Real time (media) facts for kids

Real time in a story means that the events happening in the story take the exact same amount of time to unfold as they do for you, the audience, to watch or read them. It's like the story's clock and your clock are perfectly in sync.

What is Real Time in Stories?

When a story is told in real time, there are no big jumps forward or backward in the story's timeline. If a scene in a movie lasts for five minutes on screen, then only five minutes have passed for the characters in the story. This makes the audience feel like they are experiencing the events right alongside the characters.

Examples of Real Time in Movies and TV

One famous example of a movie told almost entirely in real time is Rope (1948), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. If the movie is about two hours long, then the entire story, from beginning to end, covers only two hours of time for the characters in the film. This makes the movie feel very intense and immediate.

Another well-known example is the TV series 24. Each episode of 24 is about an hour long, and it shows one hour of events happening in the story. So, if you watch a full season, which has 24 episodes, you are watching 24 hours of story unfold, just as it would in real life. This style keeps the audience on the edge of their seats because every second counts.