The Narrative Arc

 This is perhaps a topic that most animators myself included do not want to involve ourselves in. Most of the time we consider our work to be technical and want to leave issues about the story in itself to others. But in the recent weeks and especially on some of the work I've been required to do, thinking about the narrative has become more important. Even in very short stories such as the ones I have been involved in, thinking about how stories start and how they end and how these two parts links have become critical.

The basic narrative arc can be depicted with a pyramid shaped linear path drawn on a graph. The bottom line represents the chronological progression of a story while the vertical plane represent the rising height of complexity in a story. The rising part of the pyramid describes the initial crisis that characters are introduced to in establishing the story. This represents the Exposition stage. The complexity in the story must then rise until an apex is reached. In terms of complexity, early literature involved Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, and Man vs. Self . In more recent times however, the kinds of complexity and conflicts possible have increased to include Man vs. Society, Man vs. Technology,and Man vs. Alter Ego, Man vs. Alien Society, Man vs. Biotechnology, and Man vs. Cloned Self.

The final descending slope on the pyramid describes the stage of resolution, as the answers that have been asked are answered. A few types have been culled from a fairly descriptive article at the Sandhill.edu website here linked. They are:

1. Comic resolution: The conflict is resolved favorably for the protagonist; he or she is better off than when the tale began.  
2. Tragic resolution: The conflict is one in which the protagonist loses ground. He or she is worse off than when the tale began. 
3. Linear resolution: Despite the ensuing complications and conflicts, the protagonist is largely unchanged by the events of the story. 
4. Dénouement: In some tales, a portion of the story at the end is devoted to tying up the loose ends. Think of Murder, She Wrote, in which each episode includes a segment at the end during which Jessica Fletcher fills in her audience on how she figured out the identity of the real killer.[1]

For me, paying a bit more attention to these details have become essential especially as I realize that there is a more aware audience who will judge the quality of a film however short, based among other things, on the plot and cohesive links in a story.


References

Sandhills.edu, 2009. Plot, Theme, the Narrative Arc, and Narrative Patterns. [online] Available at: <http://www.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/film/narrativearc.html> [Accessed 28 December 2011 ].