Further classifications of 3rd-person narration
Objective 3rd-person narrators report from a perspective outside
the minds of all characters.
Omniscient, that is, "all knowing" 3rd-person narrators can have
access to the thoughts and feelings of one or more characters, although they
don't necessarily share this access with the reader. They may shift the point
of view from one character's consciousness to another's in the course of a work
of fiction, or limit the perspective to the mind of a single character.
Seymour Chatman, a critic who has written extensively about point
of view, refers to the process by which a third-person omniscient narrator allows
us to perceive thoughts and view events from inside a character's mind as using
a narrative "filter." Narratologist Gerard Genette referred to this practice
as "focalization." Authors use various techniques for taking us inside
a consciousness or showing us how things are viewed through that character's
filter in a story with third-person narration.