Time

The duration of 'Edge of Seventeen' is exactly one minute and plays out in real time, which means the film’s story is exactly as long as the duration of the film.

Time
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Analysing non fiction films
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Narrative Model

Along with the elevator, as a recognizable location, real time adds to the reality of story and creates a counterweight to the dread. It’s a small concentrated tale that nevertheless has a clear dramaturgical structure. If you use the dramatic narrative model, to clarify the structure of the film, then the girl walking towards the elevator is the film’s inciting incident.

During presentation and elaboration, we first see her in profile and then head on when the doors open. ‘Point of no return’ occurs when she enters the elevator, and as it ascends and the voices increase, we have ‘conflict escalation’. The film reaches its climax when she leaves the elevator and the invisible force forces her head back and pulls the elastic out of her hair. In the film’s resolution, she stops and slowly turns to us, while the voice speaks to her.

Task instructions

Now its your chance to set the Narrative Model points for a selection of short films.

  1. Preview each film and once you have made your selection click START.
  2. You may need to press play again on the video player to activate the Narrative Point editor.
  3. Click on the colour coded bars to select each narrative point individually
  4. Adjust the width of each point using the grey in-and-out handles below.

Save and Share

Use the SAVE option to create an image of your narrative model you can download to your device. Please share your narrative model by uploading it to the Padlet below.

Its a great way to visual compare your thoughts with others on the same films. Can you see any matching pairs?

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A good story always contains conflict that gets the narrative moving and gives it depth. We can distinguish between inner conflicts, where the person is in conflict with herself, and outer conflicts, where the person is in conflict with her surroundings.

Concurrently she hears voices but whether they are real voices or her own state of mind playing tricks on her, is open to interpretation. As we watch, there’s no doubt that something pulls at her pony tail when she leaves the elevator. So perhaps the invisible force is both an opponent and a collaborator in her controlled life and emancipation, we think. What do you think?

Task

Have a think about whether the voices in the film are outside, or inside the girl’s head - or both!

  • When do we hear the voices in the narrative?
  • How do they help increase the conflict and the drama?
Jot down a few points in your notepad.

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Use this notepad feature to write down answers and your thoughts to questions posed throughout this resource.

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Use the Tag option to insert the name of this section as a reference before typing your notes.

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Sound

Analysing non fiction films