This Reading Review Is Based on the Lesson 12 Reading from Robert Mckee S Story

READING REVIEW: LESSON 12 This Reading Review is based on the Lesson 12 reading from Robert McKee’s Story. There are 10 questions. The Review is not graded.

1. What is Exposition?

a. The facts of the story, information about setting, biography and etc. b. The revelation of the antagonist’s true character in the climactic moment c. The revelation of the protagonist’s true goal after the midpoint d. Both B and C

Hint: “Skill in exposition means making it invisible. As the story progresses, the audience absorbs all it needs to know effortlessly, even unconsciously.” (Page 334, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “Exposition mean facts—the information about setting, biography, and characterization that the audience need to know to follow and comprehend the events of the story.

“Skill in exposition means making it invisible. As the story progresses, the audience absorbs all it needs to know effortlessly, even unconsciously.” (Page 334, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

2. McKee reminds the reader to show, not tell when creating exposition, dramatize exposition. The primary purpose of dramatized exposition is to

a. Convey information b. Further immediate conflict c. Hammer home story points d. All three, A, B and C are equally important

Hint: “Convert exposition to ammunition.” (Page 335, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “Dramatized exposition serves two ends: Its primary purpose is to further the immediate conflict. Its secondary purpose is to convey information.

…To dramatize exposition apply this mnemonic principle: Convert exposition to ammunition. …Let them use what the know as ammunition in their struggle to get what they want.” (Page 335, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997) 3. What are “California Scenes” in a screenplay?

a. Scenes in which characters metaphorically start new lives b. Scenes in which characters engage in behaviors inspired by pop-psychology c. Scenes in which characters awkwardly espouse political leanings d. Scenes in which characters reveal secrets to people they don’t know well

Hint: “The wise writer, therefore, obeys the first principle of temporal art: Save the best for last.” (Page 337, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “A certain breed of West Coaster carries around prepared deep dark secrets to share with one another…

“…The wise writer, therefore, obeys the first principle of temporal art: Save the best for last. For if we reveal too much too soon, the audience will see the climaxes coming long before they arrive.” (Page 337, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

4. McKee says that telling a protagonist’s whole life story is one (problematic) way to handle exposition. With these stories, how does one avoid being “episodic”?

a. By making sure all of the protagonist’s life experiences have recurring metaphors b. By using Scene Bridges, moving from one scene to the next c. By giving the protagonist an unsatisfied lifelong desire d. By giving the protagonist a secret that is never revealed

Hint: “However, as convenient as that design may be in terms of exposition, the vast majority of protagonists cannot be followed from birth to death for this reason: Their story would have no spine.” (Page 337, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “If, however, an elastic, endurable Spine can be created, then a story can be told over the decades without being episodic.

…LITTLE BIG MAN is unified around a man’s quest to prevent the genocide of Native Americans by the whites—an atrocity that spanned generations, therefore a century of storytelling.” (Pages 337-338, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997) 5. Which would McKee say makes for the most compelling storytelling?

a. Stories in which the protagonist has a lot to lose b. Stories in which the protagonist has nothing to lose c. Both A and B d. Neither A nor B. Realistic characters live in both situations simultaneously.

Hint: “When such lives go out of balance, the characters are placed in jeopardy.” (Page 339, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “Rather, we tell stories about people who have something to lose—family, careers, ideals, opportunities, reputations, realistic hopes and dreams. When such lives go out of balance, the characters are placed in jeopardy.

“…As a result, the writer has little trouble dramatizing exposition and facts flow naturally and invisibly into the action.” (Page 339, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

6. A “table dusting” scene is a scene in which

a. A character engages in pointless stage business rather than exposition b. A detective reveals expository information while dusting for prints c. An older maid gives exposition to a newly-hired maid while dusting furniture d. The audience is so bored, they feel they are watching dust settle on the furniture

Hint: “But when stories lack conflict, the writer is forced into “table dusting.” (Page 339, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “Here, for example, is how many playwrights of the nineteenth centure handled exposition: The curtain comes up on a living room set. Enter two domestics: One who’s worked there for the last thirty years, the other the young maid just hired that morning. …as they dust the furniture, the older maid lays out the entire life history, world and characterizations of the Johnson family. That’s ‘table dusting,’ unmotivated exposition.” (Page 339, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997) 7. McKee says that one can turn scenes by using

a. Action b. Revelation c. Both A and C d. Neither A nor C

Hint: “We can turn scenes only one of two ways...” (Page 340, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “We can turn scenes only one of two ways: on action or on revelation. There are no other means. If, for example, we have a couple in a positive relationship, in love and together, and want to turn it to the negative, in hate and apart we could do it on action: She slaps him across the face and says, “I’m not taking this any more. It’s over.” Or on revelation: He looks at her and says, “I’ve been having an affair with your sister for the last three years. What are you going to do about it?” (Page 340, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

8. About Flashback and Dream Sequences, McKee recommends

a. Keeping them flat so that they don’t detract from the drama of the main story. b. Using them as the one permissible place to stop the story cold to reveal facts c. Having them be mini-dramas with their own Inciting Incidents and Climaxes d. Both A and B

Hint: “The flashback is simply another form of exposition.” (Page 341, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: Rather than flashing back to flat scenes in the past, interpolate a minidrama into the story with its own Inciting Incident, progressions, and Turning Point. Although producers often claim that flashbacks slow a film’s pace, and indeed badly done they do, a well done flashback actually accelerates pace.” (Pages 341-342, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

9. McKee says montages should be avoided as they are generally lazy attempts to substitute decorative photography and editing for dramatization.

a. True b. False

Hint: “The high energy of such sequences is used to mask their purpose…” (Page 343, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “With few exceptions, montages are a lazy attempt to substitute decorative photography and editing for dramatization and are therefore to be avoided.” (Pages 343- 344, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997) 10. Which of the following does McKee NOT say about voice-over narration?

a. It may be left as a counterpoint if the story can stand on its own without it b. Voice-over to add nonnarrative counterpoint can be delightful c. The trend toward using telling narration threatens the very art of screenwriting d. It is the only place in screenwriting where “Show, don’t tell” does not apply.

Hint: “The art of cinema connects Image A via editing, camera, or lens movement with Image B, and the effect is meanings C, D and E, expressed without explanation.” (Page 344, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)

Correct: “Recently, film after film slides a steady-cam through rooms and corridors, up and down streets, panning sets and cast while a narrator talks, talks, talks voice-over … until the film becomes little more than multimillion dollar books-on-tape illustrated.

“‘…Show, don’t tell’ is a call for artistry and discipline, a warning to us not to give in to laziness but to set creative limitations that demand the fullest use of imagination and sweat.” (Page 345, Robert McKee’s Story, 1997)