Reading 1
What is a Narrative?
A sequence of events expressed verbally, visually through pictures, or through writing, all of which have the goal of conveying a story.
So then, what is filmmaking?
Filmmaking is the art of telling a story through visual images.
What is plot?
Plot is the sequence of events in a story, one after the other.
How are short films different from regular films
Main difference in short films is that you have less time to establish characters, set up plot, set up conflict and then resolve it.
Why is conflict so important to storytelling
Simple, without conflict there’s no story to tell, no good story can exist without a conflict for our protagonist to overcome.
What is the difference between external conflict and internal conflict?
External conflicts are typically more obvious than internal one’s. External conflicts also boils down to the main character having someone or something to fight against whereas internal conflicts lean more on the main character having something inside of them that they have to overcome
Can a story have more than one conflict
Yes, stories often have more than one conflict both internal and external but they’re always one main conflict that is left central to the story
Conflict and tension between the protagonist and antagonist is crucial to a story.
The characters, especially the main character (protagonist) must have a need, something they desperately want; in this case, a carrot.
What is a character and a main character
A character is someone or something that plays a role in the story, many stories have many characters but there’s always one character thats central to the story and that character is called the main character.
How is need significant in story telling?
Because if the main character doesn’t have a need then they dont have a reason to do anything meaningful or engaging to an audience. If they have a need they will do things to achieve what they want and watching that process is what makes an audience interested.
The story is about somebody with whom we have some empathy.
This somebody wants something very badly: their need.
This goal is difficult, but possible, to do, get, or achieve.
The story accomplishes maximum emotional impact and audience connection.
And the story comes to an emotionally satisfying ending, not necessarily a happy one.
In many cases at the beginning we find the main character more or less in equilibrium, in balance. They might be happy or they might be miserable, but they are relatively balanced — static.
This is what kick-starts the story — something happens to throw the character out of balance: they are marooned on a desert island, he loses his job, her child is diagnosed with a deadly disease, she discovers deadly secrets in the company safe — all these things are a major change in their situation. They force the character to take action.