This document discusses different types of narrative structures used in documentaries. It describes closed narratives as having a clear conclusion that answers all questions. Open narratives leave judgments and conclusions open for the audience to determine. Linear narratives follow a timeline of causes and effects, while non-linear narratives present information out of chronological order. Single-strand narratives focus on one narrative throughout, and multi-strand narratives cut between multiple concurrent stories. Circular narratives start and end in the same place by posing and then answering a hypothesis.

1. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
AND T Y P E S

2. PLOT & STORY
• A narrative is an account of connected events telling a
story, consisting of the story and plot.
• Story and plot are representative of difference aspects in
narrative; the plot represents certain story events which
are visibly and audibly present to the audience, whereas
the story goes beyond the plot, implying events that are
never shown to the audience or even leaving the audience
to work them out entirely.

3. CLOSED NARRATIVES
• CLOSED narratives leave no
loose ends when the
documentary finishes. All
questions are answered and
there is a clear conclusion.
Arguably, this is the most
common narrative, with a
variety of documentaries
using the structure, with
documentaries such as Most
Evil ending each episode with
an answer to the question of
“who is most evil?”

4. OPEN NARRATIVES
• OPEN narratives are more or
less the opposite; all
judgments, questions, and
corresponding answers are
left open to the audience.
This could be a result of a lack
of definitive evidence in
support of a thesis, such as in
the documentary 9/11: The
Falling Man, which strongly
suggests the conclusion, but
is never outright given to the
audience.

5. LINEAR NARRATIVES
• LINEAR narratives follow a
timeline, but not just
beginning-middle-end
structure; linear narratives
follow causes and the effects
that result as a consequence.
For example, Louis Theroux’s
The Most Hated Family in
America follows this
structure, with his day-to-day
interactions with the Phelps
family leading in smoothly
one to the next.

6. NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES
• NON-LINEAR narratives have the opposite order or structure to linear
narratives, often featuring flashbacks. These narratives take everything out of
its chronological order and present it in an order suitable to the tone. This is a
particularly rare type of narrative for documentary usage, as it can result with
the flow of subject matter information becoming disrupted. An example of
this type of narrative is Emmy award winning documentary Out My Window
which documents the “urban planet” and allows the audience to interact.

7. SINGLE-STRAND NARRATIVES
• SINGLE-STRAND has only one narrative and follows solely that
narrative, introducing it, exploring it, and resolving/concluding
a presented conflict. David Attenborough documentaries often
follow this narrative; Natural World focuses on one aspect of
nature and follows that one narrative along for the duration of
the documentary.

8. MULTI-STRAND NARRATIVES
• MULTI-STRAND narratives
follow several different
stories at a given time, and
often are intercut between
each other. Examples of this
type of documentary
narrative are Benefits Street
and One Born Every Minute,
with different stories often
being spliced together
throughout an episode, all
concluding around the same
time.

9. CIRCULAR NARRATIVES
• CIRCULAR narratives start and
end at the same point. Scientific
documentaries, for example,
often use this structure by
posing a hypothesis at the start
and answering it at the end of
the documentary. The opening
thesis would then be reiterated
and once again answered for
audience clarity. National
Geographic and the Discovery
Channel documentaries often
follow this structure as a result
of their scientific nature.