Module 2 Writing Practice – Time, Chance and Narrative Structure

This page supports your learning in Module 2, where we examine how time, narrative and experimentation challenge traditional storytelling in media art.

This Writing Practice will help you prepare for both:

• Short answer responses (1.5 pages hand-written, ~30 mins) and

• Extended responses (3–4 pages hand-written, ~60 mins)
  
  

PART A – SHORT ANSWER PRACTICE QUESTIONS

(Approx. 1.5 pages handwritten – 25–30 mins)

These questions require precision, terminology and close reference to specific scenes. There are some tips, but they are not exhaustive by any means.

1. Analyse how narrative manipulation in Run Lola Run shapes audience interpretation.

What this is really testing:

• Media languages — narrative structure and editing

• Audience positionin

• System of communication
  
  

High-quality answer should include:

Knowledge

• Define narrative manipulation (parallel timelines, iterative loops)

• Identify specific structural features (repetition, split screen, montage)
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how the structure positions the audience to compare alternatives

• Differentiate Run Lola Run from single-timeline storytelling
  
  

Application

• Refer to key sequences:

  • Lola’s three repeated runs

  • Differences between versions (interactions, minor changes)

  • The role of timing/clock motif
    
    

Analysis

• Show how repetition encourages active comparison

• Connect the narrative pattern to theme (chance, consequence)
  
  

Evaluation

• Discuss whether the structure increases engagement or destabilises certainty
  
  

2. Compare the use of time as a narrative device in Memento and Run Lola Run.

What this is really testing:

• Media languages

• Narrative form and audience reconstruction

• Comparative analysis
  
  

High-quality answer should include:

Knowledge

• Define reverse chronology vs parallel timelines

• Identify editing devices used in each
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how each structure affects perception of cause/effect
  
  

Application

• Specific evidence:

  • Reverse colour sequences in Memento

  • Three run iterations in Run Lola Run
    
    

Analysis

• Examine how each film forces the audience to piece meaning together
  
  

Evaluation

• Judge which structure more radically challenges traditional narrative expectation
  
  

3. Analyse how music and rhythm contribute to narrative meaning in Run Lola Run and True.

What this is really testing:

• Media languages — sound

• System of communication

• Audience positioning
  
  

High-quality answer should include:

Knowledge

• Identify techno score in Run Lola Run

• Identify musical pacing in True
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how music drives tempo and editing rhythm
  
  

Application

• Specific sequences where music dictates pacing (e.g., Lola’s runs, key relational beats in True)
  
  

Analysis

• Link how music amplifies urgency, emotional engagement
  
  

Evaluation

• Compare effectiveness across both works
  
  

4. Analyse how True uses temporal compression to shape meaning.

What this is really testing:

• Narrative structure

• Media languages

• Audience role
  
  

High-quality answer should include:

Knowledge

• Define temporal compression (events condensed into heightened emotional time)
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how this affects audience’s understanding of character
  
  

Application

• Specific moments in True where time feels elastic
  
  

Analysis

• Link compressed time to emotional impact
  
  

5. Discuss how audience expectations of narrative certainty have changed from Double Indemnity to Run Lola Run.

What this is really testing:

• Evolution of narrative forms

• Audience positioning

• Historical context
  
  

High-quality answer should include:

Knowledge

• Characteristics of classical Hollywood narrative (causality, resolution)

• Contrasts with postmodern narrative play
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how audience role shifts from passive to active interpreter
  
  

Application

• Refer to:

  • Retrospective confession in Double Indemnity

  • Iterative timelines in Run Lola Run
    
    

Analysis

• Show how uncertainty becomes part of meaning
  
  

Evaluation

• Judge whether this evolution strengthens audience engagement

PART B – EXTENDED ANSWER PRACTICE QUESTIONS

(Approx. 3–4 pages handwritten – 50–60 mins)

These questions require synthesis across texts and deeper argumentation. There are some tips, but they are not exhaustive by any means.

1. “Narrative structure has become a thematic device in contemporary media art.” Discuss with reference to at least two films you have studied.

High-quality response structure:

Knowledge

• Define narrative structure

• Identify structural techniques in Memento and Run Lola Run
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how structure is not just form, but them

Application

• Evidence from both films
  
  

Analysis

• How structure alters audience meaning construction
  
  

Evaluation

• Judge the claim — does structure become theme?
  
  

Synthesis

• Connect to broader movements (experimental → contemporary)

2. Compare how Memento and Run Lola Run challenge traditional causal storytelling.

High-quality response should include:

Knowledge

• Define causality in classical storytelling

• Describe structural experiments in both films
  
  

Understanding

• Explain why each director chooses their approach
  
  

Application

• Close reference to sequences
  
  

Analysis

• Compare the different effects on audiences
  
  

Evaluation

• Judge which more radically subverts causality
  
  

Synthesis

• Link to Expressionist legacy
  
  

3. Analyse how Run Lola Run and True use sound and editing to construct narrative rhythm.

High-quality response should include:

Knowledge

• Identify sound and editing devices

• Define narrative rhythm
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how sound and editing interlock
  
  

Application

• Specific scenes and beats
  
  

Analysis

• How rhythm influences interpretation
  
  

Evaluation

• Comparative strength of approaches
  
  

Synthesis

• Link rhythm to emotional and thematic meaning
  
  

4. To what extent does Run Lola Run reposition chance and agency as narrative drivers?

High-quality response should include:

Knowledge

• Define chance vs fate
  
  

Understanding

• Explain narrative mechanisms that foreground chance
  
  

Application

• Evidence from three iterations of Lola’s runs
  
  

Analysis

• How small changes reshape outcomes
  
  

Evaluation

• Judge whether chance becomes more significant than character intent
  
  

Synthesis

• Relate to postmodern narrative philosophy
  
  

5. Evaluate how audience expectation is redefined by films that manipulate time.

High-quality response should include:

Knowledge

• Definitions of audience expectation
  
  

Understanding

• Explain how narrative experiments demand new engagement
  
  

Application

• Refer to at least three films from Modules 1–2
  
  

Analysis

• How each structure guides audience reconstruction
  
  

Evaluation

• Judge whether this redefinition is beneficial or alienating
  
  

Synthesis

• Connect to genre evolution (Noir → Neo-Noir → Postmodern)
  
  

What a High-Band Extended Answer Must Do

Across all extended responses, high-quality work should:

1. Establish conceptual clarity

   • Define key terms clearly and early
     
     

2. Demonstrate close textual analysis

   • Reference specific scenes

   • Avoid plot summary
     
     

3. Integrate context meaningfully

   • Historical, industrial and stylistic context strengthens argument
     
     

4. Compare, not just describe

   • Identify patterns and evolution across films
     
     

5. Make evaluative judgments
   
   

   • Use evaluative language such as:

     • “Arguably…”

     • “More significantly…”

     • “While it may appear…, it ultimately…”