Continues Finding crisis (Structure part 2).
One relationship in which contrast is applied is the one between the crisis and the ultimate story end. Whether it is a good or a bad ending, the crisis must be the opposite. A story that ends positively contains a crisis, and in the same way, a story with a negative ending has a state of ecstasy at the end of act 2.
Attempting to do the alternative would lead to a badly-told story. Continue reading Finding contrast (Structure part 3)
There is no single way to tell a story, no right way, because the choice of form is a creative decision. The scriptwriter’s choice of form communicates a basic feel and a point of view that fundamentally determines how we understand the story.
Dancyger, K., & Rush, J. (2013). Alternative Scriptwriting: beyond the Hollywood formula (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Focal Press. Page 32.
Continues Finding Plot Point 2 (Structure part 1).
The crisis is the culmination of all the hero has tried so far. After a marathon of conflict, the hero seems beaten. It was too much for them. The foreign world got the better of them. The crisis can be very dramatic – and as we are close to the film’s end, it has to be.
Recently I was struggling to find the Plot Point 2 (as used by Syd Field) in a story of mine. Which is the scene that takes the story from act 2 to act 3? Interestingly, David Trottier in The Screenwriter’s Bible defines a Big Event (the equivalent to Syd’s Plot Point 1) but no corresponding point at the end of act 2. For him, the end of act 2 would be the crisis – but that’s not one distinct moment or scene, rather a sequence.