Lecture 9:
How Do I Keep My Story Alive?
Alive (1993)
Written by John Patrick Shanley
Based on the book by Piers Paul Read
Professor Christopher Bradley
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Previous Lesson
•
The Problem and Main Exposition
•
Opening the Movie
•
Writing Exercise #7
Ronin (2003)
Written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet
In this Lesson
•
Writing the Middle
•
Suspense
•
Surprise and
Reversals
•
Writing Exercise #8
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
Written by Jim Jarmusch
Writing the Middle
The Thing (1982)
Written by Bill Lancaster
Based on a story by John W. Campbell
Lesson 9: Part I
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The Middle
• As in a feature, the middle section of short
film can be challenge!
• Once the story is set in motion, you need to
juggle the important plot elements – action,
conflict, character and theme – so that the
story keeps moving and has meaning.
• The middle is where the battle is won or lost –
where momentum must be sustained.
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Keeping Focused
• Conflict informs and directs the flow of
information that makes the plot.
• Don’t veer off! When developing other
elements, be sure they always serve the
central story.
• If the threads of the main conflict are
ignored, or sidelined for action that has no
bearing on the main conflict, the links
between the scenes break down and
momentum and meaning can be lost.
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Keeping Focused
• For example, say your protagonist is an old
lady trying to shut down the crack house
next door. You want to show her love of
animals as an aspect of her character.
• Wrong: A sweet scene where we see her
feeding and talking to stray cats.
• Right: One of the drug dealers has
cornered a cat that scratched him and the
old lady confronts him.
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Conflict as a Guide
• Since the middle must build tension to hold
the audience, use conflict to build the plot
action.
• Think basic cause-and-effect plotting. The
protagonist makes a move, draws conflict,
and is affected, which leads to new steps
and new conflicts.
• Every scene should have conflict. The
conflict in every scene should up the stakes.
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Suspense
Rear Window (1954)
Written by John Michael Hayes
Based on the short story “It Had to be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich
Lesson 9: Part II
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Suspense in Narrative
• Suspense is a quality of tension in the plot
that sustains audience interest and makes
viewers both ask and anticipate what comes
next in the story.
• As the protagonist struggles to overcome the
conflict, he will gain the viewer’s interest and
often the viewer’s respect.
• Tension and suspense need to be stoked!
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Example
• The owner of the crack house next door
pretends to be a police officer and calls the
old lady to find out exactly what she’s knows
and what she’s told the police.
• She hears the cat crying and says she’ll call
right back.
• When she calls the police station, they’ve
never heard of a “Detective Hunt”.
• She knows the dealers suspect the
informant is her.
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Suspense and the Antagonist
• A strong antagonist makes for a strong story!
• The stronger the antagonist, the more
uncertain we are as to whether or not the
hero will succeed, the more involving the
story will be.
Sleeping Beauty (1954)
Written by Charles Perrault
Based on an adaptation
by Erdman Penner
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Bring in the Antagonist Early
• Bring the antagonist
in at the earliest
logical moment. We
can only start to
wonder what happens
next once the conflict
has been introduced!
Cape Fear (1954)
Written by Wesley Strick
Based on the novel “The Executioner”
by John D. MacDonald
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Jeopardy!
• To compound suspense, put the protagonist
in jeopardy and keep him there.
• Jeopardy for the protagonist can be
personal, as in losing love or respect.
• Or it can be physical peril such as the
possibility of death or the death of someone
close to the protagonist.
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The Dreadful Alternative
• To add another layer of suspense to a
character in jeopardy, create an obvious
negative consequence that awaits the
protagonist if he or she fails.
• Introducing this negative consequence early
on will lace your story with suspense for its
entire length. The price of failure must be
high.
– George Lucas in Love
– Powder Keg
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Unexpected Complications
• A sudden surprise, which
complicates the situation
or creates a new obstacle
for the hero, can keep the
tension mounting.
– Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
– Juno
– There Will be Blood
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Written by John Hughes
Techniques for Suspense
•
•
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Two great techniques for creating suspense
are the “ticking clock” and crosscutting.
The “ticking clock” establishes a limited time
frame for the protagonist to perform. Time
is running out on the protagonist’s chances
for success with each passing moment.
Crosscutting cuts between opposing forces
in a story, showing the progress of the
protagonist and the antagonist in pursuing
their goals.
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Techniques for Suspense
(Continued)
•
As one gets closer, the other is in an inferior
position and so forth. When the protagonist
is worse off, suspense increases due to our
worry that he won’t succeed.
•
Crosscutting can also involve cutting
between the protagonist and an obstacle
lying ahead of his path. This creates tension
as the audience anticipates how the
protagonist will handle the obstacles.
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Maintaining Suspense
• Avoid predictability! If the audience easily
sees what is going to happen, and their
expectations are met without surprise, you
will lose them.
• The possibility of imminent crisis needs to be
foreshadowed. But it is the possibility, not
the certainty, which give rise to suspense.
• Pause the lecture and watch the short The
Hire: Ambush.
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Maintaining Suspense (Continued)
• Thinking about the short, how does this story
surprise the audience?
• What are some aspects of the story that are
set up and then have satisfying payoffs?
• Where did you see crosscutting?
• At what points are the protagonist and the
antagonist in the power position?
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The Flawed Protagonist
• Remember, a protagonist that is so smart
and strong that he can solve any problem
through might or intellect won’t engender
much suspense.
• The protagonist needs to be challenged.
The greater the odds against the hero
succeeding, the more the audience will
root for him to prevail.
• How is the protagonist of Ambush
vulnerable?
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Sticking with your Antagonist
• The early loss of the antagonist risks
undercutting suspense. To keep suspense
alive, the antagonist needs to be viable until
the climax of the film.
• If the antagonist is removed from contention
in the story before the final crisis and climax,
momentum will be slowed and suspense lost.
• If you do remove an antagonist or obstacle,
make sure to create another to take it’s place.
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Surprise and Reversals
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962)
Written by Robert Enrico
Based on a story by Ambrose Bierce
Lesson 9: Part III
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Surprise
• Surprise plays a major part in maintaining
suspense. It helps stimulate our curiosity
regarding the story, making us ask over and
over again: what is going to happen next?
• When a plot takes a sudden turn in an
unexpected direction it can surprise the
audience (as long as it is logical and not
completely out of left field).
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Surprise (Continued)
• When a character behaves in a startling way
or does something seemingly inexplicable, it
can astonish us.
• As the film progresses, the audience needs
to be frequently surprised by the characters
and action. As the end nears, the surprises
should intensify.
• The final surprise is often the revelation or
epiphany that is the whole point of the story.
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Surprise (Continued)
• One way to think about generating surprise
is to consider what would be the next
predictable move for a character or situation
and then write the opposite (staying within
the logic of the plot).
• This is especially true with emotional
surprises. Remember, you can generate a
lot of surprise when a character acts
according to his buried needs rather than his
stated wants.
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Example
Chinatown (1974)
Written by Robert Towne
The Reversal
• A reversal is an unexpected event that spins
the story in the opposite direction. It causes
the situation to completely change – good
fortune into bad, bad fortune into good.
• More often than not the new situation is not
only unanticipated but also unwanted.
• A reversal forces the protagonist to move in
an entirely new and unforeseen direction.
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The Reversal (Continued)
• Most feature films have at least one major
reversal, usually near the midpoint. The
major reversal in a feature has life-shaking
implications for the protagonist.
• Pause the lecture, go to Learning Tasks and
watch the clip from Say Anything, and
consider the reversal in this scene.
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Reversal and Midpoint
• In a short film we most often find a reversal
at the midpoint of the film. Here, one of the
characters, the antagonist or the protagonist,
shifts course, and as a result the film
changes direction.
– George Lucas in Love
– Copy
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Reversal, Set-Up and Climax
• Sometimes a major reversal can come in the
set-up or the climax, so that the film takes a
dramatic turn just at the moment that we’re
sure it’s going one way or the other.
– Occurrence at Owl Creek
– George Lucas in Love
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Emotion and Reversals
• Remember, emotion should underlie
everything in your screenplay. This includes
reversals, which work best when emotion
connects with the action.
• Emotion can either fuel and cause a reversal,
or can result from a change in the situation.
• Emotion adds depth to the reversal and
enhances the drama.
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The Pseudo-Solution
• Another plot strategy for the middle section
might be termed the pseudo-solution.
• Here the initial story question is answered or
solved but the repercussions are more
unanticipated problems.
• The pseudo-solution usually takes place at
the plot’s midpoint. The second half then
shows the effect of solving the problem for
the antagonist. This can generate surprise
and make a film more life-like.
Assignments
The Hire: Ambush (2001)
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
Lesson 9: Part IV
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E-Board Post #1
• Regarding the short film from the lesson,
The Hire: Ambush, analyze the film’s
middle section:
– How is tension sustained?
– Does every new situation faced by the
protagonist up the stakes?
– Can you identify a midpoint?
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E-Board Post #2
• Choose any feature film you have seen
and briefly identify a reversal in the plot.
– Where does the reversal fall in the story?
Near the beginning? At the midpoint?
– How does it send the story and/or protagonist
off in a new direction?
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Writing Exercise #8
• Now that you have the rough draft of your
opening, write the first two scenes of your
middle. This may or may not lead up to a
reversal at the midpoint, depending on how
you construct the story. Pay close attention
to how you develop the conflict. Ask
yourself as you write, how can I get the
audience to stay interested in my film?
How can I use suspense and surprise?
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End of Lecture 9
Donnie Darko (2001)
Written by Richard Kelly
Next Lecture: How Do I Fade Out?