Narrative Structure

In order to create a successful film opening, I need to create an entire plot for a film. This will allow me to be inventive with ways in which the opening can lead on to the rest of the plot.
The typical structure of a text would be as follows:-

  Equilibrium -> Disequilibrium ->Equilibrium.

 This suggests that films start with an equilibrium, normality in the context of the genre, and then an event or character will disrupt this normality and create disequilibrium and chaos. The normality will be attempted to be regained and eventually the equilibrium will be restored by the characters. The plot may not completely revert back to the first equilibrium, however.


For example, the plot of the romantic comedy 'Juno' begins with the portrayal of the "almost" average life of Juno, a 16 year old girl, this is the equilibrium. Her life is then thrown turned upside down by an unexpected pregnancy, which presents the disequilibrium and she goes through the trials and tribulations of being a pregnant teenager. However, at the end of the film the equilibrium is restored after the birth of her baby who is adopted by Vanessa, a caring character and soon Juno resumes her life as a teenage girl and therefore the equilibrium is restored.

Another narrative structure is as follows:-









To make this clearer, we could use the story of Little Red Riding Hood as an example. Little Red Riding hood is the protagonist, as the plot is based mainly around her. The agent of change would be the fact that Little Red goes a different way through the forest and is spotted by the Big Bad Wolf. The quest would be the journey to Grandma's house and escaping from the clutches of The Wolf and finally the solution would be The Woodcutter saving the day.

These narrative structures are fairly basic but will help us to prepare a plot and a successful opening scene.