Brian talked a little bit about narrative today, specifically about what narrative is and why it matters. I’m just going to summarize the information I jotted down during the talk for starters. In it’s simplest explanation, narrative is a story. It’s a way of structuring meaning to form a – you guessed it – narrative.

Key elements of a story include controlling idea, character, conflict, structure and character change/growth. In a typical 3 Act structure a character will experience a conflict and resolution, to which they have learned or grown as a person by the end credits. This type of narrative formula is most common in Hollywood films – browse a Video Ezy (do those even exist anymore?) and pretty much everything you find will follow this example. It’s only the indie and more alternative films that shy away from this – of course that’s a generalisation, but you get the idea.

Personally, I’m a fan of the predictable formula – not in the sense that I necessarily need a Happily Ever After or cliché tropes to be overused in every film I see (if anything, please god no I don’t want that). Just in the way that I find this to be the best way of creating a good story that is engaging all the way through. As was explained by Brian, narrative codes such as this can generate or control the flow of suspense, provide setting and engage viewers attention to reveal character or further the plot. It is, ‘a creative demonstration of the truth’. The truth being of course – that people experience ups and downs and people grow.