What is a narrator?

Within the the film/television/short film industry narration is often extremely presen, in a lot of cases its been used at the beginning of films, this gives the viewer a chance to really become at one with the main protagonist.
Of course there are many cases where a narrator has been present the whole way through, the purpose for this type of narrator is often to reveal the thoughts of the character. I think its a really good technique when done properly. This type of narrator is also called a "View Point Character".
A narrator may tell the story from his or her point of view, or perhaps the point of few from one of the characters in the story.

Types of Narration:

Narrative Modes-
Often writers display their story through first person, or third person narrative. Generally a first person narrative reveals the inner most feelings or opinions of the character. The role of a third-person narrative is where it provides an almost panoramic view of the not just one character, but reveals many thoughts or feelings of different people. It doesn't home in on an individuals percpectives.

Multiple Modes-
Sometimes writers choose to have many different narrators within their story. This leaves a lot more to the audience, it allows them to use their reason to decide who is the most reliable narrator, or the one they want to follow the most. It could be that many seperate characters have their own streams of consciousness.
In ancient times Greak Theatre used a chorus to narrate the plays they put on. As a group they made social commentry about what was going on. This is quite similiar to Mutliple Modes of Narration.

During my AS work, I used a narrator, I had a young woman reciting a poem that had connecting themes to my film opening. In my Short Film at A2 I think I will definitely use a narrator as pretty much all of my favourite films and my inspiration have a narrator.

For Example-

"What I'm not sure about..."



"I used to understand it....."