2. PLOT AND STORY
A film plot is the sequence of events that
happen that make up the story of the film.
The plot will have a beginning, middle and
end, but things do not always happen in a
straight order, such as Pulp Fiction in
which the plot unfolds in a nonlinear
sequence. There is a cause and effect
sequence in which each scene effects the
next.
The plot is key in carrying the interest of
the audience.
3. BORDWELL AND
THOMPSON
David Boardwell is a successful film
theorist and film historian. Having gained a
PHD at the university of Iowa in 1974 he
went on to write many novels including a
series of over 15 volumes about
cinema. Boardwell and his wife Christine
Thompson wrote film novels, notably film
art and film history.
4. STORYTELLING
AND THE
PURPOSE OF
NARRATIVE
A narrative structure is how a film is formatted.
Traditionally a films narrative has a beginning, middle
and an end. Some films challenge this structure, placing
these events in completely different orders, such as films
like pulp fiction where the entire films was in a non-
chronological order. However the structure of the film is
followed, the narrative is usually introduced with a group
of or singular character whose lives are thrown into some
type of jeopardy or they face some type of challenge
before it is resolved by the end of the film. The purpose
of narrative is to continuously move a story forward,
building characters relationships and plot.
Stories can be told in many different ways, and often the
more different the storys structurer is, the more it will
grasp the audience.
5. LINEAR AND NON LINEAR STORY
A linear story runs in a straight line, it begins with a beginning, and is then followed by the middle
and concluded with the end. Many films will follow this structure because it just has events run in
chronological order. Some films follow a different nonlinear structure where events unfold in non-
chronological order. This can make the story harder to follow but also makes for more interesting
viewing. Quentin Tarentino films have been noted for sometimes following non-linear structure
including kill bill, reservoir dogs and notably pulp fiction, in which the entire story unfolds in the
complete wrong order, with the first scene taking place mid-way through the film, with a scene at
the end of the film from that same sequence, that saw Vincent Vega leave the diner, even after he
was killed earlier in the film. Some films do this in a smaller way, including fight club, which opens
with a scene much later in the film in order to grasp the audience. This is a good use of flashbacks
or flash-forwards to help the plot and also to gain the interest of the viewer. Iron man opens with
tony starks kidnapping before going back and setting the scene and then having the kidnapping
play out again before resuming the narrative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S2VfkxR5bk - link to the opening of fight club, a great example of the
film opening with a flashfoarwards, drawing in the viewers.
6. ENIGMA AND ELLIPSIS
An Enigma is a method used to create mystery and draw in viewers. Tv crime dramas will use this when
introducing a murder mystery when the police find a body, and the series then follows the detectives as
the attempt to solve the murder, the identity of the killer will remain an enigma throughout the series. This
is used to retain the attention of the viewers. In the film cloverfield lane, it was kept a mystery for the entire
film what the main charcters motivation were and why he kept the woman trapped in the bunker. This kept
the viewers intested and engaged in the plot.
An ellipsis is used to depict a passing of time in a scene. It is a basic editing technique in which a fade
or another transition is used between a scene so it looks as though time has passed, which can be days,
weeks, months or even years.
7. OPEN AND CLOSED STORY
Hollywood often like big blockbuster films to have closed endings because this can allow the audience to feel
more satisfied with the resolution and can give a well-rounded ending. Films that are part of a film series
however will often end open to allow it to be continued in the sequel, and viewers will then wish to return in
order to see the resolution, but at some point, the narrative will end. In the marvel cinematic universe films, the
story's in each film often come to a close with the films villain being defeated and hero's triumphing although
there is certain story elements left open for the next film, or aspects that are left to explore, and in the case of
avengers infinity war the film was left on a cliff hanger on purpose so the story could be resolved in the next
film. Many of these films however end closed off in a way the viewer knows what has happened and will feel
satisfied.
Some films however end with an open end, in which the viewer may have to make up the ending themselves
or there is several different endings that could be interpreted. The film joker was very open ended and also
hit a lot of controversy due to the nature of the film and the questions that where placed by the way the film
ended, with it being debated as to whether or not some of the events actually took place.
8. EXPOSITION
In order to set the scene for a story without spending a huge amount of time setting
up background and information exposition allows either a narration or other form of
information to get across to the viewer easily. Star Wars does this well with
information being given to the audience on a scroll at the start of the film to help
set the scene.
This then gives the audience the information they need to be taken straight in by the
films plot and story.
9. MULTI STRANDED
Many story's in cinema will have a main story that splits into sub plots and other
narratives, these can all be happening at the same time or separately but will have
the story divulge into multiple different story strands that may all tie together again
in the conclusion. Lots of TV dramas will do this a lot with several different
story's happening at once following different characters. Pulp fiction included several
different story's, that all links but all took place at differnt times but crossed over and
interlocked with one another.
