There is a lack of story telling in Hollywood. This is due to not wanting to take risks due to money.
Story Development / Story structure
Joseph Campbell invented The Hero’s Journey. This is where he made similarities between the Native American stories and Christianity stories (compared mythology). It was Josephs belief the were similar characteristics in all stories.
This included:
- Religion
- Race
- Time
- Ancestry
Stories as a Circle
Rhythm of Dualities
- Life & Death
- Consciousness & Unconsciousness
- Order & Chaos
A story marches to a beat.
- You – establish a protagonist
- Need – something ain’t right
- Go – cross the threshold
- Search – the road of trials
- Find – meet goddess
- Take – meet your maker
- Return – bring it home
- Change – master of both worlds
“Its not a journey if you don’t come back.”
I’d agree to disagree in with this quote. I wouldn’t say its come back but more or overcoming in your stride. You never really go back anywhere but in terms of confronting the initial problem then yes I agree.
From what i’ve understood according to Joseph, The protagonist has a problem which needs to resolve or change in order to move on his journey, but in order to continue they need to go on a journey to overcome/learn/grow to know how to over come the initial problem.
Stories as a Curve
- Exposition: intro of settings, characters & problems.
- Rising Action: characters struggling with problems.
- Climax: tensest moment of crisis.
- Falling Action: movement towards an ending.
- Resolution: Final outcome.
I find this theory to be too simple, unimaginative, obvious and untrue. Although this will the case for more some stories, the momentum of films differ in tempo and order or it is repeated over and over.
Character Types
- Protagonist – main character
- Antagonist – villian
- Dynamic – experience
- Static – doesn’t learn anything new
- Round – well developed
- Flat – one dimensional
The idea that a character is one or the other like the dualities of Joesph’s theory.
Villain Types
- Bully
- The dragon (don’t see)
- The vengeful
- Fallen hero
- Terrorist (ideal or belief)
- Beast
- The unhinged
- The machine
- The equal
- The mastermind
Types of Heros
- Hero – Protagonist, looking at the journey through their eyes.
- Mentor – Motivational, gives insight, and trains the hero.
- Threshold Guardian – Tests the hero.
- Herald – Announces change.
- Shapeshifter – Good & bad, misleading to the hero.
- Trickster – Shows how out of hand the situation has gotten.
- Allies (side kick) – Fill in the gaps of the hero’s character, a support system.
Not all films have enough characters to fulfil all the traits so there is a double duty for some characters to be both.
The ending can make or break a film.
The aim is to make more people want to see the film or make bigger audiences.
What is an unsatisfying film ending?
Grease. Loved the film, absolute classic but there was no need to fly the car into the sky at the end. it just made the whole thing seem unrealistic and didn’t add any value. Still a great film though.
Harry Potter. I am obsessed with all the films but didn’t like how he just snapped the wand. He could have used the power for good e.g. fix up Hogwarts or use for good. Just seemed like a but egotistical that he was the only one to snap it in a second.
Timelines
Mean Girls Dissected
- Hero – Cady Heron
- Need – Wants to fit in and make friends
- Go – First day at high school
- Search – For friends
- Find – Mean girl group
- Take – usurped Regina George as the head of the Mean Girls.
- Return – Lost all real friends and was alone again
- Change – Now knows who her real friends.
Types of Hero’s in Mean Girls
- Hero – Cady Heron
- Mentor – Janice Ian
- Threshold Guardian – Ms. Norbury
- Herald – Gretchen Wiener
- Shapeshifter – Aaron Samuels
- Trickster – Damien
- Allies (side kick) – Janice Ian / Damien
Cady Timeline
- Comes to school and doesn’t have any firends
- Meets Janice and Damien who accept her as she is
- The plastics want to be friends with her because she is pretty
- She realises they arent here real friends so she plays a double agent
- She ends up getting wrapped up in their world and forgets her real friends
- She becomes plastic
- She realises its not worth real friendship and makes amends
- She returns to being exactly who she was in the beginning but with the knowledge of who is actually her real friend.
- Harmony is restored. New plastics arrive but at least she wont be sucked into this.
A story doesn’t always have to be in film. There is story telling in advertising which is the area of design which I want to get into. I want to be able to dissect the adverts just like i did for the films. This will help me achieve the outcome in which the story is to achieve. When I can spot the pattern which they have in common, I will easily be able to apply it to my own work.