The document discusses narrative conventions in action thriller movie trailers. It notes that trailers typically follow a chronological order until a climactic turning point, then become faster-paced and non-linear while still building to reveal the main enigma. Trailers employ both unrestricted narrative, giving audiences clues, and restricted narrative, keeping some details unknown to create enigmas. Enigmas are crafted through fast editing leaving questions and using flashbacks that require the audience to piece together an incomplete story.

1. Narrative Enigmas In Trailers
Emma Marshall

2. Genre example I will be looking at:
Action Thriller

3. What are the narrative conventions?
• The trailers seem to all follow a chronological order, right up until a climatic point
where something bad happens to the main character/ there’s a turning point.
• At this point the narrative will become must faster paced and non-chronological,
but will lead to another climatic point where we will find the main enigma.
Example: ‘Taken’
A man is living his ordinary life, he is celebrating his daughters birthday. His daughter
and her friend then go on holiday, and while there she gets kidnapped and her dad
tries to save her.
• Typically involves lots of fight scenes and the man usually has links to the CIA or is
an ex-soldier.
• The mes-en-scene of cars and guns for example help to make things seem more
real and add to the tension.

4. What is the narrative structure?
• First of all you are introduced to the story
through either the main or one of the main
characters. The problem which occurs is normally
linked to their past, and they must try and solve
it. It’s a brief intro to their story.
• The last thing you are shown in the trailer is the
character approaching the problem they’re
facing. Fight scenes are usually crucial here as it
leaves the audience with an enigma of what
happens next? Does he get what he wants? Do
they die?

5. Unrestricted narrative?
Unrestricted narrative is when we (the audience)
know more and see more of what’s going on than
any of the characters.
Within Action Thrillers (and most trailers in general)
the narrative is unrestricted as they’re trying to give
the audience hints and clues as to what’s
happening. Also giving them a back story so they
know what has already happened as well.

6. Restricted narrative?
Having said that, there is still restricted narrative as they do not want to give
away too much information or knowledge about the film in the trailer.
Having restricted narrative is how enigmas are created. By keeping audiences
in the dark about certain things, they start to ask questions about things.
For example, in ‘Escape Plan’:
As an audience, we don’t know how the character has ended up in the prison,
and neither does he. As the character learns new things, the audience learns
with him.

7. How are enigmas created?
Enigmas can be created through
• Fast paced editing – scenes become so much faster
and shorter, giving the audience less time to process
what they are seeing properly, leaving them with
questions.
• Flashbacks – the audience get shown bits and pieces
from different parts of time and they’re left to try
and figure everything out by themselves.