QUIZ 1

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QUIZ 1

• FIVE REAL QUIZ QUESTIONS!
• EACH WORTH 1 OF FINAL GRADE

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According to McKee, his concept, blank, may be
expressed in a single sentence describing how and
why life undergoes change from one condition of
existence at the beginning to another at the end.

• The Controlling Idea
• The Premise
• The Theme

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According to McKee, a blank is an exchange of
behavior in action/reaction.

• Event
• Beat
• Premise

4
At the Property Stage, readers are mostly
interested in screenplays as works of art.

• True
• False

5
The follow sentence is best described as which
below?Every rose has a thorn.

• Premise
• Broad Theme
• Controlling Idea

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In the following sentence, which of the below
choices does the bold text represent?CRANE UP
to reveal a tall scarecrow-of-a-man walking his
long-haired dog down a dark street. CLOSE on the
dog. Somewhere a train blows its WHISTLE.

• Report
• Description
• Literary Comment
• Technical Comment

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SCREENPLAY STRUCTURE
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• William Goldman
• Screenplays are structure.

Howard Rodman Screenplays . . . either become
?lms, or they dont . . . This is why the craft
of teaching the craft of the screenplay is for
many more lucrative than the craft of the
screenplayand why the teaching of structure
has in many venues supplanted the teaching of
writing.
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Understanding Story Structure

• A story is a series of logically and
  chronologically related events that are caused or
  experienced by agents that perform actions,
  and these events must be presented in a certain
  manner. - Mieke Bal, Narratology Introduction
  to the Theory of Narrative.
• What do those words mean?

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Event.

• What is an event?
• Bal defines an event as a transition from one
  state to another state.
• Event Reversal.
• A change in values hot to cold, love to hate,
  plus to minus, rich to poor, up to down, left to
  right, etc.

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Agent.

• What is an agent?
• Agents Characters.
• A story must have characters that cause or
  experience a series of reversals as a result of
  their actions, and those reversals must have
  logical and chronological connections.

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Aristotles Poetics Story Structure

• A good story must represent a whole, unified
  action.
• A whole action has a beginning, a middle, and
  an end.
• A unified action includes only those parts that
  are necessary or probable to itself.
• A good story must have reversals (change to the
  opposite) and recognitions (change from
  ignorance to knowledge).

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So a good story is . . .

• . . . a certain presentation of logically and
  chronologically related reversals and
  recognitions caused or experienced by characters
  as a result of actions that are necessary or
  probable.

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A Certain Presentation.

• Logically/chronologically related events ?
  presented in a logical/chronological manner.
• A story may be presented in an illogical or
  achronological manner.
• Linear vs. Non-Linear.

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Fabula vs. Syuzhet

• The syuzhet of a story is its presented order as
  constructed and revealed in its telling.
• In constructing the syuzhet, the author makes
  decisions about content and ordering, which
  events can be left out, and which must be
  emphasized.
• The fabula is the world of the story as
  chronologically constructed in the minds of its
  audience.
• In constructing the fabula, the audience inserts
  missing scenes and backstory, rearranges
  flashbacks, etc.

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Linear vs. Non-Linear

• Content / Presentation
• Whole (beginning, middle, end) and Unified (the
  parts must be tied by logic and chronology) ?
  linear presentation.
• Linear story presents the events in a
  chronological and logical order.
• Non-linear story may present the events
  achronologically and illogically.

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Is this passage linear?

• John rang the neighbors doorbell. He had so
  irresistibly felt the need to stand eye to eye
  with another human being that he had not been
  able to remain at home.
• Chronological John so irresistibly felt the need
  to stand eye to eye with another human being that
  he could not remain at home. He rang the
  neighbors doorbell.

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Methods of Achronology

• In Traditional Cinema
• Flashback.
• Dream Sequence.
• In Non-Traditional Cinema
• Random Sequencing
• Non-Linear Chapters

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Traditional Structure Models

• Rigid Three Act Structure
• Archplot
• 90 to 120 Pages with specific, page-tied plot
  points.
• Mirrors the Heros Journey Monomyth described
  by Joseph Campbell.

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Joseph Campbell the Monomyth

• The Departure we meet the hero in the ordinary
  world, where he receives a call to adventure and
  must cross a threshold into an extraordinary
  world.
• The Initiation the hero must endure trials and
  overcome obstacles, often withstanding the
  temptations of a woman and undergoing a
  reconciliation with a father-like figure. He
  reaches a greater sense of awareness and receives
  a reward that he must take back with him to the
  ordinary world.
• The Return the hero must return to the ordinary
  world and often must face a final trial and cross
  a second threshold. Upon the heros return, the
  ordinary world is better than when he left it.

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Syd Fields Paradigm

• Act I is the beginning, what he calls the Setup.
  It lasts approximately 30 pages and contains the
  first major Plot Point at around page 25.
• Act II is the middle, what he calls the
  Confrontation. It lasts approximately 60 pages
  and contains the second major Plot Point at
  around page 85. It is contains a pivotal scene
  roughly halfway through called the Mid-Point on
  which the rest of the story turns.
• Act III is the end, what he calls the Resolution.
  It lasts approximately 30 pages.

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Syd Fields Screenplay Paradigm
Act I Set-Up
Act II Confrontation
Act III Resolution
Pgs. 1 30
Pgs. 30 90
Pgs. 90 120
Plot Point 1
Plot Point 2
Mid-Point
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Using Premise Paradigm Together

• Fields model by itself can seem like an
  abstraction, but we can use Premise as a tool to
  bring it into focus.
• For example, we could say that the Premise of
  CASABLANCA is Selfless love will overcome
  tyranny, and watch it shape the Paradigm.

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Premise Paradigm in Casablanca
Sacrificing it all for love
Looking out for 1
Act III Selfless loner
Act II Selfish pursuer
Act I Selfish loner
MP
PP1
PP2
PP1 Rick hears Time Goes By and sees Ilsa
again for the first time
Ilsa tells Rick that Lazlo was always her husband
PP2 Lazlo will sacrifice everything for Ilsa
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Alternatives to the Three-Act Paradigm

• Three-Act Structure is a fairly modern invention.

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Five-Act Structure Freytags Pyramid

• Gustav Freytag discovered the following structure
  in classical Greek drama and the plays of
  Shakespeare
• Act I Exposition. Characters and settings are
  introduced. Inciting incident introduces
  conflict.
• Act II Rising Action. Various obstacles add
  complications to the crisis.
• Act III Climax. A major turning point or
  reversal of fortune takes place.
• Act IV Falling Action. The conflict unravels
  with a final moment of suspense.
• Act V Denouement. Conflict is resolved.
  Everything is tied up.

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Kristin Thompsons Equal Parts Structure

• Four major sections, each equal in weight and
  length and connected by major turning points.
• Part 1 The Setup.
• Part 2 The Complicating Action.
• Part 3 The Development.
• Part 4 The Climax.
• A fifth shorter section a brief Epilogue
  usually follows the Climax and wraps things up.