Temporal structure in complex narratives: case study of the show How to get away with murder

• Grant number: 15/17934-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2015
• End date: November 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Radio and Television
• Principal Investigator: Leticia Passos Affini
• Grantee: Heidi Campana Piva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes e Comunicação (FAAC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Serial narratives have been leaning towards complexity and this change in paradigm raises an important issue: a modern individual, who watches television continuously, where the old reception rituals are no longer applicable, through platforms such as Netflix, and is invited by multiple entries points to active engagement, want or need a finite or conclusive story? Even though the principles of the beginning, middle, and end are still valid, a spectator as described above can be more willing to accept and understand a narrative in which these elements are rearranged. Given the importance of complex narratives in contemporaneity, it is proposed in this project, an analysis of the American series "How to Get Away With Murder". We object to understand the temporal structure of said series, as well as the analysis of its compositional aspects, script structuring, and stylistic, film and discursive procedures.