1. Narrative Structure
• In most films, a narrative is
present…
• Series of events in ways that
imply connections between
one event and the next.
• Cause and effect relationship:
one event causes the next
event.
• Narratives require ‘narration’.
• Think of some ways in
which films narrate.

2. Text Character
dialogue
Angles
Move-
ment Dialogue
Camera Voice
shots over
Narrative
Conventi-
ons Visual
Narrative
Codes
Connotati
-ons

3. Narrative Structure
• Film are organised according to a set of rules or
conventions.
• They are understood by filmmakers, and recognised by film
viewers.
• Responses to film are based on our real life experiences
and, previous experiences of films.
• Story: What happens in a narrative.
• Plot: How things happen in a narrative.
• Example: In Terminator II, a crazy machine tries to kill John
Connor (story) over the space of a couple of weeks. This
happens by us first seeing John and Arnie hook up, then
John, Arnie and Sarah hooking up to kill the T1000.

4. Narrative Structure
• Focalisation: Is when the viewer adopts the point of view
of a specific character.
• This helps us understand the plot more as we empathise
with there character and understand why they do certain
things.
• It can also help us understand the story better and we
might get a couple of focalisations and thus know a number
of different stories and more than any individual character.
• Dictated by the need to arouse and sustain our interest.
• Character-based : stress on active characters, whose
exploits reveal motives we can readily appreciate.

5. Hollywood
Benevolence and Transparency
• Hollywood narratives are dictated by a desire to make the
story readily comprehensible to the audience.
• Benevolence: A set of conventions, sometimes
sophisticated, which aims to guide viewers through the
story.
• Transparent: The techniques are ‘transparent’ because
they seek to keep viewers focused on the story.
• They are therefore unobtrusive, so that audiences remain
absorbed in what is happening, rather than become
distracted by how the story is told.

6. Hollywood
Cause and Effect
• Hollywood narratives use cause and effect most rigidly, as it
produces story clarity.
• Characters provides the causal elements, driving the story
forward, and providing connections between the elements
which the plot places side by side.
• Hollywood films therefore, have heroes who have definite
goals.
• The central character desires something, seeks to achieve
something, and the story consists of the actions the
character undertakes to fulfill such aims.

7. Hollywood
Cause and Effect
• Most Hollywood films are closed, meaning the ending offers
a complete conclusion to the character’s goal.
• The narrative will end with the character’s goal having been
met, or the attempt having failed – the later is unlikely
however, as Hollywood revolves around audience pleasure.
• Worth noting, that most narrative are driven by male
characters.
• Can you think of any films that are driven by female
characters…

8. Hollywood
Invisible Story Telling
• The main purpose of a mainstream Hollywood film is to tell
us a story.
• All mainstream films are based around a plot or narrative
idea and contain various scenes and sequences all of which
contribute to the overall story.
• On a more fundamental level all films can be boiled down to
just two core building blocks: the shot and the cut.
• As such, the use of camera and editing are crucial elements
of moving image language.

9. Hollywood
Continuity Style
• Continuity Style: a particular style of shooting and editing,
emerging in the 20th century, geared towards making film
narratives easier to understand.
• Continuity style, encourages you the viewer to become
enthralled and captivated by a story but actively
discourages you from consciously noticing the editing and
camera techniques that are being used to tell it.
• The continuity style deliberately sets out to make the
camera, camerawork and editing invisible or, at the very
least, unobtrusive.

10. Hollywood
The Three-Act Structure
Act I
• The film is set up; main characters introduced, their
goals and the obstacles they are likely to encounter.
Act II
•The plot thickens; action is increased, sense or urgency,
often a false conclusion to the obstacles outlined in Act I
Act III
•The resolution; the story concludes, almost always with a
happy ending.

11. Hollywood
The Dramatic Arc