Narrative Structure

As I'm throwing around ideas of possible stories in my head, one of the things which keeps coming up is how to present an engaging narrative in the space of what will only be a film under the five minute mark. In terms of a traditional structure, you can break most stories down into four basic steps:

-Incident
-Conflict (can be multiple points)
-Climax
-Resolution

You can apply this to nearly any Hollywood or traditionally structured film and it will fit like a glove. One thing which I am realising is that the length of a film by no means restricts this model (or any other for that matter). For shorter films each point may not be as filled out or as complicated but can be employed none the less.

The interesting thing about animation is that you can have something compelling without having any clear direction or story. The medium seems to lend itself quite well to experimental approaches where in terms of story, something as simple as the animism of household objects can be completely engaging on its own without the need for a clear narrative. In many ways the technical accomplishment of animation and its aesthetics (stop motion or otherwise) holds value in itself based purely on the nature of its construction.

For my own film I am most drawn to a more traditional narrative; at least in the sense of characters and a conflict or motivation. This stems largely from my own interest to create a story of this kind but by no means does this restrict experimentation in terms of cinematography and plot devices. Regardless of how everything turns out I think it's useful to consider these ideas - even if all preconceptions of narrative were completely subverted, it would be just as important to have a grasp of these conventions as it would be if you were working directly within them.