Narrative

What does the term 'narrative' mean?

The macro element term 'narrative' is the sequence of events, often referred to as the plot (story). The narrative structure is the way in which these events are revealed to the audience and there are two types: non-linear narrative and linear narrative.

So, what is a 'non-linear' narrative?

A film with a non-linear narrative displays the sequence of events out of chronological order. Examples of films that do this are Christopher Nolan's Memento and Inception.

Memento follows a man suffering from short-term memory loss using pictures and tattoos to identify the man who he believes shot his wife. The opening sequence, which is also the end of the film, travels in reverse chronological order and is presented in colour. The sequence begins with a Polaroid picture of a dead man and when the sequence begins we see the picture go back to its undeveloped state, back into the camera before a man is shot in the head by the protagonist. Afterwards, the colour changes to black-and-white representing a chronological sequence.

And what is a 'linear' narrative?

A linear narrative shows the sequence of events in a chronological order forming a beginning, middle and end structure. This is the most popular form of narrative structure appearing in films such as Paranormal Activity and North by North West.

Knowing the differences...

Below is a sketch of a storyboard showing the difference between linear (1) and non-linear (2):

The chronological order of the story (1) follows a couple falling in love however later, the woman finds the man cheating on her with another woman. In revenge, the hurt lover chops the man's arm off and then kills the other woman. As the man is still alive, he finds his ex and shoots her so in this case, the man is the villain throughout.

The non-linear version of this story is not in chronological order. Instead, the last two scenes of the linear version are the first two scenes in the non-linear version. So as an audience, we are under the impression that the man is the villain because we don't yet know why he shot the woman. The plot carries on as normal however the truth unfolds in shot 7 onwards- the woman was in fact the villain and he had shot her in revenge.