Narrative structures can be "single strand", focusing on a single central character, such as Iron Man, or Bruce Almighty. Narrative structures can also be "multi-strand" where several characters form the focus of the narrative, for example in X-MEN, friends or the wire. Soap opera is a good example of a "multi-strand" television drama. An esemble cast portrays a variety of urban characters in something akin to a modern day populist Comedie humaine. No single charcater is preeminent for an entire series. In consecutive ephisodes different characters or groups of characters may be the main point of focus. Each ephisode contains multiple "strands" in which two or three families may recieve an even distribution of programme focus.
Narrative structures can be "linear": events progressing in chronological order with one following another. Narratives can also be "non-linear". A non-linear narrative is one that does not proceed in a straight-line, step-by-step fashion, such as where an author creates a Story's ending beforwe the middle is finished. Linear is the opposite, when narrative runs smoothly in a straight line, when it is not broken up. Soaps therefore have linear narratives. However, theitr narrative structure is engineered so as to build tension and keep the audience in suspense through the constant use of cross-cutting. Scenes develop to a point of heightened tension then the direction cuts to another scene, leaving us in suspense regarding what happened in the previous one and desiring to be returned to the fomer to find out what happens.
Feature films, especially mainstream products like Hollywood blockbusters, very often have "closed" narratives. That's to say that although we can imagine stands of the story continuing, the main plot events-thwe sequence of the cause and effect elements that have led us through a particular story focus-are brought to a conclusion at the end of the film. By contrast, soap operas use "open" narratives. Some events may be concluded during the course of an ephisode, but the programme will always end on a cliff-hanger, leaving a key event "open" and unresolved enticing the audience to watch the next episode to find out what happens.
The term "series", in North America usage, refers to a connected set of television programme ephisodes that ran under the same title, possibly spaning many seasons. British shows have tended toward shorter series in recent years. For exmaple, the first series is long-runing science fiction shoe Doctor Who in 1963 featured fourty-two 25-minutes episodes, which had been reduced gradually to fourteen 25-minute ephisodes in 1989. However there are some series in the UK that have a larger number of ephisodes, and are contiuous, one main example of this is Eastenders, it is on-going it never seems to end. Therefore it is known as serial.
"Realism" in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to decipt subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation. Realists create everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in a "true-to-life" maner.
