Chain and choice in filmic narrative

In this paper, we show how the intersection of chains of multimodal cohesive ties with choices of relations among sequences of filmic units provides a strong foundation for constructing filmic narrative. Until now bridging the gap between narrative concerns and fine-grained analysis of complex multimodal artefacts such as films has been difficult: fine-grained analyses tend to lose themselves in the wealth of detail revealed and high-level narrative analyses are often pulled towards subjective interpretations. Our definition and use of the constructs of multimodal filmic cohesion and of logical sequential filmic relations establishes functional analytic categories anchored both below, in the fine-grained detail of film, and above, in the range of interpretations that they delimit. We propose this as one way in which we can move towards a more empirically-grounded notion of transmedial narration.