Understanding Plot and Story in Cinema

MEDA14099G - HANDOUT

UNDERSTANDING PLOT AND STORY IN CINEMA

There is a lot of information available on plot and story, but most of it will only confuse the basic

understanding of these terms we are trying to achieve. A lot of this information is useful as we

start to think about film in greater depth, but in this course I simply want you to begin by

learning these two definitions.

PLOT: The “plot” of a film is what you see in the order that you see it. It is the sequence of

events (occurrences, character actions, decisions, etc.) as it unfolds onscreen. The plot is the way

a film tells its story, and the final shape a plot will take is completely up to the filmmaker, who

decides what event will follow what event during editing. Plot does not need to be chronological,

meaning it does not need to unfold in the same manner as the story it tells.

STORY: The “story” is the full story told by a film in its precise chronological order. This

means, importantly, that the story can include events we do not see on the screen, or that we only

here characters make mention of. However, no matter what events the story does include, it

necessarily occurs in proper chronological sequence, just like in the real worlds, where we have

to experience events as they unfold, and where we cannot jump around in time focusing on that

which we want to.

Both “plot” and “story” are part of the narrative of a film. Remember, our basic definition of

narrative is a sequence of events occurring in space and time. The story is the full sequence of

that narrative, as it would occur in the real world, that is, chronologically. The plot is the events

of that narrative that a filmmaker chooses to show us, in the order he or she shows them to us.

Consider this:

A possible story:

1) The king, fearing his queen is a better leader than he, decides to poison her; 2) he poisons

her; 3) the queen is found dead; 4) seeking the murderer, the royal court calls for an

investigation; 5)...