Week 2 - Understanding Plots v's Story

“Make me care”

Andrew Stanton

We watched a talk by Andrew Stanton a Filmmaker, about storytelling - starting from the end and working back to the beginning.

Plot v’s Story

E.M. Forster defines story as the chronological sequence of events and plot as the causal and logical structure which connects events,

e.g.

–      The king died and then the queen died (story).

–      The king died and then the queen died of grief (plot).

Summary: For a story to work there is typically a character who overcomes an obstacle/conflict and then tries to reach a resolution.

The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories is a 2004 book by Christopher Booker.

·         anticipation stage, in which the hero is called to the adventure to come.

·         dream stage, in which the adventure begins, the hero has some success, and has an illusion of invincibility.

·         frustration stage, in which the hero has their first confrontation with the enemy, and the illusion of invincibility is lost.

·         nightmare stage, which is the climax of the plot, where hope is apparently lost.

·         resolution, the hero overcomes their burden against the odds.

The Seven Basic Plots

Overcoming the Monster

The protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force which threatens the protagonist and/or protagonist's homeland.

Rags to Riches

The poor protagonist acquires things such as power, wealth, and a mate, before losing it all and gaining it back upon growing as a person.

The Quest

The protagonist and some companions set out to acquire an important object or to get to a location, facing many obstacles and temptations along the way.

Voyage and Return

The protagonist goes to a strange land and, after overcoming the threats it poses to him/her, returns with nothing but experience.

Comedy

 

Tragedy

The protagonist is a villain who falls from grace and whose death is a happy ending.

Rebirth

The protagonist is a villain or otherwise unlikable character who redeems him/herself over the course of the story.

Task

Our task for the lesson was to play the game consequences, which would then help us to make up a random story.

Consequences

Take a strip of paper and a pencil. Number one - eleven down the side.

1. An adjective about a person
2. A man’s name
3. An adjective about a person
4. A woman’s name
5. Where they met
6. He wore …
7. She wore …
8. He said to her “…
9. She said to him “…
10. The consequence was …
11. What the world said “…

 My groups end plot was Bubbly Casey and Smelly Jasey met at a park for a blind date on Halloween night. He wore a skeleton outfit and she wore a red flowy dress, trying to look her best. He says "you've got cute chubby cheeks" as she was stuffing her face with sweets. She said "Heyyy, How are you?" generally asking him. As they talked into the park it became darker and their date ended. Casey gave Jasey a cuddle as a friendly gesture, saying goodbye. They fell in love and the world said "they lived happily ever after"

The End

Other ways to generate story & plot ideas (mix & match)

1.    Existing stories in music or literature (adaptation): Be careful of copyright issues

2.    Experience: Using your own experience (autobiography) or the experience of people you know

3.    Imagination: Coming up with stuff out of your head, from thoughts or dreams

4.    Observation: Watching and noticing other people (public transport journeys are good for this)

5.    Brain storming: Using mind mapping, random words, consequences, games etc.

6.    Creating a brief: Giving yourself restrictions or a theme is helpful and your imagination will begging to problem solve, just like in last weeks task.

7.    Collaboration: Working with others to trigger ideas and develop themes

Homework
As homework we were asked in our groups to come up with another 60-90 sec film idea