Archive for the ‘Scenes & Sequences’ Category

The Montage

A montage is a group of shots that compresses time to encapsulate an experience or convey exposition or backstory – such as montages showing the development of a couple’s relationship in a short period of time or the hero preparing for the big battle (for instance the classic montage from the film Rocky, depicting the protagonist training for the big fight – doing push-ups and running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.)

When done well, a montage can move a story forward, increase anticipation and even add comedic effect. Where I see screenwriters getting into trouble with montages is when they forget that a montage is a storytelling device and insert them into scripts with no rhyme or reason simply because they don’t know how else to convey the drama or they want to indicate time passing (such as moving from spring to autumn – you don’t need a montage to do that!) A montage should only be used if it adds to the narrative thread. And they should be kept to a minimum – one montage per screenplay is sufficient.

If you are using a montage in your story you want to ensure it:
1. Contains information that needs to be summed up quickly
2. Adds directly to the story
3. Moves the story forward

Check out Christopher Riley’s book The Hollywood Standard to learn how to correctly format a montage.

YOUR TURN: Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) movie montage?

6 Ways To Ensure All Your Scenes “Play”

Great scenes ‘play’ – they seem to be effortlessly compelling, engaging the reader and involving him on the journey. So what’s the difference between a scene that plays and one that feels flat?

Scenes that are designed to purely reveal exposition or character, or that consist of ‘on-the-nose’ dialogue are often dull. Scenes that evoke emotion, contain conflict and stakes, change the dynamic, allow audiences to gain insight, and push the story forward are the scenes that make a story work.

Here are six ways to ensure all your scenes ‘play’:

1. Know Thy Conflict
Scenes revolve around conflict – two (or more) conflicting desires at direct odds with one another. If the forces are tangential the conflict is diluted. A well-written scene presents clearly opposed forces. It is the back-and-forth dynamic, the push-and-pull, the action-reaction component, of the scene that makes it compelling – as the conflict steadily increases and ultimately reaches a crescendo. Note (1) who is driving the scene, (2) what does that character want, (3) who or what is opposing that character’s desire, (4) what does that opposing force want, and (5) track the action/reaction conflict throughout the scene to ensure it is developing – and not static.

2. Evoke Emotion
If the audience feels nothing (or worse, feels boredom) at the end of a scene – then the scene didn’t deliver. Remember, character emotions don’t equate with the audiences’ emotions. A character in a scene may collapse to the floor and cry when her lover leaves her, but the audience doesn’t necessarily feel what the character feels (sadness and loss) – depending how the screenwriter designed the story, the audience may feel relief (good thing that bastard is out of her life), justice (she got what she deserved), or fear (what will happen now that she’s left alone with that serial killer on the loose.) A helpful exercise is to note what emotion each scene evokes – whether it is anxiety, curiosity, laughter, joy, fear, sadness – and determine if it is delivering the intended emotional punch.

3. Allow The Audience To Discover The Meaning
If the scene is too on-the-nose it deprives the audience of the joy of gaining their own insight and discovering what lies beneath the surface – the real meaning of the scene. Well-crafted scenes don’t spoon-feed information to the audience, they unfold with layers of subtext.

4. Come In Late, Get Out Early
Keep your scenes lean, tight, and focused by cutting extraneous, unnecessary material. Enter the scene at the latest possible moment and end it immediately upon (or before) resolution.

5. Make a Change
If the scene concludes on the same note as it started, nothing has happened. There should be a clear change – it could be a change in stakes, or direction, or knowledge, or any element that affects the story.

6. The Ending Is Only The Beginning
Good scenes drive the story forward. They open up new questions, create complications, and establish problems that need to be resolved. Successful scenes create a level of suspense (regardless of genre) that inspires the reader to turn the page to find out what will happen. The ending of a well-crafted scene leads directly into the next scene – such as this classic scene from The Silence of the Lambs:

CRAWFORD
We’re trying to interview all of the serial killers now in custody, for a psycho behavioral profile.
Could be a big help in unsolved cases. Do you spook easily, Starling?

CLARICE
Not yet.

CRAWFORD
You see, the one we want most refuses to cooperate. I want you to go after him again today, in the asylum.

CLARICE
Who’s the subject?

CRAWFORD
The psychiatrist – Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

CLARICE
The cannibal…

CRAWFORD
I don’t expect him to talk to you, but I have to be able to say we tried… Lecter was a brilliant psychiatrist, and he knows all the dodges.
(hands her the manila envelope)
Dossier on him, copy of our questionnaire, special ID for you… If he won’t talk, then I want straight reporting. How’s he look, how’s his cell look, what’s he writing… Now. I want your full attention, Starling. Are you listening to me?

CLARICE
Yes sir.

CRAWFORD
Be very careful with Hannibal. Dr. Chilton at the asylum will go over the physical procedures used with him. Do not deviate from them, for any reason. You tell him nothing personal, Starling. Believe me, you don’t want Hannibal Lecter inside your head… Just do your job, but never forget what he is.

CLARICE
And what is that, sir?

This scene works on every level… opening up more questions, creating complications and problems, evoking emotion in the audience (curiosity, apprehension), creating conflict (though subtle) with dynamic action/reaction, increasing the stakes as the scene progresses (ending with the crescendo warning from Crawford), entering late and getting out early (before Clarice’s question is even answered – it is Dr. Chilton who answers her question as the next scene opens), and compelling the reader to turn the page to find out what happens next…..

YOUR TURN: How do you ensure a scene ‘plays’?

Constructing an Effective Scene Sequence

A sequence is a series of scenes (usually two to five) that are linked together and build toward a common goal.

* Each sequence has a focus.

* Each individual scene in the sequence is related to the focus of the overall sequence.

* Each sequence is built on rising tension – either the stakes are rising or the protagonist is confronting more obstacles making the goal appear unattainable.  As the scenes in the sequence progress, the stakes are heightened.

* Each sequence has a beginning, middle and end – with the final scene in the sequence presenting the highest stakes.

* Each sequence must be a critical component of the story – if the sequence has no purpose, it must be eliminated.

To ensure the scenes, story, and script remain focused, most professional screenwriters label each sequence with a title that conveys the conflict and purpose of that particular section.

The film Field of Dreams, written by Phil Alden Robinson, consists of 12 sequences and 48 scenes.  If we labeled each scene sequence in the script, it might look like this:

Sequence 1: Introduction to Ray’s Life  (1 scene/montage)

Sequence 2: The Message “If You Build It He Will Come” (8 scenes)

Sequence 3: Building the Baseball Field  (2 scenes with montage)

Sequence 4: Waiting for the Arrival of Shoeless Joe (4 scenes)

Sequence 5: Ray’s Conflict with his Brother-in-Law, Mark (2 scenes)

Sequence 6: Another Message “Ease His Pain” (9 scenes with montage)

Sequence 7: Searching for Terence Mann (1 scene/montage)

Sequence 8: Ray Meets Terence Mann and Tells Him His Story  (4 scenes)

Sequence 9: On The Road to Find Moonlight Graham (11 scenes with montage)

Sequence 10: Ray’s Troubled Relationship with His Father (3 scenes)

Sequence 11: Moonlight Graham Gets to Play Baseball with the Team (2 scenes)

Sequence 12: Climax/Resolution – Ray Plays Baseball with His Father (1 very long scene)

YOUR TURN: How do you construct scene sequences?

Four Essential Elements of the Obligatory Scene

The obligatory scene is the one the audience has been anticipating, where the Protagonist confronts the Antagonist in a final life-and-death struggle.  It’s the showdown between good and evil, the villain and hero, or the boy and girl.

The scene is referred to as ‘Obligatory’ because it cannot be omitted.  Imagine what any of your favorite films would be like without the Obligatory Scene.

Instead of confronting Buffalo Bill, Clarice Starling decides she’s had enough of this serial killer stuff and goes out for a manicure and Haagan Daz…

Instead of joining the Rebellion and taking on Darth Vader and the Death Star, Luke Skywalker decides this ‘Force’ business is nonsense and goes home to Tatooine….

After a failed escape attempt, instead of facing Commodus in the Coliseum, Maximus decides he’s tired of fighting and kills himself in his cell…

A successful Obligatory Scene consists of the following components:

1. Links to the Inciting Incident
When the script’s major dramatic question is asked, the reader begins to imagine the answer.  The inciting incident creates an image of the obligatory scene in the reader’s mind. In other words, the inciting incident foreshadows the climax and sets-up the payoff the audience is expecting in the obligatory scene.  It is a promise you make to the viewer.

2. Involves the meeting of conflicting forces
Regardless of genre, the story climax involves the confrontation between the conflicting forces.  In a traditional hero/villain or protagonist/antagonist story, the opposing forces (Buffalo Bill/Clarice Starling, Commudus/Maximus, Luke Skywalker/The Empire, represented by Darth Vader) engage in the final battle.  In a romantic-comedy or love story, the forces that kept the lovers apart experience their final clash and the lovers either win or lose.  In more interior-type dramas, the transformed antagonist is tested by the opposing force.  For instance, in the film Tender Mercies, the protagonist, alcoholic Mac Sledge, is transformed by his relationship with his new wife.  The Obligatory Scene then will test his transformation from honky-tonk alcoholic to sober husband. Screenwriter Horton Foote creates a scene (the death of Mac’s daughter) to propel the protagonist into conflict with the opposing force (his own inner demons).

3. Defines the theme of the film
The Obligatory Scene is also where you prove your story’s premise.  The climax scene tests the protagonist, allowing the writer to dramatize how it transforms or fails to transform him.

4. Gives the audience what they expect in an emotionally satisfying way
The final outcome must be inevitable.  It must be honest to the premise and conflict you have set up. The Obligatory Scene delivers what the audience expects, in an unexpected way!  The audience expects Harry and Sally to end up together, but the Obligatory Scene is still satisfying to view because Nora Ephron wrote it in an unexpected way (Sally telling Harry she hates him, followed by a kiss).  The audience expects Maximus to win, Michael Corleone to eliminate his enemies, and the Terminator to destroy the T-1000.  What the audience doesn’t expect is Maximus to die in the process, Michael Corleone to kill his own brother and the Terminator to sacrifice himself – yet, all these outcomes are inevitable, true to the premise of the story, and emotionally satisfying for the viewer.