SCRIPT TOOLS & TUTORIALS

Dramatic stories are structured presentations of emotional energy given moment, movement, and meaning (form) by the actions of characters struggling to overcome problems and anxieties that threaten their safety or well-being.

Galvanised by physical and emotional needs, and guided by a clear objective or goal, as well as a plan for achieving that goal, the dramatic character struggles against seemingly overwhelming opposition, encountering extreme danger, in order to attain his or her objective.

Opposition might come from the other characters or manifest as a force of nature, or both; but the threat – at least to the character - must be real and substantial, and provoke sense of urgency or anxiety that will force the character to act and go on acting until they either solve or fail to solve or overcome the problem that has been causing them to suffer.

The rhythmic, sequential, and contentious interplay of  competing agendas and conflicting actions builds and releases energy during the course of the story. These two elemental tendencies – the building and releasing of emotional energy – are what characterise the movement of all dramatic narratives.

When successfully realised, this energy elicits a palpable and appropriate emotional response from an audience. Conversely, when a story stops building energy, or is unable to effectively release it, the energy dissipates, which is another way of saying the story becomes un-dramatic.

Given the above, we propose that…

• Effective storytellers have a passionate interest in dramatic characters and their development.
• Effective storytelling is best promoted by creating experiences in which storytellers and their characters become partners in finding the emotional meaning of the story.
• The dramatic character and his/her journey are mediated through the capture of images and sounds. The selection and ordering of the images and sounds must be guided by the emotional energy generated by the actions of the characters.
• A screen story that is dramatic and effective produces fresh, unexpected and credible images and juxtapositions of images. This is possible only when the filmmakers are working from inside the emotional life of the character.
• In short, the images should serve the story, not the other way around.
• Therefore, all craft questions are implicitly questions about story.[1]
   

[1] E.g.: Coverage implies an understanding of a character’s actions, and the meaning of each scene in which a character acts... not forgetting the much overlooked fact that the characters also live (and ACT!) IN THE CUT.