This document provides an overview of single camera productions and narrative structure. It discusses various formats and genres of single camera shows. It also examines different narrative structures such as linear, non-linear, flashbacks and realist vs. anti-realist narratives. Additionally, it explores concepts such as narrative codes, characters, themes, and narrative manipulation of time and space through techniques like flashbacks and open vs. closed endings. The document serves as an introduction to understanding the features and analysis of narratives in single camera productions.

2. UNIT 22 SINGLE CAMERA PRODUCTIONS: OVERVIEW
Learning Outcome 1: Understand the features of single camera production
Formats: eg series, serial, single drama; genre, eg period, dramadoc, crime, soap opera, comedy
Narrative structures: eg linear (or sequential), non-linear (or non-sequential), flashback, realist,
anti-realist; endings, eg open, closed
Technical: camera; lighting; sound; editing; scripting; building a scene; building a story

3. WHAT IS NARRATIVE?
• Write down a one sentence definition of what you think it means.
• While the term ‘narrative’ certainly is not used as commonly as ‘story’, most
people know that it refers, in some way, to stories; in fact stories are
endemic to our lives.

4. WHERE DO WE SEE/HEAR NARRATIVES?
Task: Make a list of what stories/narratives you have engaged with today.
• TV Programmes
• Novels or short stories
• Films
• Advertisements
• News stories in papers or on TV and radio
• Via the internet
• Through talk, ‘gossip’ and chat.

5. WATCH “NARRATIVE ANALYSIS IN MEDIA STUDIES”
(3.40 MINS) AND ANSWER QUESTIONS ON SHEET.
•HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=SJFPQVTPHWI

6. DEFINING NARRATIVE
• All media texts, fictional and non-fictional, moving image and still image contain
narratives. All media texts tell stories.
• Narratives – in any medium or genre, are ways of structuring and representing
• Narrative is a temporal and spatial mode. In other words, a way of organising
both time and space in relation to each other.
• Narrative is defined as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in
time” (Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, 1980). ADD TO GLOSSARY

7. DEFINING NARRATIVE
• Narrative is ‘a way of organising spatial and temporal events into a cause-effect
chain of events with a beginning, a middle, and end that embodies a judgement
about the nature of events’ (Branigan, 1992).

8. What’s the Story?
What’s happening?
Who is involved?
Where?
When?
How can you tell?
What might have happened
before?
What might happen next?

9. WHAT’S THE STORY?
What’s happening?
Who is involved?
Where?
When?
How can you tell?
What might have happened before?
What might happen next?

10. STORY? NARRATIVE? PLOT?
• In Media, NARRATIVE is the coherence/organisation given to a series of
pieces
• We need narrative to make sense of things and we connect events and make
interpretations based on those connections.
• In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end.
• We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of
previous texts.

11. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Story is the irreducible substance of a story
A meets B, something happens, order returns
…while narrative is the way that the story is told to the
audience
Once upon a time, there was a princess…
• Key Concepts in Communication – Fiske et al (1983)

12. STORY VS NARRATIVE
OR..
THE STORY
a) Crime conceived
b) Crime planned
c) Crime committed
d) Crime discovered
e) Detective investigates
f) Detective identifies criminals
…may be told as

13. STORY VS NARRATIVE
OR..
THE STORY
a) Crime conceived
b) Crime planned
c) Crime committed
d) Crime discovered
e) Detective investigates
f) Detective identifies criminals
…may be told as
THE NARRATIVE
d) Crime discovered
e) Detective investigates
f) Detective identifies criminals
a) Crime conceived
b) Crime planned
c) Crime committed

14. STORY VS NARRATIVE
OR..
THE STORY
• Orphaned boy grows up in Indian slums, enduring
hardship and poverty.
• He meets and is separated from the love of his life
• When older he decides to try and contact her by
appearing on a TV quiz show
• His success on the show leads authorities to believe he is
cheating.
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back story, explaining how he
knew answers and his motive for appearing on the show
• Boy returns to show where he is successful and makes
telephone contact with his sweetheart
…may be told as

15. STORY VS NARRATIVE
OR..
THE STORY
• Orphaned boy grows up in Indian slums, enduring
hardship and poverty.
• He meets and is separated from the love of his life
• When older he decides to try and contact her by
appearing on a TV quiz show
• His success on the show leads authorities to believe he is
cheating.
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back story, explaining how he
knew answers and his motive for appearing on the show
• Boy returns to show where he is successful and makes
telephone contact with his sweetheart
…may be told as
THE NARRATIVE
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back story, explaining
how he knew answers and his motive for appearing
on the show
• His time growing up is shown through a series of
flashback sequences depicting his childhood and
adolescence. In doing so, his experiences that lead
him to no the answers are revealed in parallel with
his appearance omn the show.
• Boy returns to show where he is successful and
makes telephone contact with his sweetheart

16. WHERE DO WE SEE/HEAR NARRATIVES?
Task: In pairs, pick an event that has happened to one of you today.
How could you tell this story differently for
1) An Action Film?
2) A News Report?
3) An E4 Reality TV Show?

17. WHAT IS NARRATIVE?
When discussing narrative we may look at the following:
•Narrative Structure
•Narrative Codes
•Themes
•Characters
It is necessary to consider and apply traditional theories before looking at
how they may have evolved

18. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
When we look at narrative and narrative structure we can start to
see patterns that repeat. When location and character names
are removed, many stories begin to look the same…

21. NARRATIVE STRUCTURES: TODOROV
Franco-Bulgarian philosopher Tsvetan Todorov observed that conventional stories
start in a state of equilibrium, which is then disrupted, setting in a motion a chain
of events. The resolution of the story is the creation of a new/different equilibrium.
Disequilibrium
Equilibrium
New
Equilibrium

22. Tsvetan Todorov suggested that narratives are led by events in a ‘cause and effect’ format.
The narrative starts with an equilibrium
An action / character disrupts the equilibrium
A quest to restore the equilibrium ensues
The narrative moves to a confrontation/climax
Resolution / equilibrium is restored

23. Read the Handout
Telling Stories – The Media’s Use of Narrative
www.curriculum-press.co.uk No.14
Available on Moodle here
https://moodle.strode-college.ac.uk/moodle/mod/folder/view.php?id=22432
Class activity: On a Post-it note write down a question and answer based
upon the handout to test the rest of the class’s understanding. Put it on the
white board at the front of class.

24. LINEAR VS NON LINEAR NARRATIVES
Narratives that ‘go in a straight line’ from beginning to end are said to be linear.
However, many films play with this and jumble the order of events into a non-linear structure.
e.g.:
Can you think of any examples?
A B C D
A BC D

25. NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES: PULP FICTION
If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run:
4a, 2, 6, 1, 7, 3, 4b, 5.
Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of
view; the same is true of sequences 2 and 6
1.Prologue—The Diner (i)
2.Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
3."Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
4.Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a—flashback, b—present)
5."The Gold Watch"
6."The Bonnie Situation"
7.Epilogue—The Diner (ii)

26. CIRCULAR NARRATIVES
NARRATIVES THAT BEGIN AND END AT THE SAME POINT ARE SAID TO BE CIRCULAR
NARRATIVES.
Beginning
Middle
End These are often used in films/programmes that start at a
climactic event then flashback to the events building up
to it.
It is also common in sitcoms and TV series where stories
do not continue through an entire series so that audiences
can ‘join in’ at any point (e.g. The Simpsons, Friends).

27. NARRATIVES AND MANIPULATING TIME
In the case of Pulp fiction and other similar texts, the chronology of the story has
been reordered to make the film more interesting and stimulating for the audience
– like a puzzle.
There are several other ways, besides reordering, that narrative manipulates time.
•Flashbacks show events from the past
•Flash-forwards show events from the future
•Ellipsis An ellipsis in media narrative leaves out a portion of the story. This can
be used to condense time, or as a stylistic method to allow the reader to fill in the
missing portions of the narrative with their imagination

28. NARRATIVES AND MANIPULATING TIME
Read Handout Telling A Good Tale – Further Narrative
Techniques Curriculum Press No. 26
Available on Moodle here https://moodle.strode-
college.ac.uk/moodle/mod/folder/view.php?id=22432

29. NON-FICTION NARRATIVES
It is easy to apply these ideas to films and fictional TV programmes. How might you do it with
others?
For example the narrative of a typical TV News report might look like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGSXMuWMR4
In groups discuss the narrative structure of the following:
• A TV News programme
• A (whole) magazine
• A 1st Person Computer Game
• A football match on TV
• A newspaper article
• A pop song

30. NARRATIVE: SUMMARY
Narrative can be defined as ‘the way in which the story is told’.
We analyse the narrative structure:
– Todorov – equilibrium/disequilibrium/equilibrium, cause and effect
– Linear or non linear
– Conflict and binary opposites
– The degree to which a narrative conforms to, or challenges traditional structures and audiences
expectations will shape the audience’s response
– Narrative Codes
We consider the themes – what are the topics/issues discussed?
We analyse the characters and their roles:
– Propp’s character types
– Archetypes
– Narrative agency
– Audience positioning

31. NARRATIVE: REALIST VS ANTI-REALIST
• What does the word ‘realist’ mean to you?
• How might it be different from the word ‘realistic’?
• Discuss in pairs what you think the difference is, ready to feed back to class.

32. NARRATIVE: REALIST VS REALISTIC
REALIST “REALISTIC” / ANTI-REALIST

33. NARRATIVE: REALIST VS REALISTIC
REALIST “REALISTIC” / ANTI-REALIST
These are programmes or films that aim to
portray/represent and reflect the real world.
They may be fictitious, but they are set in the real
world and feature real world, ‘everyday’ events.
They feature characters and situations that
audiences will be able to relate to from their own
lives.
They are also often used to make social
commentary
These are programmes or films that are clearly
set in a fictitious world or ‘universe’.
The characters actions are believable (i.e.
realistic) because we suspend our belief.
They feature characters, settings and events we
would not encounter in real life.
They provide a means of escape for their
audience

34. NARRATIVE: MANIPULATING TIME & SPACE
• Flashbacks, flashforwards
• Parallel action

35. NARRATIVE: OPEN AND CLOSED ENDING
CLOSED ENDINGS
As audiences, we experience satisfaction in the resolution of a narrative, knowing that
whatever problem or ‘disequilibrium’ there was has been solved. This gives a sense of
completeness and closure.
It is also a source of comfort to know that ‘everything will be alright in the end’, good
triumphs over evil, and we all might live ‘happily ever after’.
This is known as a ‘closed ending’.
It is common in most conventional narratives and mainstream TV and film productions.

36. NARRATIVE: OPEN AND CLOSED ENDING
OPEN ENDINGS
Waiting for this resolution of a narrative is what keeps us engaged. We want to know that things work out
OK in the end.
Sometimes, media producers use this desire to keep us watching more than one episode, leaving their
episode’s narrative feeling unresolved and feeling unfinished.
Sometimes, media producers may introduce a new problem right at the end of an episode to create more
tension. This is known as a cliff hanger and is especially common in soap operas but may also be used in
film franchises (Avengers Infinity War). In other words, the story is left open
Other narratives may just deliberately not finish at all and end ambiguously, creating a sense of uncertainty
about the narrative, and in turn perhaps question the certainty and ‘fairness’ of the world around us.
e.g.: Black Mirror, Inception
These endings can be described as open to interpretation.
In both circumstances, these are examples of Open endings