What Makes Good Story – Part 1
by Michael Bruce Adams
INTRO: This article is not about how to write a good screenplay. It is about how to make the best film – from the script you have now – by understanding the key elements that make up a good story.
As filmmaking technology gets better and more sophisticated every year, it has given filmmakers all over the world an opportunity to tell their own stories about the human condition without having to worry about expensive equipment, large crews and big budgets.
Even though filmmaking is not as expensive or complicated as it was several years ago, every filmmaker must understand that the technology you are using today will never guarantee you can make a great film.
While the improved logistical tools and creative techniques of filmmaking allow filmmakers to tell more complex visual stories, the art of good story telling will always remain the same.
It’s a basic fact that audiences everywhere still want to go to a movie and be rewarded for their time by watching a compelling story with believable characters who make them feel something
What Makes Good Story? – Part One
(Contributed by Michael Bruce Adams)
Good story ideas can come from anywhere; dreams, articles, images, something you hear in a restaurant. But in order to make a good story idea great it must be developed.
To most audiences a good story is exciting, well paced and complex. Only complexity has to do with story ideas, the others have to do with execution, but audiences have a misperception about complexity.
They feel that good stories are complex when in fact the best stories have strong, simple goals… strong simple goals means that the characters can be complex… and that is actually what we love in stories.
To find the strongest story goals and the right characters to go after those goals, explore your ideas through a series of questions:
What is your rough idea? What do you want to tell a story about?
You have a spark… now you need to find the essence of that idea. How you get there is your own process. Do you need to write a scene to discover its essence, or a short story, or have a coffee with a friend and talk it over?
What is the element within your idea that really moves you and excites you? Is there a moment between two people that you can see clear as day in your mind’s eye? Is there a collage of sound that you can hear… a taste… a smell… an instant that brings you to laughter or tears?
What different possibilities can you think of to tell this story?
If your idea began with an image or event, where within the screen story do you feel that event takes place? What comes before the event? What results occur directly after the event? If your idea is an issue, how do you see a character’s journey illuminating that issue?
What are some of the challenges involved in this story idea?
Do you risk alienating some of your audience because of how your characters illuminate a point of view or belief? Is that okay? Are there logistical challenges?
What is the designing principal of this story?
The worst type of scenario we can create for a lead character would be based on their wound or internal struggle. We force our heroes to face their fears, own up to a past sin, leap into the unknown. What is the journey initiated by this challenge?
Next Month: What Makes Good Story – Part 2
Copyright (c) 2018 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved
Recent Comments