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Maester
Today I got the opportunity to listen to the screenwriter of Avengers: Age of Ultron describe the screenwriting plotting technique that he used to write/sell that movie as well as other scripts. As someone who likes to learn different ways to do things (even if they're not techniques that normally get used in novel writing) I thought I'd offer a write up of the technique and some of the points he made in his presentation.
His method is called the "mini movie" method. It's really just another way to do the Act I/II/III structure, with maybe some more explicit definition of where the breakdown is between acts and what each act should contain (within a traditional storytelling structure).
Act I contains the first two "mini movies" (each mini movie contains 2-4ish scenes, sometimes more) and establish the following:
Mini movie 1:
introduce the protagonist, introduce the status quo, & the call to action.
Mini movie 2:
resistant or reluctant hero, status quo doesn't change, then another event happens that sets off the action
/Act I
Act II contains the 3rd-6th mini movies:
Mini movie 3:
hero take ordinary steps to solve the problem, shut down all paths available to hero, worst fears starting to appear
Mini movie 4:
come up with bigger bolder plan, gathering resources/putting plan into action, plan BACKFIRES terribly and then the realization by hero about antagonist when he finds out some info about the antagonist
Mini movie 5:
hero confronted w/need to change (character arc) & decides to change
Mini movie 6:
even bolder plan, w/required character change; preparation/resource gathering, plan put into action, plan backfires terribly as well, this is when things seem their worst
/Act II
Then Act III comprises of the last two mini movies:
Mini movie 7:
hero reborn, battle is rejoined, plot twist–swing wildly towards fear
Mini movie 8:
putting the antagonist down final time & epilogue–very brief
/Act III
The screenwriter spent a lot of time on a formula which I think is very useful for scene construction (as well as an overall novel structure):
TENSION = HOPE v FEAR
Or in other words, the tension is derived from the outcome we hope to see versus the outcome we fear to see.
And to give an example of overall structural tension (in a film), in Star Wars: A New Hope, the outcome we hope to see is Luke/Leia/Obi Wan/Han Solo defeat the Evil Empire. The outcome we fear to see is the reverse, the Empire actually wins.
You can see that tension formula on a scene level when you think of the garbage compactor scene. The hopeful outcome is they get out of the garbage compactor alive. The feared outcome is that they don't figure out a way to stop the compactor from crushing them.
I had a good time listening into someone who's very successful (he just sold another script for $750k) outline a methodology that works for him as well as a reframe of the understanding most people have of the Act I/II/III structures. (And this might be a helpful way of avoiding mushy middle problems as well.)
Are there any screenwriting tricks that you all employ in your novel/short story writing? If so, what? Or, alternatively, are there some screenwriting tricks you tried that were not at all useful? If so, what?
His method is called the "mini movie" method. It's really just another way to do the Act I/II/III structure, with maybe some more explicit definition of where the breakdown is between acts and what each act should contain (within a traditional storytelling structure).
Act I contains the first two "mini movies" (each mini movie contains 2-4ish scenes, sometimes more) and establish the following:
Mini movie 1:
introduce the protagonist, introduce the status quo, & the call to action.
Mini movie 2:
resistant or reluctant hero, status quo doesn't change, then another event happens that sets off the action
/Act I
Act II contains the 3rd-6th mini movies:
Mini movie 3:
hero take ordinary steps to solve the problem, shut down all paths available to hero, worst fears starting to appear
Mini movie 4:
come up with bigger bolder plan, gathering resources/putting plan into action, plan BACKFIRES terribly and then the realization by hero about antagonist when he finds out some info about the antagonist
Mini movie 5:
hero confronted w/need to change (character arc) & decides to change
Mini movie 6:
even bolder plan, w/required character change; preparation/resource gathering, plan put into action, plan backfires terribly as well, this is when things seem their worst
/Act II
Then Act III comprises of the last two mini movies:
Mini movie 7:
hero reborn, battle is rejoined, plot twist–swing wildly towards fear
Mini movie 8:
putting the antagonist down final time & epilogue–very brief
/Act III
The screenwriter spent a lot of time on a formula which I think is very useful for scene construction (as well as an overall novel structure):
TENSION = HOPE v FEAR
Or in other words, the tension is derived from the outcome we hope to see versus the outcome we fear to see.
And to give an example of overall structural tension (in a film), in Star Wars: A New Hope, the outcome we hope to see is Luke/Leia/Obi Wan/Han Solo defeat the Evil Empire. The outcome we fear to see is the reverse, the Empire actually wins.
You can see that tension formula on a scene level when you think of the garbage compactor scene. The hopeful outcome is they get out of the garbage compactor alive. The feared outcome is that they don't figure out a way to stop the compactor from crushing them.
I had a good time listening into someone who's very successful (he just sold another script for $750k) outline a methodology that works for him as well as a reframe of the understanding most people have of the Act I/II/III structures. (And this might be a helpful way of avoiding mushy middle problems as well.)
Are there any screenwriting tricks that you all employ in your novel/short story writing? If so, what? Or, alternatively, are there some screenwriting tricks you tried that were not at all useful? If so, what?