Examples of short films with a circular narrative

Most circular narrative short films appear to have some kind of journey, of an object or people.

MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND- 4:39

"In this film we followed a 5 dollar note as it makes its journey through different situations."

This short film consists of a very simple and straightforward plot that leads the audience on with little to no guesswork on the audience's part. While not rushed it does move on to each part smoothly and quickly. It has no dialogue, rather giving additional information through CGI and Fx animation. It is shown in the point of view of many people through POV shots, always focusing on the movement of the money rather than the person themselves, though the animation gives subplots and additional information to the person handling the money to assist the main plot. The circular narrative was easy to follow as the plot was so simple and straightforward it was easy to bring it back to where it started.

CIRCULAR NARRATIVE- 1:50

This short film consists of many second-long clips and images that build up the plot. There is no dialogue, rather a fast paced instrumental background tune. It uses various angled shots and midshots to portray what the director wanted to show the audience. The images shown are snapshots into the events surrounding the short film that give clues as to what the person shown in all of the clips has done. The circular narrative brings the audience back to wondering what happened much as it did at the beginning.

After looking at these short films and researching the circular narrative, I have decided that I would like to use a circular narrative in my own short film. I like the way the story is brought back to the beginning to give it a more complete ending and leads the audience to where they started, but with more background knowledge and are able to understand the reasoning for the same start as the end. Another thing with circular narrative that I like is how it gives an opening that the audience can question, making them want to continue watching to find out why it is like that. I could apply this to my short film and take the audience step by step through finding out why the beginning is like it is and repeat it for the ending.