Research- Narrations (Subjective Narration, and Fragmented / Nonlinear Narration)

 Subjective and Fragmented

Subjective narration is when a story is told from a character’s personal point of view, meaning the audience only experiences events as that character does, with their fears, confusion, and limited understanding of the events taking place. In horror films, this technique is used to increase tension and fear by restricting information and making viewers unsure of what is real. Directors often rely on point-of-view shots, distorted visuals, unsettling sound design, and unreliable narrators to place the audience inside the character’s mind. This creates unease because the audience cannot see danger clearly or trust what they are witnessing. 

    Many recent horror films use subjective narration, such as Smile, where the audience sees reality breaking down alongside the main character, and The Black Phone, which limits the story to what the kidnapped child knows. Films like “Talk to Me” blurs emotional trauma with supernatural events. Overall, subjective narration is effective in horror because it removes a sense of control and forces the audience to share the character’s uncertainty, making the fear feel more intense and personal.

 This technique is common in horror because it makes the audience feel the character’s fear and uncertainty. For example, horror movies often show everything through the character’s camera, so we only know what they know, which can be confusing and scary. Nonlinear or fragmented films, like "Memento", show events out of order to reflect memory loss or mental struggles. Filmmakers also use things like point-of-view shots, strange camera angles, distorted sounds, and quick cuts to make the audience feel what the character is feeling. Subjective and fragmented narration makes stories more immersive and unsettling because the audience experiences the story through the character’s mind instead of seeing a clear, objective version of events.

    With subjective or fragmented narration, the story is mostly told from a character’s perspective or in a broken, non-chronological way, but the character isn’t necessarily lying or deceiving. The audience just experiences events through that character’s eyes, which might be confusing or incomplete, like seeing through someone’s memories or emotions.

Subjective vs. Fragmented Narration

    Fragmented or nonlinear narration is different from subjective narration because it focuses on how the story is structured in time, rather than whose perspective we see. In a fragmented or nonlinear story, events are shown out of order: past, present, and future may be mixed together, so the audience has to piece the story together themselves. The narrator might be objective or subjective, but the main point is that the timeline is broken, which can create suspense, confusion, or reflect a character’s memory or trauma.

     In contrast, subjective narration is about seeing the story through a character’s personal perspective, not necessarily about rearranging time. Fragmented narration can be combined with subjective narration, but you can also have a fragmented story told from a neutral, outside point of view. Essentially, fragmented/nonlinear narration changes the structure of events, while subjective narration changes the lens through which we experience them.

Sources 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/subjective-cinema