Narrative structure is a very important part of a film and especially the opening. It provides an insight into how the film will develop, and provides clues to how the film will end. There are a number of different types of narrative structure.....
Linear Narrative
This is when the film starts at the beginning and ends at the end. Commonly used and reflects reality.
Non Linear Narrative
This is the opposite of the above, the film darts around from the beginning, end and middle. An example would be Saw.
Omniscient Narrative
This gives the viewer a "god like" perspective, where the audience sees and hears all.
Restricted Narrative
The opposite of the above where key things are hidden from the audience to keep us guessing.
- How do the first five minutes relate to the rest of the film?
- How does it affect the audience and the story
- Why?
Scream
- Linear
- Restricted
- It starts with the first of many attacks on the main characters and kills the protagonist in the opening scene.
- It's quite shocking as we don't expect the major star to be killed.
- It plays with the audience's expectation We don't know what's going to happen to the rest of the film
28 Days Later
- Linear
- Restricted
- The first five minutes make the audience want to carry on, as it's abnormal to the viewer.
- The scenes effect the audience because London is one of the most busiest cities and here we see it empty and desolate.
- There are no titles except for the production company.
