The use of Non Linear and Linear narrative in our Thriller film.

For our media thriller , we have decided to adopt a non linear narrative in an attempt to discourage the viewer and place them out of their ‘comfort zone’. Using a non linear narrative can sometimes be unsuccessful because if the sequence of filming isn’t edited precisely , then the viewer may feel disconnected from the film and lose interest. However, when a non linear storyline is portrayed with conviction , it can engage the audience deeper than an linear narrative could.

Some directors are extremely successful with a non linear narrative such as Quentin Tarantino.( This director has been previously studied within Barthes 5 codes). His use of a disjointed storyline in his debut film Reservoir dogs and again in pulp fiction , gave him tremendous respect and success in the film industry. As a result, some of Tarantino’s techniques can be adopted for use in our media film thriller.

As the film opens and the establishing shot of an alarm clock is created, it appears to the viewer that the narrative is following a linear storyline , where every event is played in a chronological order. The plot continues to convince the viewer of this through an average morning scene as our main character awakes and gets ready for work. However, the films plot evolves once our character is eating breakfast. Tension and a fear of the unknown is built here as flashing images of a hostage situation appear on the scene throughout the main characters morning scene. This creates an enigma to the viewer as confusion spreads. The audience do not understand what relevance this scene has to the storyline at this point , as everything seems to be in a state of normality. Relating to a non linear narrative , the viewer is also puzzled as to when this hostage situation takes place. Is it a repressed memory from our main character that constantly plays throughout his mind? Or is it a sign of things to come for our character/ secondary characters? Or does this narrative in fact follow a linear storyline where two events are occurring at once? It was difficult to create a piece of footage that would ask these questions from the viewer, and create a temporary enigma throughout a suspected non linear storyline. However, the enigma becomes partially resolved once our main character receives a letter through his door containing a hostage photo. Now it appears to the viewer that the narrative is playing chronologically. Yet when the photo is flipped , a code appears on the back. This piece of footage creates a symbolic reference to Christopher Nolan’s 2002 film called ‘Memento’. This film is also played in a non linear fashion and the main character uses codes and tattoos on his body to decode a mystery. Viewers that have previously seen both films may connect the symbols between the two and therefore started to suspect that a non linear narrative is likely to play out. There are other lessons to be learn from ‘Memento’ also , through the linking of codes in different scenes in different times frames. This theory can also be adopted in our thriller to both create temporary enigmas that makes the viewer think about the narrative, whilst at the same time using connected symbols and motifs between scenes in an attempted to keep the audience engaged.

In conclusion , the use of a non linear narrative can sometimes be a difficult technique to apply when filming a short media project, and the use of an enigma at the same time increases the likelihood that the audience will disengaged with the narrative. However, we believe that following examples from successful directors such as Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino will help us to create a pieces of footage that both hooks the viewer, but also leaves them clueless about some aspects of the film that are left until later to be revealed.

Mitchell