Chapter 2: Narrative

Chapter Overview

The main point of Chapter Two is to give you an overview of the elements of narrative in film. Many of these elements are shared in common with other narrative forms such as prose fiction and drama, so if you have studied narrative form in literature or theater classes, you will see some familiar terms and concepts here in Chapter Two. But be alert to the unique features of film narrative—especially the various ways that time is manipulated in movies.

A central concept in this chapter is the relationship between plot and story. The diagram on page 60 and the discussion that begins on that page is essential reading if you want to understand this relationship. The gist is this: the plot of a movie is the manner in which the underlying story is presented onscreen. All of the decisions that filmmakers make about what to show onscreen come down to this fundamental distinction between plot and story.

Among the decisions that flow from the plot/story distinction are the order and duration of narrative events. Regarding duration, it is most important for you to understand how the summary relationship works in film, since it is the most common type of manipulation of time (duration) in movies. 

In addition to narrative events, there are a few other major elements of film narrative covered in this chapter: characters, setting, and narration. The section devoted to narration is short, but you shouldn’t conclude that the subject is less important than the other two. In fact, as you will learn later in the text, the implied perspective or point of view conveyed by the camera adds a complex wrinkle to film narration that makes it different from the modes of narration in written fiction or in staged drama.