What is 'Narrative'?

What is ‘narrative’?
- Story
- Plot
- The way the story is organised

Elements of a Narrative:
- Time - chronology

Linear Time - an example of a film with linear time is 'High Noon' where the film is the same duration as the film itself, which is otherwise known as a film shown in real time.

Non Linear - this is basically the opposite where for example the film in real life was 2 hours long however time inside the film could have covered days, weeks, months, years and sometimes even thousands of years.

Memento - this is a film where it starts at the latest time and finishes at the earliest time, the films starts at the latest time and gradually jumps back to the start of the film and ends there, kind of like its being shown backwards.

Pulp Fiction - Pulp Fiction starts just over halfway of the film and ends just after the start before the action is happening and jumps all over the place in between.

- Closure
- Enigma

What enigmas are created in our music video?
enigmas in our music video are the flash backs the couple have of when they were together, which makes the audience think whether they are going to get back with each other or not, that’s one enigma, which is created during the music video.


Classical Hollywood Narratives:
- Linear
- Few, if any, sub-plots
- Tendency towards closure

Theories of Narrative: Todorov
- Equilibrium
- Disruption
- Resolution
- New Equilibrium

To test this theory I had watched the beginning of the film 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' to see if the film did include any of Todorov’s theories of narrative, here's what I analysed.

1) Equilibrium - Everything’s in balance, Clint Eastwood and his son are happily working on the farm with their horse

2) Disruption - Clint notices birds flying out of the trees, followed by him seeing horses behind the trees and a cloud of black smoke coming from nearby, he then hears gun shots and soon discovers houses on fire.

3) Resolution - after the death of Clint’s son he is going to avenge his death

4) New equilibrium - whatever the new equilibrium Clint cannot return to where he was at the beginning of the film because that is where his son had been killed.