Narrative Structures
Narrative structures canbe "linear": events progressing inchronological order with one following another. Narratives can also be "non-linear". A non-linear narrative isone tht does not proceed in a straight-line, step-by-step fashion, such as where author creates a story's ending before the middle is finished. Linear is the oppposite, when narrative runs smoothly in a straight line, when it is not broken up. Soaps therefore have linear narratives. However, their narrative structure is engineered soas to build tension and keep the audience in suspense through the constant use of cross-cutting. Scenes develop to a point of heightened tension then the direction cuts to another scene, leaving us in suspense regarding what happened in the previous one and desiring to be returned to the former to findout what happens.
The term "series", in North American usage, refers to a connected set of television programme episodes that run under the same title, possibly spanning many seasons. British shows have tended toward shorter series in recent years. For example, the first series of long-running science fiction show Doctor Who in 1963 featured forty-two 25-minute episodes, which had been reduced gradually to fourteen 25-minute episodes in 1989. The revival of Doctor Who has comprised thirteen 45-minute instalments. However, there are some serials in the UK that have a larger number of episodes, for example Waterloo Road started with 8-12 episodes but from series three onward, it increased to 20 episodes, and season seven will contain 30 episodes. "Serials" are series of television programmes and radio programmes that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs tht span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from traditional episodic television that relies on more stand-alone episodes. Worldwide, the soap opera is the most prominent form of serials dramatic programming. A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format.
Narrative structures can be "single strand", focusing on a single central character, such as Iron Man, or Bruce Almight. Narrative structures can also be "multi-strand" where severalcharacters form the focus of the narrative, for example in X Men, Friends or The Wire. Soap operais a good example of a "multi-strand" television drama. An ensemble cast portrays a variety of urban characters in something akin to a modern day populist Comedie humaine. No single character is pre-eminent for an entire series. In consecutive episodes different characters or groups of characters may be the main point of focus. Each episode contains multiple "strands" in which two or three families may receive an even distribution of programme focus.
Feature films, especially mainstream products like Hollywood Blockbusters,very often have "closed" narratives. That's to say that although we can imagine strands of the story continuing, the main plot events - the sequence of cause and effect elements that have led us through a particular story focus - are brought to a conclusion at the end of the film. By contrast, soap operas use "open" narratives. Some events may be concluded during the course of an episode, but the programme will always end on a cliff-hanger, leaving a key event "open" and unresolved enticing the audience to watch the next episode to find out what happens.
"Realism" in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation. In general, realists create everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in a "true-to-life" manner. Realists tend to favour commonplace themes. Coronation Street (ITV, 1960-) was the creation of Tony Warren, an actor-turned-writer who wanted to bring his vision of the North to the screen without compromise, and in doing so changed British soap opera forever. Realism because the watchword for 'quality' British soap, and this focus on authenticity became such a powerful yardstick tht eventually Coronation Street would itself be condemned as un-realistic; in the 1980s Brookside (Channel 4, 1982-2003) and EastEnders (BBC, 1985-) would take up the tradition of realism by explicitly addressing the breakdown of the kind of community that had featured unchanged in Coronation Street for the previous 20 years. As well as the purported realism, all of these shows aspired to, and often genuinely attained, a quality that was missing from the more generic daily soaps: their writers were allowed a certain freedom; characters were more consistently drawn; and (initially at least) story lines were low-key and believable. The terms "anti-realism" and "anti-realist" may be used in contrast to realism, in whatever sense the latter is meant, and thus "surrealism" in visual art is an "anti-realist" tendency.
The term "series", in North American usage, refers to a connected set of television programme episodes that run under the same title, possibly spanning many seasons. British shows have tended toward shorter series in recent years. For example, the first series of long-running science fiction show Doctor Who in 1963 featured forty-two 25-minute episodes, which had been reduced gradually to fourteen 25-minute episodes in 1989. The revival of Doctor Who has comprised thirteen 45-minute instalments. However, there are some serials in the UK that have a larger number of episodes, for example Waterloo Road started with 8-12 episodes but from series three onward, it increased to 20 episodes, and season seven will contain 30 episodes. "Serials" are series of television programmes and radio programmes that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs tht span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from traditional episodic television that relies on more stand-alone episodes. Worldwide, the soap opera is the most prominent form of serials dramatic programming. A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format.
Narrative structures can be "single strand", focusing on a single central character, such as Iron Man, or Bruce Almight. Narrative structures can also be "multi-strand" where severalcharacters form the focus of the narrative, for example in X Men, Friends or The Wire. Soap operais a good example of a "multi-strand" television drama. An ensemble cast portrays a variety of urban characters in something akin to a modern day populist Comedie humaine. No single character is pre-eminent for an entire series. In consecutive episodes different characters or groups of characters may be the main point of focus. Each episode contains multiple "strands" in which two or three families may receive an even distribution of programme focus.
Feature films, especially mainstream products like Hollywood Blockbusters,very often have "closed" narratives. That's to say that although we can imagine strands of the story continuing, the main plot events - the sequence of cause and effect elements that have led us through a particular story focus - are brought to a conclusion at the end of the film. By contrast, soap operas use "open" narratives. Some events may be concluded during the course of an episode, but the programme will always end on a cliff-hanger, leaving a key event "open" and unresolved enticing the audience to watch the next episode to find out what happens.
"Realism" in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation. In general, realists create everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in a "true-to-life" manner. Realists tend to favour commonplace themes. Coronation Street (ITV, 1960-) was the creation of Tony Warren, an actor-turned-writer who wanted to bring his vision of the North to the screen without compromise, and in doing so changed British soap opera forever. Realism because the watchword for 'quality' British soap, and this focus on authenticity became such a powerful yardstick tht eventually Coronation Street would itself be condemned as un-realistic; in the 1980s Brookside (Channel 4, 1982-2003) and EastEnders (BBC, 1985-) would take up the tradition of realism by explicitly addressing the breakdown of the kind of community that had featured unchanged in Coronation Street for the previous 20 years. As well as the purported realism, all of these shows aspired to, and often genuinely attained, a quality that was missing from the more generic daily soaps: their writers were allowed a certain freedom; characters were more consistently drawn; and (initially at least) story lines were low-key and believable. The terms "anti-realism" and "anti-realist" may be used in contrast to realism, in whatever sense the latter is meant, and thus "surrealism" in visual art is an "anti-realist" tendency.
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