Narrative arcs

Narrative arcs are the path and progression of a character or storyline within a narrative. A character can have multiple story arcs, the number and length depending on the type of text. For example, films are shorter in length than television series, which often run for around 20 episodes in American series. This contained nature of cinema means that the narrative arcs of the characters and other elements of the story will be shorter and sometimes less developed. While television has episodic narrative arcs that may be concluded by the end of the episode, they also contain larger series arcs that run for many episodes and may involve many characters. This is reflected in the openings of both television and film. The openings of both must set up the future arcs, but television must contain both the episodic and series arcs. The progression of the episodic arc will be faster than film, though films must develop every element at an overall greater pace due to length.

In ‘Blue Velvet’, the opening uses strong foreshadowing to present the nature of the overall narrative arc of the film. The symbolism used that I previously described displays the film’s themes and the protagonist’s journey throughout the film. This implication of the sudden and drastic change in tone of the opening from idyllic to nightmarish presents the audience with a contained display of the result of the character’s personal narrative arc, as he continues to find a dark, violent and surreal criminal underworld situated in the peaceful and seemingly perfect neighbourhood that he lives in.

The opening of ‘Manhattan’ similarly establishes the style of the film and the tone that the narrative arc will result in. While neither film indicates much of the main content of the film e.g. characterisation of the protagonist or their situations, both present a very strong atmosphere from which the audience can infer the direction of the narrative arcs. ‘Manhattan’ presents less information on the individual character’s arcs, focussing more on the setting of the film.  This is appropriate as it present’s the importance of New York to the plot and the character’s attitudes towards it. Overall, this suggests to the audience that the location of the events of the film will be extremely significant to the individual and overall narratives of ‘Manhattan’.

‘Vera Drake’ also uses the previously described techniques of camera movements and angles, and mise-en-scene to establish the atmosphere of the film as well as the setting and time period. However, ‘Vera Drake’ focuses more on the protagonist of the film than either ‘Manhattan’ or ‘Blue Velvet’ by opening with her interacting with other supporting characters in a typical environment for her. This give the audience greater evidence towards the direction the character’s narrative arc will take, as it features the character’s storyline rather than just imagery to foreshadow events or set a tone for the film. This is a more direct method of setting up the narrative arc of the film and a more conventional one: as films are shorter than a television series overall, they usually must introduce the main elements of the narrative more quickly.

The most common structure used in film is the 3 act structure. In the first act, the overall narrative arc will be setup. This includes the main characters, the setting and the times period of the film. Towards the end of the first act events will lead into the confrontation of second act which will most commonly present a problem to the characters and progress the plot. The third act will increase the narrative's tension to the climax of events in the final quarter and will end with a conclusion of the narrative arc. This structure can be seen in many film, especially older and more traditional ones, as modern filmmakers often attempt to find new ways of expressing a narrative through film.