This document analyzes the narrative structure of the film "The Orphan." It begins with the family adopting a child, Esther, establishing equilibrium. However, Esther turns out to be abnormal and dangerous, creating disequilibrium. In the end, the mother kills Esther, resolving the conflict and establishing a new equilibrium. The analysis also explains how the film uses explicit and implicit narrative techniques and annotated screenshots to illustrate its conventional three-act structure. It discusses how this structure creates tension, surprise, and satisfies audience expectations of the horror genre.

1. Assignment 14: Narrative
Structure In A Film
Kelly
Chelsea
Gelsomina
Tayla

2. 1. Orphan (Horror)
• A family adopt a child from Russia called Esther.
• The adopted daughter is considered ‘abnormal’
by the way she dresses and acts.
• Does not get on with most people and children
and anyone who deems a threat she tries to kill.
• She puts the mother in hospital as she is
believed to mad when she suspects something is
wrong with Esther.
• Esther seduces the father and when he refuses
so she kills him and the rest of the family (this
had happened multiple times before with her
‘fathers’)
• The mother comes to save her children and ends
up killing Esther.

3. 2. How the institution created a text with a
conventional narrative structure?
Yes, this is a clear linear narrative which can be broken down into:
 Beginning - (Equilibrium)- It starts normal with a nuclear family and they want to
adopt another child.
 Middle – (Disequilibrium) - The girl they adopt turns out to be someone who was
an imposter.
 End- (New Equilibrium) - The mother ends up killing the adopted child.
There is a clear linear structure as the film is chronological.

4. 3. Explain how the film is narrative
implicit or explicit ?
Scenes
Scene 1
Explanation of implicit and explicit ?
This scene is explicit because it is obvious that the pregnant women is
having a dream emphasised with the use of white glowing around the
frame. No doctor will hand a dead baby to you as shown from the point
of view scene. Also in this scene the doctor is smiling.
Scene 2
This scene is implicit because the audience don’t really know why
the women is taking the pills or why she was touching her belly.
Here the viewers are confused whether she is pregnant or not.
Scene 3
This scene is explicit as is clear to the audience that they are a married
couple, by both of them hugging each other is shows the support they
give to each other. It also explicit as it shows how the film has to do
with something they went have gone through
Scene 4
This scene is explicit its obvious that the girl is evil. This is show
through her costume, she's wearing black representing evil and
death, also the isolated cold area she is in reinforces the way she
is heartless.

5. 4. Explain with annotated screen grabs from the film
how it uses the conventional narrative
(Beginning)
Beginning (Equilibrium ‘The Set Up’
It is in the first scene that the audience are introduced to all the characters and their
surroundings are established at the orphanage and the house.
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
- Mother goes to
Orphanage in seek of
adopting a new child after
the lose of hers.
- Esther is the first character
fully introduced
- The painting suggests her
intelligence for a young
child
- They adopt Esther and
take her home
- Screen grab shows her
‘new’ family
- She is the highlight of the
opening scene which
suggests she is the main
character
- She is introduced to her
new family around her

6. 4. Explain with annotated screen grabs from the film
how it uses the conventional narrative
(Middle)
Middle (Disequilibrium ‘Conflicts’
As the mother is sent to hospital for being ‘mad’ it is the climax of the film in which the enigma
is revealed that Esther is not who she really is. The mother runs home hoping she will be able
to save her family. She is too late and her husband is killed by Esther.
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
-
-
-
-
-
Get phone call from a
professor saying Esther
isn’t who she says she is
We find out Esther is a
danger
Mother is no longer
considered mad.
-
Anticipation
She phones her
husband but there is no
answer
There is the belief that
her husband is perhaps
dead
-
Esther kills her father
with a knife
Fast pace
Use of knife and
atmosphere is dark- fits
into conventions of
Horror
-
Takes his final breaths
Mother crashed into
home to realise she is
too late
She attempts to save
her kids

7. 4. Explain with annotated screen grabs from the film
how it uses the conventional narrative
(End)
End (New Equilibrium ‘The Resolution’)
There is no explicit resolution but audiences are felt satisfied knowing the killer is dead and
eventually the family will reform a ‘new normality’ without the father.
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
Name the
scene/character
-
-
-
-
Suspension
Mother is almost killed
with same knife used to
kill father
-
She comes ‘back to life’
for the second time.
She is kicked back
underwater to die
-
Knocked unconscious
and drowns.
As she sinks audiences
get the impression she
is completely dead
She is finally dead.
New normality is not
shown but it is believed
that they will carry on
with life without the
father.

8. Explain the reason for the conventional
narrative structure
It has a Conventional narrative structure because:
•
It has a linear narrative to avoid confusion
•
It shows a series of sequential occurrences that lead up to the disruption of the equilibrium.
•
The woman posing as the child challenges this convention by manipulating her identity in order to manipulate the
audiences assumptions of her being a 9 year old girl. It then surprises the audience at the climax when it is
revealed that she is 39 years old
•
It has a conventional narrative because it has an
Equilibrium
(They adopt a child)
Disequilibrium
(The child is a 39 year old woman)
Recognition of the equilibrium
(She gets a phone call when in hospital)
Attempt to repair the disequilibrium
(when the mother leaves the hospital to go to the house)
Unclear whether there is a new equilibrium
( It creates enigma because it Is not clear if she dies, which is relatable to other horror films)
•
It creates tension from the beginning as the children do not get along, allowing the audience to expect a dramatic
climax involving the children. This challenges the generalisation that children are irresponsible as they are the first
to sense danger

9. What impact does the narrative structure
have on the audience?
Beginning – (Equilibrium)
• The film has a linear structure as the film begins with a married couple wanting to
adopt a child.
• It makes the audience feel sympathetic towards the characters and the
atmosphere seems calming.
Middle – (Disequilibrium)
• A problem arises where the audience and couple equally gather that the young girl
they adopted is not who she said she was.
• This creates the audience to feel: uneasy, tense and eager to find out who is she.
End – (New Equilibrium)
• The film is resolved in the end as the mother kills the adopted child and the
audience are left feeling satisfied.

10. What audience expectations have they established
or challenged by using this narrative structure?
In the genre of horror, the audience would generally have the following expectations
about narrative structure:
o A key character/characters are introduced and their life seems undisturbed.
o Something interrupts their life.
o Someone dies.
o Villains dies and characters life returns back to normal however damaged.
•
Therefore, the narrative structure is reinforced as the Orphan follows this
structure.