This document defines various narrative terms used in crime dramas such as closed and open narratives, cliff hangers, red herrings, and suspense. It also discusses techniques like montages, prologues, and flashbacks. Finally, it covers some key film theories including Levi-Strauss's concept of binary oppositions and Roland Barthes' idea of different codes that help audiences make sense of narratives.

1. Dana Summerfield

2. Narrative Terms
Closed Narrative This is where the narrative has a certain ending and all the crimes/problems are unfolded.
Open Narrative This is where the narrative has open an ending. This could be to form part 2 or a sequel. The ending is not
definite.
Cliff Hanger This is where the ending is left open, the audience does not know what will happen next. Questions will be
playing in their mind asking why something happened. Cliff-hangers are used to keep the audience interested.
Red Herring This is a technique where the audience are led to believe something different. They can be tricked, or gather
the wrong idea. This can also happen to the characters in the film.
Suspense This is a technique where the plot builds up a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty about the outcome amongst
the audience. This could be done through the characters actions, editing and music
Multi - Strand Where one media text has a variety of different story lines.
Circular Narrative This is where the narrative goes on a full circle and the resolution is the same as the equilibrium.
Montage This is a type of editing that has different shots edited together to give the feeling to the audience that time
has passed
Prologue This id an introduction to the narrative seen before the opening sequence.
Ellipsis Used to miss out a big chuck of time in films
Flashback Used in films to show the point that the character gas visited the past before coming back to the present

3. Openings
Many crime thrillers begin with an opening sequence teasing
the audience. We see someone attacked but we don't see
the perpetrator. Maybe there is a random passer-by who
finds a corpse and screams in close-up at the camera.
However not all crime dramas begin like this, all films have
their own ways for opening the film. The main point of the
opening sequence is to draw the audience into the plot
which makes them want to carry on watching. The teaser
sets up the question in your mind “who did this and how did
this happen?”. This is a cold opening

4. Levi-Strauss Theory
Levi-Strauss was a social anthropologist, he studied myths of tribal cultures, examined how stories
unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture.
These are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions, his research has been adapted by media
theorists to reveal underlying themes and s symbolic oppositions in media text.
What is Binary Oppositions?
Binary Oppositions are conflicts between two qualities. Some examples in crime dramas are:
 Good vs. Evil
 Suspect vs. victim
 Female vs. Male
 Police vs. Crime
Kidulthood uses
Harry Potter films use
binary opposition The untouchables uses
binary opposition with
through the film, as binary oppositions
the good vs. Evil.
the characters are with the police vs.
What Women Want uses Throughout the films
binary opposition with the
always fighting. They crime
Harry is battling against
female vs. male use suspect vs.
Voldemort
Victim.

5. Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes was a French semiologist, he suggested that
narrative works with five different codes which activate the
audience to make sense of what is going on. He came up
with the idea of denotation and connotation. This is the
extra layer the audience base their understanding on they
analyse what is going on/what is going to happen.
Symbolic = Connotation.
Semic = Denotation.