Narrative techniques

Technique	Description	Effect	Example from a film
1. Exposition	Fills in the back of the characters and their situations	Shows interest in the characters and want to see what happens next	At the beginning when it is shown when Andy’s mother is watching all the films she has about how has Andy grown and it shows him playing with all his toys.
2. Dangling cause	Information or actions that leads to no effect of resolution until much later in the film	- You can retain your interest so you watch the film until the end - Allows the story to be told in different levels	Potato’s head eye. As he misses one of his eyes and afterwards with it they discover that in reality Andy’s intention wasn’t to throw them away.
3. Obstacle	Stands in the way of the characters reaching their goal	- Makes it more interesting/dramatic - With no obstacle nothing interest will happen / leave social norms	Lotso he was a bear which was the leader of all the toys in the kindergarten.
4. Deadline	A time limit placed on a protagonist to accomplish a goal	- Increases tension - Makes film more goal orientated	The day in which Andy goes to college.
5. Dialogue hook	Creates a link between two consecutive scenes	- Allows the scenes to have a continuity - To have sense between scenes	Andy’s mother’s car going to the kindergarten from her house, and the hook is her car arriving to the kindergarten.