Formats and narratives of Web Dramas

Francesca Keown

Web Drama

• Web Dramas have many different formats and narrative structures:

• Linear - is where something starts in one place and finishes in another, usually in chronological order.

• Non linear - A non-linear narrative is one which is composed with a branching structure where a single starting point may lead to multiple developments and outcomes.

• Flashback - is where something goes back in time and shows sequences from the past. The past is usually signified by techniques like black and white, grainy film or home videos.

• Realist - is a story that is based on real life events and things that the viewing public can relate too.

• Anti realist – is were the narrative or plot is not meant to be easy to relate too and is normally something out of the ordinary.

• Open ending – is where the story is left wide open so the viewer has to guess what happened at the end.

• Closed ending – is were the story is all wrapped up at the ending and the views know exactly what has happened.

Geek Love• Geek love is a web drama that uses a documentary format. It tells a

story about different geeks and whether or not they will find love. In each episode there is a different person that has a documentary made about them. For example in episode the main character Alex tries to find love through speed dating. It has a very restricted narrative as we don’t know what is going to happen next, whether or not someone will chose him in the speed dating. However, it has a sudden change in the ending as someone does chose him but then it doesn’t go to plan as the girl just wants to be friends. It is opposite to a fairytale as there is a sad ending and reflects on the fact that he is too much of a geek to find love. Geek love has a linear structure as it tells a story about the main character. It also has a realist narrative structure as the things that happen in geek love would happen in real life.

Emma Approved• Emma approved is a web drama that consists of 24 episodes. It takes an

old Jane Austin story and turns it into a web series. In order to do this they use a web log format where a web cam is used to record everything that goes on. Emma the main character uses the webcam to tell a story about her business and what she does and also about the couple she is trying to get to marry. The web log format wouldn’t be used in film or television as is more suitable for web dramas as they are about the web. The Emma Approved web drama episodes are short and snappy and always end with a cliff hanger. The use of this format is different and is trying to get away from the old, original way of doing web series.

• Throughout the series different people come into the story via the webcam or facetime/skype. The webcam logs all the events that go on in Emma Approved and this is how the story is told. It uses an anti-realist narrative structure and is very exaggerated. It also uses a linear narrative structure as the story builds up throughout each episode.

The Power Inside• The Power Inside is a web series that uses the old, original format of web

dramas. It has very short episodes as viewers attention span on the internet is a lot shorter as there is more distraction to look at other things. The Power Inside is more like a film, unlike the other two web dramas I have studied. It is about evil creatures that are trying to take over the world. It has many different narrative structures such as surreal, anti-realist and comedy. The Power Inside has an open ending narrative structure as in the last episode an events starts to happen and the series finishes. This leaves the viewers unaware of what happened and leaving them to think of their own ending. It has an anti-realist structure because the use of the evil creatures taking over the world isn’t something that would happen in real life and people cannot relate to it.