NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Samantha Fairclough

OPEN AND CLOSED

A closed narrative structure is when there are no loose ends and the documentary has

a clear finish and has left no unanswered questions which could be asked. Meaning

the narrative has a structured ending.

An open narrative structure is when the documentary ends with a cliff hanger. Where all questions which may have

been asked are left unanswered and all the ends are loose as they haven’t been

concluded, so the viewer, listener or reader is left wondering what

happened.

SINGLE STRAND AND MULTI-STRAND•A single Strand is where there is one set storyline/plot in the documentary.

•A multi-strand narrative is where there is more than one narrative strand being told in the documentary. So there is several storylines within one documentary.

LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR

• Linear Structure is when the story plays out in a chronological order. This means the documentary will follow a timeline of events these will be shown chronologically, in an order of time.

• Non- linear structure means that it is not in chronological order, meaning that the documentary will not follow a timeline.

CIRCULAR NARRATIVE STRAND A circular narrative strand is where the end and beginning of a documentary are the same point. This can bring quick closure to a documentary and not leave loose ends.