Dr. Caroline Bassett describes narrative as a means of telling a story, not just any story, a story that can be passed down from generation to generation even through societal, cultural or technological changes She describes a narrative to be what defines us, our lives in a sense is a story and it’s what we make of it that will determine how well it’s passed down. However, narrative for her tends to become less ‘natural’ as the acclaimed technological advancements shifts the way we share story/narrative. With the introduction of a new digital age, narrative has been manipulated and experimented with.

Aside from the traditional linear structure of classic Hollywood film, Bassett outlines the change narrative have gone through by using terms such as ‘anti-narrative’ which focus on deconstructing the traditional linear structure – this involves deliberately avoiding traditional narratives factors such as  a coherent plot and resolution – something that we today living in a society able to access video/media instantly anywhere, see all the time; we’re even able to see it sometimes in certain films.

How this relates to our work as online video analysts is that by having an understanding of how narrative have been changed over the years, we’re able to work out what essentially may make an online video. Most online videos tend to be short, to the point whereas other forms such as a wed series may tend to stick to a traditional linear narrative structure. By having the two types of narrative placed before us, we’re able to experiment in several ways in our own production of online video.