STORY BASICS
Story - a narrative of an event - crafted to interest audiences
must have a 1) beginning 2) a middle 3) and end
Characters, rising tensions, conflict, resolution
Aristotle - created the “well-constructed plot”
documentaries can also be narratives - tell stories
EXPOSITION
inside the story - necessary for understanding --- occurs in the First Act
originally - a minor character like a maid would tell the background in the beginning of a play
documentaries - have front-loaded narration - ex The Thin Blue Line - headlines
-Storytelling - must motivate presentation of exposition - audience wants to know more
too many details too soon = didactic and preachy
too little details = audience is disengaged
THEME
general underlying subject of the specific story
“lifeblood of a film”
foreshadowing
ARC
ways in which evens of story transform characters
PLOT AND CHARACTER
plot-driven vs. character-driven
plot-driven: characters are secondary to plot --- thrillers and action fils -- also, documentaries like The Thin Blue Line
character-driven: characters are fleshed out - Daughter from Danang --- characters are distinct and memorable
other films are neither --- raise questions - AN ESSAY like Bowling for Columbine
Dramatic Storytelling -
character-driven
SOMEBODY
protagonist - hero or antihero - not even a person (ex. Ric Burn’s New York - city was protagonist)
GOAL OR OBJECTIVE - key
Active vs. Passive - goals and characters
good --- characters in charge of their own lives --- WORTHY GOALS --- not necessarily noble, but worth of character’s time and audience’s time
DIFFICULTY AND TANGIBILITY - of goal
need tension for story to continue and audience to be interested
TENSION - not resolved when we want them to be --- leave us uncomfortable - interested
through conflict - struggle between opposing forces ----- ANTAGONIST or THE OPPOSITION
Argument on an issue - 2 sides (Pros and Cons) --- tensions
Personification of the opposition --- ex Southern segregation --- represented by racist sheriff character
WORTHY OPPONENT
- one-dimensional = bad
- must be complicated but not the mirror image of the protagonist ---- shades of gray - flawed - good and bad
TANGIBLE GOAL
possible to achieve - concrete and realistic
worthwhile and noble but not doable - “curing cancer”
manageable
EMOTIONAL IMPACT & AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
“show, don’t tell”
should not tell us what to think --- lead us, but we make our own assumptions
audiences should want to be right there with characters, not watching them
as Story, Characters, Tensions progress, we get more invested
No unnecessary drama ---- soap opera --- details can actually detract from the story
Melodramatic -- music, sound effects, narration - false storytelling - “boy who cried wolf”
RAISING THE STAKES - danger is increasing
SATISFACTORY ENDING
Resolution - unexpected AND inevitable
must resolve the story you set out to tell
never one correct ending
factual ---- unethical to slant facts for more emotional and dramatic ending
not necessarily wrap up all loose ends, but does not leave audience wanting more ----- leaving some ambiguity strengthens picture’s themes and goals
STRUCTURE
Documentaries - may seem pointless - good beginning but random ending ----weakly developed situations and characters ----- problems with STRUCTURE - foundation on which story is built --narrative spine -- filmmakers must meet or confound expectations of audiences - increases investment in story - ELEMENTS:
SHOT
single take - movement or static - close-up, wide, pan, tilt, etc.
camera is turned on and off
point of view, time of day, emotion, mood, etc.
“reversal” - plot twist - example: camera moves from water fall to tram full of tourists
SCENE
consecutive group of shots in a single location - subset of action
may also contain reversals - ex. Michael Moore is answered by Charlton Heston in driveway - not expected
Each scene has its own beginning, middle, and end
essence needs to be conveyed in less than real time
Reversals in scenes ---- turning points - motivate or shift action in story
SEQUENCE
collection of shots and scenes that tell continuous story, but is only a piece of larger story
like a book’s chapter
Robert McKee - Scene has a reversal that is minor, Sequence has a reversal that is moderate, and an Act has a reversal that is major
May cover a series of locations - advances larger story
ex. Bowling for Columbine - 4 scenes that relate = a sequence - Moore then makes decision to interview Heston
ACT
series of sequences - drives to a major turning point - Climax - leads to next series of sequences in next Act
Traditional 3 act -- 1st covers exposition (hero in a tree), 2nd covers tension (rocks force hero further up the tree) and 3rd covers climax of tensions and resolution (hero reaches top branch and is about to fall but is then able to climb down)
3 important things about acts:
- drama helps stories
- documentaries don’t fit exactly in this format so it is an approximation
- structure can be used in a different way- still needs compelling characters and tensions - but does not necessarily need 3 acts
INCITING INCIDENT
event that sets story in motion
Lalee’s Kin - slavery and sharecropping - devastated Mississippi
POINT OF ATTACK
where filmmaker enters the story - hardest decision to make
almost always guaranteed to change as time goes on --- themes are more clear - evolution
BACKSTORY
form of exposition - not synonymous however
events that happened before story starts - title cards, interviews, narration
when motivated - enhances and enriches the story - adds depth to characters and keeps audiences interested
THREE-ACT STRUCTURE
staple of Hollywood - My Cousin Vinny for example
ACT ONE
one quarter the length of the film
introduction of characters and problems - Inciting Incident
“first turning point”
audience knows what is at stake by Act’s end - emotional peak
ACT TWO
longest portion of the film - one half
pacing increases - complications arise - twists and reversals - even bigger emotional peak
cannot bog down plot though
ACT THREE
less than a quarter -- character approaches defeat --- darkest moment of the film --- tensions intensified -- story finally pushed to resolution - loose ends tied up
STRUCTURING MULTIPLE STORYLINES
A stories, B stories, and C stories
A story is primary weight - other plotlines are introduced around A
Lalee’s Kin and Yosemite: The Fate of Heaven ---- additional stories to make film more complex
WHAT THREE-ACT STRUCTURES IS NOT
film is not just divided in 3 parts - each part needs to advance the story ---- therefore, there can be stories told in more or less acts --- need to be truthful to material
THREE ACTS IN FIVE OR ONE OR TWO
one act plays - five act plays
commercial breaks for television shows
Proof - two acts - Act One is all of the original One and part of Two and Act Two is the second part of original Two and then all of Three
Biographies --- follow chronological order - not necessarily acts
DAUGHTER FROM DANANG
78 minutes in length
Hedi Bub - Amerasian woman raised in Tennessee - originally from Vietnam - wishes to meet her birth mother
filmmakers did not want to do a chronological story --- used concept of memory to push story -- start with Bub and her memories and contrast them with her actual experience in Vietnam
ACT ONE
1975 Operation Baylift - 2000 children sent to US for adoption - separate interviews of Bub and her mother in Vietnam --- plot established -- Bub wants to meet her mother - tension of the story
ACT TWO
Bub is out of place in Vietnam having been in American for so long
Thinks her bad memories will go away
Questions still unanswered - Who is her father? Where is her adoptive mother?
Film shows her deteriorated relationship with her adoptive mother ---- foreshadowing of future
Her father was an American soldier
She is homesick --- does not like her family - they want money
ACT THREE
Bub wishes to leave - neither side understands one another - she achieves her goal but does not receive the answers she wanted
EPILOGUE - resolution - two years later - ending is ambiguous as Bub says that he is still open to meet with her family again
Bowling For Columbine - Michael Moore
ESSAY-LIKE STRUCTURE ---- poses series of questions as plot escalates
Still vaguely built on three acts in terms of themes:
Opens with old NRA footage
Overview of Columbine killers going bowling on morning of their shooting
“Typical America” - opens a bank account to get a gun
Charlton Heston established as antagonist - NRA head
Meets with various people - humorous accounts, etc - get his point across
Twenty minutes into film, people get shot - start with comedy and lead to crisis
Transitions to Lockeed Martin - weapons production
US bombing of Kosovo on day of Columbine shooting --- 3 minutes of police audio
Littleton, Colorado - NRA convention 10 days after shooting - also mentions guns bought at the KMart
School security measures increased - says kids weren’t the problem - but was it music, television. broken homes, bowling? ---- why does America have the highest violence rates?
Culture of fear - on the news, on Cops, etc. - poverty
goes to Flint, Michigan, another site for a school shooting as well as another NRA convention - attacks President Bush for not caring about the poor
Again brings up Lockheed - corporations and politicians get what they want in all of the fear
goes to KMart with Columbine students and gets them to stop selling bullets
Goes to Heston’s and speaks with him - “glorious time to be an American” - bowling
APPLYING FILM STRUCTURE
Some apply structure when editing - others apply structure from the start - outlines, scripts, revising and reshaping
if a film is working, leave it alone - storytelling is an art, not a science.
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