Star Wars (1977)

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DZ-109: Talking DIRECTLY to your audience

What are the different ways a filmmaker can ask something of the audience?

AI✦Uses the famous opening sequence to demonstrate how filmmakers can pull the lever from diagetic storytelling toward non-diagetic exposition, asking the audience to accept information delivered by an unseen, unidentified narrator positioned outside the story world.✦

⏱ 1h 20m

Words · Character · Structure | 1 MAY 2024

Listen if you've wondered what a character actually wants when they're talking directly to the audience!?

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What are the different ways a filmmaker can ask something of the audience… →

Films: Fight Club (1999) , Fleabag (2016) , The Big Short (2015) , F for Fake (1973) , Star Wars (1977)

Words: Direct Address , Voiceover , Fourth Wall , Exposition

Character: Character Motivation , Unreliable Narrator , Tactics

Structure: Narrative POV

DZ-84: Choices & Decisions 1 - Booksmart

What is the difference between choice and decision when it comes to characters?

In order to better understand dramatising of character, Chas and Stu take a very draft zero look at very specific tool: choices and decisions. We analyse three films through the decisions made by their characters. In particular, how the audience understanding of: the choice available, the considered decision itself, and the consequence changes how we feel about these characters. And how separating those three things can create different emotional effects on your audience… →

⏱ 1h 12m

Character · Audience · Scenes | 30 OCT 2021

Listen how the separation of choice, decision, and consequence (for a character) creates emotional impact.

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In order to better understand dramatising of character, Chas and Stu take a very draft zero look at very specific tool: choices and decisions. We analyse three films through the decisions made by their characters. In particular, how the audience understanding of: the choice available, the considered decision itself, and the consequence changes how we feel about these characters. And how separating those three things can create different emotional effects on your audience… →

Films: Booksmart (2019) , Se7en (1995) , Star Wars (1977) , The Farewell (2019) , Wrath of Man (2021) , Fleabag (2016)

Shows: Fleabag

Character: Choices & Decisions , Character Motivation , Character Agency , Character Depth

Audience: Emotional Impact

Scenes: Dramatic Irony

DZ-55: Character Motivations 1

What to do when a reader says "I don't buy that he/she would do that"?

Chas & Stu look at examples of good character motivation. We’ve all watched movies where we don’t believe the motivation of a character or characters. We may have even written scripts where readers don’t buy the character’s choices. And that’s often a real problem because most of these choices coincide with key structural moments — e.g. the moments where the characters decide to do something “out of character” in order to progress to the next part of the story. To help us solve the problem of how to improve our character motivations, in this episode we explore great examples of character motivation and how they have helped the audience believe a character’s decision… →

⏱ 2h 18m

Character · Structure | 15 JAN 2019

Listen if you're writing a scene where your character does something 'out of character' and your readers to buy it.

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Chas & Stu look at examples of good character motivation. We’ve all watched movies where we don’t believe the motivation of a character or characters. We may have even written scripts where readers don’t buy the character’s choices. And that’s often a real problem because most of these choices coincide with key structural moments — e.g. the moments where the characters decide to do something “out of character” in order to progress to the next part of the story. To help us solve the problem of how to improve our character motivations, in this episode we explore great examples of character motivation and how they have helped the audience believe a character’s decision… →

Films: Arrival (2016) , Notting Hill (1999) , Blockers (2018) , The Matrix (1999) , Star Wars (1977) , Game Night (2018)

Character: Character Motivation , Character Authenticity , Choices & Decisions , Character Agency

Structure: Stakes

DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and The Ride

How can the middle of your film pivot so much that it pulls the rug out of your audience?

Stu and Chas embark on the first of a series of explorations into the dreaded Second Act. Their first stop is midpoint reversals or shifts, a plot point bang in the middle of ACT II that changes the protagonist’s goal, raises the stakes and potentially leaves your audience leaning forward and asking “How the hell is this going to end?&rdquo… →

⏱ 1h 19m

Structure · Character · Scenes | 8 JUL 2014

Listen when your second act sags and you need a structural jolt to accelerate audience engagement.

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Stu and Chas embark on the first of a series of explorations into the dreaded Second Act. Their first stop is midpoint reversals or shifts, a plot point bang in the middle of ACT II that changes the protagonist’s goal, raises the stakes and potentially leaves your audience leaning forward and asking “How the hell is this going to end?&rdquo… →