I was looking at the cool glass award statue that was delivered yesterday. It was for winning “Best Story” at a recent film festival. Since I’m always interested in how the award winners achieved recognition, I thought I’d share a few thoughts about creating a good story for film.

Eisenstein was the first to play with film story. He stated that film story should be told through cuts or the juxtaposition of uninflected images.

If you listen to how a guy tells a story at your next party, you’ll hear him share it cinematically. This is partially due to the times we’re in, but it’s more than that. We tend to jump from one thing to another as we share our thoughts. We piece together a series of individual things we noticed and share it in a like fashion.

Maybe he told it like this…

“The sun was really bright. I could barely see through the glare on my windshield. All of a sudden this guy bounced off of the hood of my car. He rolled into the other lane. The woman in the oncoming car slammed on her brakes and stopped within inches of hitting the guy. Then the man got up and walked away. I had no clue who he was or where he came from.”

This story was put together by taking different shots or things noticed, and stringing them together so the juxtaposition of the elements told a story. In fact, if the story were broken a part, you could create a cinematic shot list:

• Bright sun
• Glare on windshield
• Guy bouncing off hood of car
• Guy rolls into oncoming traffic
• Woman in oncoming car
• Brakes being slammed on
• Car stopping inches from guy
• Guy stands
• Guy walks away

There can certainly be additional shots added to the list depending on the director’s desire to show cutaways or reaction shots. He can also be creative in the angles of the shots or in the equipment used to capture the shots. However, the most important element is that the story was visual or cinematic.

By creating a cinematic story, we are telling it in a way that anyone can understand, as they would have told the story in the same way at a party. This film language is key to writing good film story, unfortunately, most screenwriters write stories that require narration and dialog, rather than stories that stand on their own.

The ideal film is the silent one that has been enhanced by some dialog. This allows the story to be understood regardless of the regional language of those watching it. They can fully understand the story, even if they can’t pick up on the nuances of sparingly salted in dialog.

The original screenplay for “Family Law” was 40% longer than it needed to be, so I cut it dramatically. The goal was to be able to understand the point of the story with the sound off. I believe it was accomplished.

However, since its release, I realized that the story could have been better served with more time analyzing and rewriting the scenes. After all, writing a story in one week and then filming it, probably wouldn’t allow the story to be at its best – But in this case, it was strong enough to be recognized at a film festival.

Copyright © 2012 By CJ Powers

It’s easy to develop a single sided character, by saying he’s a maverick or any other stereotypical label like thief, Boy Scout, or law student. Using a well know label allows you to dive directly into your plot, requiring less screen time to develop the main character. However, using stereotypes hinders you from making a character driven film.

Developing a paradox within the character gives you leverage to expand the single story into multiple sequels or a series. Adding in the opposite characteristic under certain circumstances develops the paradox and a far more interesting character.

Pierce in M.A.S.H. was such a character. He hated war, but could never leave a wounded person behind. Every time he was due to leave another chopper filled with the wounded was inbound, forcing him to override his hate of war with his compassion for the wounded. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to walk away from a wounded person no matter how passionately he wanted to leave the war zone.

Adding a third dimension to a character, based on an internal secret that the audience doesn’t know, develops a greater emotional range and a far more realistic character. Many actors develop this angle within their own character to create realism, so it would only be natural for the screenwriter to supply it. The story angle could be absurd or devastating, but needs to be something the main character would never share. An example might be the main character having been raped by his drunk, abusive mother who never remembered the incident once she sobered.

The fourth dimension requires a reality factor that is birthed from within the main character’s surroundings. This is the opposite of the standard process of creating supporting characters that slowly reveal certain truths about the main character as the show progresses. While all the standard books will tell you the reveals must come from the other characters, which is why they are called “supporting” characters, the 4D process requires the main character to adjust his thoughts and actions based on who he interacts with.

This new 4D process was developed to reflect the real life scenarios of how people ebb and flow in conversation with the people or person they are currently communicating with through dialog. Some of these elements naturally happen, as a screenwriter writes conflict into the dialog. When planned out, the main character can be even more interesting and complex.

For this to work properly, the main character has to adjust his comments and actions based on those around him, or their absence. The best way to explore this dimension is in the form of a demonstration to the below questions. Whatever it is that he does, how does it make him act or respond:

1. When he is alone?
2. When he is with another person?
3. When he is in a group?

Once you have this fourth element in place and you’re able to demonstrate it under one of the above circumstances numerous times throughout the film, you can then break the habit of him doing the action to instantly reveal that he has changed or grown.

This tool works best in showing how the character eventually grows to overcome his circumstances or the antagonist. The more subtle the demonstrated change, the more realistic the character and the story. These simple steps make it simple to create a compelling complex 4D character worth watching.

Copyright © 2012 By CJ Powers

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