Narrative Form

Citizen Kane

From Textbook

Narrative Form in Citizen Kane

• Innovations in Storytelling:

  • Citizen Kane is regarded as an original and influential film.

  • Director Orson Welles and screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz made creative narrative choices that continue to shape modern filmmaking.

• Audience Expectations:

  • 1941 audience anticipated a film about William Randolph Hearst, based on rumours.

  • Early sequences hint at the genre conventions: fictional biography, newspaper reporter genre, and detective genre.

  • The "News on the March" sequence sets up the biographical and investigative tone.

• Genre Conventions:

  • Citizen Kane draws from several genres but subverts them:

    • Biographical genre: focuses on Kane's psychological states more than his public deeds.

    • Reporter genre: The reporter (Thompson) does not succeed in revealing the full story, breaking conventions.

    • Mystery genre: the film answers some questions (e.g., Rosebud) but leaves others unresolved.

• Subverting Classical Hollywood Narrative:

  • The plot does not follow a traditional chronological structure.

  • Flashbacks are used to tell Kane’s life story, framed around Thompson’s investigation of his dying word, "Rosebud."

  • The narrative unfolds through different characters' perspectives, giving a fragmented view of Kane’s life.

Plot and Story Structure in Citizen Kane

• Flashbacks and Investigative Structure:

  • Instead of a linear biography, the story is told through flashbacks triggered by the investigation of Kane’s final word.

  • The reporter’s search for the meaning of "Rosebud" provides a secondary narrative line.

• Segmentation of Plot:

  • The plot is segmented into distinct sections, often based on character perspectives and significant events.

  • These segments are not always chronological, contributing to the film's non-traditional structure.

• Unconventional Plot Structure:

  • The film challenges audience expectations by mixing genres and providing partial answers to the central mystery.

  • Citizen Kane presents an innovative form of storytelling that deviates from classical Hollywood norms, creating an ambiguous narrative experience.

Citizen Kane: Causality, Time, Motivation, and Parallelism

• Causality in Citizen Kane

  • The plot is driven by two main lines of action: Thompson’s investigation and Kane’s life.

  • Thompson’s goal: uncover the meaning of "Rosebud" and, by doing so, understand who Kane was.

  • Kane’s life is driven by his uncertain goals, such as fame, social justice, and love, making him an unusual central character in Hollywood cinema.

  • Secondary characters: Thatcher, Bernstein, Leland, Susan, and Raymond provide testimonies that reveal Kane’s past and help Thompson in his investigation.

  • The absence of Emily and her son is explained by their deaths before the investigation starts, avoiding redundancy in the story.

• Time in Citizen Kane

  • The narrative spans roughly 65 years of Kane’s life, plus Thompson’s week-long investigation.

  • Duration and Frequency:

    • The plot condenses time through montage sequences (e.g., Kane’s newspaper empire, Susan’s opera career, and the Depression).

    • A unique feature of the film is the use of temporal frequency—certain events are repeated (e.g., Susan’s opera debut from two perspectives).

  • Chronology and Flashbacks:

    • The plot employs flashbacks, moving back and forth in Kane’s life rather than following a linear chronology.

    • Early sections use disjointed flashbacks (newsreel, Thatcher’s manuscript) to present key moments in Kane’s life.

    • Later sections follow a more chronological order, allowing for clearer understanding of Kane’s evolution.

    • Flashbacks focus on different stages of Kane’s life: boyhood, youth, adulthood, and old age, often presented by characters who knew him at specific points.

    • The manipulation of chronology builds suspense, as we know key relationships (e.g., marriages, friendships) will deteriorate, but the details of how and when are unclear.

• "News on the March" as a Map

  • The opening newsreel serves as a capsule preview of Kane’s life, providing a broad overview that sets up the investigation.

  • The sequence of events in the newsreel offers a rough guide to the flashbacks that follow.

  • Newsreel Breakdown:

    • A. Shots of Xanadu

    • B. Funeral and headlines

    • C. Kane’s financial empire

    • D. Gold mine and Mrs. Kane’s boardinghouse

    • E. Thatcher’s testimony

    • F. Political career

    • G. Personal life (marriages, divorces)

    • H. Opera house and Xanadu

    • I. Political campaign

    • J. The Depression

    • K. Kane’s old age (1935)

    • L. Isolation of Xanadu

    • M. Death announced

  • The newsreel’s structure mirrors the flashbacks, offering a chronological map of the plot’s events.

Motivation in Citizen Kane

• Causality is essential in motivating the events of Kane’s life.

• Thatcher’s Role:

  • Thatcher’s wealth and social position create a foundation for Kane’s later power.

  • His involvement in Kane’s early life helps Thompson with his research, establishing his importance in the story.

• Susan’s Flashback:

  • Susan’s delayed flashback allows other characters (Thatcher, Bernstein, Leland) to provide the earlier history of Kane, enriching our understanding of his transformation.

  • Her refusal to speak in a drunken haze heightens the mystery around Kane and reflects his damage to those closest to him.

• The Rosebud Mystery:

  • Rosebud serves as a key motivator for Thompson’s investigation, but its significance is not definitively explained.

  • Thompson’s uncertainty about Rosebud’s meaning and Leland’s dismissal of it suggest that it may not provide a complete answer to Kane’s character.

• Psychological Motivation:

  • The film’s ambiguity regarding Kane’s motivations invites speculation about his actions and personality.

  • The characters offer varying opinions on Kane, adding to the complexity of understanding his true nature.

• Parallelism in Citizen Kane

  • Parallelism is not a major principle but is employed in more localized ways.

  • The newsreel (and later flashbacks) create structural parallels, linking characters and events across time.

  • These parallels enhance the narrative by reinforcing thematic elements, such as Kane’s quest for control, love, and success.

Narration in Citizen Kane

• Overall Structure:

  • The plot manipulates the flow of information moment-by-moment, making Kane's life a puzzle, presented through different perspectives.

  • Kane is only directly seen in the present at his death; otherwise, he is portrayed through newsreels or various characters' flashbacks.

• Character Narrators:

  • Five narrators:

    • Thatcher: Offers his account through writing, only witnessing scenes he's present in (e.g., Kane's newspaper crusade via Inquirer).

    • Bernstein: Flashback reveals his perspective, sticking mostly to what he witnessed. Knowledge of events like Kane in Europe is relayed through telegrams.

    • Leland: Flashbacks deviate most from his knowledge (e.g., Kane’s affair, detailed moments like breakfast scenes).

    • Susan: Flashbacks mostly align with her knowledge, though she is unconscious during part of the action (scene 7f).

    • Raymond (Butler): Flashback aligns with his perspective; he stands in the hallway as Kane wrecks Susan's room.

• Functions of Multiple Narrators:

  • Mimics the process of journalistic investigation, piecing together Kane's story.

  • Enhances curiosity and suspense regarding the meaning of “Rosebud” and Kane’s downfall.

  • Provides a structure where narrators reveal and conceal information. This builds intrigue, especially regarding the mystery of Rosebud.

  • The restriction of knowledge creates dramatic tension and uncertainty about Kane's character.

• Subjectivity vs Objectivity:

  • Flashbacks are mostly presented objectively, with the exception of Susan’s, which convey some subjectivity (e.g., her optical point of view, phantasmagoric montage of her career).

  • Susan’s flashbacks present her as the most sympathetic narrator, underlining her victimization by Kane.

• Role of the Newsreel:

  • Acts as a broad, objective source of knowledge at the start of the film.

  • Introduces Kane's life and death with little insight into his inner self.

  • Provides a superficial view of Kane, with Thompson tasked to add depth through interviews.

• Thompson's Role:

  • Functions as a surrogate for the audience, gathering and assembling the puzzle pieces of Kane's life.

  • Is portrayed minimally to avoid overshadowing the investigation itself; his lack of development prevents him from becoming a central protagonist.

  • His conclusion, “I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life,” suggests he is changed by the investigation, but this doesn’t make him the focus.

• Omniscient Narration:

  • The film includes omniscient moments that transcend the individual narrators' limited knowledge.

  • At the film’s start, the wide-ranging narration guides us through Kane’s estate, Xanadu, offering a god’s-eye view of the action.

  • During the opening scenes, the narration’s ability to control story information is revealed through the snowflake image on the paperweight, teasing the audience about Kane’s life.

  • Omniscient narration is used throughout, with a key moment in Susan's opera debut (scene 6i), where we see reactions from high above, beyond what the narrators could know.

• Final Revelation and Framing:

  • The omniscient narration at the end of the film reveals the true meaning of Rosebud—the sled from Kane’s childhood.

  • The film’s unity is derived from its careful narration, which withholds information to create suspense, and ultimately offers a surprising revelation about Kane’s past.

  • The return to the "No Trespassing" sign at the film's conclusion symbolizes the narrative’s point of entry and the closed loop of the story.

• Narration and Film Form:

  • The fragmented structure, with different character perspectives, creates suspense and curiosity.

  • The shifting narrative styles and degrees of subjectivity enhance the complexity of Kane’s character and make the film’s plot more intricate.

  • The final revelation of Rosebud ties back to early motifs in the film (snow, paperweight), revealing the cohesive nature of the narration’s construction.

Film Art - Chapter 3: Narrative Form

• Humans have an inherent and endless desire for stories, starting in childhood with fairy tales and myths.

• In politics and journalism, the concept of “changing the narrative” is central, while in courts, competing stories influence decisions.

• Stories create curiosity, suspense, and emotional investment in the audience, driving them to seek resolutions and the development of characters.

Principles of Narrative Form in Film

• Audience Expectations

  • Viewers approach films with expectations based on familiarity with the story, such as adaptations or sequels.

  • Common expectations for a narrative film include:

    • Characters involved in action and relationships.

    • A connected sequence of events.

    • Problems or conflicts that are resolved or re-examined.

• Active Engagement:

  • Audiences interpret a film through cues, anticipate developments, and contribute to understanding the narrative structure.

  • The ending of a story may either resolve or manipulate expectations, often leading to revisiting earlier events

What is Narrative

• Narrative = refers to a sequence of events linked by cause and effect, unfolding over time and space.

• Structure:

  • A typical narrative begins with an initial situation, follows a sequence of cause-effect events, and ends with a resolution or change.

  • A random sequence is not a story because it lacks clear causality and connections.

  • Example of a Simple Narrative:

    • Conflict: A man argues with his boss.

    • Development: The man struggles with sleeplessness and destroys a mirror out of anger.

    • Resolution: The phone rings, and the boss calls to apologize.

    • The narrative is understandable because the events are causally linked and occur in time and space

Narrative Techniques in Film

• Cause, Time, and Space:

  • A coherent narrative requires causality, time, and space to connect events logically.

  • Even though a narrative depends on these principles, films can also incorporate other formal techniques to enrich the narrative.

• Parallelism:

  • Parallelism refers to the use of similar story elements (characters, situations, etc.) to create connections or contrasts.

  • Examples of Parallelism:

    • The Wizard of Oz: Parallelism between Kansas farmhands and Dorothy’s companions in Oz.

    • Julie & Julia: Parallel narratives of two women in different times, both balancing marriage and a passion for cuisine.

    • Something Different: Alternating between two separate women's lives—no causal connection but encourages comparison of life choices.

    • Hoop Dreams: Follows two high school basketball players with parallels drawn between their struggles and choices.

• Effect of Parallelism:

  • While the events may not be causally linked, parallelism adds complexity and depth to the film’s narrative structure, inviting the audience to compare themes and characters.

Deeper Engagement with Narrative

• Filmmaker’s Role:

  • Filmmakers actively create engagement by shaping how the viewer processes the narrative.

  • The audience’s role is dynamic, actively constructing meaning based on cause and effect, time, space, and parallel elements.

• Complex Narratives:

  • More complex stories use parallelism and other narrative techniques to enrich the audience’s understanding and engagement, such as in Julie & Julia and Hoop Dreams.

  • These films remain structured as narratives, with time, space, and causality framing the events, but parallelism introduces additional layers of meaning.

Plot and Story

• Story: The chain of events in chronological order.

  • The story is about the love affair from the first meeting to the wedding.

  • The presentation of the story may differ depending on how the plot is structured (e.g., flashbacks, different character focus, etc.).

• Plot: The way the filmmakers present the story.

  • The plot can differ from the story through decisions like non-linear storytelling, emphasis on certain characters, or narrative style.

  • Viewers understand the story through the plot but have to infer unshown events based on the plot’s presentation.

  • For example, in North by Northwest, the plot presents a busy Manhattan scene. From this, viewers infer Roger Thornhill’s executive role and that he had been dictating before we see him.

• Diegesis: The world of the story, including both what is shown and what is inferred by viewers.

  • The world of the story can be built from the plot

  • Anything outside of the story world is considered nondiegetic (e.g., music, credits, superimposed titles).

• Nondiegetic Elements: Components not part of the story world.

  • Examples: Credits, musical scores, and intertitles in silent films.

  • These elements affect the viewer’s experience but are not experienced by the characters in the film.

Cause and Effect

• Characters as Causes:

  • Most films use characters to trigger events and respond to them, driving the narrative forward.

  • Characters can have visible bodies or be represented by unique traits

  • Traits of characters, like Indiana Jones’s courage, directly affect the story.

• Complex Characters:

  • Characters are considered complex if they have multiple, sometimes conflicting traits (e.g., Sherlock Holmes’s intelligence, arrogance, and gallantry).

  • These traits influence narrative outcomes.

• Protagonists and Antagonists:

  • Protagonists are central to the plot, engaging more often with the action and typically undergoing the most change (e.g., Indiana Jones).

  • Antagonists oppose protagonists, creating conflict (e.g., villains in superhero films).

  • Some films may not have a single antagonist but several minor ones or none at all (e.g., M. Hulot’s Holiday).

• External Causes:

  • Events like natural disasters (e.g., earthquake, shark in Jaws) can serve as external forces that propel the narrative.

  • While external forces set the stage, characters’ actions usually continue the narrative development.

Hiding Causes and Effects

• Curiosity and Speculation:

  • Viewers actively seek causal connections between events.

  • Sometimes, films withhold certain causes or effects to build suspense and curiosity (e.g., My Man Godfrey using a scavenger hunt).

  • Films may also withhold story effects to create intrigue, such as in detective films where the mystery is only solved in the climax.

• Mysteries in Film:

  • In mystery films, the plot may start with an effect (e.g., a murder) but withhold the causes (e.g., the killer or motive) until the end.

  • Horror and science fiction films also often suppress story causes to maintain suspense.

  • Some films like Moonlight invite viewers to speculate about the changes in the character, leaving certain motivations and transformations unclear.

Causal Motivation

• Planting Information:

  • Filmmakers often plant details in advance to create causal motivation (e.g., the "Rollo Tomasi" motif in L.A. Confidential).

  • These planted details may seem minor at first but later play a significant role in the story.

• Withholding Causes and Effects:

  • Films may withhold certain causes (e.g., character development in Moonlight) to invite the viewer’s imagination in constructing the full narrative.

Time in Narrative Film

• General Concept of Time in Narrative:

  • Causes and effects in narrative are grounded in time.

  • Story and plot distinctions help understand filmmakers’ manipulation of time.

  • Viewers build story time based on the plot’s presentation of events.

• Manipulating Chronological Order:

  • Plot may present events out of chronological order.

  • Example: Citizen Kane shows the character’s death before his youth; viewers must construct a chronological life version.

  • Not every detail of the story is shown in chronological order; irrelevant periods (sleeping, eating) are skipped.

  • Repetition of events can occur, e.g., The Killer (John Woo) uses flashbacks to show the protagonist’s reflection on a traumatic event.

• Temporal Order:

  • Filmmakers may present events out of story order to create narrative impact.

  • Flashbacks:

    • A portion of the story shown out of chronological sequence.

    • Example: Edward Scissorhands starts with an old woman telling a story, then shifts to her high school years.

    • Flashbacks help the viewer mentally reorder events chronologically.

  • Flashforwards:

    • A flashforward moves from present to future, then back to present (e.g., Inside Man).

    • Rarer than flashbacks, as they can give away plot details.

  • Reordering Scenes:

    • Reordering of scenes can create surprises or suspense.

    • Example: Pulp Fiction starts with a late scene, revealing its true position in the story later on.

• Temporal Duration:

  • Duration refers to how long events take in the story.

  • Filmmakers manipulate the relationship between:

    • Story Duration: The overall duration of events in the narrative.

    • Plot Duration: The duration presented in the plot (e.g., a four-day span in North by Northwest).

    • Screen Duration: The length of the film.

  • Example: North by Northwest has a story duration spanning years, but its plot duration covers four days and nights.

  • Screen duration can stretch or condense story duration, emphasizing specific moments.

    • Example: October (Sergei Eisenstein) stretches a brief action (raising bridges) to emphasize it.

• Temporal Frequency:

  • Events can be presented once or multiple times in the plot.

  • Repetition of Events:

    • Repeating events increases frequency and provides new perspectives or information.

    • Example: Amores Perros shows a traffic accident three times, each revealing different character perspectives.

  • Purpose of Repetition:

    • Filmmakers use repetition to remind viewers of events or to reveal new layers of information.

    • Example: In For a Few Dollars More, a repeated event gains more detail with each retelling.

    • A single line of dialogue can also reappear, haunting a character's memory.

• Viewer’s Role in Constructing Story Time:

  • Viewers are active participants in constructing the timeline of the film.

  • Filmmakers design the plot to guide the viewer’s understanding of chronological sequence, time span, and event frequency.

  • Flashbacks and Other Cues:

    • Flashbacks are often motivated by a character’s memory.

    • Cues like clothing, settings, and age help viewers organize events.

  • Complex Time Structures:

    • Films like The Usual Suspects and Wonderstruck present multiple narratives or parallel timelines, challenging viewers’ understanding of the story's temporal structure.

    • Example: The Usual Suspects uses unreliable narration and flashbacks to confuse the timeline.

  • Christopher Nolan's Experimentation with Time:

    • Inception manipulates dream time with each layer of the dream unfolding at different rates.

    • Dunkirk creates three simultaneous timelines with varying durations (week, day, hour), building suspense as they intersect.

Space

• Role of Space in Film Narrative: Events typically occur in specific locations, like Kansas in The Wizard of Oz or Manhattan in North by Northwest.

• Plot and Story Space: Usually, the story’s locale aligns with the plot, but sometimes the plot leads to imagined locations

• Offscreen Space: Important for emotional impact, such as when emotional power relies on the viewer imagining offscreen spaces

• Screen Space: Refers to the visible space within the frame, with filmmakers selecting portions of the plot space for screen presentation.

Openings, Closings, and Patterns of Development

• Film Openings:

  • A film doesn’t simply start, it begins and sets up expectations.

  • Often introduces characters and their situation or opens in medias res (in the middle of events), generating curiosity

  • The opening part of the plot is called the setup.

  • Exposition: Lays out the backstory and initial situation; may be delayed to build suspense

• Development Sections:

  • Change is Central to Narrative: Often involves characters learning or discovering new information, leading to the climax (e.g., Witness).

  • Goal-Oriented Plot: Characters strive to achieve a specific object or condition

  • Time-Based Patterns: Flashbacks or specific timeframes

  • Spatial Patterns: The plot may occur within a single, confined space, and action progresses through this space

  • Films can combine multiple patterns

• Pattern Development:

  • Expectation Creation: Patterns of development lead viewers to expect certain outcomes, which may be delayed, cheated, or gratified .

  • Delays and Surprises: The middle of the film may delay the expected outcome, creating suspense

  • Cheating Expectations: Films sometimes create a twist that defies viewer expectations

• Climaxes and Closings

  • Climaxes:

    • The climax resolves the film's causal issues, with a narrow range of possible outcomes

    • Emotionally, the climax heightens viewer tension and provides satisfaction upon resolution

  • Anticlimactic Endings:

    • Some films subvert expectations by avoiding a clear resolution

    • Open-Ended: The absence of a clear-cut climax can leave viewers imagining what happens next, offering reflective space for the narrative.

Narration: The Flow of Story Information

• Narration's Role in Film

  • Determines how story information is presented to the audience.

  • Affects the viewer's experience through decisions about plot structure and character perspective.

  • Involves whether to reveal information to the audience that the character does not know.

• Point of View and Perspective Choices

  • Can choose to focus on one character’s perspective or multiple characters.

  • Example: Little Red Riding Hood told from the girl’s perspective vs. the wolf’s perspective.

  • Should the viewer know more than the character? Example: stalking scenes – reveal what the stalker does or not?

  • Deciding between objective or subjective scenes:

    • Objective: only shows what characters do.

    • Subjective: reveals thoughts, dreams, and inner experiences (e.g., voice-over, POV shots).

Range of Story Information: Restricted vs. Unrestricted

• Restricted Narration

  • Limited to the knowledge and experience of a character.

  • Suited for mystery genres to keep information hidden and engage viewer curiosity.

• Unrestricted Narration

  • The audience knows more than the characters.

  • Creates a broader sense of interconnected events and multiple fates, enriching the narrative.

  • Often referred to as omniscient narration (all-knowing).

• Examples of Narration Range

  • Fail-Safe: Omniscient narration — we know more than characters, such as the B52 crew’s orders and the glitch in the bomber’s communication.

  • The Big Sleep: Restricted to Marlowe’s perspective, the mystery is maintained through what is withheld from the viewer.

  • North by Northwest: Initially restricted to Roger Thornhill’s perspective, but later shifts to reveal more knowledge (e.g., George Kaplan’s non-existence).

  • Lebanon: Extremely restricted narration — viewers see only what the soldiers inside a tank know, using external communications for necessary outside info.

Analysing Range of Narration

• Key Question: "Who knows what when?"

  • Helps understand the audience’s knowledge compared to the characters.

  • Example: In Citizen Kane, the viewer learns more than the characters due to the structure of the story.

  • Techniques like point-of-view shots and subjective camera work highlight the differences in what characters and viewers know.

• Effect on Viewer Experience

  • Restricted Narration: Increases curiosity and suspense.

  • Unrestricted Narration: Builds dramatic irony and tension, as viewers anticipate what characters don’t yet know.

Depth of Story Information: Objective vs. Subjective

• Objective Narration

  • Focuses on characters' actions and speech without delving into their inner thoughts.

  • Example: The film shows only what characters do, leaving their internal state unexpressed.

• Subjective Narration

  • Explores the characters' psychological states and inner thoughts.

  • Perceptual Subjectivity: Filming from a character’s perspective using POV shots or sound perspective.

  • Mental Subjectivity: Reveals characters’ memories, fantasies, or hallucinations.

• Blurring Objective and Subjective

  • Films like 8½, Belle de Jour, and Memento mix objective and subjective narration in ambiguous ways, often leading to a more complex viewing experience.

  • Techniques such as blurred imagery, slow-motion, and distorted sound signal perceptual subjectivity, especially in scenes involving altered states (e.g., intoxication or dreams).

• Examples of Subjectivity in Action

  • Slumdog Millionaire: Jamal’s memories of Latika are shown as flashes, adding depth to his experience beyond the objective action.

  • Slumdog Millionaire: In a later scene, Jamal imagines throwing Salim off a skyscraper, and the film briefly suggests it might be happening before revealing that it’s only in his mind.

Narrative Tension and Information Withholding

• Suspense vs. Surprise

  • Hitchcock’s theory: Suspense is built by informing the audience of upcoming dangers (e.g., a bomb under the table) while characters remain unaware.

  • Psycho uses restricted knowledge to build suspense, as the audience knows more about the dangers than the character (e.g., Mrs. Bates in the house).

• Importance of Withholding Information

  • Narration is a tool for controlling how much the audience knows at any given moment, guiding their emotional responses (e.g., surprise or suspense).

Narrator

• Narration Overview:

  • The process of presenting story information to the audience.

  • Filmmakers can shift between restricted and unrestricted knowledge, and varying levels of subjectivity and objectivity.

  • A narrator may be a character in the story or not.

• Character Narrators:

  • Common in literature (e.g., Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre).

• Non-character Narrators:

  • Common in documentaries (e.g., The River, Primary, Hoop Dreams).

  • Fictional films can also employ this technique

• Narrator’s Knowledge:

  • A character narrator might be restricted or unrestricted in what they know.

  • They can recount events not directly witnessed, such as in The Quiet Man (village priest narrates).

  • Non-character narrators can offer varying degrees of insight into subjective or external events

• Subjectivity vs. Objectivity:

  • Character narrators can be subjective (insight into inner life) or objective (external events).

  • Non-character narrators can range from subjective to objective

  • The choice of narrator shapes the audience’s experience and understanding of the plot.

Classical Hollywood Cinema

• Overview:

  • Classical Hollywood narrative traditions shaped American and international films.

  • Features individual characters making things happen, with psychological causes behind events (e.g., decisions, traits).

  • Plot often focuses on central characters with specific goals, which creates conflict and change.

• Goals and Conflict:

  • Central character wants something; the plot develops around achieving that goal.

  • Protagonist faces opposition from another character with conflicting goals.

• Process of Change:

  • Classical plots often show both external and internal change.

  • Characters not only change situations (e.g., fame, survival) but also their values or attitudes.

• Psychological Motivation:

  • Classical Hollywood emphasizes clear motivation for characters' actions, especially when abrupt changes occur.

• Time Management:

  • Classical films adjust time to fit the cause-effect chain, skipping over irrelevant stretches of time.

  • Deadlines and appointments are used to create time pressure in the plot.

• Narration Style:

  • Films usually present an objective story reality with unrestricted narration

  • Some genres, like detective films, may employ restricted narration to maintain mystery

• Closure:

  • Classical films tend to provide clear closure, resolving conflicts and answering mysteries.

  • The audience expects all plot points to be addressed by the end.

• Variations in Narrative:

  • Filmmakers can play with time, subjectivity, and causality to break away from classical conventions.