§ RESOURCES / FILMMAKER INDEX
Christopher Nolan
Writer / Director
Films Discussed 4
- · Dunkirk (2017) (d/w)
- · Inception (2010) (d/w)
- · Oppenheimer (2023) (d/w)
- · The Dark Knight (2008) (d/w)
Draft Zero Episodes 5
DZ-108: The Emotional Event with Judith Weston
How and why should every scene have an emotional event?
How and why should every scene have an emotional event?… →
Listen to understand why a scene's power lives in what shifts between characters, not what happens to them.
DZ-93: Talismans (Part 1)
How can you use physical objects to reveal inner character?
In this series, Chas and Stu discuss TALISMANS. Physical objects that are imbued with meaning by a character or characters. They’re a powerful tool to access inner character… →
Listen to so you can write talismans that are powerful tools for accessing character!
DZ-92: Insightful Recognition in Powerful Endings
How can endings prompt an audience to reflect on your story?
Stu & Chas set out to explore what makes certain endings powerful, in particular those of LA LA LAND, INCEPTION, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TURNING RED. The lens they bring to those endings is Aristotle’s moment of “anagnorisis” (don’t worry - we can’t pronounce it either), traditionally when a character moves from ignorance to knowledge (particularly of self)… →
Listen if you want to write endings that make audiences pause and ponder (in a good way, obvs)
DZ-46: Structure & Point of View
What questions do you want your audience asking at any given time?
Waaaaaaaaaay back in DZ-5, Stu and Chas examined how shifting narrative point of view (i.e. what the audience knows in relation to the characters on screen) heightens emotions in any given scene. We’ve now taken that micro idea and applied it to the macro: how can deciding what the audience knows and when in relation to the characters organise your story? Are whole sequences or even acts driven by the audience following a character, feeling concerned about a character, empathising with a character or being absorbed in the irony of knowing more than all the characters interacting on screen… →
Listen if you want to understand how narrative point of view can organise your entire story structure
DZ-15: World Building Rules, Okay?
How does setting up rules help you build a world?
In our most epic/longest episode yet, Chas and Stu tackle world building in films. Specifically, how the rules make something a world and not just a setting. Starting with world-centric genres like sci-fi and fantasy, we also cover horror, crime drama and - er - “other”. We discuss a variety of techniques for setting up the rules of the world, including cold opens, voiceover, title cards and outsider characters! We’ve limited ourselves to the opening 3-5 pages… mostly… because (so the theory goes) they’re the pages that teach the audience how to read/watch your story/film… →
Listen when your opening pages feel like exposition dumps (which is bad, okay?)
