Narration Techniques and Characterisation

How a film reveals its story and people

A film does not just have events; it chooses how to tell them and how to show us the people they happen to. Narration is how the story is told to the audience: through whose point of view we see it, whether a voiceover guides us, and how much we are allowed to know. When the audience knows only what a character knows, that is restricted narration, which builds mystery. When the audience knows more than the characters, that is omniscient narration, which creates dramatic irony. Characterisation is how a film builds and reveals a person, mostly by showing rather than telling, through what they do, say and wear, and how they change. This module covers narration and point of view, restricted and omniscient telling, and how film reveals character and a character arc.

Narration and character words

Learn these terms before the techniques are matched up. They name how a film tells its story and shows its people.

Match each narration term to its meaning

Restricted against omniscient narration

How much the audience is allowed to know is a storytelling choice, and the two extremes create very different feelings.

Who knows what here?

In a scene, the audience clearly sees a danger that the main character has not noticed. What kind of narration is this?

• Omniscient, because the audience knows more than the character
• Restricted narration
• A voiceover
• A character arc

Show the character, do not just say it

Film reveals character mostly by showing, not telling. You learn who a person is from what they do under pressure, how they speak, what they wear, and how others treat them, far more than from any label. A brave character is shown taking a risk; a lonely one is shown eating alone. So when you analyse characterisation, do not just say a character is kind or cruel; point to the moment that shows it, and say how it was shown, through an action, a line of dialogue, a costume, or a reaction. And watch how a character changes across the film, because that change is often the heart of the story. Evidence first, label second: that is how strong film analysis reads a character, and it is what earns the marks.

Pick the ways a character is revealed

Select every way a film reveals what a character is like.

• What the character does
• What the character says
• How the character looks and dresses
• The running time of the film
• The price of the cinema ticket

Order a simple character arc

Put the stages of a simple character arc in order.

• We meet the character as they start out
• Something challenges or changes them
• They struggle and make choices
• They are changed by what happens
• We see who they have become by the end

Complete the narration facts

How the story is told to the audience is _____. When the audience knows only what a character knows, that is _____ narration. When the audience knows more than the characters, that is _____ narration. How a character changes across a film is a character _____.

Tap the two signs of characterisation

Tap the TWO details that reveal what a character is like.

• a character quietly shares food with a stranger
• a character speaks sharply to everyone around them
• the film runs for two hours
• the cinema was full that night

Meeting someone at a party

Think about how you work out what a new person at a party is like. Nobody hands you a label saying kind or arrogant; you watch. You notice whether they listen or talk over people, whether they help clear up or sit and wait, how they treat the person nobody else is speaking to. Within minutes you have formed a picture, all from what they did and said. Film builds its people the same way. It rarely tells you outright who a character is; it shows you, through action, speech, appearance and how others respond, and leaves you to read the picture. So watch a film character the way you read a stranger across a room: by what they do, not by what a caption claims.

The story-telling run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Read each film moment

Read each situation and choose the best answer.

• The audience knows a threat is waiting in the next room, but the characters do not. What does this create?
• You want to show that a character is brave. What is the strongest way in film?
• A character is selfish at the start but sacrifices for others by the end. What is this?

Build a characterisation sentence

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about film.

Explain narration and characterisation

A friend thinks a film just needs a good plot and nothing else. Using what you have learned, explain how narration and characterisation shape a film.

• Explain what narration is and give one type
• Explain the difference between restricted and omniscient narration
• Explain what characterisation means
• Explain the ways a film reveals a character
• Explain what a character arc is and why it matters