Narrative Structure

Narrative Structure

A story is ALL the events surrounding a group of characters in a place at a certain time.

A narrative is the selected way of telling that story.

Rules of narrative

- Does it have conventions?

- Does it have a beginning, middle and end?

- What characters are there? Protagonist? Antagonist? Propps theory? 

A single drama/film is a single episode or short film which is not part of a series or have any other episodes.

A soap is a continuous drama where it goes on forever, usually each episode ends on a cliff hanger. They usually have massive casts of all different races and ethnicities. 

A serial is a series, where there are episodes - a show that runs in seasons. Generally, they have a different story each episode. 

An anthology series is self-contained episodes where there is a different cast and a completely different story in each episode. For example, 'Black Mirror'.

A long-form series drama is a series when there is a story which runs through many episodes - sometimes even across multiple seasons. An example of this is 'Riverdale'.

A long-form series drama with some narrative experimentation is any TV series that experiments with the narrative - doing something new. This is such as making an episode in real time like an hour.

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Linear narrative: a sequential narrative with a beginning, middle and end in that order. Linear narratives provides a straightforward, sequential representation of events leading to a single resolution. As such, easily accessible to audiences and are the dominant form in mainstream media representations. 


















1- equilibrium, a story starts where everything is equal, balanced and everyone is happy

2- something happens to disrupt the happy order

3- someone recognises something has happened

4- there is something to repair the disorder, usually a fight

5- Return to a happy equilibrium






For example, 'Little Red Riding Hood', she goes to visit her grandma and bring her some food. The audience knows that Little Red has been told not to go into the woods but she does, meaning we recognise something will happen to disrupt the equilibrium. 

The audience knows that the wolf is pretending to be the grandma - dramatic irony - and then Little Red recognises something is wrong. There is an attempt to repair the disorder and the wolf gets killed. Equilibrium is then restored.



'Cuffs' is known as a character led narrative with multiple storylines. It is a serial drama.

'The Avengers' is knows as a long-form serial drama.





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Cuffs

Equilibrium: Jake Ryan going the police force and he is having lunch with other officers.

Disruption: A robbery at newsgate in Brighton

Recognition: Donna gets an urgent call for her

Attempt at repair: They suddenly leave their lunch and go to help 

New equilibrium: They did not manage to catch the criminals but they made sure that everyone was safe and secure


Avengers

Equilibrium: Emma and Steed are flirting and having a fencing match

Disruption: There are missing people in Little Bazley and they go to investigate

Recognition: They realise a lot of things do not add up, such as all of the school children are on break in the middle of term

Attempt at repair: There is a big fight between Emma and Steed and the Russian spies

New equilibrium: They defeat the villians and go back home