Notes from Voice & Vision By Mick Hurbis-Cherrier Chapter 1 From Idea To Cinematic Story Mary Walbridge

Ideas First step – initial idea Turn idea into story

Fictional Narrative Basics: Essential Story Elements After getting ideas A central character A dramatic situation ( The premise) Action and stakes Resolution and what it all means

The central character Things happen to the character Things character does Ways characters change Sympathetic character Antipathetic character

A dramatic narrative film involves a character in a situation. The situation that has a clear effect on them and provokes action. The character responds to that situation, tells us who they are, and moves the story forward. In the early stages of crafting a story, while we search for a character, we are also imagining the situation that will get them moving( reacting, making decisions, taking action)If central character is not moving – we don’t have movie.

The Dramatic Situation What is at stake for character What the character will win or loose How the character changes. These details form the dramatic situation or premise

The premise The premise of a screenplay is the fundamental statement that drives the plot. ….. Marilyn Horowitz (screenplay writing blogger) The premise of a film or screenplay is the fundamental concept that drives the plot. Most premises can be expressed very simply, and many films can be identified simply from a short sentence describing the premise. For example A lonely boy is befriended by an alien; A small town is terrorized by a shark; A small boy sees dead people. http://ascreenwriter.blogspot.com/2009/02/script-tips-defining-premise.html

Task of a filmmaker Develop dramatic situations that Change the character through Discovery An accomplishment An experience An epiphany An ordeal What emerges from this is

Central Dramatic Question What does this character stand to loose? To win? To discover? How might this character change? Through discovery Accomplishment, experience Epiphany, ordeal Answers to these questions will form the dramatic situation or premise

Cinematic storytelling Works when: A compelling character is placed in a situation that provokes a reaction or action What the character does or doesn’t do more about who that character is Results in a new situation requiring new actions

Resolution – What it all means The dramatic situation you’ve established is resolved The Central dramatic question is answered Resolution can be : ironic, victorious, unexpected, a humorous twist, an epiphany

To find the best resolution: Ask yourself: What the point of all this narrative activity ( character/situation/action) was and what does it all add up to?

Fictional Narrative Basics: Conflict driven stories One way to get a story and character moving is to create a situation of direct conflict. Traditionally, a story in which a character, who needs to accomplish something, encounters obstacles and must struggle to get what they need. The story’s forward momentum is generated by conflicts that keep your central character from achieving their goal

Opposing force or obstacles Can be a character that stands in the way External forces: weather, government bureaucracy, traffic jam, inhospitable landscapes, physical injury Internal forces: from the character -insecurity, ambivalence, lethargy

Antagonist An opposing force can be a another character who stands in the way.

Plot Order of events in your film, unfolding of story in scenes and the scene order David Mamet calls it an” essential progression of incidents” The moments, actions, reactions, and interactions When a goal oriented character encounters an obstacle, something that hinders him from getting his goal, he is compelled to do something in order to find a way over, around, or through that obstacle

Mamet’s question What is the hero willing and able to do to achieve their goal What they are not willing to do is revealing As the plot continues the obstacles and actions usually increase in intensity because each action has consequences which cause tension until protagonist brings the film to resolution

Fictional Narrative Basics: There are no rules Replace a conflict driven plot with something equally compelling.

Story types that work w/o direct obstacles Mysterious or ambiguous activity that is explained at end A discovery that changes the perceptions of character or viewer An experience or series of events that change a character or reveal their true nature A story that constitutes a puzzle to be solved Slice of life: detailed perceptive, revealing Allegorical journey A set up / payoff plot structure

Ideas with limitations Filmmaker real world limitation Resources and experience Story scale and film length- simple elements vivid imagery, characters and situation easily recognizable, streamlined conflict, revealing actions Production time – underestimating how long it takes, availability with actors, limitations of semester, availability of actor, weather, Overestimating how much can be done ( filmed ) in prescribed period Financial resources – number of characters, locations, props Time with crew and equipment. Size of crew