Structure: From Houses To Stories
Everything has a structure, every piece fitting together to make something work. Writing a story is almost like building a house, without a sturdy structure or foundation, the entire house will collapse. The same goes for story telling, if the story has no structure, it would be very hard to follow and be an all around mess, much like the aforementioned collapsed house. Before creating a story, you must know some basic definitions when story writing:
Exposition:
pretty much the background for the story or a way to explain something in a scene. In a film narrative, it can be done through dialogue or a narrator, however it can be difficult to make it sound natural when inputting exposition. When using a narrator for a film, it can beat the purpose of the story being visual based at all if the characters and narrator just explain everything, but however when implemented naturally it sounds more like it is part of the world you are building, rather than it just being said just because its a film, so something like a newspaper clip or someone talking about events of the past like Star Wars (1977) For Example in John Carpenters The Thing (1982), Blair runs a simulation of how the creature assimilates its prey, then running a probability of the crew being infected and then getting a weapon.
Not only does this scene explain everything visually, but also builds tension and sets up the scene in which Blair begins destroying vehicles and computers to stop anyone from leaving.
Call-To-Action:
The moment when the protagonist is told or is forced out of their ordinary life to take part in an otherworldly adventure. Mostly science fiction and fantasy films, most noticeable examples of this would be Both of peter jackons trilogy films The Lord Of The Rings (2001-2003) And The Hobbit (2012-2014) Both have the protagonist (Frodo and Bilbo) having to leave their home because of Gandalf to go on an adventure (For Frodo to destroy the one ring, and for Bilbo to help vanquish a dragon.
The Journey Home:
After the action has came and passed, the hero would return to their normal ordinary life, ultimately being forever changed by this experience. Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit started out as an introvert who lived on his own and not liking contact with anyone. then in the final instalment The Five Armies (2014) Bilbo forever changes after owning the one true ring and the friends he had made with the dwarfs and especially Gandalf after reuniting with him at the end kicking off The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.
The Rising Action
The build up of events that lead up to the main climax of the story. Any event in the film can lead up to the climax, Training montages from films such as The Karate Kid (1984) and Rocky (1976) as both show a passage of time and a build up to their respective climax, such as the fight with Apollo Creed.
The Falling Action
The falling action however happens after the climax of the story and helps answer whatever questions were left unanswered. A noticeable example of falling action is with Star Wars Episode IV The Return of the Jedi. After the emperor is vanquished, Luke tries to escape with Vader, Before they leave however, Vader asks to remove his mask so they can have one last goodbye before dying. after escaping the exploding death star, Luke then cremates Darth Vader on the moon of endor.
Crisis:
Tense moments in a story that happen throughout the rising tension. These spikes in action doesn't have to be the final crisis that leads to the falling action and resolution, such as the battle of hoth in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Another noticeable crisis moment in Shin Gojira(2016) where, After being bombed by the Americans and looking like victory was assured for japan, Godzilla begins to decimate japan with its atomic breath.
Climax:
Another version of the crisis, however this is the pinnacle moment in the film where the hero would prevail, the final confrontation with the killer or the day of the big performance day. From The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King(2003) where frodo fights golem over the one ring to Lukes first encounter with Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back (1980) The climax seems to a staple when it comes to writing. But a memorable climax that i remember comes from King Kong (1933). After kidnapping Ann again and climbing up the empire state building, Kong then fights off the planes, before ultimately shot down from the building.
The Resolution:
the ending section of a story, with every answer answered, the villain slain and the world saved, the hero has finally succeeded and the story can come to a close. However, keeping a story to be continued for a series is standard when it comes to a series of films, such as Marvels series of Avengers, but if the answers in the film are not answered or the follow up film is not released, this could potentially disappoint the audience and ruin the film all together. For example, the reason Marvels films work such as Captain America: The first Avenger (2011) is because the conflict and issues in the film were all resolved and question shown in the film were answered, but still let the audience know that The Avengers (2012) would be the follow up film. A film like The Golden Compass(2007) where the film ends very open ended, however the film did not do well at the box office resulting in a sequel never happening.
Now that you understand the various pieces that makes a story work, you now need to choose what your story is about. Surprisingly from our lesson i had found out that there is only seven types of stories in the world to choose from:
1. Man VS Nature
2. Man Caught in the middle
3. wo/man vs wo/man
4. wo/man vs god
5. wo/man vs society
6. wo/man vs himself
7. woman and man
The thing is, once a story is stripped down to its basic form, this is true. some examples of stories based on Man Vs Nature could be anything where the conflict originated from the wild or a natural disaster. this could be anything from films such as 2012(2009) Gojira(1954) King Kong (1933) Jurassic Park (1993) And The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Some of these films also fit it with the "Man caught in the middle story aswell", Such as Gojira (1954) in which Godzilla's attack impacts on the characters before they finally retaliate.Wo/man vs Wo/man fits in to the typical good vs evil stories such as The Lord Of The Rings, or can literally be as simple as the film Battle of The sexes (2017), And Man Vs God can literally be a story about man vs god such as God's Of Egypt (2016), Clash Of The Titans (2010 version) And The Ten Commandments(1956).
Now that you have you're pieces for you're house (well story), its now time to build its structure, and none are as simple or successful as the Three Act structure.
The Three Act Structure:
The three act structure is made up of three acts:
The Setup is where the characters, location and the conflict that will be the reason the story is happening. The Confrontation is usually the meat of the story and the reason for rising action to take place. the story may also introduce subplots into the this 2nd act, a minor story that is still attached to the main storyline. For example in Star wars The Empire Strikes Back(1982) While Luke goes To seek Yoda, Han and the rest of the gang are perused by the empire. The Resolution is where the film is at the moment of crisis and then wraps up with the falling action. this is also when the main character is now face to face with the villain, also like Empire strikes back in which Luke must fight Darth Vader.
Much like a house however, not every house is the same, some want a cosy conservatory to enjoy in the summer, whilst some want a much larger house and some like their houses smaller. What i'm saying is, every story will not be the same as others, some can be told in different ways. For example, most stories are told with a Linear narrative, in which the story is told in chronological order in which the scenes take place. Films like Pulp Fiction(1994) Is told in a non linear narrative, in which the story is not told in order, one minute the characters are in one location, while in another location, another location may have met the other characters before the previous event ever happened.
So with all this information you should be now able to start writing you're story, but remember, as much as you decorate you're house and how many people like it or dislike it, every house will have the same structure.