Investigation - Writing (Structure)

Why use Story Structure?

The structure you use as a foundation for your script is key in creating a narrative that flows and excites. Most beginning writers make the mistake of ignoring story structure completely. However, if you ignore story structure your film will likely suffer from seeming aimless or boring. Story structure is a great tool for pacing your film at a rate that keeps your audience interested. Structure is also a way of making sure your audience doesn't get confused. Story structure does this by laying out events in a familiar fashion. For this investigation I will be learning how to utilize story structure, two types of story structure, and when to deviate from the provided structure.

Structure - Three Act Structure

The three act structure is the most common structure for telling film narrative. The only downside to using this structure is it doesn't tie everything together like the next two. An example of a film that uses this structure is Mad Max Fury Road. In the beginning Max is surviving alone in the waste land until we get to our first inciting incident. Mad Max gets captured by the war boys which intend to use him as a blood donor. Our first plot point or climax of act one, is when Furiosa steers the war rig off course. In this example there is also a subplot (or B-story) which in this case is the relationship between Furiosa and Max. There is yet another subplot (C-story) which is the relationship between one of the war boys and one of the wives on the war rig. The same war boy helps to escape the swamp which is the next subplot. The false defeat is when Furiosa finds out that the place she was searching for is no longer. This leads us right into the dark night of the soul where Furiosa loses it. The second plot point or B-story inspiration, is when Max convinces Furiosa and the group to head back and take over the place they left. The C-story climax is when the war boy sacrifices himself to save the rest of the group by wrecking the war rig. The B-story climax is when Max saves Furiosa with a blood transfusion and reveals his name. Resolution, Max and the group return to where they came from with the body of the previous leader. This leads Furiosa to become the new leader. B-story resolution, Max says goodbye to Furiosa and leaves the place. I like this example of the three act structure because this film deviates from it in many ways. For instance, there is no midpoint climax, instead there is basically just one really long chase which takes up almost all of act II. Also, Furiosa is the main driving force behind this plot points even though she has no inciting incident for stealing the war rig. This goes to show that even if you use a structure you don't have to follow it by the book.



Personally I'm a big fan of the Story-clock structure. Mainly because this structure allows you to draw lines through the middle and connect two plot points. By doing this your story is able to achieve a natural balance of events. More importantly, if you're stuck at a section and don't know what to fill in you can look at the opposite side of the clock. In doing so, you can find an idea that parallels a previous plot point and drives the story forward in a familiar way. I won't be providing an example plot for this structure since the above picture contains the plot of Stranger Things episode one. At first this structure appears to be the same as the story circle. However, this is less of a structure and more of an outline of your story. For as easy it is to deviate from the three act structure this is even easier to deviate from. I prefer to use something like the three act structure but formatted in the story-clock.

Mon - Writing/Brainstorming Short-film

Tues - Writing/Brainstorming Short-film

Wed - Writing Short-film

Thurs - Acting in Tristan's film

Fri - Writing Short-film