What is a nonlinear storyline in a movie?
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M$3 Answers
Next, take each scene, and place it on a time-line, ensuring the scenes are now chronologically ordered. So, if scene 3 happened before scene 1 and 2, order them 3, 1, 2, .. etc.
Now, look at the order of the scenes. If the scenes are still ordered with increasing numbers, your movie is linear. If they are out of order, the movie is non-linear.
The non-linear technique is often used to show an exciting scene right at the start, which might actually be just before the end chronologically, getting the viewers on their toes right from the start, or by having a narrator in his old days, addressing the viewers to tell his compelling life story.
Excellent examples of non-linear movies are Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise, Memento, The Prestige and La Vie en rose (the 2007 version).
On TV, the series Lost is the first one that comes to mind to use a non-linear storyline.
Funnily, the term 'Non-linear' means something quite different when referred to in video games. With games, Non-linear refers to having multiple endings to the game, depending on the actions taken by the player. The main character might die, live but not succeed, or live and succeed in his goal. More complex games often have multiple endings, highly increasing replay-value.
A mix form is the game Heavy Rain for the Playstation 3, which plays like an interactive movie, has the look and feel of a movie, and has several storylines, based on the moral choices made by the 'player'.
I personally find non-linear movies more difficult to follow, as they often start by throwing you off-balance, having the main character doing something unexpected. Only at the end of the movie you start to make sense of what (s)he did, so you really have to remember just about everything that happens, in order to make sense of it all. With my bad memory, I often forget half of the action by the time the movie ends, making me miss the point of the movie entirely... But I guess that's just me.
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Oh, also Memento would count as nonlinear. It is told somewhat backwards, but the way each scene goes, it feels more like reading a chapter in the right chronological order, then skipping to the beginning of the previous chapter and reading it in the same fashion, etc, etc, until you get to the beginning.
