Linear, Non-linear and 3 act structure (Narratives)

Linear and non-linear narratives are the most common ways of explaining a story or simply narrating.  In the linear and non-linear narratives there are things that make them different, but most importantly the best thing to know is when and how they both can be used but also efficiently.

  Linear narratives follow something that is known as the three act structure and it starts off in the first scene where the story is setup, furthermore the plot point is established when the main characters are established.  The second scene is also where there is some sort of confrontation or the characters face obstacle and also an antagonist and in the final scene usually meet our villain and the story moves on and finally in the last part of the film, there is a final battle, the hero saves someone or something dramatic happens and the heroes automatic reward is most likely the female (if the storyline involves that) and they live happily ever after.

 

This sort of process of laying out is normally easy and straight forward and this sort of lay out in a film specially appeals to younger audiences in the age range of roughly about 3-12, because recently class after watching the movie up I learnt that it was structured in a Linear narrative and this a good example to back up my previous point. There is also a problem with Linear narratives because it gives a bad misconception about life in general when really and truly in  real life we don’t necessarily always have comebacks when we have setbacks and the hero will not always get the girl and in some occasions the bad guy does actually wins. 

Non-linear narratives are not consistent with the three act structure, and as a result of that it makes the whole project more complicated. Non-linear narratives are sometimes presented in a dream or nightmare etc. A non-linear narrative works for certain projects because as a result of its complexity, the audience has to automatically put more thought into understanding the film and even for the director of the film, it is also a harder job for him to keep his audience engaged when using a non-linear narrative.