Month: October 2018

Screenplay Structure: Sequences

 

Notes

  • Self contained portion of story
  • has own tension and begging middle and end
  • 2 in act 1, 4 in act 2, and 2 in act 3
  • 8 sequence standard
  • length ownership tension and framework
  • owned by one character
  • tension is what investment audience has
  • sequence smaller unit of story

 

Notes

  • first sequence most important
  • need the grab attention
  • if you don’t hook you’ll lose them entirely
  • inciting incident and lock in
  • establish tone early
  • never shift tone unnecessarily
  • deliver specific genre expectations – set up early and stay consistent
  • protagonist intro essential
  • status quo – day to day reality
  • world – elements of environment
  • micro environment with clearly defined rules

 

Notes

  • continue to flesh out status quo and world
  • antaganist and friends
  • predicament
  • clarify objective
  • lock them in to predicament
  • inciting incident opens door to predicament
  • raise stakes once predicament in introduced
  • motivation influences audience attitude
  • lock in pivotal moment
  • cant return to status quo
  • concludes with the lock in
  • move forward to objective

 

Screenplay Structure: The Five Plot Points

Notes

  • Call, lock in, first act 2 midpoint, climax, 3 act twist
  • set protagonist new path or change goal
  • inciting incident – status quo broken, have not gone though “door”
  • lock in – when protagonist cant return to the status quo, have no choice cant walk away
  • Midpoint – success – small goal, fail – mirrors ending.
  • climax – highest or lowest point
  • third act twist – between climax and end, changes chars trajectory

Screenplay and Story Form

Screenplay Form

  • Writer is the director of the script

David Mamet’s Three Magic Questions

  • …..

 

 

Screenplay Format Pt 2 – Action

Notes

  • Action is what happens in each scene
  • Brevity
  • clarity – paint clearest possible picture
  • creative – metaphors/fig speech
  • paragraph breaks – use frequently, any time new idea, spacing for emphasis
  • caps for emphasis – use sparingly, names key actions

Every Story is the Same

Every Story is the Same

Notes

  • Stories have the same structure
  • Story Circle an be used with any media
  • Top half Ordinary World
  • Bottom Special world
  • All stories follow descent and return
  • 1 comfort
  • 2 want – something isn’t quite right
  • 3 go
  • 4 search – road of trials
  •  5 find – meeting with goddess (goddess can be anything)
  • 6 take heavy price – meet your maker, sacrifice
  • 7 return – bringing it home,
  • 8 change – master of both worlds, life wont be the same, comes out better
  • circle can apply to anything in a story