Storytelling for the screen
Part 1
Development:
Review Story
Re-introduction to Story
Welcome back Advanced Filmmakers!
Our first project of the year will be to make a film that uses the three act structure. This is to help us review the traditional story structure before we move to more advanced concepts.
Your First Project
So your first project is going to be to make a 2 to 4 minute film that uses the three act structure and character arc. Today, we're going to go over the development process first. We're going to talk about:
+Preparing to write your story including Le Menu and Assets and Liabilities
+Writing Act I: Setting up CROW
+Writing Act II: Breaking the PEACE
+Writing Act III: Finishing with MAR
Your homework will be to work on your Le Menu and Assets and Liabilities.
Then, to write a draft of your three act story with character arc, ready for feedback.
Why Story?
What is story?
A story tells us about an event or series of events, either real or fictional (made-up). Stories are told to interest, entertain, and teach us. Stories help us connect with others, communicate ideas, and imagine life's possibilities. ... Even the most basic stories have a beginning, middle, and end.
Why is story important?
I strongly believe that storytelling is one of the most essential skills any filmmaker should have. If you understand story, you will be able to do better in all of the other areas of filmmaking (screenwriting, storyboarding, cinematography, acting and editing). All of these disciplines are fundamentally connected to telling the story and if the story is not compelling, it often doesn't matter if the other elements aren't great.
That is why Pixar, the most consistently critically and commercially successful film studio in contemporary film, has the motto: "Story is king." It is the reason why they spend half of the five years of developing a film on story. It is the reason why they actually write the story from scratch and then build the entire film multiple times (5 to 10 times) to test the story over and over again. This rigorous approach to story leads Pixar and other similar film artists to find the most compelling ways to tell a story.
In addition, understanding story for high school filmmakers also has its advantages. New York University's film program looks for one major factor in their applicant's portfolio films: story. We have had three students get into NYU's prestigious program and they all created films that had strong stories.
We are going to focus in on NYU for a bit because I think it's helpful both if you want to get into NYU but also I think in general, understanding story technique is just good for your filmmaking whatever your goals are.
Chadwick Boseman: Mission Statement
Sadly, this past week, we lost a great actor, Chadwick Boseman. He starred in Black Panther, 42, Get On Up and many more. He's an actor known for his amazing performances but also for his high level of integrity and purpose. When he was a young actor, he created his own mission statement that the type of roles he was going to play were always going to be about improving the world and creating more three dimensional portrayals of the African American experience. Here in this video, he talks a bit more about this. Hopefully this will inspire you to think about your own values and purpose in your films.
Preparing to Write Your Story Part 1: Activity: Le Menu
So before we dive into creating your own stories for your films. I feel it's necessary to lay the ground work to compelling stories. One of the most important foundations to great storytelling is understanding your own personal interests and issues that you bring to your storytelling. When we think of great storytellers, they almost always bring a personal point of view which includes concerns, values, ways at looking at the world and a lot more. I think the more we understand ourselves the better storytellers we can be.
For example, Pixar's writers and directors almost always have a personal issue at the heart of their films. Andrew Stanton was worried about raising his children and how he could be very overprotective of his children. And he loved fish. These personal issues became the genesis for Finding Nemo. Pete Docter was worried about what happened to his daughter when she became a teenager and her personality radically changed. This issue lead to Inside Out. Jesse Rosenberg discovered the power of meditation in high school and this interest fueled his portfolio film, What Lives On. This film was a major reason for getting into NYU film school.
Now it's your turn. We're going to use an exercise created by film professor, Claudia Hunter Johnson. She taught many excellent filmmakers including Oscar winning writer/director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight). This is an exercise for writers to help them tap into what is important to them.
1. Find a paper and break it into 8 different columns. Label each column as follows:
+What I love
+What I hate/fear
+What I believe/value
+What I want / what I dream about
+What I know about / what interests me
+People who made a difference in my life (positive or negative)
+Discoveries /Decisions that made a difference in my life
+Films, TV shows, videos or other stories that have inspired or connected to me.
2. For each category, write down at least four different things that apply.
3. You're going to turn this in so you can also flag anything that's too private or just keep that to yourself.
4. Once you're done, this is just a tool for you to use to figure out if there is a kernel of an idea for your film in here.
5. Submit your Le Menu before our next class. The template is in Canvas.
Preparing to Write your Story: Part 2
Activity: Analyze for Assets and Liabilities
So you have connected more deeply to your own personal concerns and point of view and you're ready to come up with your story. But wait! There's one more step that I think is very important.
It's not enough to just understand your own concerns and come up ideas from them. We need to understand what your assets and liabilities are. What do we mean by that?
When you are a young filmmaker stuck at home trying to make a film, you need to create story ideas that you can execute. Even if you weren't in a quarantine, you would still have a lot of different limitations but also many resources as well. I just want to add that I have seen many films go downhill because filmmakers tried to make films that they did not have enough assets for. Or too many liabilities.
For example, one of my students worked on a script that was about 7 to 10 pages long and it had a cast of about 10 people and it had a lot of special effects involved. The story was decent but it was definitely ambitious in scope. We tried to shoot the script and he really struggled to get all of the shots done and I could sense that he was overly ambitious with his project. But then, the quarantine came and he couldn't finish the film because everyone was stuck at home. He then decided to take the same story but transfer the whole idea into a stop motion animation idea. He used objects he had around the house and just had them play characters in the story. The story was essentially the same but the means by which he tried to accomplish it were much more realistic. In the end, he made a film that won an award in our film festival and was a good example of analyzing his assets and liabilities.
So let's talk about assets first. What are examples of assets:
+Time. How much time do you have to pull off your film? (This could be a liability too.)
+Location. What locations can you shoot in? What kind of stories would happen there?
+People. Who can help you with your film? Can they act? Can they shoot film? Can they do other things?
+Props. What objects around your home can be used in the story?
+Costumes. What clothing do you have to help you tell your story?
+Equipment. What kind of camera do you have? What kind of tripod? Other gear?
+Knowledge. What kinds of film have you done in the past? Do you know how to do other types of film like special effects or animation? Can you learn?
Now let's talk about liabilities. Essentially, all of the elements above can be liabilities. I think if you don't think about them and build your story around them in the first place, then, you risk making them liabilities.
For example, if you don't build your story around the time you have. Then, you may be trying to accomplish way too much in your story then you have time for.
Or if you try to do a three person story with only you playing all of the characters. This might be too hard to pull off.
So bottom line is start with what you have and build your story around it. Then, you will avoid many of your liabilities. But you should also be aware that in film shoots, there are many liabilities that you might not be prepared for and it's just part of the process:
+Random accidents.
+People not showing up.
+Weather.
+Other projects taking up more time.
+Forgetting to turn on your camera.
+Equipment problems. (This is a big one.)
+Etc.
So in these cases, I think you just keep going and realize that accidents happen and you accept reality and move on. We'll be making a lot of films over the semester and you will pick one of them as your primary submission to the film festival and for the class. We do this because we know that accidents do happen and that a lot of films fail. So you just have to accept that fact and keep making films until you hit the right one.
Writing Your Story: Part 1
Reviewing Three Act Stories
and Character Arc
So now that you prepared for writing your story, let's talk about how you actually write it.
So I want to allow you the freedom to write your stories the way you want to approach it. But I think that I would be remiss if I did not review with you the fundamental concepts of three acts and character arc.
We have three students who have gotten into NYU Tisch, one of the most competitive and prestigious film schools in the country. They heavily lean on the portfolio film for their decisions and all three of these students did a film that used the three act structure and had character arcs. Pixar uses the three act structure and character arcs.
So while there are a lot of different models for stories, I believe if you can truly understand these concepts and use them effectively, your film will be that much stronger.
Act I: Set Up CROW
and Character Flaw
So let's look at one of the NYU portfolio films, Smile by Jackson Yeomans.
As we watch it, let's play close attention to what we call, ACT I.
Act I is usually the first 25% of the film.
It sets up the major information that the audience needs to understand and feel the story.
Here are the four major elements of Act I: C.R.O.W.
C = Character
We need to know who the main character is. Especially in short films, it has to be one main character because you have so little time to tell your story. The audience will typically emotionally connect with the main character and follow their journey through the film.
So the main information we need to get across about the main character is:
+What are their physical traits?
+What is their personality?
+What is their character flaw?
While the first two questions are pretty obvious, the third one, character flaw is often misunderstood and so I want to talk about it.
Character flaw is typically an internal issue that the main character is dealing with. It's a flaw that's causing them significant problems in their lives. For example, in Monsters Inc, Sully is a workaholic who does not have close relationships. Monsters Inc is all about him becoming a father figure to Boo and learning how to be a good "parent." In The Farewell, Billi does not understand the rituals of her Chinese family and thinks they're wrong. But The Farewell takes us on her journey to understanding why her family would lie to her grandma and the value of her culture.
R = Relationship
In most films, there are relationship characters. They are the other characters in the film. Relationships are often what films are about. When you think of Monsters Inc, you think of the relationship between Sully and Boo. When you think of The Farewell, you think of Billi and her family. The list goes on. They often create the emotional stakes of the film.
We can usually divide them into three categories.
Allies. Allies are characters that work with the main character on their journey. They sometimes are the confidant who the main character go to for support. Sometimes, they challenge our main character in a friendly way. Sometimes, they are used as a way to show contrast the traits of the main character.
Antagonists. These characters face off against the main character. They create obstacles for the main character's journey. They don't necessarily have to be villains but they can be. Often, they represent the opposite of what the main character represents. Sometimes, the antagonist and the ally are the same character. Like in romantic comedies.
World characters: These are often background characters who have a small part in the story but they build the world of the story and they help us understand both the world and the main character's place in it.
O = Objective
Objective is what the character wants. It's usually a decision (like to ask someone to prom) or a thing (The Holy Grail) or a person (to get acceptance from your father.).
But the objective is the engine that drives the main character through the story. Think about Monsters Inc. Sully wants to deal with the problem that Boo causes which will destroy his life. In The Farewell, Billi wants to take care of her grandmother even though she's not sure what the best way is.
The objective usually has strong emotional stakes that help give the story emotional resonance and energy.
W = World
This is the world of the story and it's broken into two parts.
The setting. So the setting of the story is important because it's where the action of the story takes place and it tells us a lot about the character's journey. In Monsters Inc, Sully is a champion scarer in a world that uses children's screams to power it's economy. They spend a lot of time setting up this setting so that we can understand who Sully is and his place in it. in The Farewell, Billi enters the world of China and her traditional family. They spend a lot of time showing us the rituals and details of this world so we understand why they are creating this "good lie."
The genre. The genre is the type of story you're trying to tell. It's important to understand your genre because each genre has different objectives in terms of the emotions it wants from the audience and often the type of world you are entering and those world's rules.
In terms of emotion, genre tells us how we want the audience to react. Obviously, comedies wants us to make the audience to laugh and if they aren't laughing, the story is not a comedy. In a drama, in a very basic way, we want the audience to cry. If they don't cry, it's probably not a great drama.
In terms of the genre's word, many genres summon a whole world like dystopian sci fi. We know with dystopian sci fi, that the story will take place in the future and that its point of view of the future is dark and often cynical. It usually involves technology going wrong or society going wrong and the story often critiques this future. So genre helps us build this world and its purpose.
Okay now we're looking at the film, Smile by Jackson Yeomans. (I realize some of you have seen this multiple times but I thought the three portfolio films that our NYU students/alums made were excellent examples of story structure and character arc and had no dialogue. We'll be looking at other examples later.) So just to give you a little context, Jackson Yeomans made this film his senior year knowing that it had to be good enough to get into his dream school and he had made many other films but none of them had the emotional impact of this film. I think it's a simple but very effective piece of filmmaking. It goes to show you that you don't need a complicated or overly complicated story to be effective.
Activity: Write down the CROW and character flaw
In the chat, write down what the CROW is and the main character's flaw is. Describe it in your own words. and we'll discuss our responses.
Now generate your own ideas for a CROW for your film. For example, you can think of character flaws that you observe in yourself or people around you. Can you build a film from that flaw? Or you can start with any of the CROW. Think of Characters that would make a good film or Relationships or Objectives or Worlds. A film can sprout from any of these elements.
Act II: Conflict or
"Breaking the PEACE"
So after Act I establishes CROW, then, we move to Act II.
This Act II establishes the main conflict of the story.
We had an acronym for Act I, so I created an acronym for Act II: PEACE
P = Problem
Every Act II usually begins with a problem. In Monsters Inc, it's the moment that Boo enters the Monster world and turns Sully's world upside down. In The Farewell, it's Billi going to China to visit her grandma and having to lie herself.
This problem is typically a very serious one and one that challenges the main character's flaw. Think about Monster's Inc, what better problem for a monster who believes his system is good and that children are scary, then a very innocent and good child like Boo. Think about The Farewell, Billi must face off with her entire family that believe that lying is a good thing. As the sole Americanized Chinese American in her family, she must face serious opposition to her point of view.
E = Emotion
Stories are not just about character's dealing with problems but they are about character's feeling emotions when they encounter a problem. And the audience in turn feels this emotion with them. It's one of the primary reasons why we really get hooked into a story is to feel those emotions. So think about the emotion that the main character feels when they encounter the main problem.
Sully panics. He knows what's at stake with a child in the monster world. And he knows what's at stake for him as a champion scarer. This high level of panic is what makes the story so compelling.
Billi feels a great deal of sadness and anger that her family is lying to her dear grandma. She feels torn between wanting to be honest and trying to respect her family. It's this flood of emotions that make her struggle so compelling.
A = Action
Action is the next step. Character's encounter problems and they feel deep emotions and then they act. It's this action that makes Act II compelling. We, the audience are really curious on how they are going to solve this big problem. We are in suspense to see how they handle it. And typically, the main character handles it the best way they can and often it's not enough because they are going to have to learn a lesson later.
Sully tries to hide Boo and gets Mike to help him cover it up and then get her back to her own world. It's the logical thing to do but as we see later, it's not the right thing.
Billi goes along with the ruse for her family but while her grandma is not around, she argues with her family. She pushes hard to try to get them to be honest. But they push back.
CE = Conflict escalates
So if the main character solved the problem in one action, there wouldn't be much of a movie so typically in Act II, the problem escalates. The character tries to solve the problem and then the problem pushes back. Then, they try something else and then there's another twist. And so on, and so on. Usually, with every twist, it becomes harder and harder for our character.
Note, that usually at the end of Act II, there's a crisis. This is often in the form of failure or death or both. The Main Character often fails in their quest and/or loses someone close to them or almost dies.
Think about how Sully almost thinks that Boo is dead in the trash compactor and almost breaks up with Mike for good. These are all crisis moments and ways the story escalates the conflict.
Think about Billi and how they find out that they have to have the wedding banquet and their emotions of sadness almost come out and give up the lie to the grandma.
Okay, now let's look at The Pencil Pusher by Courtney Brock and see how she uses this idea of PEACE in Act II.
Activity: Write down the Act II's PEACE.
In the chat, write down what the PEACE is. Describe it in your own words. and we'll discuss our responses.
Now, generate your own PEACE for your story. I find one good way to do this, is take one of the CROW's from the first exercise and build the Act II from that CROW.
For example, if you have a CROW where it's about a young man who is trying to reconnect with his father over dinner, then, you need to think about problems that could challenge the young man. What are the problems that a young man could face when trying to reconnect with his father over dinner? You can brainstorm. The father is distracted with his phone. The son is distracted with his phone. The dinner is not ready yet. The father and son have too many distractions going on in their brain. Etc.
Then, when you target an interesting Problem, move onto Emotion. How does your main character feel about this problem? And then, to Action. How does your main character respond? Then onto Conflict Escalating. How does the problem become more severe and how does the main character respond to that?
Act III: The Climax or MAR
So the final part of your story is here. Act III or the Climax.
I created another acronym to help you with Act III. It's MAR
M = Make a new plan
So as we mentioned in Act II, the main character often fails at the end of Act II. She deals with the fact that she cannot solve the problem in her usual way. And that's because of her flaw. So then, she has to "make a new plan." This is a shift. In Monsters Inc, Sully realizes he needs Boo and he needs his friendship with Mike. He has to give up being a top scarer and care for someone else. In Farewell, Billi learns the value of her Chinese culture and why her family has decided to lie to her grandma. She realizes there is more to being a good family member than just being honest.
A = Action on the new plan
Typically the main character takes action on the new plan. Sully works with Mike to save Boo and also reveal that their boss was corrupt. Billi talks in front of her entire family at the wedding banquet without revealing the truth.
R = Resolution
Then, when the main character takes action with the new plan, then that plan is successful or not. This is important because it usually tells the audience what the meaning of the story is. Do we reward the character for the change or not?
Sully saves Boo from the evil clutches of his employer and while he has to leave Boo, he discovers the power of laughter which will save the world. Billi keeps the secret and also becomes closer to her family including her grandma in the end.
Now, we're going to look at this short film, What Lives On by Jesse Rosenberg and examine its Act III.
Activity: Write down
Act III's MAR
So in the chat, write down the Act III MAR. Then, we'll discuss.
Now onto your story, let's generate some ideas for your Act III's MAR. I would pick one of your ideas from Act I / Act II and find an Act III.
Homework: Le Menu, Assets and Liabilities and Three Act Story draft
So now, you just need to finish these two tasks for homework:
1. Le Menu
2. Assets and Liabilties
And if you have time, work on:
3. Three Act Story with character arc.
Before our next class, you need to email a copy of these two tasks on a word doc. See canvas for templates.
In class, we'll also review your three act story with character arc and give you detailed feedback.
Then, next week, we'll head into Pre-Production.
Bonus Content:
Below is another example of Three Acts with Character Arc. The award winning film, For the Birds which came out of Pixar Studios. It's a very simple tale but it integrates: Act I with CROW, Act II with PEACE and Act III with MARs. Also, there is a bit of a character arc. The main characters (plural because they are a group) does change at the end, both physically and emotionally.
Also, you might now want a character arc. There are plenty of films that do not have any or much of a character arc. The Three Act structure works without it but often when you do not have character arc, you still have a change at the end. It could be a change of perspective like in Christopher Nolan's Doodlebug. Or just a surprising twist like in Sketchy Situation.