Looking at Movies
Fourth Edition
Richard Barsam  Dave Monahan
CHAPTER FOUR
Elements of Narrative
What Is Narrative?
• Narrative – a cinematic structure in which the
filmmakers have selected and arranged events in a
cause-and-effect sequence occurring over time
• Narrative movie – a fiction film, as opposed to other
movies modes, such as documentary or experimental
• Narration – the act of telling the story
• The Narrator – who or what tells the story
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The Primary Narrator
• In every movie, the camera is the primary narrator
• Its narration consists of the many visual elements it
captures and arranges in every composition in every
shot
• Other cinematic elements such as lighting, set design,
makeup, performance and editing contribute to the
narrative
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Possible Narrators Types
• First-person – typically a voice-over but may address
the audience directly
• Third-person – a voice imposed from outside the
narrative
• Omniscient – has unrestricted access to all aspects of
the narrative and characters, as well as information that
no character knows
• Restricted – information limited to the knowledge of a
single character
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Basic Types of Characters
• Two essential elements of virtually every film narrative
are a character pursuing a goal.
• Round characters – more lifelike, with complex
personalities that may change as the story progresses
• Flat characters – few distinct traits and do not change
significantly as the story progresses
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Characters
• Protagonist – the primary character pursuing the
goal
• Antagonist – The person(s), creature, or force
responsible for obstructing the protagonist
• Anti-hero – an unsympathetic protagonist chasing a
less than noble goal
• Imperfect characters in a narrative – have obstacles,
character development, and character motivations
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Narrative Structure
• Most narratives structures can be broken down to:
– Beginning (Act I) – sets up the story and establishes the
normal world
– Middle (Act II) – longest section that develops the story
– End (Act III) – resolves it
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The Screenwriter
• Creates the movie’s story and writes the screenplay in
its various stages either from scratch or by adapting
another source
• Builds the narrative structure and devises characters,
action, dialogue, and settings
• Adheres to a precisely prescribed format so that each
page equals one minute of screen time
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Diegetic and Nondiegetic
• Diegetic Elements– What we see and hear on the screen that come from
inside the world of the story: characters, objects,
settings, and sounds from the world of the story
• Nondiegetic– What we see and hear on the screen that come from
outside the world of the story: titles, credits, music
(not originating from the world of the story) and
voice-over or third-person narratives
Narrative: Two Fundamental
Elements
• Story – all of the explicit and implicit narrative events
in the story and the diegesis, or total world in which the
the story occurs
• Plot –the specific actions and events and the order in
which the events are arranged to convey the narrative
to the viewer, including the nondiegetic elements
• These two concepts overlap and intersect with one
another in every movie.
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Elements of Narrative:
Plot Order and Events
• Plot order – a fundamental decision filmmakers make
about how to relay story information
• Events – happen in a logical order and their relative
significance to the story defines them as either major or
minor (secondary)
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Elements of Narrative: Duration
• Duration – the length of time it takes for things to
occur (in life or in movies)
• Story duration – the length of time the implied story
takes to occur
• Plot duration – the elapsed time of the events explicitly
presented in the film take to occur
• Screen duration – the movie’s running time on the
screen
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Elements of Narrative: Exposition
• Provides background information on the characters,
setting, and basic conflict
• Ends with an inciting moment that sets the rest of the
narrative in motion
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Elements of Narrative:
Suspense vs. Surprise
• Surprise – taken unaware, can be shocking. Our
emotional response is generally short-lived and can
only happen in the same way once.
• Suspense – anxiety brought on by partial uncertainty or
even knowing what is going to happen. The means by
which created is uncertain, and we want to warn and
protect the empathetic characters.
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Elements of Narrative:
Repetition
• Repetition – the number of times a story element recurs
in a narrative plot
• Familiar image – an audio or visual image that a
director periodically repeats in a movie to stabilize its
narrative
– By its repetition, the image calls attention to itself as
a narrative element.
– may be symbolic
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Elements of Narrative:
Setting and Scope
• Setting – the time and place in which the story occurs
• Scope – the overall range, in time and place, of a
movie’s story
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Looking at Narrative:
John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939)
• Based upon the “ship of fools” convention
• Sharp psychological portraits of vivid characters
• Pointed social commentary
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Stagecoach: Narration and Narrator
• Ford relies on visual images and dialogue
• The camera is omniscient (has unrestricted access to all
aspects of the narrative) and provides the narration
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Stagecoach: Characters
• Antagonist – Geronimo, but for Ringo, the Plummers
• Protagonist – Ringo
• Major (round) characters – Dallas, Ringo, Peacock,
Gatewood, Dr. Boone, and Lucy are all multidimensional characters inside the stagecoach
• Minor (flat) characters – Hatfield, Peacock, and
Gatewood, Buck Rickabaugh and Marshall Wilcox
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Stagecoach: Narrative Structure
• Narrative – follows the familiar, three-act paradigm
• Act I – establishes the world of Tonto, and the
characters reasons for going to Lordsburg, their
common goal
• Act II – we see that what’s at stake, delay and danger,
are introduced to the obstacles, and the characters’
actions
• Act III – Ringo’s crisis is resolved and several other
story items are resolved
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Stagecoach: Plot
•
•
•
•
Covers the two-day trip from Tonto to Lordsburg
Developed in a strictly chronological way
Events follow each other coherently and logically
Relations of cause-and-effect action are easy to discern
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Stagecoach: Order
• Maintains strict chronological order
• The journey provides chronological and geographical
markers
• Reveals a clear pattern of cause and effect
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Stagecoach: Diegetic and
Nondiegetic Elements
• Nondiegetic elements – opening and closing titles and
credits; background music
• Important diegetic element – American folk music
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Stagecoach: Events
• 12 major events
• Minor plot events add texture and complexity to
characters and events
Let’s look at the 12 major events in Stagecoach
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Stagecoach: Duration
• Story duration – what we know and what we infer from
the total lives of all the characters
• Plot duration – the two-day trip from Tonto to
Lordsburg
• Screen duration (running time): 96 minutes
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Stagecoach: Repetition
• No story events recur in Stagecoach
• Repetition and transformation of character traits
• Repetition of familiar images (three-part editing
pattern) about a dozen times
– 1. long shot of the stagecoach
– 2. two-shot of Curley and Buck on the driver’s seat
– 3. middle shot, or close-up, of the passengers inside
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Stagecoach: Suspense
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•
•
•
Fear of an imminent Indian attack
Will Lucy stop acting like a spoiled rich woman?
Will Dr. Boone sober up in time to deliver her child?
Will Dallas accept Ringo’s proposal?
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Stagecoach: Settings
• Settings were constructed on Hollywood sound stages,
and Ford used actual locations in Monument Valley,
Arizona
• Interior and exteriors of the stagecoach
• The desert
• Tonto and Lordsburg
• Dry Fork Station
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Stagecoach: Scope
• Broad overall range of time and place
• Presents a historical, social, and mythical vision of
American civilization in the 1870s.
• Envelopes the social themes of Manifest Destiny
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Review
In every movie, the primary narrator is
a. subjective.
b. first-person.
c. the camera.
d. direct-address.
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Review
The narrative peak is called
a. catharsis.
b. crisis.
c. climax.
d. complication.
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Review
Which of the following includes events explicitly
presented in a movie but does NOT include implicit
events?
a. Diegesis
b. Scenario
c. Plot
d. Narrative
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Review
2. Which of these consists of both explicitly presented and
implicit events?
a. Story
b. Plot
c. Narrative
d. Diegesis
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Review
3. Emphasizing importance or meaning can be achieved
through the manipulation of
a. story order.
b. plot order.
c. the film’s diegesis.
d. narrative.
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Review
The antagonist of a movie’s narrative
a. is the central figure, hero or anti-hero .
b. is responsible for obstructing the
protagonist.
c. is a virtuous individual.
d. opposes the narrative .
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Review
4. Manipulation of what formal element is primarily
responsible for both stretch and summary relationships
between durations?
a. Cinematography
b. Characterization
c. Lighting
d. Editing
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