Single and Multi-Camera Production – Week 1, Part 2 Jamie long

Narrative Structure There are different narrative structures that are used in different camera productions. A Linear Narrative: This structure is a storyline that runs from start to end in chronological order and is not broken up in any way. (1) San Andreas is a film that has a linear narrative. You follow the story through along with the character. The film is specifically made with a linear narrative so that you, as the audience, feel that you are there with the character living within the story therefore giving it a more realistic feel. A Non-Linear Narrative: This type of narrative structure is useful, for example, when you want to reveal the end of the story before you begin to tell the start as a flashback or memory. (2) Walt Disney's ‘Fantasia’ is an example of a non-linear narrative. The 1975 film ‘Mirrors’ is also a good example in which a dying man in his forties remembers his past including his childhood and the war, therefore flash backs occur of his story.

Narrative Structure Flashbacks: As previously mentioned flashbacks often occur in non-linear structure films or programmes. Flashbacks are points in a narrative storyline where the story takes you back in time to show represent the story being told from their memory. (3) Single-Strand Narrative: This structure is based on only ONE storyline. It can be based on one or more characters but only follows one specific story. Most films follow this structure to keep the storyline simple. ‘Me Before You’ follows this structure as it follows the story of an unwell man finding love in his final days. It keeps the audience focused on the storyline without becoming side-tracked. (4) Multi-Strand Narrative: Soap Operas such as Emmerdale and Corronation Street use this structure in which more than one story is happening at any given time. The point of having multiple stories is to give the programme a fast pace and keep the audience engaged and excited instead of guessing what will happen next. It also means the story can be spread out over the course of a week, for example. (4)

Endings Closed Ending: A closed narrative structure is most commonly found in films and, as mentioned before, films usually have one specific storyline containing a clear beginning and ending. At the end of the storyline a film will usually be brought to a conclusion that sums up everything that has happened throughout. (5) Open Ending: An open narrative structure is usually found in most televisions series including soaps such as Hollyoaks. Each individual story has no clear middle and ending and will often end with a cliff hangar at the end of each episode to ensure the audience come back for the next episode. Giving no clear ending gives a clear impression that more dramatic events could take place and keep us excited for the next episode. (5)

Task 2 : Drama Analysis For this task, I need to show my understanding of formats, narrative and genre. I am going to select three TV dramas, each of a different format (Series, Serial and Single drama) and analyse and discuss how they have been constructed in order to appeal to and entertain a specific target audience.

Drama 1 – Single Drama San Andreas – 2016 MOVIE San Andreas is one of my favourite recent films and was released in 2015 and includes stars such as Dwayne Johnson. The movie is an action film and is targeted to a younger adult audience of, more specifically, males aged between 16 and 28. (6) This movie follows a linear structure with a single-strand narrative, therefore following one specific story. The story follows a massive earthquake in Los Angeles which causes devastation for the millions of residents in surrounding areas. We follow two main characters; one is the daughter who goes missing and is hit by multiple hold backs, the other is the father who sets out on a mission to find his daughter. The linear narrative is effective as it lets us, as the audience, follow the story with the characters. We feel like we are there with them and are part of the story itself. The single-strand narrative helps us to keep on track with the storyline so we can feel empathetic towards the characters and follow them on their journey. The movie has a closed ending which gives a clear conclusion and wraps up the story nicely as well as leaving the possibility for a follow on movie. Just because a movie has a clear ending, it doesn't mean that there cannot be a sequel. I am glad that this movie has a closed ending as it meant that I knew the outcome of the storyline and did not have to wait for another movie to come out in the future.

Drama 2- Series Drama Stranger Things (Netflix Series) Stranger things is a series drama, with only one series so far and another due to be created and released for summer 2017. The series follows a non-linear narrative in which a young girl has flashbacks to her childhood in a experimental laboratory. The series is very well put together in that although it only follows one story, flashbacks give clue to the overall ending of the episodes. The series was also smart in giving an open ending to give the audience time to reflect on the storyline and create their own idea of what had happened. There was no clear, in my opinion, explanation at the end of the series and that, therefore, gives the audience the opportunity to think about their own conclusion. This ending ensures that the audience are more likely to watch series two to find out more Information and piece together what they have learnt.

Drama 3 – Serial Drama Hollyoaks (Television Soap) Hollyoaks is a serial television soap that has been running for a number of years. Soaps are always serial dramas as they run consecutively with no long breaks between episodes. Hollyoaks has a linear narrative in which the storylines run in chronological order even if they dragged out over a number of episodes. Having a multi-strand narrative means that episodes feature multiple stories, with the stories running side by side at any one time. Including more than one story per episode means that the audience remain engaged and are therefore likely to tune in to the next episode to find out what happens next. Soaps such as Hollyoaks almost always have an open ending which means that no storyline comes to a clear end, except on the rare occasions. This, once again, ensures that the audience tune in to the next episode to find out what happens and this also gets people speculating about the programme with friends.

References http://education.seattlepi.com/linear-narrative-6001.html SeattlePI - What Is a Linear Narrative? [ONLINE] Last Accessed 6th January 2017 https://letterboxd.com/elihayes/list/what-are-your-ten-favorite-non-narrative/ LetterBoxd [ONLINE] Last Accessed 6th January 2017 http://dramaresource.com/flashbacks-and-flash-forwards/ Drama Resource [ONLINE] Last Accessed 6th January 2017 http://penandthepad.com/narrative-strands-3175.html The Pen and The Pad – What Are Narrative Strands? [ONLINE] Last Accessed 6th January 2017 http://jessmcdougall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/narrative-structure.html Blog Spot - Narrative Structure, Jess McDougall. [ONLINE] Last Accessed 6th January 2017 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2126355/ IMBD – San Andreas (2015) [ONLINE] Last Accessed 6th January 2017.