1 Digital Filmmaking Lecture 2 a Story & Dramatic Structure Story

Digital Filmmaking

Lecture 2 A

Story & Drama

Stories portray and depict a person or persons (characters/protagonists) (fictional or real) located in a place and time who are affected by an incident that triggers a series of sequential events that lead the character to a new state of being.

Keep in mind that everything we allude to in this discussion refers to archetypes of storytelling and drama not stereotypes. These may appear formulaic but actually the recognizable elements we discuss have emerged over time as patterns in storytelling. The antecedents traverse different media from early spoken word drama, writing prose to film and television. Whenever we refer to rules we actually mean precedents. In order to keep your audience engaged, I believe any story combines archetypes with innovation. If all elements in a story are easily recognizable, the story will be a cliché. If nothing is familiar to the audience, the story would be thought of as an experimental film and if that’s not the intent of the author, the audience may shut down. I believe that the storyteller uses expectation and surprise to prod and coax the viewer’s attention through the experience from beginning to end. All rules are meant to be broken but to break rules with an understanding of how they work helps produce an original outcome rather than a mere mess.

Dramatic Structure A film is built like a building. The various structural story elements you will use are-

•Story Events •Beats

1 •Scenes •Sequences •Acts

Storytelling and Filmmaking Cinematically, the main building blocks you will work with to build a dramatic story structure are shots and sound. Making films involves combining techniques borrowed from other types of dramatic storytelling with elements and tools unique to filmmaking – shots, sound, editing and special effects. The filmmaker orchestrates these Story Elements with Cinematic Elements into an overall experience.

Story Events Not everything makes for a story. Here’s a story for you-

This morning I woke up with a start. The alarm hadn’t gone off. I pulled myself up and staggered to loo. A few minutes later I emerged and made my way to the kitchen. Looking through the overhead closet, I searched and found a box of number #2 coffee filters. Opening the coffee maker, I pulled out yesterdays grinds and threw them in the bin. Placing the new filter in the maker, I went to the fridge. Opening the freezer, rummaged for my rapidly diminishing bag of La Colombe’s Ethiopian coffee. Pouring the coffee beans into the grinder, I closed the lid and pressed down. Tipping them ground beans into the coffee maker, I took the carafe over to the sink where I filled it up…

How am I doing? Enthralling wasn’t it? Real fingernail chewing stuff!

It should be obvious that importance and significance is vital to storytelling as opposed to trivia. This is important when it comes to choosing an idea and how to use story craft in communications and education. Accusations of over-dramatizing and eroticizing incidents are frequently lobbied at documentary, news and educational filmmaking.

Character This should be obvious. Characters are persons, fictional or real, whom we will follow and meet over the length of the story. Principal characters are persons of chief interest, while Supporting characters have secondary importance though vital to the progression of the story. Extras, both speaking and silent, add texture and realism to stories.

Time This dimension postions the character historically. Does the character’s story take place in the present day or is it an historical story or a futuristic one. Stories establish the story’s time early in the story.

Space Obviously a character lives and occupies a place, a location where the events of the story will take place. Just like the dimension of Time, stories establish Space early most of the time.

Story Events Stories are about people we pay attention to because we catch them at a special moment in their lives where something important or significant happens! Anything a character experiences that has a significant impact on them is called a Story Event. Significance is central to stories. If it doesn’t mean all that much to the character, why should we, the audience care? Story Event can be of varying significance in a story. Major Story Events are called Plot Points, Inciting Incidents, Reversals, Turning Points and we will discuss them later on in these notes.

Beats Understanding beats and how to use them is functionally very helpful to directing and constructing a film. A beat is a moment of significance occurring in a scene between characters. Characters (and the audience) enter a scene in a particular state of understanding. During a scene, the characters interact with dialogue and action observed by the audience. Because of the action and reaction, the give and take during the scene, the knowledge base and understanding of the characters changes as does that of the audience. The moments where these changes actually occur in the scene are called “Beats”.

There are two types of beats: 1. Dramatic/Story Beats 2. Performance Beats

Dramatic Beats emerge from the screenplay/script and can even emerge through the editing process. The effect of dramatic beats are usually on the story (the meaning of this particular narrative) and plot (the actual events seen by the audience) and the emotional and intellectual positioning of the audience in relation to the story.

Performance Beats are word or actions shown by a performer that depict or betray a change in their understanding of the situation they find themselves in. Think of the moment in the scene in When Harry Met Sally when Sally is put off that Harry does not respond badly to the fact that she has a date. Her reaction shot betrays her disappointment. This is a performance beat. However, because of this performance beat the audience now knows that she is in love with Harry even before she knows herself. The audience has more information than the character. This omniscient and powerful position of the audience viz-a-viz the characters is what pulls in and maintains the audience’s involvement in the story. The audience begins to root for her and only feel relief if the couple comes together in love with each other (the climax and denouement).

A director finds the story beats while reading and uses them to figure where the camera should be. A story beat is useless if the camera does not capture it. Once a director goes through a scene she mark beats into the scene (Beat 1, Beat 2, Beat 3 and so on. When she decides which beats are important she will make sure that she has a camera positioned to shoot it. It’s not surprising that beats are often in MS, MCU and CU. So Story Beats assist Shot Marking.

During rehearsals, directors work with actors who search and find their performance beats- actions and reactions to each other in the scene. Directors can re-adjust their story beats based on the actor’s performance beats.

Documentary and non-fiction filmmakers must seek out and find story beats in the A-roll and B-roll footage. In a documentary, the filmmaker and editor, seeks out and use beats to construct the drama in the edit room.

To be clear, I repeat that those producing documentaries will be looking to build scenes out of LS, MS and CU’s joined and spliced together using story beats to identify important moments to include in the scene.

Scenes Scenes are made up of Long Shots, Mid-shots and Close-ups of interacting characters engaged with themes, goals and desires in a single location and point in time. The scene’s events (actions and plot) has its own beginning, middle and end leaving the characters and the audience at different state of understanding of what is going by the scene’s end. Long shots, mid-shots and close-ups are used to present Story Beats and Performance Beats that reveal the moment to moment changing state of the characters and the story.

Sequence Groups of scenes (locations and time) that are connected by theme, action or story make up a Sequence. A car chase is a sequence because of the changing locations.

Act Scenes and Sequences grouped together because of their role in the story. Act structure is the basic organizational principles derived Aristotelian and Freytag’s theories of drama. Another way to understand the role of the Act in story and drama is that the beginning and end of Act marks significance changes in the plot and story. We shall explore this further below.

Aristotle’s Poetics Aristotle was born in Stagirus, Macedonia, Greece in 384 BC and died 62 years later in 322 BC. He was a student at Plato's Academy and later became one of the greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece. In one of his treatises, The Poetics, he outlines the Six Elements Of Drama, based on the Ancient Greek belief that tragedy was the highest form of Drama. This outline has become a guideline for many playwrights throughout history, and is especially emphasized in the works of William Shakespeare.

The Three Unities The classical unities or three unities are rules for drama derived from a passage in Aristotle's Poetics. In their neoclassical form they are as follows:

1. The unity of action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.

2. The unity of place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.

3. The unity of time: the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours.

Greek and Latin plays were very different from the native traditions of drama that the young Shakespeare might have come across if he had seen a mystery cycle, or watched the traveling troupes of actors who came to Stratford, performing moralities or the various types of drama which developed from them.

Greek and Latin drama were strict in form. The stage represented a single place throughout the action; the plot recounted the events of a single day; and there was very little irrelevant by-play as the action developed. Aristotle described the drama of an earlier age in his important work On the Art of Poetry; those who followed his precepts called this disciplined structure the three "unities": unity of place, unity of time and unity of action.

The "Rules"

Neo-classical Renaissance critics codified Aristotle's discussion, claiming that all plays should follow these three precepts:

Place. The setting of the play should be one location: in comedy often a street, in Oedipus Rex the steps before the palace.

Time. The action of the play should represent the passage of no more than one day. Previous events leading up to the present situation were recounted on stage, as Prospero tells Miranda of the events which led to their abandonment on the island.

Action. No action or scene in the play was to be a digression; all were to contribute directly in some way to the plot.

Compare this structure with the episodic, wide-ranging plots of romantic comedy like Shakespeare's Winter's Tale.

Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy

“A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.”

Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality— namely, Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Melody, Spectacle.

1. Plot “ What happens in a play; the order of events, the story as opposed to the theme what happens rather than what it means.”

Plot is the “first principle,” the most important feature of tragedy. Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play. According to Aristotle, tragedies where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and- effect chain of actions are superior to those that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist. (See Freytag's Triangle for a diagram that illustrates Aristotle's ideal plot structure)

The plot must be “a whole,” with a beginning, middle, and end.

The beginning, called by modern critics the incentive moment, must start the cause- and-effect chain. The incentive moment is often a complication that disrupts the character in their environment (space) and at a moment in time.

The middle, or climax, must be caused by earlier incidents and itself causes the incidents that follow it (i.e., its causes and effects are stressed).

The end, or resolution, must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents outside the compass of the play; the end should therefore solve or resolve the problem created during the incentive moment (context).

Aristotle calls the cause-and-effect chain leading from the incentive moment to the climax “tying up” (desis) the complication. He therefore terms the more rapid cause- and-effect chain from the climax to the resolution the “unravelling” (lusis), in modern terminology the dénouement.

The plot must be “complete,” having “unity of action.” By this Aristotle means that the plot must be structurally self-contained, with the incidents bound together by internal necessity, each action leading inevitably to the next with no outside intervention, no deus ex machina (act of gods). According to Aristotle, the worst kinds of plots are “‘episodic,’ in which the episodes or acts succeed one another without probable or necessary sequence”; the only thing that ties together the events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to the same person. Playwrights should exclude coincidences from their plots; if some coincidence is required, it should “have an air of design,” i.e., seem to have a fated connection to the events of the play (context). Similarly, the poet should exclude the irrational or at least keep it “outside the scope of the tragedy,” i.e., reported rather than dramatized (context). While the poet cannot change the myths that are the basis of his plots, he “ought to show invention of his own and skillfully handle the traditional materials” to create unity of action in his plot. Aristotle was a daytime soap fan evidently!

6 The plot must be “of a certain magnitude,” both quantitatively (length, complexity) and qualitatively (“seriousness” and universal significance). Aristotle argues that plots should not be too brief; the more incidents and themes that the playwright can bring together in an organic unity, the greater the artistic value and richness of the play. Also, the more universal and significant the meaning of the play, the more the playwright can catch and hold the emotions of the audience, the better the play will be (context).

The plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better. Simple plots have only a “change of fortune” (catastrophe). Complex plots have both “reversal of intention” (peripeteia) and “recognition” (anagnorisis) connected with the catastrophe. Both peripeteia and anagnorisis turn upon surprise. Aristotle explains that a peripeteia occurs when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he intended to produce, while an anagnorisis “is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined for good or bad fortune.” He argues that the best plots combine these two as part of their cause-and-effect chain (i.e., the peripeteia leads directly to the anagnorisis); this in turns creates the catastrophe, leading to the final “scene of suffering”

2. Character “The personality or the part an actor represents in a play; a role played by an actor in a play.”

Character has the second place in importance. In a perfect tragedy, character will support plot, i.e., personal motivations will be intricately connected parts of the cause-and-effect chain of actions producing pity and fear in the audience. The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so his change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change “should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.” Such a plot is most likely to generate pity and fear in the audience, for “pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.” The term Aristotle uses here, hamartia, often translated “tragic flaw,” has been the subject of much debate. The meaning of the Greek word is closer to “mistake” than to “flaw,” and I believe it is best interpreted in the context of what Aristotle has to say about plot and “the law or probability or necessity.” In the ideal tragedy, claims Aristotle, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own downfall—not because he is sinful or morally weak, but because he does not know enough. The role of the hamartia in tragedy comes not from its moral status but from the inevitability of its consequences. Hence the peripeteia is really one or more self-destructive actions taken in blindness, leading to results diametrically opposed to those that were intended (often termed tragic irony), and the anagnorisis is the gaining of the essential knowledge that was previously lacking (context).

Characters in tragedy should have the following qualities:

1. “good or fine.” Aristotle relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class: “Even a woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless.”

2. “fitness of character” (true to type); e.g. valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a woman.

3. “true to life” (realistic)

4. “consistency” (true to themselves). Once a character's personality and motivations are established, these should continue throughout the play.

5. “necessary or probable.” Characters must be logically constructed according to “the law of probability or necessity” that governs the actions of the play.

6. “true to life and yet more beautiful” (idealized, ennobled).

3. Theme (Thought) “What the play means as opposed to what happens (plot); the main idea within the play.”

Thought is third in importance, and is found “where something is proved to be or not to be, or a general maxim is enunciated.” Aristotle says little about thought, and most of what he has to say is associated with how speeches should reveal character. However, we may assume that this category would also include what we call the themes of a play.

4. Diction “The word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the actors delivering the lines.”

Diction is fourth, and is “the expression of the meaning in words” which are proper and appropriate to the plot, characters, and end of the tragedy. In this category, Aristotle discusses the stylistic elements of tragedy; he is particularly interested in metaphors: “But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor; . . . it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances” .

5. Song “By music Aristotle meant the sound, rhythm and melody of the speeches.”

Song, or melody, is fifth, and is the musical element of the chorus. Aristotle argues that the Chorus should be fully integrated into the play like an actor; choral odes should not be “mere interludes,” but should contribute to the unity of the plot.

While the musical has fallen from grace in movies (except in Bollywood where the movie supports the selling of music), the importance of music and its emotional and thematic significance remains as strong as ever.

6. Spectacle “The visual elements of the production of a play; the scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production”

Spectacle is last, for it is least connected with literature; “the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.” Although Aristotle recognizes the emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior poets rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacle to arouse pity and fear; those who rely heavily on spectacle “create a sense, not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous”.

Dramatic Catharsis- The Culmination of Tragedy The end of the tragedy is a katharsis (purgation, cleansing) of the tragic emotions of pity and fear. Katharsis is another Aristotelian term that has generated considerable debate. The word means “purging,” and Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor— tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a healthy, balanced proportion. Aristotle also talks of the “pleasure” that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through an intricately constructed work of art.

Freytag's Triangle Gustav Freytag was a German writer and critic born in Kreuzburg, Silesia, in July of 1816, and died in 1895.

Freytag’s analysis In his Poetics, Aristotle put forth the idea that "A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end"(1450b27)). This three-part view of a plot structure (with a beginning, middle, and end) prevailed until 1863, when the German playwright and novelist Gustav Freytag wrote Die Technik des Dramas. Freytag provided an analysis of the structure of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. In it, he proposed a method of analyzing plots derived from Aristotle's concept of unity of action that came to be known as Freytag's Triangle or Freytag's Pyramid

According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or Acts:

* Exposition * Rising action * Climax (or turning point) * Falling action * Dénouement (comedy) or catastrophe (tragedy)

Beginning: Exposition & The Incentive Moment In the exposition, the background information that is needed to understand the story properly is provided. Such information includes the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, the setting, and so forth. The exposition ends with the Inciting Moment or Incident, which is the single incident in the story’s action without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action.

11 Exposition is a technique by which background information about the characters, events, or setting is conveyed in a novel, play, movie or other work of fiction. This information can be presented through dialogue, description, flashbacks, or even directly through narrative.

As exposition generally does not advance plot and may impede present-time action, it is usually best kept in short and succinct form, though in some genres, such as the mystery, exposition is central to the story structure itself. The alternative to exposition is to convey background information indirectly though action, which, though more dramatic, is more time consuming and less concise.

Methods of Exposition

Methods of exposition include:

Prologue Prologues are common in certain genres, especially in the theatre. For example, in Oedipus the King, by the Greek dramatist Sophocles, the opening dialogue between Oedipus and the Chorus serves as a sort of prologue. Many of the plays of Shakespeare begin with a character coming forward and speaking the prologue to set the scene - Romeo and Juliet being one of the best-known examples. In Hamlet, he has the exposition performed by Bernardo, Marcellus and Horatio in the first scene, and by Hamlet's father's ghost in Act I,

Character Lecture The most straightforward way of exposition through dialogue is the character-to- character lecture. This generally involves is an expert or someone otherwise "in the know" explaining something to a less knowledgeable character. This technique is widely used in science fiction and fantasy to give the background to a story--and in any genre in which significant technical or esoteric information is required. Examples are abundant and varied:

* Mulder's slideshows on strange phenomena in "The X-Files".

* The novel Eldest by Christopher Paolini, uses the elven training of main character Eragon for several lectures on magic and elven culture.

* The character Mr. Gibbs in Pirates of the Caribbean tells Will (and in doing so, the audience) of Jack's past with the Black Pearl in the first film, and in the second film tells the legend of Davy Jones and the Kraken.

* In every episode of CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY, one of the main characters will explain how they discovered a key piece of evidence, and the scientific basis for that discovery to another main character.

12 * The TV series The West Wing often uses this device to explain some complicated point of law or legislative procedure to the audience by having the character Joshua Lyman explain it to his seemingly naive secretary Donna Moss.

* Both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel used characters called "Watchers", Rupert Giles and Wesley Wyndam-Price respectively, to research and explain the various demons and creatures the heroes had to battle.

Problems with exposition

Plot dump When the presentation of exposition becomes awkward or wordy, it is sometimes referred to by the pejorative expressions "plot dump" and "info dump". In written fiction, the term is additionally used to indicate giving information by exposition rather than revelation through action and dialogue; if such passages are well-written and intriguing, they may be described as "info-dumping" with no pejorative intent. This method has long been used in classic drama and modern productions where the plot is the consequence of preceding events that would either weigh down the production or would reveal too much, spoiling the mystery. Exposition is also necessary in some dramas since it can be from the point of view and perception of a character, and may or may not accurately reveal the facts. Examples of such well-done exposition include Shakespeare's Hamlet and the 1956 film Forbidden Planet.

The term "plot dump" is usually invoked in a derisive sense. Plot dumps at the beginning of a movie are often tolerated as a necessity for setting the premise of the plot; this is the case for such widely-acclaimed movies as Casablanca and Star Wars. However, a plot dump expressed by characters in dialogue during the course of the movie is often taken to be indicative of an inferior narrative. Examples of the latter sense often take the form of one character explaining elaborate details regarding another character that would seem exaggerated and out-of-place in real-life conversation.

A stereotypical and exaggerated example of inferior plot dump would be:

Joe: Who's at the door?

Joey: Oh, it's my uncle Joe, who was released from prison yesterday after serving ten years for stealing the family jewels from this very house, although the jewels themselves have never been found and are rumored to be buried in a secret chamber guarded by the ghost of my late grandfather Joseph.

Villains are frequently given to making speeches about their sinister plans to helpless heroes, often foolishly prefacing their exposition with the comment that it can't hurt to divulge the plan, since the hero will be dead soon anyway (or the plan will be impossible to stop in the short time available). This is known as the villain speech or monologuing. James Bond villains and comic book supervillains are particularly prone to it, and it is

13 seldom even given such justification as the villain's desire to have his cleverness admired by the one man who could appreciate the extent.

Plot dump tends to be more tolerated on television than in the movies because the narrative of television episodes is shorter. Plot dumps are especially common in sit-coms in the introduction of non-recurring characters which drive the comedic plot of a particular episode. A prime example would be the use of the narrator in Arrested Development to quickly sum up revelations and inner thoughts of characters in order to keep the viewer tuned to the plot. In serial television drama, exposition in individual episodes is often relegated to a brief montage of scenes from earlier episodes, prefaced with the phrase "Previously on [name of series]."

In television sketch comedy, which itself borrows heavily from the tradition of vaudeville comedy, plot dump in the most exaggerated sense is often used explicitly for outrageous comedic effect. In this case, plot dump is not seen as a weakness but as a standard and necessary aspect of the genre which is expected by audiences.

Stories which are concerned with the unearthing of a secret past rarely avoid plot dump sequences. For example, substantial portions of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash are naked, unapologetic infodumps, with lengthy Idiot Lecture and Exposition sequences. These gradually bleed into theorizing about the implications of the dumped information. Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum mixes speculation and infodump throughout, with characters almost inventing events simply by infodumping their possibility.

Plot dump parodies

The Austin Powers film series has a character named Basil Exposition whose job was to repeatedly plot dump as a parody of the process in ordinary movies.

The series Mystery Science Theater 3000 always mocked movies who made blatant use of this practice. For example, in Parts: The Clonus Horror, there is a scene where a character views a videotape that explains the organization's origins and purpose in painstaking detail, basically providing all of the necessary exposition in one fell swoop. Tom Servo quips, "Good thing he wandered into the Department of Backstory!" At the beginning of another MST3k movie, Riding with Death, an extra consults a computer file containing information about the movie's protagonist for completely unexplained reasons (other than providing exposition). Once again, Servo notes this by referring to the computer as the "Backstory Database".

Plot dumps are parodied in the movie Spaceballs when Colonel Sandurz explains a plan to Dark Helmet, though Dark Helmet should have already known the plan. Dark Helmet then faces the camera and, breaking the fourth wall, asks the audience "Everybody got that?" to parody the true purpose of the plot dump.

14 Several villains in the Nickelodeon series Danny Phantom have been prone to plot dumping, especially the recurring technology ghost, Nicolai Technus. This is made into a running gag in the episode "Identity Crisis." In that episode, Technus claims to have upgraded himself, one of the advantages of the upgrade being that he would no longer shout his nefarious plot into the sky. He was able to maintain this for most of the episode (at one point even criticizing Danny for shouting something into the air himself), but eventually dictates his plot to himself near victory, immediately afterwards saying, "Nobody heard that, right?"

In the stage musical Urinetown, the first song is in fact titled "Too Much Exposition" during which the Narrator and Little Sally explain about the drought that caused the water shortage, and in turn the end of private bathrooms. While discussing the issue Officer Lockstock finally stops Little Sally before she reveals too much because "nothing can kill a show like too much exposition."

Rising Action During rising action, the basic conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist’s attempt to reach their goal. Secondary conflicts can include adversaries of lesser importance than the story’s antagonist, who may work with the antagonist or separately, by and for themselves.

In the narrative of a work of fiction, rising action is what occurs leading up to the climax. The rising action's purpose is usually to build suspense all the way up the climactic finish. The rising action should not be confused with the middle of the story, but is the action right before the climax. For example: In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Harry must go through a set of tasks to reach where the sorcerer's stone is hidden where he will have the final battle. These are the actions leading up to the climax where Harry must face the thief who is trying to get the stone.

Another example is: In the novel, I, Robot, Susan Calvin falls in love with a man named Peter Bogert. The rising action in this circumstance is when she asks a mind-reading robot if he is in love with her, and it says yes. In Romeo and Juliet, the rising action are all the events that lead up to the death of Tybalt.

Climax (The Turning Point) The third act is that of the climax, or turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.

In a prose work of fiction, the climax often resembles that of the classical comedy, occurring near the end of the text or performance, after the rising action and before the

15 falling action. It is the moment of greatest danger for the protagonist(s) and usually consists of a seemingly inevitable prospect of failure, followed by a hard-to-anticipate recovery. Example: If you were on a roller coaster, the highest part of it would be the climax.

While the novel, short story, poetry and drama are the focus of much literary analysis, late 20th century literary criticism also recognizes the important similarities, including the climax, of new genres like the feature film.

Arguably, the punch line of a joke is a good analogue of the climax of other forms of fictional narrative, though the absence of any falling action is an essential variation probably reflecting the nature of humor.

In many non-fictional narrative genres, even though the author lacks the same freedom to control the action and "plot", selection of subject matter, degree of detail, and emphasis permit an author to create similar structures. This can sometimes be recognizable even in some highly constrained genres, such as patient records and peer-reviewed scholarly writings, and need not amount to a breach of professional standards.

The climax of the greek plot line is when everything comes out. All the conflicts are at their worst and usually the battle is near or happening.

Anti-Climax An anti-climax is where something which would appear to be difficult to solve in a plot is solved through something trivial. For example, destroying a heavily guarded facility would require advanced technology, teamwork and weaponry for a climax, but in an anti- climax it may just consist of pushing a red button which says "Emergency Self-Destruct".

Falling Action During the falling action, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist. The falling action might contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt. The falling action follows the climax. Therefore, it deals with the effects that the climax has on the characters. For instance, in Oedipus Rex, by the Greek playwright Sophocles, the climax comes when Oedipus realizes that the man he killed was his father, Laius, and the woman he married was his mother, Jocasta. In the falling action, Oedipus and Jocasta deal with this revelation. Jocasta does this by killing herself and Oedipus does this by blinding himself.

In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the climax is the assassination of Caesar. After that, the falling action is the attempts of all Romans to deal with this. In their anger over Caesar's death, the people of Rome mistake Cinna the poet for Cinna the conspirator. Both the conspirators and the allies of Caesar bicker amongst themselves. The ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus.

16 Dénouement or Catastrophe or Resolution The comedy ends with a dénouement (a conclusion) in which the protagonist is better off than at the story’s outset. The tragedy ends with a catastrophe in which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative.

Although Freytag’s analysis of dramatic structure is based on five-act plays, it can be applied (sometimes in a modified manner) to short stories and novels as well.

In literature, Denouement consists of a series of events that follow a dramatic or narrative's climax, thus serving as the conclusion of the story

Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or release of tension and anxiety, for the reader. Etymologically, the French word dénouement is derived from the Old French word denoer, "to untie", from nodus, Latin for "knot." Simply put, a dénouement is the unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot.

Also, the dénouement is the events after the climax and the "Falling Action" occur. Though similar, "Falling Action" is a completely different topic.

A classic example of dénouement is the final scene of Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It: couples marry, an evildoer repents, two disguised characters are revealed for all to see, and a ruler is restored to power.

The book, The Penultimate Peril, the twelfth installment of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, heavily features dénouement as a plot point e.g. the character of Dewey Denouement, and the Hotel Denouement. The Penultimate Peril was the penultimate volume in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

There are works which have no dénouement, mainly due to a quick surprise ending (such as Lord of the Flies).

A Tool for Analyzing Fictional and Non-fiction Storytelling

Narrative A narrative is a story comprising characters, their dialogue and actions, and the events in which they participate.

17 The characteristics of a narrative are

1. Narratives may be related (novels, short stories) or enacted (drama).

2. Most narratives have a protagonist (one primary character who is the main focus of interest), who may or may not have an antagonist (one main opponent) and/or a foil (one or more figures who highlight the protagonist by their contrast with him/her).

3. The components of narrative are Story the meaning or meanings (moral of the story/what is the movie about) we derive from the way the author orchestrates the plot, characters, events, climaxes and all the other elements in the drama.

4. Plot is the list of events that occur in the drama as they happen or appear to the viewer- Plots may be:

1. Episodic: Events are held together mainly by the fact that they happen to the protagonist.

2. Unified: Events are carefully organized to create the effect of unity of action, constituting one action with a continuous sequence of beginning, middle, and end. (See Freytag’s Triangle)

3. Polyphonic: Main plot is interwoven with one or more subplots that enhance its meaning.

4. Point of View: the way a story is told; the perspectives which are presented to the reader.

5. First-Person Narrative: the narrator refers to him/herself with the pronouns “I” and “me”.

6. Protagonist or Participant/Observer- When the story is told from a character’s perspective.

7. Third-Person Narrative: the story is told in the third-person, with pronouns “I” and “me” used only in dialogue.

8. Omniscient: narrator knows everything about all characters, events, etc.; omniscient narrators may also occasionally employ embedded focalizers- characters whose perspectives temporarily control the narrative.

9. Intrusive: narrator comments on and evaluates characters and actions; establishes what counts as facts and values in the narrative.

10. Unintrusive/Impersonal/Objective: narrator “shows rather than tells”; does not explicitly comment on or evaluate the actions.

11. Limited Point of View: narrative is controlled by through the limited perspectives of one main character (or a very few important characters) who does not know everything; such a third- person focalizer is often called a center of consciousness.

Dramatic Structure

The term “plot structure” or “dramatic structure” refers to the parts into which a short story, a novel, a play, a screenplay, or a narrative poem can be divided.

Aristotle divided drama into three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. This evolved into what is referred to as the Three Act Structure.

Perhaps equally influential has been the analysis of dramatic structure of Freytag, who sub-divides Aristotle’s Three Acts drama into five acts.

Story Arc A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, video games, and in some cases, films. In a television series, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story arc is much more common in dramas than in comedies, especially in soap operas. Webcomics are more likely to use story arcs than newspaper comics, as most web comics have readable archives online that a newcomer to the strip can read in order to understand what's going on.

Many American comic book series are now written in four- or six-issue arcs, within a continuing series. Short story arcs are easier to package as trade paperbacks for resale, and more accessible to the casual reader than the never-ending continuity that once characterized comics.

Dramatic Structure and Purpose of Story Arc The purpose of a story arc is to move a character or a situation from one state to another — in other words, to effect a change. This change or transformation often takes the form of either Aristotle's tragic fall from grace or a reversal of that pattern. One common form in which this reversal is found is a character going from a situation of weakness to one of strength. For example, a poor woman goes on adventures and in the end makes a fortune for herself, or a lonely man falls in love and marries.

Another form of storytelling that offers a change or transformation of character is that of "hero's journey," as laid out in Joseph Campbell's theory of the monomyth in his work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers details the same theory specifically for western storytelling.

Story arcs in contemporary drama often follow the pattern of bringing a character to a low point, removing the structures the character depends on, then forcing the character to find new strength without those structures.

Story Arcs in Television Story arcs on television have been around for decades, and are common in many countries where multi-episode storylines are the norm (an example being the UK's Doctor Who), as well as most anime series. Neon Genesis Evangelion, for example, is a single story arc spanning 26 episodes. Other longer anime have multiple story arcs, such as Bleach and One Piece. Perhaps one of the most known anime, Dragon Ball Z, has 4 large story arcs, called "Sagas", divided into smaller sagas. The CGI Cartoon Series ReBoot has 7 story arcs (One at the end of Series 2, 4 in Series 3, and 2 in Series 4), each other then the first one, has been given a name (To Mend and Defend, The Net, The Web, The Viral Wars, Daemon Rizing and My Two Bobs).

Many arc-based series in past decades, such as V, were often short-lived and found it difficult to attract new viewers; they also rarely appear in traditional syndication. However, the rise of DVD retail of television series has worked in arc-based productions' favor as the standard season collection format allows the viewer to have easy access to the relevant episodes. One area of television where story arcs have always thrived, however, is in the realm of the soap opera, and often episodic series have been derisively referred to as "soap operas" when they have adopted story arcs.

Arc-based series draw and reward dedicated viewers, and fans of a particular show follow and discuss different story arcs independently from particular episodes. Story arcs are sometimes split into subarcs if deemed significant by fans, making it easy to refer to certain episodes if their production order titles are unknown. Episodes not relevant to story arcs are sometimes dismissed as filler by fans, but might be referred to as self- contained or stand-alone episodes by producers.

Story Arc usage in American TV series

20 Story arc usage use in American episodic series (as opposed to miniseries) has been sporadic, in part because of the belief that arc-heavy series are difficult to sell in syndication where stations might not air episodes in order, or casual/occasional viewers might lose interest.

One of the first shows to use story arcs was I Love Lucy, which featured several ongoing story-lines such as Lucy's pregnancy in Season 2, the Ricardos and Mertzs going to Hollywood in Season 4, and Europe in Season 5. However these arcs, with the notable exception of Lucy's pregnancy, were still mainly episodic with no long-lasting consequences.

A more influential attempt at a long-term story arc was in the 1960s TV series The Fugitive. Though the series consisted of self-contained episodes, the protagonist Richard Kimble's primary motivation was finding the mysterious "One-Armed Man" who framed him for murder (giving him the impetus to appear in a different town each week). A small handful of episodes devoted themselves almost entirely to the search for the "One-Armed Man" or Kimble's attempt to stay a step ahead of his primary police pursuer, Inspector Gerard. The series proved influential, with the The Incredible Hulk being the best-known imitator.

A new type of arc-based television storytelling was introduced in the early 1980s, when several dramas, notably Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, began to use a format of overlapping story arcs; that is, in any given episode one new arc might be starting, while a second was ongoing, and yet another might be concluding. These story arcs were typically resolved much more quickly than in a soap opera show, and they might be of varying lengths and were often combined with additional storylines that were contained within a single episode. The early 1990s David Lynch-Mark Frost-produced ABC series Twin Peaks used this method extensively, which, despite critical acclaim and extensive media attention, contributed to its cancellation after two seasons. The technique proved highly influential and was adopted for later, even more successful dramas including L.A. Law and ER, as well as for some comedies.

A noted pioneer of the use of sweeping story arcs in American television, and more notably American science fiction television, was J. Michael Straczynski. His series, Babylon 5, relied almost exclusively on arcs starting at the end of its second season, at the same time that Straczynski would begin to write every single episode. Up to that point, science fiction television in the U.S. was often associated with the reset button technique, where individual episodes dominated a series' run and consequences were rarely far-reaching. Around the same time, Chris Carter developed The X-Files, which was a mixture of stand-alone episodes and a long running story arc dubbed by Carter as "the mythology." Carter and Straczynski proved the concept was viable for science fiction and would pave the way for current arc-heavy genre shows where events within the story have lasting consequence, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the new Battlestar Galactica. The central storyline of such series is often called the "mytharc".

21 In recent years, American viewers have become increasingly more accepting of story arcs, with arc-based series such as Alias, Six Feet Under, 24, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, and Lost (which are based on huge, long-running story arcs, that intertwine and can also revert backwards and forwards in time during an episode) finding critical acclaim and ratings success, and the release of arc-heavy TV series on DVD generating huge sales. The HBO series The Sopranos utilized arcs and even portrayed a main character, Christopher Moltisanti, referring to his own desire to not "just survive," but rather have his life lead on a major story arc, asking "Where's my arc?" (Sopranos, episode 1.8, 1999).

The tide has turned to the point where arcs have become expected elements of dramatic series, and shows that rely upon stand-alone episodes are now quite often held up for criticism (a good example being Star Trek: Enterprise which enjoyed fan and critical acceptance only after adopting an arc-based format after two seasons of mostly stand- alone episodes). The Asian-influenced Avatar The Last Airbender enjoys high ratings outside its intended 6 to 11 year old audience as well as praise from various critics primarily due to being one of the very few current American animated series to feature a series-long story arc with a central storyline.

While it is uncommon to see a story arc in sitcoms, many comedies have tried their hand at it. One example is seasons 4 and 7 of the NBC hit Seinfeld. Season 4 involved Jerry and George writing their script for their own television pilot, and Elaine's relationship with "Crazy" Joe Davola. Season 7 dealt with George becoming engaged to Susan Ross, then regretting it and trying to break it off, eventually leading to her accidental death in the season finale. Curb Your Enthusiasm also had season long story arcs in seasons 2-6, and Arrested Development also contained multiple story arcs over its three seasons.

Pro-wrestling has also used story arcs, called "angles" within the industry, to tell of feuds between two wrestlers and of different gimmicks each wrestler is given. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is most known to use the story arc format in the pro-wrestling business, so much so that owner Vince McMahon has referred to the WWE as a "sports- entertainment" brand, which has also been uttered in many ways among the WWE staff, and McMahon has at times referred to the WWE as a "male soap opera".

Documentary and News Script Terms Documentary and News writing attempts to answer all the basic questions about any particular event in the first two or three paragraphs: Who? What? When? Where? and Why? and occasionally How? (ie. "5 W's"). News Writing has narrower more restrictive rules and conventions than does documentary filmmaking.

Functionally, your non-fiction stories will be built by first assembling clips of A-Roll (on-camera interview clips) with B-Roll inserted between A-Roll. Windows Movie Maker is limited in allowing the manipulation of visuals and sound. More advanced editing software allow editors to separate picture from sound so that you are able to start a piece of A-roll then in the middle of a statement cut away to another relevant visual then cut back to the interviewee before the statement ends.

News stories also contain at least one of the following important characteristics: proximity, prominence, timeliness, human interest, oddity, or consequence.