November, 2014 - The 15 Minute Movie Method

Creating Conflict

November 26, 2014

In every scene, you need conflict. More importantly, your entire story needs to be based on conflict between the hero and the villain. To maximize...

Introducing the Past

November 25, 2014

The past is crucial. A story without a past basically has no foundation to build upon. Every story needs a past but there are two...

The Anatomy of a Scene

November 23, 2014

Every scene tells a story. First, a scene has to grab our attention. In the above scene from “Pale Rider,” the villain has arrived to...

Why Old Movies Feel So Slow

November 23, 2014

Watch an old movie and in many cases, it feels so slow in comparison to today’s movies. For example, the 1971 “Dirty Harry” was a...

Death is Funny

November 21, 2014

Many people think that comedies are light-hearted, fluff stories lacking all seriousness. Yet what makes comedies funny is that they’re often loaded with seriousness and...

The Hero is Always Active, Not Passive

November 18, 2014

Nothing should happen to the hero by chance unless it’s disaster. To keep the story moving forward, the hero must always be responsible for taking...

Highlight the Unusual

November 10, 2014

In every scene, something should go wrong. There’s nothing more tedious than watching a scene that acts like normal life where nothing exciting happens. Just watch...

Make an Entrance

November 7, 2014

Ideally, every scene should be interesting, especially the beginning of each scene. Remember, movies are show business so you want to make each scene beginning...

Spotting the Story in a Scene

November 6, 2014

A story is about change. The most basic element of a story is a scene, yet even in a single scene, there’s always an intriguing...

A History Lesson

November 5, 2014

Every story has a history. Your hero has a past that directly influences the present. Your mentor has a past that directly influences how he...

The 15 Minute Movie Method

November 2014