When Phyllis later descends the staircase, the tracking close-up of her feet and calves allows brief glimpses of a glittering anklet and the swish of her knee-length skirt. The camera is again presenting Walter’s point-of-view, fetishising her legs before tilting up her body. This adoption of the male gaze cements the audience’s understanding of Walter’s relationship with Phyllis: she is the object of his lust and as he is enthralled by her, so too are we.”
The camera can also indicate status and power through the use of high or low angle shots, with low angles attributing greater power to the figure towering over the camera and high angles achieving the opposite effect. Extremely high camera angles, or ‘bird’s eye views’ as they are colloquially known, can sometimes imply that what the camera looks down upon is utterly insignificant. More commonly, however, they are used to establish a location or suggest ideas of death, as though the camera represents the spirit floating high above or looking down from heaven. For example, in American Beauty (1999) Lester’s opening narration accompanies an extremely high camera angle above the neighbourhood to which he is referring. A poor response might simply refer to this as an establishing shot and leave it at that. An example of a better response could be:
“As the camera hovers over Lester’s neighbourhood, the combined extremely high camera angle and extreme long shot quickly establish the physical setting for the narrative. From this height there are no distinguishing features and the distance creates a sense of detachment, as though we are looking down on a miniature display of model houses all perfectly arranged and equally meaningless. As the camera slowly zooms in on Lester’s street, accompanied by his droll narration, the audience is perceiving Lester’s life as he does: beautifully arranged but small and insignificant. When Lester informs the audience that he will be dead “in less than a year”, the ethereal view afforded by the camera takes on a new meaning, suggesting that Lester is in fact narrating his story posthumously and the camera is showing us the neighbourhood through his eyes as he gazes down on it from heaven.”
Acting
Key terms: Body language, gestures, facial expressions, vocal intonation, personality actor.
When writing about acting, it is important that you refer to the actor by his or her name, rather than referring to them by their character’s name. Your focus here is to analyse how the actor has portrayed a particular character and brought them to life, so refer to the actor and their acting, rather than discussing the character.
On this note, it is also important to avoid writing about dialogue and the effect of it, unless you are specifically writing about how the actor has delivered that dialogue, because if you don’t do this, you’re really only discussing the script’s content and not the actor’s skill and technique. For example, writing something like, “When Noah tells Allie that he’s always loved her, she starts to cry and it’s really sad,” is not an adequate answer, because all of you’ve really mentioned is plot content and character names, rather than analysing how the actors made this scene effective. A more appropriate answer might be to write:
“Rachel McAdams widens her eyes to give the impression of disbelief, puts her hand to her mouth, showing an obvious shake in her arms and tremble of her chin underneath her hand. The intention here is to convey to the audience that her character is overcome with emotion and by covering her mouth with her hand, she is trying to keep her cries and physical representations of her sadness from tumbling out, perhaps also metaphorically representing that her character’s mental and emotional state is also on the verge of fracturing.”
Another thing to consider when analysing acting are the actors themselves and their reputations. If an actor is known for portraying a particular type of character or is often representative of a particular genre of film, this can also be discussed. For example, if a particular actor regularly stars in action films, it would be appropriate to write something like, “Maggie Q is an actress who regularly portrays characters who are tough, confident, uncompromising, totally in control butt kickers, so when she enters the scene assumptions can already be made about the impact she is about to have on the action of the narrative. Maggie Q’s steely look in her eyes, scowling facial expression and clenched fists as she walks into the shot, further exemplifies this expectation.” Likewise, if an actor is known to be a very serious person, or often portrays very serious characters, you may wish to acknowledge and discuss this.
There are two common categories of actors that are often referred to: personality stars and actor stars. A personality star is someone who often appears as themself, or will have roles written specifically for them, without a great deal of change happening between the roles they play. John Wayne, the famous western star, was an example of this. In whatever film he was in John Wayne played John Wayne. He was tough, monotone, uncompromising, heroic and a manly man. Other examples of personality stars could include Jim Carrey, Rebel Wilson and Michael Cera.
An actor star is an actor who takes on a variety of different roles and plays many different characters, both heroic and villainous and shows great range and talent. Actors who could be considered actor stars include: Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp (although in recent years he’s been typecast more often as the “weird guy”), Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hardy.
On this note, it is also important to avoid writing about dialogue and the effect of it, unless you are specifically writing about how the actor has delivered that dialogue, because if you don’t do this, you’re really only discussing the script’s content and not the actor’s skill and technique. For example, writing something like, “When Noah tells Allie that he’s always loved her, she starts to cry and it’s really sad,” is not an adequate answer, because all of you’ve really mentioned is plot content and character names, rather than analysing how the actors made this scene effective. A more appropriate answer might be to write:
“Rachel McAdams widens her eyes to give the impression of disbelief, puts her hand to her mouth, showing an obvious shake in her arms and tremble of her chin underneath her hand. The intention here is to convey to the audience that her character is overcome with emotion and by covering her mouth with her hand, she is trying to keep her cries and physical representations of her sadness from tumbling out, perhaps also metaphorically representing that her character’s mental and emotional state is also on the verge of fracturing.”
Another thing to consider when analysing acting are the actors themselves and their reputations. If an actor is known for portraying a particular type of character or is often representative of a particular genre of film, this can also be discussed. For example, if a particular actor regularly stars in action films, it would be appropriate to write something like, “Maggie Q is an actress who regularly portrays characters who are tough, confident, uncompromising, totally in control butt kickers, so when she enters the scene assumptions can already be made about the impact she is about to have on the action of the narrative. Maggie Q’s steely look in her eyes, scowling facial expression and clenched fists as she walks into the shot, further exemplifies this expectation.” Likewise, if an actor is known to be a very serious person, or often portrays very serious characters, you may wish to acknowledge and discuss this.
There are two common categories of actors that are often referred to: personality stars and actor stars. A personality star is someone who often appears as themself, or will have roles written specifically for them, without a great deal of change happening between the roles they play. John Wayne, the famous western star, was an example of this. In whatever film he was in John Wayne played John Wayne. He was tough, monotone, uncompromising, heroic and a manly man. Other examples of personality stars could include Jim Carrey, Rebel Wilson and Michael Cera.
An actor star is an actor who takes on a variety of different roles and plays many different characters, both heroic and villainous and shows great range and talent. Actors who could be considered actor stars include: Judi Dench, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp (although in recent years he’s been typecast more often as the “weird guy”), Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hardy.
Mise-en-scene
Key terms: Set/location, props, costume, make-up, colour, composition, symbolism/motif.
Mise-en-scène is a French term meaning ‘put in the scene or frame’. It originated in the theatre and was used to refer to everything appearing on the stage at a given time. In film terms, mise-en-scène refers to everything appearing within a shot at a given time. That is, if you paused the film and just looked at a single frame, mise-en-scène would refer to everything that you could see within that frame, from the actor’s costume to the props and sets around them.
When discussing mise-en-scène it is important to remember that it is made up of many different components, such as costume, make-up, sets, props and more. An analysis of mise-en-scène must refer to multiple components. For example, if analysing the mise-en-scène of James Bond drinking at a bar, a poor response would be, “The suit makes him look very professional.” A better response would refer to multiple components, such as the use of costume, props and colour. For example:
“The martini (‘shaken not stirred’ of course) is an essential prop as the drink is synonymous with the Bond character and epitomises the key qualities that he embodies: class, refinement and a taste for the finer things in life. The costume, an impeccably tailored black suit against a crisp white shirt, again connotes the class and elegance for which Bond is so famous while the stark contrast of his black and white attire clearly distinguishes him as different and superior to the bland assortment of grey-and-brown-clad men surrounding him.”
As with any discussion of production elements, it is important to make use of the correct terminology and always discuss the intended effect on the audience. For example rather than just saying, “The room looks really messy,” a better response could be: “The set dresser’s use of props to overcrowd the room, strewing them haphazardly across every surface and balancing them precariously atop one another, lends a claustrophobic feeling to the scene that symbolises the protagonist’s growing fear of entrapment as well as his increasingly disorganised and unbalanced thought processes.”
When discussing mise-en-scène it is important to remember that it is made up of many different components, such as costume, make-up, sets, props and more. An analysis of mise-en-scène must refer to multiple components. For example, if analysing the mise-en-scène of James Bond drinking at a bar, a poor response would be, “The suit makes him look very professional.” A better response would refer to multiple components, such as the use of costume, props and colour. For example:
“The martini (‘shaken not stirred’ of course) is an essential prop as the drink is synonymous with the Bond character and epitomises the key qualities that he embodies: class, refinement and a taste for the finer things in life. The costume, an impeccably tailored black suit against a crisp white shirt, again connotes the class and elegance for which Bond is so famous while the stark contrast of his black and white attire clearly distinguishes him as different and superior to the bland assortment of grey-and-brown-clad men surrounding him.”
As with any discussion of production elements, it is important to make use of the correct terminology and always discuss the intended effect on the audience. For example rather than just saying, “The room looks really messy,” a better response could be: “The set dresser’s use of props to overcrowd the room, strewing them haphazardly across every surface and balancing them precariously atop one another, lends a claustrophobic feeling to the scene that symbolises the protagonist’s growing fear of entrapment as well as his increasingly disorganised and unbalanced thought processes.”
Editing
Key terms: Temporal order, temporal frequency, temporal duration, flashbacks, pacing, elliptical editing, parallel editing, cut, shot duration.
When analysing editing, like with all of the production and story elements, it is important to utilise correct terminology and display a clear understanding of the different types of editing being used and its intended effect on the audience. A most common effect from editing is that of pacing and perception.
An editor, under close guidance from the director, makes choices about when to cut a shot/sound, when to end a particular shot/sound and move on to another. The editor assembles the footage and sounds of the film and, as a result, has a great deal of control over the way the film is eventually viewed. Interpretations, flow, meaning, tension and resolutions can all come down to whether the editor has been effective or not.
A long singular shot without any cuts can add to the tension of a scene as the suspense slowly builds. Short, sharp cuts can create a frenetic pace of quick shots that potentially confuse or disorientate the audience and potentially creating a sense of urgency and unease as well. This technique is commonly used in action movies and scenes of great intensity or fear. The camera work may combine with editing in this case, as the camera will be constantly moving, sometimes swiftly, blurrily, while each shot may last only a second or more. This barrage of swaying, swirling shots, cut together in rapid fire motion one after the other immerses the audience in the scene and enables them to feel the tension and fear and urgency that the characters are experiencing at that moment in time.
Many films will start a scene off with a slow pace, with much longer shots to create tension and draw the audience in, as this can often be effective in creating an expectation of something to come. Then, when that payoff, or expected climactic event does come, the shots get much shorter, the camera starts to move more, so the juxtaposition of long, drawn out shots suddenly jarring against short, swirling shots is far more impactful. The Oscar winning film Gravity (2013) toys with this idea, perhaps more than most, as the opening of the film is one continuous shot that lasts for over thirteen minutes, while Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s characters, who are astronauts, are spacewalking outside the space shuttle. When a shower of space junk hits them from an exploded satellite, however, that’s been flung into their orbit, the camera movement and editing change drastically, to further enhance the drama and terror of the moment.
Another key term you’ll want to use when discussing editing is temporal: temporal order, temporal duration, temporal frequency. Temporal is just another word for time, but is better terminology to use, so all the terms are essentially saying are order of time, duration of time and frequency of time, or more simply, how many times a story is told.
Films like Groundhog Day (1993), Run Lola Run (1998) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) have a distinctive temporal frequency, as these films involve the same storyline, or the same sequence of events, being told over and over, but with slight changes each time. Temporal frequency can be used to highlight different character perspectives and create confusion about where the truth might really lie. If the sequence of events is told from the perspective of different characters each time, it is known as the Rashomon Effect, taken from the 1950 Japanese film, Rashomon. Notable examples of this are Citizen Kane (1941), Pulp Fiction (1994), Vantage Point (2008) and Clue (1985). Temporal frequency can also be used to show consequences of the actions of certain characters. Depending on choices made each time the audience witnesses the sequence of events, different consequences occur. This is evident in Groundhog Day, Run, Lola, Run and Sliding Doors (1998). Temporal frequency is also an oft-utilised technique in time travel films, again to show such things as consequences for choices made, or different character perspectives on the same events. This is evident in such films as The Butterfly Effect (2004), Predestination (2014) and About Time (2013).
An appropriate answer addressing the use of temporal frequency might be, “The editor and director’s utilization of temporal frequency in Predestination means that the audience is able to see the key events multiple times. They witness the events of the transgender character Jane/John’s life from a different perspective, discovering that Jane’s tale of love lost has a much greater poignancy. When the audience first sees the story of Jane’s initial encounter with her lost love, it is told from John’s perspective at the bar in 1970. When John travels back to 1963 with The Barkeep to the night of Jane’s initial encounter, the audience, and John for that matter, is encountering the scene from a completely different perspective. Different camera angles of the same events are employed to highlight this differing perspective and shots of the lost love’s face are cut to more frequently than when John was telling the story from memory in 1970, to highlight the emotion of the scene and how the revelations of the scene have completely changed John’s memory of it. ” (This answer would need to be more explicit and not talk vaguely like this one does, but I’m obviously trying to avoid giving away huge plot spoilers.)
The temporal order of the film essentially deals with the narrative progression, the order of events in which the story is told. The most common structuring of time in film is the linear plot progression, meaning that the story starts at the beginning and moves, in chronological order, through time to the end. Other variations of this that are also quite common are the circular plot progression and the flashback narrative.
The circular plot progression will often start at the end and then work backwards to tell how it all happened, or jump back to the start to see how the story got to that point. This was a common technique used in classic film noir movies, often starting with a dead body and then jumping back to find out how the body came to be so, well, dead. A classic example of a film noir movie with circular plot progression is Double Indemnity. More recent examples of this circular narrative structure include: Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump (1994), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Crash (2004) and American Beauty. Altering the temporal order of the film can help build a sense of expectation and suspense in the audience, as they know certain climactic plot points are destined to follow, so can potentially view each character and event differently, because they know what is to come. It is also an effective way of quickly drawing the audience into the film’s narrative, by presenting one of, if not the, most dramatic moments of the film first.
Flashback narratives involve at least two storylines taking place within the film’s structure. One will be taking place in the present day, whilst one will be taking place in the past, with both storylines being linked and tied together in some way. Depending on how much of the flashback storyline is revealed each time, the audience will gradually learn more and more about the present day characters as the past unfolds.
The final temporal term worth considering is that of temporal duration. Temporal duration can be broken up into three different categories: story duration, plot duration and screen duration. The story duration refers to the amount of time that passes in the story, the plot duration refers to the actual amount of time that passes from the beginning of the narration to the end and the screen duration is simply how long the story is being portrayed and viewed by an audience on screen.
For example, the film American History X (1998), deals with Danny, a high school student getting dragged down the wrong path, and his brother Derek who has just been released from prison for involuntary manslaughter, after serving three years. The plot duration of the film is roughly twenty four hours. It starts in the morning that Danny gets in trouble at school for his history paper on Mein Kampf, progresses through to Derek getting out of prison that afternoon, Danny sneaking out to the white supremacist party that night and then climaxes with Danny back at school the next morning. The story duration of the film, however, is roughly five years, as the audience witnesses flashbacks told via Danny and Derek to the night that landed Derek in jail, racist diatribes from their father at dinner many years before and Derek’s experiences in jail over the past three years. The screen duration of the film is 119 minutes.
Differing temporal durations will allow the audience to understand different things about the characters and perhaps appreciate the narrative events better. The flashback narrative and the extended temporal plot duration within American History X, allows the audience to greater understand the evolution of Derek’s character and perhaps highlight that no matter how ingrained learned racist behaviour might be, perhaps it can also be unlearned.
Two final editing terms to be familiar with are elliptical editing and parallel editing (also known as cross-cutting).
Elliptical editing is simply the editing of a scene to cut down the time the events take to unfold. In Batman Begins (2005), Bruce Wayne is shown climbing up a snowy mountain, getting to the peak and then seeing, way off in the distance, the building, over many mountains he needs to get to. This journey will takes many hours, if not days. The audience doesn’t need to see this however, so a cross-dissolve transition is used to fade to him then walking up the hill at the base of the building, to show that time has passed and he has completed his journey. This technique can often be used, simply to keep the pace of the film moving along without slowing it down with unnecessary detail and events, but it can also be used to add to the tension and excitement of a scene by speeding up the events and, again, adding to the pace of the film.
Parallel editing is when two storylines are unfolding at the exact same time. The editor will cut back and forth from one storyline to the other to increase the tension of the scene. These events are often related and the technique is frequently used in thrillers and dramatic films, to show that perhaps someone is in danger, or a character has made a mistake. Editing in this way can be far more effective for the tension and pacing of the film than if these scenes were simply cut to play one after the other. This technique can also be used to highlight contrast and difference in two scenes: wealth and poverty, purity and evil, etc. This technique is used extensively throughout Clint Eastwood’s film, Mystic River. The first instance of it has Sean Penn’s character, Jimmy, in church at his youngest daughter’s first communion. This scene is cross-cut with the police investigating a crime scene, which the audience discovers is the murder of his eldest daughter. These two scenes playing out concurrently, showing Jimmy doting over his daughter at church and highlighting the happiness and purity of the event, jarringly contrasts with the gruesome crime scene and conveys the dark turn the narrative is about to take.
An editor, under close guidance from the director, makes choices about when to cut a shot/sound, when to end a particular shot/sound and move on to another. The editor assembles the footage and sounds of the film and, as a result, has a great deal of control over the way the film is eventually viewed. Interpretations, flow, meaning, tension and resolutions can all come down to whether the editor has been effective or not.
A long singular shot without any cuts can add to the tension of a scene as the suspense slowly builds. Short, sharp cuts can create a frenetic pace of quick shots that potentially confuse or disorientate the audience and potentially creating a sense of urgency and unease as well. This technique is commonly used in action movies and scenes of great intensity or fear. The camera work may combine with editing in this case, as the camera will be constantly moving, sometimes swiftly, blurrily, while each shot may last only a second or more. This barrage of swaying, swirling shots, cut together in rapid fire motion one after the other immerses the audience in the scene and enables them to feel the tension and fear and urgency that the characters are experiencing at that moment in time.
Many films will start a scene off with a slow pace, with much longer shots to create tension and draw the audience in, as this can often be effective in creating an expectation of something to come. Then, when that payoff, or expected climactic event does come, the shots get much shorter, the camera starts to move more, so the juxtaposition of long, drawn out shots suddenly jarring against short, swirling shots is far more impactful. The Oscar winning film Gravity (2013) toys with this idea, perhaps more than most, as the opening of the film is one continuous shot that lasts for over thirteen minutes, while Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s characters, who are astronauts, are spacewalking outside the space shuttle. When a shower of space junk hits them from an exploded satellite, however, that’s been flung into their orbit, the camera movement and editing change drastically, to further enhance the drama and terror of the moment.
Another key term you’ll want to use when discussing editing is temporal: temporal order, temporal duration, temporal frequency. Temporal is just another word for time, but is better terminology to use, so all the terms are essentially saying are order of time, duration of time and frequency of time, or more simply, how many times a story is told.
Films like Groundhog Day (1993), Run Lola Run (1998) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) have a distinctive temporal frequency, as these films involve the same storyline, or the same sequence of events, being told over and over, but with slight changes each time. Temporal frequency can be used to highlight different character perspectives and create confusion about where the truth might really lie. If the sequence of events is told from the perspective of different characters each time, it is known as the Rashomon Effect, taken from the 1950 Japanese film, Rashomon. Notable examples of this are Citizen Kane (1941), Pulp Fiction (1994), Vantage Point (2008) and Clue (1985). Temporal frequency can also be used to show consequences of the actions of certain characters. Depending on choices made each time the audience witnesses the sequence of events, different consequences occur. This is evident in Groundhog Day, Run, Lola, Run and Sliding Doors (1998). Temporal frequency is also an oft-utilised technique in time travel films, again to show such things as consequences for choices made, or different character perspectives on the same events. This is evident in such films as The Butterfly Effect (2004), Predestination (2014) and About Time (2013).
An appropriate answer addressing the use of temporal frequency might be, “The editor and director’s utilization of temporal frequency in Predestination means that the audience is able to see the key events multiple times. They witness the events of the transgender character Jane/John’s life from a different perspective, discovering that Jane’s tale of love lost has a much greater poignancy. When the audience first sees the story of Jane’s initial encounter with her lost love, it is told from John’s perspective at the bar in 1970. When John travels back to 1963 with The Barkeep to the night of Jane’s initial encounter, the audience, and John for that matter, is encountering the scene from a completely different perspective. Different camera angles of the same events are employed to highlight this differing perspective and shots of the lost love’s face are cut to more frequently than when John was telling the story from memory in 1970, to highlight the emotion of the scene and how the revelations of the scene have completely changed John’s memory of it. ” (This answer would need to be more explicit and not talk vaguely like this one does, but I’m obviously trying to avoid giving away huge plot spoilers.)
The temporal order of the film essentially deals with the narrative progression, the order of events in which the story is told. The most common structuring of time in film is the linear plot progression, meaning that the story starts at the beginning and moves, in chronological order, through time to the end. Other variations of this that are also quite common are the circular plot progression and the flashback narrative.
The circular plot progression will often start at the end and then work backwards to tell how it all happened, or jump back to the start to see how the story got to that point. This was a common technique used in classic film noir movies, often starting with a dead body and then jumping back to find out how the body came to be so, well, dead. A classic example of a film noir movie with circular plot progression is Double Indemnity. More recent examples of this circular narrative structure include: Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump (1994), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Crash (2004) and American Beauty. Altering the temporal order of the film can help build a sense of expectation and suspense in the audience, as they know certain climactic plot points are destined to follow, so can potentially view each character and event differently, because they know what is to come. It is also an effective way of quickly drawing the audience into the film’s narrative, by presenting one of, if not the, most dramatic moments of the film first.
Flashback narratives involve at least two storylines taking place within the film’s structure. One will be taking place in the present day, whilst one will be taking place in the past, with both storylines being linked and tied together in some way. Depending on how much of the flashback storyline is revealed each time, the audience will gradually learn more and more about the present day characters as the past unfolds.
The final temporal term worth considering is that of temporal duration. Temporal duration can be broken up into three different categories: story duration, plot duration and screen duration. The story duration refers to the amount of time that passes in the story, the plot duration refers to the actual amount of time that passes from the beginning of the narration to the end and the screen duration is simply how long the story is being portrayed and viewed by an audience on screen.
For example, the film American History X (1998), deals with Danny, a high school student getting dragged down the wrong path, and his brother Derek who has just been released from prison for involuntary manslaughter, after serving three years. The plot duration of the film is roughly twenty four hours. It starts in the morning that Danny gets in trouble at school for his history paper on Mein Kampf, progresses through to Derek getting out of prison that afternoon, Danny sneaking out to the white supremacist party that night and then climaxes with Danny back at school the next morning. The story duration of the film, however, is roughly five years, as the audience witnesses flashbacks told via Danny and Derek to the night that landed Derek in jail, racist diatribes from their father at dinner many years before and Derek’s experiences in jail over the past three years. The screen duration of the film is 119 minutes.
Differing temporal durations will allow the audience to understand different things about the characters and perhaps appreciate the narrative events better. The flashback narrative and the extended temporal plot duration within American History X, allows the audience to greater understand the evolution of Derek’s character and perhaps highlight that no matter how ingrained learned racist behaviour might be, perhaps it can also be unlearned.
Two final editing terms to be familiar with are elliptical editing and parallel editing (also known as cross-cutting).
Elliptical editing is simply the editing of a scene to cut down the time the events take to unfold. In Batman Begins (2005), Bruce Wayne is shown climbing up a snowy mountain, getting to the peak and then seeing, way off in the distance, the building, over many mountains he needs to get to. This journey will takes many hours, if not days. The audience doesn’t need to see this however, so a cross-dissolve transition is used to fade to him then walking up the hill at the base of the building, to show that time has passed and he has completed his journey. This technique can often be used, simply to keep the pace of the film moving along without slowing it down with unnecessary detail and events, but it can also be used to add to the tension and excitement of a scene by speeding up the events and, again, adding to the pace of the film.
Parallel editing is when two storylines are unfolding at the exact same time. The editor will cut back and forth from one storyline to the other to increase the tension of the scene. These events are often related and the technique is frequently used in thrillers and dramatic films, to show that perhaps someone is in danger, or a character has made a mistake. Editing in this way can be far more effective for the tension and pacing of the film than if these scenes were simply cut to play one after the other. This technique can also be used to highlight contrast and difference in two scenes: wealth and poverty, purity and evil, etc. This technique is used extensively throughout Clint Eastwood’s film, Mystic River. The first instance of it has Sean Penn’s character, Jimmy, in church at his youngest daughter’s first communion. This scene is cross-cut with the police investigating a crime scene, which the audience discovers is the murder of his eldest daughter. These two scenes playing out concurrently, showing Jimmy doting over his daughter at church and highlighting the happiness and purity of the event, jarringly contrasts with the gruesome crime scene and conveys the dark turn the narrative is about to take.
Lighting
Key terms: Chiaroscuro, high-key, low-key, naturalistic, symbolic, overexposed.
Lighting is a crucial production element as it can affect the entire mood of a scene and control what the audience is able to see clearly in a shot. The effective use of lighting can draw attention to a specific prop within a scene or symbolise the personality traits of a character. At its most basic level, lighting can be either expressive or naturalistic. Expressive lighting draws attention to itself and the other elements on screen, for example by creating shadows or contrast. It can serve many purposes, such as evoking an emotional response or creating a sense of ‘other’. The film noir genre utilises expressive low-key lighting to create oppressive moods and (literally) ‘shady’ characters, while the science fiction genre often uses high-key lighting or overexposure to create a feeling of ‘otherness’. For example, in The Book of Eli (2010) the consistent use of harsh overexposure emphasises the post-apocalyptic desolation of the world the characters inhabit, whilst simultaneously obscuring the protagonist’s facial features in shadow to symbolically represent his internal conflict.
Alternatively, naturalistic lighting is designed to be unobtrusive and, as the name would suggest, ‘natural’. Its purpose is to invoke a sense of realism so that we suspend disbelief and forget that we are watching a construction. The diner scene in American Beauty is a classic example of naturalistic lighting as it has been constructed to appear as though the interview is taking place during the day, with sunlight streaming through the windows in a realistic manner to cast shadows on the characters within the scene. As an audience we do not question that the scene is taking place during the day and in fact take the lighting for granted, yet in reality the scene was shot at night-time and the sunshine is completely artificial. Thus the success of naturalistic lighting is in its ability to go unnoticed.
Be careful that you don’t confuse ‘naturalistic’ lighting with ‘natural’ lighting. As already discussed, naturalistic lighting is artificially constructed to create a sense of realism, whereas natural lighting is when a scene is filmed using only the natural light available in that location at that time.
Alternatively, naturalistic lighting is designed to be unobtrusive and, as the name would suggest, ‘natural’. Its purpose is to invoke a sense of realism so that we suspend disbelief and forget that we are watching a construction. The diner scene in American Beauty is a classic example of naturalistic lighting as it has been constructed to appear as though the interview is taking place during the day, with sunlight streaming through the windows in a realistic manner to cast shadows on the characters within the scene. As an audience we do not question that the scene is taking place during the day and in fact take the lighting for granted, yet in reality the scene was shot at night-time and the sunshine is completely artificial. Thus the success of naturalistic lighting is in its ability to go unnoticed.
Be careful that you don’t confuse ‘naturalistic’ lighting with ‘natural’ lighting. As already discussed, naturalistic lighting is artificially constructed to create a sense of realism, whereas natural lighting is when a scene is filmed using only the natural light available in that location at that time.
Sound
Key terms: Diegetic, non-diegetic, foley, leit motif, sound bridge.
Sound is fundamental to creating the world of the narrative story and consists of three main elements: dialogue, music and sound effects. Sound in film consists of two main types: diegetic and non-diegetic.
Diegetic sound is sound that exists and emanates from within the world of the film, such as dialogue, music that is playing on a jukebox and the sound effects of rain hitting the roof of a house for example. Non-diegetic sound is sound that the audience can hear, but the characters that exist within the world of the film cannot. Examples of non-diegetic sound include narration and the musical score.
When analysing sound, as always, you need to focus on its purpose and intended effect on the audience: what does it tell us about a character, does it establish mood, is it metaphoric, does it foreshadow what’s to come, how is it edited, etc.
When considering this, you may wish to also look at representational sounds and non-representational sounds. Representational sounds are diegetic and recreate reality for the audience, such as a car horn, a police siren, footsteps, etc. Non-representational and expressionistic sounds do not come from a real-life event, and are often used metaphorically, or to create an image or perception in the audience’s mind. The harsh stabs of violins in the shower scene in Psycho (1960), the sounds of imagined wolves as Dave runs from his predators and echoed, monster-like thuds of his kidnappers coming down the stairs in Mystic River. An example of an appropriate answer with regards to sound in Mystic River could be:
“Sound is implemented effectively and extensively throughout the opening sequence of Mystic River to create a greater sense of fear and tension for the audience. As the audience sees Dave in his kidnappers’ dungeon, one of the paedophiles steps slowly, deliberately and menacingly down the stairs. The use of echoing, slowed, expressionistic sound in this sequence gives the impression of, not simply a dangerous man descending stairs, but a giant, a monster, entering his lair to toy with his captured prey. This concept is further enhanced in the ensuing escape scene. The jarring, screeching, non-diegetic blast of sound as the vision cuts to blinding white light, jolts the audience from the darkness and ominous threat of the previous scene to Dave frantically running through a forest. The continued use of non-diegetic screeching and animal noises assist in conveying Dave’s fear to the audience, accentuating the realisation that he is not simply escaping from bad people, but he is being hunted by animals, he is their prey.”
Diegetic sound is sound that exists and emanates from within the world of the film, such as dialogue, music that is playing on a jukebox and the sound effects of rain hitting the roof of a house for example. Non-diegetic sound is sound that the audience can hear, but the characters that exist within the world of the film cannot. Examples of non-diegetic sound include narration and the musical score.
When analysing sound, as always, you need to focus on its purpose and intended effect on the audience: what does it tell us about a character, does it establish mood, is it metaphoric, does it foreshadow what’s to come, how is it edited, etc.
When considering this, you may wish to also look at representational sounds and non-representational sounds. Representational sounds are diegetic and recreate reality for the audience, such as a car horn, a police siren, footsteps, etc. Non-representational and expressionistic sounds do not come from a real-life event, and are often used metaphorically, or to create an image or perception in the audience’s mind. The harsh stabs of violins in the shower scene in Psycho (1960), the sounds of imagined wolves as Dave runs from his predators and echoed, monster-like thuds of his kidnappers coming down the stairs in Mystic River. An example of an appropriate answer with regards to sound in Mystic River could be:
“Sound is implemented effectively and extensively throughout the opening sequence of Mystic River to create a greater sense of fear and tension for the audience. As the audience sees Dave in his kidnappers’ dungeon, one of the paedophiles steps slowly, deliberately and menacingly down the stairs. The use of echoing, slowed, expressionistic sound in this sequence gives the impression of, not simply a dangerous man descending stairs, but a giant, a monster, entering his lair to toy with his captured prey. This concept is further enhanced in the ensuing escape scene. The jarring, screeching, non-diegetic blast of sound as the vision cuts to blinding white light, jolts the audience from the darkness and ominous threat of the previous scene to Dave frantically running through a forest. The continued use of non-diegetic screeching and animal noises assist in conveying Dave’s fear to the audience, accentuating the realisation that he is not simply escaping from bad people, but he is being hunted by animals, he is their prey.”
Cause and Effect
Key terms: Narrative possibilities, causal agents, causal role, equilibrium, chain of events, triggers.
The cause-and-effect cycle in a narrative sets up the chain of events; one thing then leads to another in a way that seems natural and lifelike.
Usually every scene represents a minor turning point in the plot. Every three to five scenes can be considered a sequence. At the end of every sequence there is a small climax that is another turning point. Each one of these events has been a cause that has had an effect. The final cause comes about as a result of all the previous decisions of the main characters. It brings about the effect of the final equilibrium (or resolution). From the smallest unit of the film, right up to the whole movie, the chain of cause and effect is the basis of plot development.
Important turning points in films are often signalled by the directors through camera work, editing or sound. Perhaps the camera pauses on an important event, or music may underscore the significance. Sometimes a camera movement such as a crane shot can establish that the scene is a turning point.
A typical narrative will begin with everything being “normal”, or at least stable, which is known as equilibrium – a calm state of balance. This is then disturbed by some force or power, a type of conflict known as a causal agent. This upsets the equilibrium of the narrative’s diegesis, resulting in disequilibrium (when everything is not calm and balanced…obviously). Forces or powers working against this previous causal agent then re-establishes the equilibrium, but despite the second equilibrium being similar to the first, things are never the same again.
So, let’s put the above mumbo jumbo into an actual example. Let’s use Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010). At the beginning, Scott Pilgrim is in a band and dating Knives Chau, the stable equilibrium exists. This is then disturbed by a force – the arrival of Ramona Flowers, our causal agent – causing disequilibrium within the film as a result of conflict (the internal conflict of Scott cheating on and eventually breaking up with Knives, the external conflict of having to fight seven evil exes, etc.). Scott learns about himself, defeats the evil exes and Ramona becomes a positive influence in his life, rather than a disturbing force, thus re-establishing the equilibrium.
While the effects of a causal action depend totally on the particular story and are too varied to review, the causal agents themselves usually fall into one of four categories.
Human characters:
Human society:
Non-human characters:
Natural events as causal agents:
Usually every scene represents a minor turning point in the plot. Every three to five scenes can be considered a sequence. At the end of every sequence there is a small climax that is another turning point. Each one of these events has been a cause that has had an effect. The final cause comes about as a result of all the previous decisions of the main characters. It brings about the effect of the final equilibrium (or resolution). From the smallest unit of the film, right up to the whole movie, the chain of cause and effect is the basis of plot development.
Important turning points in films are often signalled by the directors through camera work, editing or sound. Perhaps the camera pauses on an important event, or music may underscore the significance. Sometimes a camera movement such as a crane shot can establish that the scene is a turning point.
A typical narrative will begin with everything being “normal”, or at least stable, which is known as equilibrium – a calm state of balance. This is then disturbed by some force or power, a type of conflict known as a causal agent. This upsets the equilibrium of the narrative’s diegesis, resulting in disequilibrium (when everything is not calm and balanced…obviously). Forces or powers working against this previous causal agent then re-establishes the equilibrium, but despite the second equilibrium being similar to the first, things are never the same again.
So, let’s put the above mumbo jumbo into an actual example. Let’s use Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010). At the beginning, Scott Pilgrim is in a band and dating Knives Chau, the stable equilibrium exists. This is then disturbed by a force – the arrival of Ramona Flowers, our causal agent – causing disequilibrium within the film as a result of conflict (the internal conflict of Scott cheating on and eventually breaking up with Knives, the external conflict of having to fight seven evil exes, etc.). Scott learns about himself, defeats the evil exes and Ramona becomes a positive influence in his life, rather than a disturbing force, thus re-establishing the equilibrium.
While the effects of a causal action depend totally on the particular story and are too varied to review, the causal agents themselves usually fall into one of four categories.
Human characters:
- Characters cause things to happen through their actions.
- E.g. The Matrix (1999).
Human society:
- A narrative can be based on opposition to a whole society.
- E.g. Metropolis (1927).
Non-human characters:
- Animals, monsters, spirits and aliens.
- E.g. Jurassic Park (1993).
Natural events as causal agents:
- Meteors, earthquakes, tidal waves and other disasters.
- E.g. The Day After Tomorrow (2004).
Opening, Development and Resolution
Key terms: Narrative possibilities, foreshadowing, prologue, epilogue, exposition scenes, resolution.
Almost all western narratives use the traditional three-act-structure, where every story has a beginning, middle and end.
The opening sequence of these narratives is what’s known as the opening or orientation stage: the first act. This stage brings the audience into the narrative and introduces the main characters in their current situation. It is intended to quickly engage the audience in the narrative. The purpose of the opening scenes is to introduce normality and then create circumstances that allow disruption to begin. This establishes the central problem of the narrative and gives the characters their motivations. The orientation/opening stage of a narrative is often quite short, usually only around 15 minutes of screen time length.
The exposition stage of the opening is when the audience is shown all of the narrative details they need to know to begin the story. This includes background information about events that happened before the first scene and also includes showing the setting and introducing the main character. This is essentially a ‘showing’ and these exposition scenes establish the world of the story.
These exposition scenes can be done in a variety of ways: a narrator can be used, flashbacks, a title sequence, or others.
The opening sequence, or orientation stage, of the film is generally considered to be concluded when the disruption is introduced. For many different genres, these disruptions can be many different things: love, violence, suspense, etc., however the general rule is that whatever element starts the disruption should also finish it. If love starts the disruption, then love should finish it. If a gunfight is the disruption, violent gunfire must eventually restore order at the end of the film too.
Once the narrative has been established, a set of narrative possibilities have been created: directions in which the story could go. One of the most common processes for suggesting narrative possibilities is a technique called foreshadowing. This involves the early introduction of an element that appears unimportant at the time but takes on much greater significance later. Foreshadowing discreetly hints at the likely direction of the story, so when it develops in a certain way, the audience has already been cued to accept it.
A subtle example of foreshadowing in the opening sequence of Predestination is when The Barkeep, played by Ethan Hawke, is continually framed underneath the “Ladies” sign for the bathroom. This is an occurrence that seems insignificant at the time, but later proves to be extremely profound when it is later revealed that Jane, John, The Barkeep and The Fizzle Bomber are all the same person.
In the opening sequence of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, a bird’s-eye-view shot of Scott and Knives walking through the snow, at first glance, just looks like a couple walking through the snow.
The paths they are walking along, however, join to make a large X shape, foreshadowing that Knives is soon to become Scott’s ex and the many fights Scott has coming against Ramona’s seven evil exes.
The second act, known as the development or complication stage, begins after the disturbance, when the lead characters accept the problem they have been given. What follows is a series of complications or additional problems that flow from the original one. Traditionally, each problem is a little worse than the one before and seems to take the lead characters further from their goal. The second act ends at the second act turning point. This is an event that shows the characters the enormity of what they are facing.
In Scott Pilgrim vs the World, this second act turning point is after Scott and Ramona have defeated Roxy Richter, the fourth evil ex. Scott and Ramona argue, she gives him a list of all of the evil exes he has to fight, tells him, “You’re just another evil ex waiting to happen,” and the battle of the bands is just about to commence.
In Predestination, the second act turning point is after The Barkeep has been defeated by The Fizzle Bomber in a fight and John is currently in 1963 dating Jane. The Barkeep returns to a hotel room and trashes it, frustrated at constantly being outwitted by the bomber, whilst John realises that he is in fact the man he’s always hated for breaking his heart when he was Jane.
Following the conclusion of the second act, the third act commences which includes the final climax and resolution. The final climax is the do-or-die event with which the characters face the ultimate test. Once their fate is sealed, the resolution happens quickly. This third act is known as the closing sequence, or the resolution.
The resolution is not merely an ending; it must close off every other narrative possibility in the film. In other words, it must tie off all loose ends. A narrative that is not fully closed off can leave room for a sequel, but there must be a sufficient sense of completion to meet audience expectations. One by one, character choices close off all but one possibility. The ultimate choice is made in the final climax. Just before the final climax, the main characters must have their backs to the wall. The most unfavourable possibility of all looks likely: the dashing of all hope of solving the central problem of the film.
It is rare to find a successful film or television narrative that lingers for more than a few minutes after the final climax. In many cases the resolution and climax come together in the same scene. The dénouement is the final stage of the film, where all the loose ends are tied up and the final secrets are revealed. Dénouement is a French word meaning ‘untying’. It comes after the climax and just before the credits. The dénouement is a time for the audience to untangle themselves from the narrative and get ready for the lights to come on.
A climax is a high point in the drama. Narratives have only a few genuine high points: generally, the initial disturbance, the second-act turning point and the final climax. However, every narrative has other, minor high points or secondary climaxes. These are twists and turns that appear to change the fortunes of the characters, or obstacles that must be overcome. Most Hollywood screenwriters aim for a significant high point for every 10 to 15 minutes of screen time. Secondary climaxes help build towards the final climax. This is called the rising tension or rising action model of narrative progression.
The rising tension of the traditional narrative structure is often depicted in graph form as a mountain range, with a number of smaller peaks eventually rising to the largest one before falling away sharply during the resolution stage. Danger/conflict increases until the final climax.
The opening sequence of these narratives is what’s known as the opening or orientation stage: the first act. This stage brings the audience into the narrative and introduces the main characters in their current situation. It is intended to quickly engage the audience in the narrative. The purpose of the opening scenes is to introduce normality and then create circumstances that allow disruption to begin. This establishes the central problem of the narrative and gives the characters their motivations. The orientation/opening stage of a narrative is often quite short, usually only around 15 minutes of screen time length.
The exposition stage of the opening is when the audience is shown all of the narrative details they need to know to begin the story. This includes background information about events that happened before the first scene and also includes showing the setting and introducing the main character. This is essentially a ‘showing’ and these exposition scenes establish the world of the story.
These exposition scenes can be done in a variety of ways: a narrator can be used, flashbacks, a title sequence, or others.
The opening sequence, or orientation stage, of the film is generally considered to be concluded when the disruption is introduced. For many different genres, these disruptions can be many different things: love, violence, suspense, etc., however the general rule is that whatever element starts the disruption should also finish it. If love starts the disruption, then love should finish it. If a gunfight is the disruption, violent gunfire must eventually restore order at the end of the film too.
Once the narrative has been established, a set of narrative possibilities have been created: directions in which the story could go. One of the most common processes for suggesting narrative possibilities is a technique called foreshadowing. This involves the early introduction of an element that appears unimportant at the time but takes on much greater significance later. Foreshadowing discreetly hints at the likely direction of the story, so when it develops in a certain way, the audience has already been cued to accept it.
A subtle example of foreshadowing in the opening sequence of Predestination is when The Barkeep, played by Ethan Hawke, is continually framed underneath the “Ladies” sign for the bathroom. This is an occurrence that seems insignificant at the time, but later proves to be extremely profound when it is later revealed that Jane, John, The Barkeep and The Fizzle Bomber are all the same person.
In the opening sequence of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, a bird’s-eye-view shot of Scott and Knives walking through the snow, at first glance, just looks like a couple walking through the snow.
The paths they are walking along, however, join to make a large X shape, foreshadowing that Knives is soon to become Scott’s ex and the many fights Scott has coming against Ramona’s seven evil exes.
The second act, known as the development or complication stage, begins after the disturbance, when the lead characters accept the problem they have been given. What follows is a series of complications or additional problems that flow from the original one. Traditionally, each problem is a little worse than the one before and seems to take the lead characters further from their goal. The second act ends at the second act turning point. This is an event that shows the characters the enormity of what they are facing.
In Scott Pilgrim vs the World, this second act turning point is after Scott and Ramona have defeated Roxy Richter, the fourth evil ex. Scott and Ramona argue, she gives him a list of all of the evil exes he has to fight, tells him, “You’re just another evil ex waiting to happen,” and the battle of the bands is just about to commence.
In Predestination, the second act turning point is after The Barkeep has been defeated by The Fizzle Bomber in a fight and John is currently in 1963 dating Jane. The Barkeep returns to a hotel room and trashes it, frustrated at constantly being outwitted by the bomber, whilst John realises that he is in fact the man he’s always hated for breaking his heart when he was Jane.
Following the conclusion of the second act, the third act commences which includes the final climax and resolution. The final climax is the do-or-die event with which the characters face the ultimate test. Once their fate is sealed, the resolution happens quickly. This third act is known as the closing sequence, or the resolution.
The resolution is not merely an ending; it must close off every other narrative possibility in the film. In other words, it must tie off all loose ends. A narrative that is not fully closed off can leave room for a sequel, but there must be a sufficient sense of completion to meet audience expectations. One by one, character choices close off all but one possibility. The ultimate choice is made in the final climax. Just before the final climax, the main characters must have their backs to the wall. The most unfavourable possibility of all looks likely: the dashing of all hope of solving the central problem of the film.
It is rare to find a successful film or television narrative that lingers for more than a few minutes after the final climax. In many cases the resolution and climax come together in the same scene. The dénouement is the final stage of the film, where all the loose ends are tied up and the final secrets are revealed. Dénouement is a French word meaning ‘untying’. It comes after the climax and just before the credits. The dénouement is a time for the audience to untangle themselves from the narrative and get ready for the lights to come on.
A climax is a high point in the drama. Narratives have only a few genuine high points: generally, the initial disturbance, the second-act turning point and the final climax. However, every narrative has other, minor high points or secondary climaxes. These are twists and turns that appear to change the fortunes of the characters, or obstacles that must be overcome. Most Hollywood screenwriters aim for a significant high point for every 10 to 15 minutes of screen time. Secondary climaxes help build towards the final climax. This is called the rising tension or rising action model of narrative progression.
The rising tension of the traditional narrative structure is often depicted in graph form as a mountain range, with a number of smaller peaks eventually rising to the largest one before falling away sharply during the resolution stage. Danger/conflict increases until the final climax.
Point-of-view
Key terms: Omniscience, subjective, third person restricted, objective view.
Narrative point of view is the point of view from which the narrative is told to the audience. In this meaning, point of view is a story element and part of narrative structure. It refers to the way the audience is invited to identify with characters.
It is important not to get this confused with camera point of view (a POV shot), the perspective from which the camera is looking. It occurs when the audience temporarily sees things from the perspective of a particular character. The camera points in the direction that the character is looking. Camera point-of-view is a production element.
There are three main point-of-view types when it comes to narrative film: there is first person narrative and there is objective view, also known as third person perspective, which is broken up into two sub-categories: third person restricted and third person unrestricted.
First person narrative in film can often involve a narrator. Many films use a narrator who speaks in the first person, however, this tends to be only at specific times in the film and the narrative point of view falls naturally back into the objective/third person view. In the objective view, we are just observing the characters as they go about the business of the story. A good example of this is American Beauty, which begins with narration from the character of Lester, but then falls into an objective, third person view of the characters’ lives for the continuation of the film.
Third person perspective is the most common narrative point of view in film and television. Third person allows the filmmaker to show the experiences of a number of different characters, rather than only ever being able to show one (as in first person narrative). Every different camera shot provides a new perspective of the characters and the action. Close-ups can show emotions. Long shots can include many characters. Lots of locations can be seen, not necessarily just where the protagonist is. In the terminology of film analysis, the third person narrative can be either restricted or unrestricted.
A third-person-unrestricted narrative is less common in film. It occurs when the audience knows much more than the characters do individually. In an unrestricted narrative it is as if we are looking at the world of the story from above. We know what is happening in multiple locations and to multiple characters. Cross-cutting, or simultaneous time, is a technique that is often used in films with unrestricted information and is often referred to as omniscience.
It is rare for a film to be completely unrestricted. Something has to be held in reserve to keep the audience watching. Often there is a surprise twist or piece of additional information that was withheld until the end.
Restricted information narratives relate the plot according to the point of view of one or more characters, without the aid of narrator. This is the most common form of film narrative, because it allows the filmmaker to keep the audience surprised by twists and turns. The audience finds out information at the same rate as the main characters do. The story seems to unfold naturally as more and more is revealed. A recent example of a film with a restricted information narrative is the 2013 sci-fi Snowpiercer. As the film progresses, the audience discovers each compartment of the Snowpiercer train at the same time as the protagonist, heightening suspense and making each reveal of information all the more surprising.
In a film with restricted information, the audience identifies with one or two characters because the film relates the experiences of those characters. Therefore a strong protagonist is required. In the case of Snowpiercer, the success of the narrative relies on audiences identifying with Chris Evans’ protagonist. Given that the film centres predominantly around his experiences, an audience that didn’t identify with his character would consequently not be willing to suspend disbelief and buy into the narrative.
Most films do not stay in the restricted mode all the time. Quite often in a restricted film, the director may give a glimpse of unrestricted information. There are several reasons for these brief moments of omniscience, such as building suspense (briefly allowing the audience of a horror film to see that the killer is behind the door), to explain story events (because the main character can’t be everywhere at once) and to help the audience identify with characters.
It is important not to get this confused with camera point of view (a POV shot), the perspective from which the camera is looking. It occurs when the audience temporarily sees things from the perspective of a particular character. The camera points in the direction that the character is looking. Camera point-of-view is a production element.
There are three main point-of-view types when it comes to narrative film: there is first person narrative and there is objective view, also known as third person perspective, which is broken up into two sub-categories: third person restricted and third person unrestricted.
First person narrative in film can often involve a narrator. Many films use a narrator who speaks in the first person, however, this tends to be only at specific times in the film and the narrative point of view falls naturally back into the objective/third person view. In the objective view, we are just observing the characters as they go about the business of the story. A good example of this is American Beauty, which begins with narration from the character of Lester, but then falls into an objective, third person view of the characters’ lives for the continuation of the film.
Third person perspective is the most common narrative point of view in film and television. Third person allows the filmmaker to show the experiences of a number of different characters, rather than only ever being able to show one (as in first person narrative). Every different camera shot provides a new perspective of the characters and the action. Close-ups can show emotions. Long shots can include many characters. Lots of locations can be seen, not necessarily just where the protagonist is. In the terminology of film analysis, the third person narrative can be either restricted or unrestricted.
A third-person-unrestricted narrative is less common in film. It occurs when the audience knows much more than the characters do individually. In an unrestricted narrative it is as if we are looking at the world of the story from above. We know what is happening in multiple locations and to multiple characters. Cross-cutting, or simultaneous time, is a technique that is often used in films with unrestricted information and is often referred to as omniscience.
It is rare for a film to be completely unrestricted. Something has to be held in reserve to keep the audience watching. Often there is a surprise twist or piece of additional information that was withheld until the end.
Restricted information narratives relate the plot according to the point of view of one or more characters, without the aid of narrator. This is the most common form of film narrative, because it allows the filmmaker to keep the audience surprised by twists and turns. The audience finds out information at the same rate as the main characters do. The story seems to unfold naturally as more and more is revealed. A recent example of a film with a restricted information narrative is the 2013 sci-fi Snowpiercer. As the film progresses, the audience discovers each compartment of the Snowpiercer train at the same time as the protagonist, heightening suspense and making each reveal of information all the more surprising.
In a film with restricted information, the audience identifies with one or two characters because the film relates the experiences of those characters. Therefore a strong protagonist is required. In the case of Snowpiercer, the success of the narrative relies on audiences identifying with Chris Evans’ protagonist. Given that the film centres predominantly around his experiences, an audience that didn’t identify with his character would consequently not be willing to suspend disbelief and buy into the narrative.
Most films do not stay in the restricted mode all the time. Quite often in a restricted film, the director may give a glimpse of unrestricted information. There are several reasons for these brief moments of omniscience, such as building suspense (briefly allowing the audience of a horror film to see that the killer is behind the door), to explain story events (because the main character can’t be everywhere at once) and to help the audience identify with characters.
Establishment & Development of Characters
Key terms: Protagonist, antagonist, character arc, interrelationships, archetypes, foil.
Characters are people presented in dramatic narratives. Making them come to life for the audience is called characterisation.
Across all types of narratives there are basic categories of characters. These categories remain constant regardless of the topic or genre of the narrative, because they exist to perform certain essential narrative functions.
The protagonist is the leading character in a narrative. The term, originally associated with Greek drama, is based on the Greek proto, meaning ‘first’ or ‘leading’, and agonistes, meaning ‘one who is engaged in a struggle’. Widely used in reference to all narratives, the term works well because it is precise in its meaning. It is a broader term than hero because the protagonist may be a thoroughly unlikeable character whom we despise rather than look up to. So the term protagonist may apply to both hero and antihero (someone who lacks heroic traits), as for example in the cases of protagonists Superman (hero) and Batman (antihero).
Protagonists will often possess the following characteristics or take on the following roles:
Antagonists may possess the following characteristics:
Character development and motivation are two of the most basic principles in screenwriting. Essentially, the audience wants to see the characters go on an intellectual, emotional or physical journey — a character path or character arc. The audience also wants them to do so with good reason — character motivation.
Character arc: The pathway that a character makes from beginning to end of a film is called the character arc or path. During the course of a narrative, characters can either grow or change. A character arc can be confined to a single text, or it can carry on over several sequels or episodes.
Character growth: Character growth often results in the protagonist acquiring new knowledge and skills to deal with other characters, or challenges.
Character change: In many movies the character undergoes a change and ends up seeing the world in a different way. Character change can be either one of the following:
Transformational change: this is the kind of major change that comes from a character waking up to what they really want or what is really important in life. Transformational change happens for characters who have a set world view at the start of the movie. Their philosophy is later tested and found wanting. Therefore, they must change to accommodate the new reality. This transformational change is epitomised by Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Incremental change: smaller changes can occur for leading characters if the primary goal they have is more of an action-oriented goal.
Motivation: A character’s motivation is simply what drives them to act as they do. In the case of the protagonist, their primary motivation will be solving the central problem of the narrative. Equally, the primary motivation of the antagonist will be to block the protagonist from achieving that goal. Character motivations lead to decisions and action. The protagonist is forced to make decisions and to consider the best strategy for achieving their goal.
Developing characters: the protagonist is a developing character. Other characters can also change during the course of the narrative. A developing character is any character that is affected and changed by the events in the story. This change is permanent; they can never return to the situation of the old equilibrium or normality.
Static characters: static characters remain the same for the entire narrative. This could be because they are not central to the story, or it could be because they are just not sensitive to the events that are happening around them. A static protagonist is taken as a sign of a failed narrative, yet it is common for antagonists to be static characters.
Across all types of narratives there are basic categories of characters. These categories remain constant regardless of the topic or genre of the narrative, because they exist to perform certain essential narrative functions.
The protagonist is the leading character in a narrative. The term, originally associated with Greek drama, is based on the Greek proto, meaning ‘first’ or ‘leading’, and agonistes, meaning ‘one who is engaged in a struggle’. Widely used in reference to all narratives, the term works well because it is precise in its meaning. It is a broader term than hero because the protagonist may be a thoroughly unlikeable character whom we despise rather than look up to. So the term protagonist may apply to both hero and antihero (someone who lacks heroic traits), as for example in the cases of protagonists Superman (hero) and Batman (antihero).
Protagonists will often possess the following characteristics or take on the following roles:
- The protagonist does not die unless it is at the very end of the film.
- The protagonist is the character who faces all the difficulties.
- We are ‘inside the head’ of the protagonist.
- The protagonist changes and develops.
- The protagonist usually makes things happen and makes the decisions.
- If the voice-over is delivered by a character, it is usually the protagonist. (Note: A voice-over protagonist should not be confused with a narrator, who is not a character.)
- Some films have several protagonists.
- The protagonist is present during all the climaxes.
Antagonists may possess the following characteristics:
- Antagonists are stronger than the protagonist, or at least an equal match.
- Antagonists cause trouble for, or force change on, the protagonist.
- The antagonist is highly motivated, perhaps fanatical.
- We are not taken inside the antagonist’s head; otherwise we might identify with them too much.
- Antagonists often die. Minor ones die early. Major antagonists do not die until the end.
- A mentor is a teacher or adviser. Some antagonists are not enemies of the protagonist, but agents of change whose intervention forces the protagonist to undertake a painful journey of personal growth. Known as mentor antagonists, these people teach the protagonist new values.
Character development and motivation are two of the most basic principles in screenwriting. Essentially, the audience wants to see the characters go on an intellectual, emotional or physical journey — a character path or character arc. The audience also wants them to do so with good reason — character motivation.
Character arc: The pathway that a character makes from beginning to end of a film is called the character arc or path. During the course of a narrative, characters can either grow or change. A character arc can be confined to a single text, or it can carry on over several sequels or episodes.
Character growth: Character growth often results in the protagonist acquiring new knowledge and skills to deal with other characters, or challenges.
Character change: In many movies the character undergoes a change and ends up seeing the world in a different way. Character change can be either one of the following:
Transformational change: this is the kind of major change that comes from a character waking up to what they really want or what is really important in life. Transformational change happens for characters who have a set world view at the start of the movie. Their philosophy is later tested and found wanting. Therefore, they must change to accommodate the new reality. This transformational change is epitomised by Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Incremental change: smaller changes can occur for leading characters if the primary goal they have is more of an action-oriented goal.
Motivation: A character’s motivation is simply what drives them to act as they do. In the case of the protagonist, their primary motivation will be solving the central problem of the narrative. Equally, the primary motivation of the antagonist will be to block the protagonist from achieving that goal. Character motivations lead to decisions and action. The protagonist is forced to make decisions and to consider the best strategy for achieving their goal.
Developing characters: the protagonist is a developing character. Other characters can also change during the course of the narrative. A developing character is any character that is affected and changed by the events in the story. This change is permanent; they can never return to the situation of the old equilibrium or normality.
Static characters: static characters remain the same for the entire narrative. This could be because they are not central to the story, or it could be because they are just not sensitive to the events that are happening around them. A static protagonist is taken as a sign of a failed narrative, yet it is common for antagonists to be static characters.
Setting
Key terms: time period, place, season.
The setting of a film refers to the place and time in which a narrative occurs and is made up of four main factors:
Determining character: the environment can shape individuals and sometimes even control their behaviour.
Reflecting character: the environment a character has created around them can provide important clues about their personality.
Providing authenticity: one of the main purposes of setting is to allow the audience to suspend disbelief. This is done by providing an authentic sense of a real place and a real time period, which is particularly important in historical dramas. Despite being set in New York Predestination was filmed entirely in Melbourne, at various locations around the city, such as the Abbotsford Convent and the RMIT Building, and on custom built sets at Docklands Studios. Authenticity of setting was achieved through such things as CGI, creating a New York City skyline backdrop outside Pop’s Bar.
Providing visual impact: in visual media such as television and film, the setting can provide the audience with a real compulsion to watch.
Creating emotional atmosphere: in horror, science fiction and fantasy films, an emotional atmosphere can be created by the setting. Evil Dead (2013) uses the isolated cabin to create an atmosphere of terror.
The setting as a symbol: setting can be used to stand for something else. Usually this is an idea or a way of thinking about the world.
- Time: the period in which the narrative takes place is one of the most important aspects of setting and is established in the opening scenes.
- Geography: the physical location can have a great effect on the psychological impact of the story.
- Social structures and economy: a story can be set within a particular institution or subject to certain economic conditions.
- Customs, moral attitudes and codes of behavior: the point of a narrative can be to explore the customs and morals of a particular group of people or a particular time period.
Determining character: the environment can shape individuals and sometimes even control their behaviour.
Reflecting character: the environment a character has created around them can provide important clues about their personality.
Providing authenticity: one of the main purposes of setting is to allow the audience to suspend disbelief. This is done by providing an authentic sense of a real place and a real time period, which is particularly important in historical dramas. Despite being set in New York Predestination was filmed entirely in Melbourne, at various locations around the city, such as the Abbotsford Convent and the RMIT Building, and on custom built sets at Docklands Studios. Authenticity of setting was achieved through such things as CGI, creating a New York City skyline backdrop outside Pop’s Bar.
Providing visual impact: in visual media such as television and film, the setting can provide the audience with a real compulsion to watch.
Creating emotional atmosphere: in horror, science fiction and fantasy films, an emotional atmosphere can be created by the setting. Evil Dead (2013) uses the isolated cabin to create an atmosphere of terror.
The setting as a symbol: setting can be used to stand for something else. Usually this is an idea or a way of thinking about the world.
Multiple Storylines
Key terms: Subplot, parallelism, allegory.
While in most narratives the main plot is the primary focus of the story, this is not always the case. Other plot lines within the narrative are called subplots. Sometimes they are referred to as the background story. All plot lines necessarily follow the three-act structure, each having its own disturbance, complications and resolution. Subplots are usually only foreshadowed in the orientation stage of a narrative, when the main plot is the focus. Once the lead characters’ world has been changed by the disturbance, the subplots are allowed to develop.
All plot lines normally converge in the resolution stage, which is both pleasurable for the audience and economical for the writer.
Whilst it didn’t really become popular until the success of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1994, movies today often have multiple plots, This is also true of television soap operas and some situation comedies. Soap operas rely on multiple plots to keep the audience watching over many episodes.
Multiple plot films develop separate story threads, each with about the same level of dramatic importance within the film. These kinds of films have more than one main character. The central problem faced by each separate main character may be only slightly linked together, or may not be linked at all.
Advantages of multiple plot films: some analysts say that television has trained audiences to respond to multiple narratives more positively. Modern audiences have become more interested in looking at things from different perspectives. A series of smaller stories can be interwoven in interesting ways.
Disadvantages of multiple plot films: the length of time that the audience spends in the cinema remains the same, whether there is one main plot or five. Less time per story is the inevitable outcome of multiple plot scripts. The same is true of characters. One of the most important tasks of a film is to get the audience to identify with the main character. Having to identify with multiple characters can weaken audience involvement.
Multiple plot lines can be linked together in at least three ways.
Parallel plot lines: Providing plot lines that are parallel is one way to link separate plots (also known as parallelism). One plot may be set in an earlier period in history. Or the two plots may be linked by a single moment when a fateful decision created different pathways.
Metaphor plot lines: One plot line can exist as a comment on, or metaphor in relation to, the other.
Allegory: An allegory is a story that appears on the surface to have a simple meaning, but is actually dealing with a much larger subject on a deeper level. For example, C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) is an allegorical treatment of the story of Christ. Aslan represents Jesus. The story can be understood for what it is at a surface level, or it can be understood at a religious level.
All plot lines normally converge in the resolution stage, which is both pleasurable for the audience and economical for the writer.
Whilst it didn’t really become popular until the success of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1994, movies today often have multiple plots, This is also true of television soap operas and some situation comedies. Soap operas rely on multiple plots to keep the audience watching over many episodes.
Multiple plot films develop separate story threads, each with about the same level of dramatic importance within the film. These kinds of films have more than one main character. The central problem faced by each separate main character may be only slightly linked together, or may not be linked at all.
Advantages of multiple plot films: some analysts say that television has trained audiences to respond to multiple narratives more positively. Modern audiences have become more interested in looking at things from different perspectives. A series of smaller stories can be interwoven in interesting ways.
Disadvantages of multiple plot films: the length of time that the audience spends in the cinema remains the same, whether there is one main plot or five. Less time per story is the inevitable outcome of multiple plot scripts. The same is true of characters. One of the most important tasks of a film is to get the audience to identify with the main character. Having to identify with multiple characters can weaken audience involvement.
Multiple plot lines can be linked together in at least three ways.
Parallel plot lines: Providing plot lines that are parallel is one way to link separate plots (also known as parallelism). One plot may be set in an earlier period in history. Or the two plots may be linked by a single moment when a fateful decision created different pathways.
Metaphor plot lines: One plot line can exist as a comment on, or metaphor in relation to, the other.
Allegory: An allegory is a story that appears on the surface to have a simple meaning, but is actually dealing with a much larger subject on a deeper level. For example, C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) is an allegorical treatment of the story of Christ. Aslan represents Jesus. The story can be understood for what it is at a surface level, or it can be understood at a religious level.
Structuring of Time
Key terms: Temporal order, flashback, temporal duration, temporal frequency, narrative progression.
The ordering of events in narrative film, known as the temporal order, is the most important way that a narrative can structure time. The ways that time can be structured in a film include the following.
Structuring the plot as a whole: the ordering of events is chiefly determined by the narrative progression.
Flashback: this is when the present-day events are suddenly interrupted by images of what may have taken place in the past. Filmmakers usually give the audience some sort of signal that they are going to enter a different time. Usually there is a dissolve or fade, and often there is some kind of clue in the colour or texture of the film.
Flash-forwards: the use of flash-forwards is rare. Flash-forwards interrupt present-day events and show events that will take place in the future. Flash-forwards are naturally confusing for the audience. This is because they do not make sense until the story ‘arrives’ at the future, much later in the narrative. This is unlike flashbacks, which can be understood as memories that add to background knowledge. Filmmakers can sometimes use flash-forwards to tease the audience with clues about the resolution of the narrative.
Simultaneous time: Cross-cutting from one event to another can give the impression that the events are occurring simultaneously. In the last-minute rescue scenes of silent-screen melodramas, cross-cutting had the audience on the edge of their seats. In classic villain films, the villain is tying the heroine to the railway track, the train is steaming around the corner and the hero is rushing to the rescue. The excitement lies in the audience’s hope that the three events, apparently occurring at the same time, will converge in such a way as to create the most satisfying conclusion. A rule of simultaneous time is that events in the parallel locations must come together in some way. A more modern example of this occurs in The Dark Knight (2008), when Batman’s frantic race to save Rachel is cross-cut with sequences of her being held captive, and Harvey Dent being held captive in a third location.
Very few films take place in real time. The temporal duration of nearly all films is adjusted so that the events portrayed fit into the 90 minutes they have available to tell the story. The action can take place within a single day, over several days, or even over a whole lifetime — yet it still fits into the screen time.
Expansion of time: screen time can be expanded to draw out some events, thereby creating tension. A number of codes and conventions have developed to assist this, one of which is parallel editing, or cutting from one scene to another scene happening at the same time (see Simultaneous time, above).
Compression of time: screen time may also be shortened to move the story forward. A long road trip can be achieved in three or four shots using montage editing. It could be shown with a shot of the starting point, a shot of the road in between, and a shot of arrival at the destination.
Montage: Hollywood directors commonly refer to montage as a series of shots that condense time. In early film, the classic American montage sequence might be a shot of calendar pages peeling off and blowing away as a character goes through a process that might have taken months or years — such as growing up. Montages are often used in training sequences to show a character getting more and more skilled. In Spider-Man (2002), for example, a montage shows Peter Parker dreaming up a costume he will wear to go with his newly acquired special powers.
The time-based frequency, or temporal frequency, of an event can also be manipulated. An event does not have to appear just once; it can be returned to repeatedly, thereby gaining additional meaning. In Predestination, The Barkeep’s encounter with The Fizzle Bomber and the bomb exploding, John’s meeting with Jane for the first time and Baby Jane being kidnapped are all events that are visited a number of times throughout the film, revealing a little bit more about those events with each new visit.
The narrative progression of films can be structured in a variety of ways, which is also known as the temporal order of the narrative.
Linear plot progression: most narratives still use linear plot progression. The story starts at the beginning and moves directly through time until the end. Events occur in chronological sequence and appear in the story at the time they are actually occurring, rather than appearing as flashbacks or flash-forwards.
Circular plot progression: starting at the end of a story and working backwards to retell how it all happened is probably the second most common narrative structure. Circular plots were particularly favoured by directors working in the film noir style during the 1940s and 1950s. These films might begin with a man’s dead body and proceed to tell how it got there. Circular plot structure typically starts and finishes with the same story event, but the resolution contains one or two extra scenes that complete the movie.
Flashback narratives consist of at least two stories. One takes place in the present day of the film, while the other takes place in the past and is told using flashbacks. The two stories are connected in some way that becomes clear, and is resolved, during the final climax.
Some narratives with a cast of several equally important characters jump between the perspectives of each one. Known as multiple points of view narratives, they often take place within a limited time period. Each point of view occurs in simultaneous time.
The term parallel sequential narrative is used to describe narratives that chop up stories and tell bits of them in sequence, with each left on a cliffhanger. All of these stories are quickly revisited at the end and then united in an exciting final climax. Some analysts call this a braided narrative, because the story strands are plaited together, like hair. One of the most well known examples of this structure is Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
Structuring the plot as a whole: the ordering of events is chiefly determined by the narrative progression.
Flashback: this is when the present-day events are suddenly interrupted by images of what may have taken place in the past. Filmmakers usually give the audience some sort of signal that they are going to enter a different time. Usually there is a dissolve or fade, and often there is some kind of clue in the colour or texture of the film.
Flash-forwards: the use of flash-forwards is rare. Flash-forwards interrupt present-day events and show events that will take place in the future. Flash-forwards are naturally confusing for the audience. This is because they do not make sense until the story ‘arrives’ at the future, much later in the narrative. This is unlike flashbacks, which can be understood as memories that add to background knowledge. Filmmakers can sometimes use flash-forwards to tease the audience with clues about the resolution of the narrative.
Simultaneous time: Cross-cutting from one event to another can give the impression that the events are occurring simultaneously. In the last-minute rescue scenes of silent-screen melodramas, cross-cutting had the audience on the edge of their seats. In classic villain films, the villain is tying the heroine to the railway track, the train is steaming around the corner and the hero is rushing to the rescue. The excitement lies in the audience’s hope that the three events, apparently occurring at the same time, will converge in such a way as to create the most satisfying conclusion. A rule of simultaneous time is that events in the parallel locations must come together in some way. A more modern example of this occurs in The Dark Knight (2008), when Batman’s frantic race to save Rachel is cross-cut with sequences of her being held captive, and Harvey Dent being held captive in a third location.
Very few films take place in real time. The temporal duration of nearly all films is adjusted so that the events portrayed fit into the 90 minutes they have available to tell the story. The action can take place within a single day, over several days, or even over a whole lifetime — yet it still fits into the screen time.
Expansion of time: screen time can be expanded to draw out some events, thereby creating tension. A number of codes and conventions have developed to assist this, one of which is parallel editing, or cutting from one scene to another scene happening at the same time (see Simultaneous time, above).
Compression of time: screen time may also be shortened to move the story forward. A long road trip can be achieved in three or four shots using montage editing. It could be shown with a shot of the starting point, a shot of the road in between, and a shot of arrival at the destination.
Montage: Hollywood directors commonly refer to montage as a series of shots that condense time. In early film, the classic American montage sequence might be a shot of calendar pages peeling off and blowing away as a character goes through a process that might have taken months or years — such as growing up. Montages are often used in training sequences to show a character getting more and more skilled. In Spider-Man (2002), for example, a montage shows Peter Parker dreaming up a costume he will wear to go with his newly acquired special powers.
The time-based frequency, or temporal frequency, of an event can also be manipulated. An event does not have to appear just once; it can be returned to repeatedly, thereby gaining additional meaning. In Predestination, The Barkeep’s encounter with The Fizzle Bomber and the bomb exploding, John’s meeting with Jane for the first time and Baby Jane being kidnapped are all events that are visited a number of times throughout the film, revealing a little bit more about those events with each new visit.
The narrative progression of films can be structured in a variety of ways, which is also known as the temporal order of the narrative.
Linear plot progression: most narratives still use linear plot progression. The story starts at the beginning and moves directly through time until the end. Events occur in chronological sequence and appear in the story at the time they are actually occurring, rather than appearing as flashbacks or flash-forwards.
Circular plot progression: starting at the end of a story and working backwards to retell how it all happened is probably the second most common narrative structure. Circular plots were particularly favoured by directors working in the film noir style during the 1940s and 1950s. These films might begin with a man’s dead body and proceed to tell how it got there. Circular plot structure typically starts and finishes with the same story event, but the resolution contains one or two extra scenes that complete the movie.
Flashback narratives consist of at least two stories. One takes place in the present day of the film, while the other takes place in the past and is told using flashbacks. The two stories are connected in some way that becomes clear, and is resolved, during the final climax.
Some narratives with a cast of several equally important characters jump between the perspectives of each one. Known as multiple points of view narratives, they often take place within a limited time period. Each point of view occurs in simultaneous time.
The term parallel sequential narrative is used to describe narratives that chop up stories and tell bits of them in sequence, with each left on a cliffhanger. All of these stories are quickly revisited at the end and then united in an exciting final climax. Some analysts call this a braided narrative, because the story strands are plaited together, like hair. One of the most well known examples of this structure is Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
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