1. Narrative Structure
Open Narrative- An open narrative mean that the story never comes to a
complete conclusion. For example soap opera’s rarely tend to come to a
conclusion as they are always on going.
Closed Narrative- A closed narrative is a narrative that comes to an ultimate
conclusion within a media text. For example films almost always come to a final
conclusion.
Single Strand- A single strand narrative has just one storyline e.g. Children’s
books tend to only have one solid storyline in them as otherwise it would make it
more difficult for them to understand.
Multi-Strand- A multi-strand narrative has many different storylines running
through it. Examples of types of media text with multi-strand storylines include
Soap Operas, these types of media don't use the conventional beginning, middle,
and end approach as they often have several storylines running at once.
Linear- Narratives start at the beginning of the story in a straight line right
through to the end in a chronological order with no flash forwards/backs.
Examples of this include films, books and types of journalism
Non- Linear- Non Linear are narratives that don’t go through the story in a
straight line such as flashbacks/forwards. Good examples of this include films
like Pulp Fiction and Memento as well as video games also being good examples
of non-linear narratives as some games such as Fallout 3 as you may choose from
a number of different outcomes constantly throughout the game which will affect
the overall storyline.
Realist- A realist narrative reflects real life believable events that could happen
to almost anyone.
Anti-realist- Anti- realist narratives are the opposite of realist narratives. They
involve events and characters, which are highly unlikely if not impossible to
happen/, find in real life situations. Good examples of this include films under
the genres of Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Components:
Opening- An opening is the start of a book. Within media an opening can start in
many different ways, for example within a film the ending of the film could
actually be shown at the start in order to grasp the audiences immediate
attention.
Conflict- Often the driver of your story, usually involving two or more people/
characters. Within books and films etc you don't always have to be limited to just
one conflict however in my children's book there is only one main conflict that
occurs due to the fact that my target audience is much younger children of
around 3-6 years old.
Resolution- This will most likely be the ending of your story, For example within
my children's book the resolution is that the ugly duckling turns into a swan and
finally becomes happy with itself
Enigma- An enigma is a narrative technique that can be used to intrigue the
audience into watching and/or buying a product. For example in Riverdale the
enigma is finding out who killed a character called Jason Blossom, this keeps

2. viewers interested and intrigued in the programme as it gives viewers a new hint
on who the murderer could be every week keeping people coming back to watch
it.
Climax- The turning point in which changes the characters fate. An example of a
climax taking place within a film would be in Get Out where the girlfriend refuses
to give her partner the key to leave (link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgCAAyUsFBo
Manipulation of time and space- This can be used as a tool to symbolise a
progression in time. For example within my book I split one of my children's
book pages into 4 and referenced each of the different seasons to show a
progression forwards in time.