What are Linear & Non-Linear Narratives?

Hey guys! As I discussed a few posts ago, Nick and I were thinking of doing an alternative narrative piece for our short film. However, some of you may still be asking what does that mean? 

I found a video, which I attached below, that thoroughly explains the difference between linear and non-linear narratives. The narrator uses cheesy jokes throughout the video, but it keeps your attention. I highly recommend checking it out!

Around the fourth minute of the video, Mr Tom starts to talk about non-linear narratives and that’s when he caught my attention. In one of my previous blogs, I talked about some potential ideas we had for our short film. Although we are still undecided, this video immediately reminded me of the idea Nick had about the person with Alzheimer’s. Specifically when Mr Tom was talking about the movie, Forrest Gump. 

That’s a really similar idea Nick and I came up with! We wanted to follow the parallel structure of a man/woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at a relatively young age compared to their life as an older person, however the beginning and end of the film would somehow relate to each other. By having it explained throughout this video, it helped clear up a few questions I had settled in my mind and also provided more examples of non-linear films as well. I found this video to be really helpful and I hope it helped you guys further understand linear vs non-linear narratives. Until next time…

                                                                                                                     ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://media.giphy.com/media/5aLrlDiJPMPFS/source.gif