This week’s reading discusses narrative film, documentary, and experimental film. The main focus is on how experimental practices can help show us the role of multi-linearity in relation to K-films.

Narrative films are an organized chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space. Something must happen to a character in order for them to react to it, which causes something else to happen, which forces them to act again. Events are both explicitly stated and implied; making the audience infer what has occurred. Time is also integral to a narrative; while events may be presented in chronological order, they can also be shown out of chronological order. Even still, the audience is able to infer and understand the events, the story and plot.

Narrative films can be restrictive in that they must be logical and follow a particular form, thus doesn’t suit the nature of multi-linear K-films.

Experimental films, however, give filmmakers more freedom to explore a wider range of possibilities of film techniques with the choice of employing a narrative or not at all. They use various types of footage including borrowed and found-footage, reusing them in their own style. This type of film-making better serves multi-linear storytelling as seemingly unconnected images and sounds are edited together to create an unconventional film.

There are two types of Experimental Film; Abstract Form and Associational Form.

Abstract form allows filmmakers to organize their film around colours, shapes, sizes and movements in the images. They compare and contrast images by cutting between them, repeating recurring motifs, and introducing new images to break sequences.  The similarities and differences between images and sequences of images aren’t random. They use abstract organization with recognisable images to challenge the audience’s perception of everyday objects, people, and ideas. This form serves K-films as clips can be organised around properties rather than cause and effect, allowing a freedom to demonstrate multi-linearity. Much like documentary form, abstract form allows filmmakers to present their point of view, however this isn’t always the case.

Associational form suggests ideas and emotions to viewers by assembling images and sounds that have no logical connection. This form forces audiences to look for an association to connect them. Associational form steers clear of portraying an explicit perception or message; rather allowing the audience to use their imagination to make relations between images and form their own perception of them. This is most similar to K-films as filmmakers are encouraged to create an interactive series of clips that don’t have any connection and doesn’t portray an explicit meaning. It may mean nothing at all and may simply just be a series of images and sounds.

There are two types of documentary form; categorical form, and rhetorical form.

Categorical documentaries group things around us based on a commonsense, practical approach or an ideological view of the world. Categories and subcategories may provide a basis for organizing the film’s form and patterns of development are usually simple. Thus, the challenge for filmmakers is to introduce variations and make us adjust our expectations, otherwise if the expectations are satisfied so easily it may be boring. This is true for K-films as well which may choose to organise clips in a categorical way but may not be able to maintain the audience’s interest due to lack of variation. These are some ways to maintain the audience’s interest: 1. May choose an interesting or new category which can present many possibilities. 2. Patterned use of film techniques. 3. Mixing in other kinds of form. 4. May take a stance on topic – bring in rhetorical form.

Rhetorical documentary makers’ goal is to persuade the audience to adopt an opinion about a subject matter and possibly act on it. These films try to make an explicit argument. This doesn’t apply to K-films so much, as the format of the particular interactive documentary doesn’t require the filmmaker to argue their point or opinion. However, incorporating some of these ideas may create a more versatile ‘i-Doc’ rather than sticking solely to the categorical form.