Narrative structures for short films

Narrative form is the structure through which movies tell stories, they are most common in fiction film, but appear in all basic types of film including -documentaries, animated films and of course short films. Typically a narrative begins with one situation then a series of changes occurs according to a pattern of cause and effect. Finally a new situation arises that restores equilibrium and brings about the end of the narrative. "Action triggers reaction: each step has an effect which in turn becomes a new cause" (David Bordwell, 1985)

Story- is what we see on screen, it consists 'of all the events in a narrative, both explicitly presented and inferred' - Bordwell and Thompson

Plot- everything visibly and audibly present in the film

Narrative- How the story is told, how the material is selected and arranged in order to achieve particular effects on the audience

Conventional narrative structure 

Conventional narratives follow the same basic pattern in terms of the way they construct a story.

Tzvetan Todorov defined the three main parts of a narrative structure  (the beginning, middle and the end) as:

- Equilibrium- the balanced normality of the world of any story 

- Disequilibrium- the unbalanced world between the problem in the story and the climax

- New equilibrium- a return to normality at the end  

However some films end in disequilibrium to discomfort the viewer. 
The simple formula can be applied to virtually all narratives- it is a more formal way of thinking about the beginning, middle and end and it takes into account Aristotle's theory that all drama is conflict i.e. there is a disequilibrium at the heart of every narrative. This basic three point narrative can be looked at in more detail and is sometimes called the narrative arc.

Classical Hollywood narrative structure

1) situation or exposition- needed at the beginning of the narrative to set the scene. This is where the information is given to the audience to allow them to build a clear picture. Where are we? when are we? whose story will we be following?
2) complication- events which occur to make a problem. This is the section that takes up most time in a film.
3) Climax- this is the moment where the problems are actually solved by someone in a film.
4) Resolution- This is the part of the narrative where the world of the text returns to some sort of normality as the problems and their complications are now past. This is conventionally the part of the film where all the loose ends of the plot are tied up and questions are answered, unless it follows the other rule and ends on a cliff hanger.

Some films try to overturn the rules of the IMR and Classical Hollywood narrative structures. In my short film I will try and use the conventional narrative structure as I can follow a step by step rule which will allow me to create a good short film.