Media Glossary : Narration...

Within any story whether this is films, plays, verbal accounts, the fictional or non-fictional character tells the story to the audience whether this is from a personal perspective or impersonal. If the narrator is also a character within the plot, they be known as the view-point character. The narrator, unlike the author and audience who are the other two responsible for telling the story, exists only within the world of the story, and in turn present it in a way that the audience can comprehend. A narrator can either tell the story from their point or from the view point of one of characters within the story. There are two main types of narrators :

Narrative Modes : Most narrator present their story from the perspective of either first-person or third-person limited/omniscient. Generally a first-person narrator brings a greater focus on the feelings, opinions and perceptions of the particular character within the story, showing the audience how they view the world as well as how they view other characters. If the writer's intention is to get inside the world of a character, than first-person is an appropriate choice however if they use third-person limited it allows the writer not to have to reveal all that a first-person would know. A third-person omniscient narrator gives a panoramic view of the world of the story, looking into many characters and the broader background of the story, it allowes the narrator to the feelings of every character. Therefore for story's where the context and views of many characters are important a third-person narrator is more appropriate. An example of narration is in the film 'Sumbmarine' where the main character 'Oliver Tate' narrates in the first-person, below is a trailer of the film which is a key example of the use of narration :

Multiple Narrators : This is used when a writer choices to tell the story from lots of different view points, which allowes the audience to decide which character they relate to ect. The technique of narrating from the view point of a group rather than an individual can create a dissociative effect of observation, similar to how the used a chorus is Ancient Greek times, it provides the audience with the knowledge and experience of the party involved but without unreliable specifics of an individual personality or character. An example of multiple narrators, where the story progresses through the different characters view points and experiences is the book by Jodi Picoult 'My Sisters Keeper' which is now in motion film, however overall as an author the majority of her books are told through multiple narrators

 

Within my short-film, I feel I shall include pieces of narration, however rather than going with the norm of short-film documentaries which are narrated in the first-person, I am going to look at the lives of different people, therefore shall use  multiple narrators to portray their lives.