Our week 3 studios focuses on narrative and time. As Dan said, frame is time, not just a signifier of time. The idea that everything in the film is moving sounds a bit confusing let alone our minds respond, what about still shots on the frame? But even in stills, time is moving. In terms of narratives, having either plots that moves forward or flashbacks or jumbled up in different chronology, the story still begins and ends in linear order. That is the difference between a plot and a story, which in my popular cinema seminar I’ve learned two new vocabularies identifying these two conventions. These includes Fabula (or story) which can be defined as the purpose and meaning of the whole narrative, and Syuzhat (or plot) which is the order that the story is presented.

We are able to manipulate time through filmic codes and conventions including the popular technique of flashbacks. If we see a shot or a scene that is framed in a different colour, hue, filter or even sound than other scenes, as viewers we interpret this distinguishable content as a different part of the narrative. Another technique of time-manipulation is the use of slow-motion movement that is developed into a more advanced mobile movement called the bullet-time.