NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES & SLIDING DOOR PHILOSOPHIES: Breaking Rules and Making Your Mark (Year 2)
A non-linear narrative in storytelling can be key to helping your story stand out. So...what exactly IS a non-linear narrative? It is a technique where events are portrayed out of chronological or traditional story order; the pattern of events jumps around. It is also called the disjointed or disrupted narrative. Click here to watch a complete definition of the non-linear narrative and how it is used.
Why do writers and filmmakers use it? Sometimes, it is used to fill in character development in a creative and unique way. Other times, it is used to hook in the audience--to shake things up a bit and get your story noticed. Stories that are told in reverse or divergent points of view or paths juxtaposed against each other (like in Sliding Doors) get noticed because they are different; they put the viewer to work and get them involved in piecing together the story and meaning.
TV is a great medium for this because you can use an entire episode for flashbacks or provide quick cutaway references to past seasons. One of the most groundbreaking TV shows to use this non-linear style was Lost, with its flash-forwards, flashbacks, flash-sideways, and even flash-through dimensions! Lost used this storytelling technique to trick the audience into believing things about characters and then subverting those expectations by jumping in time. Recently, This is Us has also used the same strategy: using brilliant transitions out of the normal narrative structure.
It is a bit trickier using nonlinear storytelling in movies. A film screenplay has only about 90-120 pages to get it right, so you need to be sure that your story really sells itself. It's great to take creative chances, but you also want to get things right--especially with (often) a lot of money on the line. Movies like Out of Sight split the narrative between two protagonists and jumps in time in both of their stories. We cut back to the prison setting to show information and then cut forward and behind in-between those scenes to tell the narrative throughline. This makes it feel slick, mysterious, and it provides a different riff on a familiar crime/love story trope. Godfather II also uses this form. We jump between Michael's story and Vito's to show the similarities and differences in their journeys, creating the father and son foils for the audience to consider and reflect upon. This bends time to its advantage; and, in fact, a majority of critics say that Godfather II is the best and most engaging of the trio.
Memento literally worked to put the Nolan brothers on the map and became their calling card. While it was certainly incredibly risky, it ultimately was a risk that worked, certifying them as visionaries in film. In this link, Christopher Nolan explains the true genius behind Memento.
1. Name the two you watched and why you chose them
2. Describe how each of the films used non-linear storytelling and how that impacted your viewing experience.
3. What other cinematic techniques were used within the non-linear storytelling that were noteworthy? Do you believe the non-linear storytelling was key in making this movie the best it could be?
1. Keep your story organized. Your outlining phase will need to be EXTREMELY intentional!
2. Clearly define your jumps on the script page (ie: FLASHBACK: INT. MEDIA ROOM - NIGHT) Be sure that the reader knows!
3. Link the narratives thematically. You want the stories or scenes to work off one another. If they are written with the same theme/purpose in mind, the story will feel cohesive, despite your non-traditional and disjointed style.
Happy (non-chronological/ non-linear/diruptive/interrupted) film viewing!
1. I chose to watch the pairing of Memento and Eternal Sunshine, simply because ESOTSM is one of my all time favorite movies. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet's performances remain unmatched in this film. I also wanted to re-watch memento because I felt that I didn't appreciate it as much last year as I do now.
ReplyDelete2. I think eternal sunshine is the perfect example of nonlinear storytelling. It masters the art of trusting it's viewers to understand what is going on without the movie telling them about everything that is happening. It lets your curiosity run in the beginning of the film, mourn the loss of a relationship in the middle, and come to terms with the effects of time at the end of the film. It is beautiful, compelling, and mysterious all at once. All, while running a million separate plot lines, i.e. the people erasing Joel's memory, the girl and her boss’s affair, clementine being manipulated by the person who erased her memory etc.
Memento is definitely a unique way of telling a nonlinear story line. I must admit that even after watching it again I was still lost for most of the film, but I was able to appreciate the confusion of the film, as the writer wanted to put the audience in the same position as the main character. When I first watched this film I did not understand the purpose of the scattered plot line but now I see that it is masterful to put you the viewer in the same position as the main character, as it sucks you into the puzzle of the plot line , and helps viewers to build a relationship of trust with the main character. It also makes them root for him even more because they both have the same goal of finding and killing the man who raped and killed his wife.
3. In Eternal sunshine the most notable technique used outside of the non linear fashion was the usage of color. This, in my opinion, is what made the movie trackable and understandable. For example, had it not been for the many colors of clementine's hair , I would've had such a hard time figuring out what the timeline of the story looked like. The colors establish a sense of where Joel and Clementine are in their relationship and help the reader to figure out what is happening for themselves. The color schemes at the beginning, middle and end of the film are also so very different that it helps viewers to understand where they are in time. Needless to say, I loved the color in this film.
Memento did a great job of portraying anxiety and adrenaline throughout the film, with shaky camera work, odd angles, and a hazy look over the film. Similar to ESOTSM the backwards plot line really helps shape the film as Nolan drags his viewers to the end of the film along with the main character.
Overall, Eternal Sunshine is one of my all time favorite movies, it is a mastery of film :)
I chose the first pair of movies, Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I chose this pairing because of interested in how the two films explored memory. I also chose the pairing that included Eternal Sunshine because Jim Carrey is one of my favorite actors, so I thought I would really enjoy the film.
ReplyDeleteMemento used non-linear storytelling by telling the story backwards. We open with seeing Leonard kill a man, and we slowly work our way backwards as we learn how he got to that situation. This way of telling the story makes us feel like we are in a similar situation to Leonard because we don't know what has happened before the scene we are watching.
Eternal Sunshine also explores memory. Similarly to Memento, we begin the film at the end of the story, when Joel and Clementine meet on a beach in Montauk. As the film progresses, we learn that Clementine had a procedure to remove her memories of Joel, so Joel has the same procedure done. However, while it is happening, Joel decides he doesn't want the memories erased, so he tries to hide his mental version of Clementine. This brings us on a journey through Joel's memories of Clementine, but the procedure ends up being successful. However, Joel has an instinct to travel to the beach in Montauk, where he meets Clementine again, which is what we see at the beginning of the film.
A significant technique that was used in Eternal Sunshine was the use of color, primarily in Clementine's hair. During different times in Joel and Clementine's relationship, the color of her hair changes. When they are first meeting, her hair is green which represents the beginning of their relationship. As it progresses, her becomes red, then changes to orange. Finally, at the end, it is blue which shows her possible sadness at the ending of the relationship. Memento also used techniques to within the non-linear storytelling. One of the main techniques I noticed was how it used black and white during flashbacks that were not part of the main non-linear story. In fact, black and white is only really used when Leonard is talking about Sammy Jankis, who we later find out may or may not have been who Leonard thought he was.
1. The two films that I chose to watch were Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I chose these two because I really enjoyed watching Memento my first time around and I had also heard great things about Eternal Sunshine and had always wanted to watch it. I gotta say, it didn't disappoint.
ReplyDelete2. I loved how both of these films used non-linear storytelling. Memento kept me on edge the entire time, and watching it for the second time reminded me a lot of another Nolan film, Tenet, that came out last year. You can tell that Nolan really knows what he's doing when it comes to storytelling a plot structure. He uses your confusion as a tool in creating interesting stories. Eternal Sunshine's use of non-linear storytelling was heart-breakingly beautiful. I really enjoyed how the plot structure let the audience learn and understand the characters and their relationships in a totally different way than the average movie.
3. Besides the use of non-linear storytelling in Eternal Sunshine, the film's costuming was really helpful in telling the story. At first, I was extremely confused during certain aspects of the film because I wasn't sure at what point of time the scene was taking place, then I began picking up on Clementine's hair color and Joel's outfit choices and things made a lot more sense. I think a lot of the time people overlook the aesthetic departments in film, wardrobe, hair, make-up--but those aspects are just as important in telling the story. Agreeing with what has been said, I really enjoyed the cinematography in Memento. The film isn't pretty and magical because the story isn't pretty. I think that the angles and camera work helps push the story along and increases the tension the audience feels.
1. I chose ESOTSM and Memento because I've already seen Memento and wanted to see if I'd appreciate it more the second time around and I've been meaning to watch ESOTSM because we've discussed it in class and I've heard that the cinematography and color is on point.
ReplyDelete2. While ES focuses primarily on storytelling through flashback sequences and slowly revealing to the audience the relationship these two characters have for each other while demonstrating their high and low points, Memento is strictly backwards storytelling. While each of these structures are very different they each serve a purpose and they both execute their purpose very well. Memento focuses on telling the story backwards because the point is to slowly peel back the curtain to a greater mystery tale until the end when the truth is finally revealed. ES focuses on taking you on a journey through the mind of a single person, showing you the memories as they were to Joel and what each moment meant to him specifically through color.
3. The main cinematic technique that I believe made ES a beautiful experience was the amazing use of color to highlight specific elements in Joel's mind, Memento however used color in a different but still unique way, using black and white to show the world through Leonard's eyes from a linear perspective and only using color when the story plays out in a non linear fashion. I think making the story linear was an excellent choice for ES, it makes the story incredibly engaging when it would otherwise be a missed opportunity if structured in a linear way. While Memento on the other hand absolutely needed to be backwards, otherwise the already bleak and depressing story would've only just been that, a bleak and depressing story. Without the story being completely backwards half of the mystery would have been gone.
The pair of movies that I had decided to watch was Memento and Eternal Sunshine.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I chose these movies was because of how the titles of both the movies gravitated me towards watching them. Another reason was because I was basing it off of the cover of the film, looking at which pairs of movies looked visually appealing.
Starting off with Memento, I was going into the movie thinking I had never watched it before. However, I started getting a sense of major deja-vu once I started the film and got excited when I realized I had watched the film last year. From watching the film again and knowing the amount of knowledge I have obtained since then, it was interesting to see how the non-linear structure played out. The use of non-linear storytelling in Memento was from the entire film being completely reversed. It kept me interested the entire time and changed my perspective about non-linear movies.
In Memento, I believe that the non-linear storytelling was extremely important in making this film work. Because Memento has such a simplistic concept, it played out perfectly since that use of the non-linear storytelling made the audience guess what was going to happen next.
I was really impressed with the use of colors and how part of the film was in black and white and the rest was in color. It separated the timeline and made the audience's jaw drop when it first appeared in the film. The score worked very well with the story because of how simple and "in the background" it was.
Overall, the use of non-linear storytelling worked perfectly in this film and would definitely recommend this movie to others.
Looking at Eternal Sunshine, the concept of the film interested me the most. The use of the non-linear storytelling was similar to Memento but it was played out in a different way. ES primarily focused on telling this story through flashbacks and the use of color was extremely important while watching the film. Looking at Clementine's hair color, it became a huge symbol throughout the film as it lead the film through its non-linear storytelling and wanted to catch the audience's attention. The film really was able to reel in an interest of the storyline and whole idea of someone loosing their memory. This impacted my viewing experience because it shows how much detail goes into creating a film. It really gives a lot of praise to the director for how much pre-planning is put into it.
Christian Anderson, Year 1
ReplyDeleteIn the specific scene, 1:02:30, the depth of field is low to focus just on the telephone while blurring out all of the surroundings after Michael Jr’s aunt hung the phone up. This transitions to a greater depth of field once McGuire picks the phone back up. This adds a level of suspense to the film as we can see that there are people in the background, we know that someone is lurking in the shadows up above. And with the low depth of field it adds an element of suspense because we know someone is there but it doesnt let us focus on who it is which adds to the mystery and the unknown. I was noticing the use of depth of field particularly throughout the film because as a film student I was trying to note how as a scene progresses the focus of the camera changes rapidly which makes the viewer subconsciously follow where the camera focus tells them to.
It feels very important to be intentional with every scene for this same reason. One specific example from one of my favorite films, Rogue One, is one of the final scenes. The rebels have the Death Star plans but the door is stuck, the room is dark, and the score cuts silent so that all we can see is the fear, confusion and panic in the eyes of the soldiers and hear the breathing of Darth Vader. Everything about this scene is intentional from the darkness lit up by the red lightsaber, to the silhouette of Vader in the hall to the panic in the faces of the rebels knowing they're about to die but still saving the plans. The whole scene is set perfectly. Scenes like this are proof that setting the stage is absolutely critical to the film and help develop characters as well as set a tone for the viewer.