Narrative Comprehension and Film

4

LEVELS OF NARRATION

EIGHT LEVELS

Perception must occur within boundaries and limits: perception of what under which conditions? It is not enough to simply locate film comprehension under the general conditions imposed by the projection of a strip of celluloid containing photographic transparencies and recorded sound. More and finer distinctions about perceptual “contexts” will be required in order to understand how our understanding of narrative proceeds. The basic organization of events into a narrative pattern is directed by a narrative schema. However, as the focus of inquiry shifts from “what happens” to the “how and when” of our knowing what happens, a deeper narrational schema will be found setting the conditions for, and directing, the ...