In Act I (the first 30 minutes), the hero is stuck in a dead end life and gains hope when the villain inadvertently sends a Symbol of Hope into his or her life. Then in Act IIa (30 – 60 minutes), the hero learns from a mentor and needs help from an ally who is […]
What’s exciting to watch? Two people sitting at a table doing nothing or two people sitting at a table, arguing, then making up and leaving with smiles on their faces? The whole purpose of a scene is to change someone’s life. That change can be dramatic such as Marty fleeing from terrorists and getting sent […]
In Act I (the first 30 minutes of a two hour movie), the hero has an unresolved emotional problem: The hero is stuck in a dead end life because of his or her own character flaw The hero’s character flaw stems from a traumatic past The villain indirectly gives the hero a physical path to […]
Every good story is really about emotional change. Forget about all the special effects and action. Without an underlying emotional story, more car crashes, gunfire, and sex isn’t going to make a bad story any better. Basically, every hero (and audience member) goes through four stages of emotional change: Dead-end Resistance Exploration Commitment In Act […]
In a bad movie, things seem to happen for no apparent reason. When the reason behind the plot doesn’t make sense, then the story is much weaker as a result. That’s why the motivation behind your main characters must be clear, strong, and emotional so we know exactly why they’re doing what they’re doing. For […]
In every scene, you need emotional change and conflict. Emotional change means that a main character is somehow different from the beginning of a scene than he or she is at the end. Conflict means someone or something is directly opposing the main character from pursuing and achieving a goal. This emotional change doesn’t have […]
There are two zombie movies that make fun of a potential zombie apocalypse: “Shaun of the Dead” and “Anna and the Apocalypse.” Although both movies depict a world where zombies overrun the world and the hapless hero has to deal with the problem, the real story isn’t about a zombie apocalypse at all. In “Shaun […]
Musicals tell a story through song, but the songs they sing are no different than ordinary dialogue in a scene. Songs, like dialogue in a scene, must focus on revealing a main character’s emotions. Watch this song from the animated film “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and you’ll see a strong emotion of a little girl […]
The reason people watch movies like “Star Wars” or “Titanic” over and over again isn’t because they want to see the Death Star blow up or see an ocean liner sink. Instead, they want to re-experience the emotions that the characters are going through. Audiences don’t remember action as much as they remember emotions. Therefore, […]