Storytelling in Hollywood
Everyone Has a Story to Tell
• Filmmakers have just chosen film to tell theirs.
• Grammar has developed
– From silent films
– We take it for granted now
• Overall style has evolved, but remains similar
throughout history of film
Basic Plot Map
Plot Defined
• Chain of events occurring in time and space
that are linked by cause and effect.
– Events and actions don’t happen randomly
But Who Says?
• WHY do stories have to be told in this linear
fashion?
• So DO they HAVE to?
• Where have you seen films NOT follow the
plot map?
Examples
• Pulp Fiction
• Memento
• Sliding Doors
• 500 Days of Summer
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Love Actually
Pulp Fiction - Emotional
Pulp Fiction - Chronologically
Challenge?
• Want to tell their story
• Want to tell it in unique manner
• Can’t confuse the audience!
– Not saying they need to “dumb it down”
Easy to Follow?
• Classical storytelling may be easy to follow.
• But….that does not make them SIMPLE or
childish!
Understandings
• Movie making is TIME intensive
• Most scripts don’t make it to production
• Multiple revisions over scripts
Understandings
• Items are WELL thought out.
• Therefore…..
• Pretty much everything IS intentional
– Words said
– Order
– Inflection
– Costuming
– Framing
Characters
• Traits assigned at first viewing
• Characters follow their traits
• IF they break traits, it must be explained why /
how
• Characters are “round” and “consistent”
1) Double Goal Orientation
• Character has one goal
• Often forced to CHANGE to another
• Second line is often a love-interest line
Examples – Double Goals
• The Proposal
– Margaret need to marry Andrew to become “legal”
– Falls in love…for real
• Titanic
– Jack wants to get to America
– Falls in love with Rose
• Alien
– Ship is heading home from space
– Must fight off the Alien
– NO love interest
2) Cause and Effect
• Character has a goal or set of goals.
– Most have 1 or 2 related goals
• Something gets in the way of the goal.
• Time crunch for completing goal(s)
Examples – Time Crunch
• The Proposal
– Must be married and have info on new husband before being
deported
• Titanic
– Ummm….the ship is sinking
• Back to the Future
– Must reach the goals before his messed up history causes him
not to be born (fading picture)
• Star Wars
– Must destroy Death Star before Rebel base is in firing range
Tools to Make These Understandable
1) Rule of Three
– Important items will be repeated at least THREE
times
– Biblical (Think back to archetypes!)
– May not be in the SAME EXACT method
2) 180 Degree Rule
3) Sound Bridge
• Sound from one scene bleeds over to other
scenes.
Parents talking about
daughter’s piano playing ability
Shot of daughter practicing
Hear END of parents’ talking while visually
seeing the girl practicing.
Piano music starts playing before the scene of parents ends.
4) Hooks / Dialogue Hook
• Character will say something….
• That “something” pops up on the screen
• Silence of the Lambs
– Lecter: “Our little Billy must already be searching for
that next special lady…”
– Next scene: Woman who will be the murder’s next
victim
Hook Examples
• Bourne Ultimatum - Madrid
• National Treasure – Passionate
• Princess Bride – ROUSs
• Shrek 4 – Her Cause
Misleading Hook
• National Treasure
5) Redundancy
• Telling the audience the same thing in a few ways
• Make SURE they get it.
• Insulting? Necessary?
• What about those films that do NOT show great
redundancy? Hard to follow?
6) Dangling Cause
• Something you see / hear early in the film.
• But….takes a while for it to return to
importance
Dangling Cause Examples
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
– Indy HATES snakes (plane)
– In vault – snakes everywhere
• Back to the Future
–
–
–
–
Plutonium reported missing (stolen by Libyans)
Radiation box seen (in Doc’s room)
Plutonium needed to power the time machine
WHO comes to kill Doc?
• How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
– Andie decides she will do more research on an article
she wishes to write called "how to loose a guy in ten
days."
– Benjamin makes known the opinion that he can make
any woman fall in love with him in less than ten days.
– Guess who meets each other…..
6) Motif
• Repeated idea, image, pattern
• Colors = red (Raiders)
• Phrase = “pop quiz” (Speed)
• Item = barrels (Jaws)
Motif to Progress Plot
• Jaws…
– Shoot the shark with barrels
to bring him to the surface.
– We see the gradual adding of barrels.
– Don’t see the shark…just barrels!
Plot Holes
• When a dangling cause is not resolved
• When a character changes unexplainably from
his or her initial set-up
– A dumb character disarms a bomb
– Minority Report - precogs
The Four Stages
• Not to be confused with…..
1) The Set-Up
• Meet characters
• Get a feel for who they are
• Establish the “double goal” structure
2) Complicating Action
• Action goes in a new direction
• New situation that the protagonist must cope
with
3) Development
• Goals are all in place
• Many incidents that create action, suspense,
and delay
4) Climax and Epilogue
• Straight forward progress toward a resolution
• Build steadily toward a point of high action
• Will protagonist’s goals be achieved or not?
• Nothing new should be introduced
Climax and Epilogue
4 Stages
• Roughly balanced in terms of time
• Cause and effect pattern