In the previous post I covered the basics of the three act structure and the 5 point story structure will build on that. But first I will do a quick run through of the info I've covered before.
First think about WHY you want to tell the story or make the film. What is the message you want to convey to your audience? The reason doesn't have to be deep. Wanting to show the world that you're a great animator is just as good a reason as wanting to make world peace. What is important is just that you know the reason because every part of the film should build on that reason.
The second step is to think about HOW you can communicate the message in the most efficient way. What genre is the best to reach your audience? What metaphor should you use to communicate the message through. For example, Whitestone Motion Pictures short film "The Candy Shop" tells a story about trafficking where young girls are turned in to candy for men. Or, if you want to prove yourself as a great animator you shouldn't focus on a very complicated plot line or highly detailed character design. What you should focus on is animating scenes that are hard to execute and animate them perfectly.
The third step is to think about WHAT actually is going to happen in your story. What you're going tell. This is the story or plot. Here you think about the three act structure. In what way can I in the beginning of the story show what the message is? In what way can I in the middle of the story deliberate the message and help the audience see it from different angles? And in the end of the film, in what way are you going to sum up the message and prove it to your audience?
When you know the beginning, middle and, most importantly, the end of your story, you can start fleshing it out and a helpful tool for this is the 5-point story structure. What the 5-point story structure does is to split up the story in the five biggest turning points - CONTEXT, CONFLICT, COMPLICATION, CLIMAX, NEW CONTEXT.
Why focus on the turning points? As I mentioned earlier the most important part of the story is the ending. This is because the ending is the part of the story where you prove the message for your audience, the point that should convince them of that what you're telling them is true. Every part of your story should build up to the ending to help strengthen it and make it more powerful and convincing. Knowing your ending, your goal, makes it easier to make the right decisions needed to build up to the ending. But, since the ending is so far away the right path to reach it may be hard. An easier way to find the right path is to set up milestones or sub-goals to strive for on the way to help keeping you on the right path. These milestones or sub-goals are the turning points of your story, the stepping-stones that forces your character to move forward and develop and to give your audience new information.
The first turning point, CONTEXT, starts when your story starts. You need to establish your theme for your audience. You should show you characters weakness, how she has a flaw that makes her, intentionally or unintentionally, hurt others or herself. The solution to changing this flaw should not be clear for your character or she would already have done something about it. The solution to this flaw is often called the characters need. What is important to remember is that this character flaw should in some way tie up with the message of your film so that as the character conquers the flaw and changes as a person we, as the audience, do the same and in that change to understand and absorb your message.
As the story continues the characters flaw will make her create problems for herself, either through her actions or passivity. The characters flaw will create CONFLICT for her. The conflict has to be visible, an outside antagonist. The antagonism can not only be inside the character, it needs to be visible for the audience to understand it. Even if your character is her own worst enemy, the antagonism needs to come from somebody else. It can be somebody who wants the character to change to something better when the character doesn't want to.
The conflict screams out to the character to change, but the character doesn't want to. She either tries to solve the conflict in a naïve and unproductive way or she tries to run away or escape from the conflict. But not solving the conflict makes it worse, turns it in to a COMPLICATION. The complication forces the character down to her lowest point. It is the worst thing that could happen to the character, her worst fear. The character is forced to face her fear, and face her weakness.
Understanding who she truly is, weaknesses and all, the character can now face her problems from a new angle and she reaches the CLIMAX where she is faced with her worst challenge yet and is forced to make a hard choice. In facing the challenge the characters fear of it may at first make her fall back to where she was in the beginning of the story. But the characters experiences allows her to move forward, she makes a hard choise that proves her moral. A choise between good and good, or between bad and bad. A choise that feels impossible but a choise, when made, proves her moral and her change of character.
As the character conquers the climax she as a person will have changed and so has the world around her. She is now in a NEW CONTEXT. To really show her change the character will meet a situation very similar to what she met in the beginning when she through her weakness hurt somebody, but now her actions will be different and she shows her change just before the film fades to black and the credits start rolling.
The 5-point story structure is a simple way of looking at a story that helps when trying to construct it. But even though the basics of telling a story is simple the execution is hard. The only way to get better is to work hard at getting better. Talent can only get you so far. A good skill and ability is only achieved through hard work. A storyteller needs to tell stories.
Thank you for reading,
Peter Hertzberg
First think about WHY you want to tell the story or make the film. What is the message you want to convey to your audience? The reason doesn't have to be deep. Wanting to show the world that you're a great animator is just as good a reason as wanting to make world peace. What is important is just that you know the reason because every part of the film should build on that reason.
The second step is to think about HOW you can communicate the message in the most efficient way. What genre is the best to reach your audience? What metaphor should you use to communicate the message through. For example, Whitestone Motion Pictures short film "The Candy Shop" tells a story about trafficking where young girls are turned in to candy for men. Or, if you want to prove yourself as a great animator you shouldn't focus on a very complicated plot line or highly detailed character design. What you should focus on is animating scenes that are hard to execute and animate them perfectly.
The third step is to think about WHAT actually is going to happen in your story. What you're going tell. This is the story or plot. Here you think about the three act structure. In what way can I in the beginning of the story show what the message is? In what way can I in the middle of the story deliberate the message and help the audience see it from different angles? And in the end of the film, in what way are you going to sum up the message and prove it to your audience?
When you know the beginning, middle and, most importantly, the end of your story, you can start fleshing it out and a helpful tool for this is the 5-point story structure. What the 5-point story structure does is to split up the story in the five biggest turning points - CONTEXT, CONFLICT, COMPLICATION, CLIMAX, NEW CONTEXT.
Why focus on the turning points? As I mentioned earlier the most important part of the story is the ending. This is because the ending is the part of the story where you prove the message for your audience, the point that should convince them of that what you're telling them is true. Every part of your story should build up to the ending to help strengthen it and make it more powerful and convincing. Knowing your ending, your goal, makes it easier to make the right decisions needed to build up to the ending. But, since the ending is so far away the right path to reach it may be hard. An easier way to find the right path is to set up milestones or sub-goals to strive for on the way to help keeping you on the right path. These milestones or sub-goals are the turning points of your story, the stepping-stones that forces your character to move forward and develop and to give your audience new information.
The first turning point, CONTEXT, starts when your story starts. You need to establish your theme for your audience. You should show you characters weakness, how she has a flaw that makes her, intentionally or unintentionally, hurt others or herself. The solution to changing this flaw should not be clear for your character or she would already have done something about it. The solution to this flaw is often called the characters need. What is important to remember is that this character flaw should in some way tie up with the message of your film so that as the character conquers the flaw and changes as a person we, as the audience, do the same and in that change to understand and absorb your message.
As the story continues the characters flaw will make her create problems for herself, either through her actions or passivity. The characters flaw will create CONFLICT for her. The conflict has to be visible, an outside antagonist. The antagonism can not only be inside the character, it needs to be visible for the audience to understand it. Even if your character is her own worst enemy, the antagonism needs to come from somebody else. It can be somebody who wants the character to change to something better when the character doesn't want to.
The conflict screams out to the character to change, but the character doesn't want to. She either tries to solve the conflict in a naïve and unproductive way or she tries to run away or escape from the conflict. But not solving the conflict makes it worse, turns it in to a COMPLICATION. The complication forces the character down to her lowest point. It is the worst thing that could happen to the character, her worst fear. The character is forced to face her fear, and face her weakness.
Understanding who she truly is, weaknesses and all, the character can now face her problems from a new angle and she reaches the CLIMAX where she is faced with her worst challenge yet and is forced to make a hard choice. In facing the challenge the characters fear of it may at first make her fall back to where she was in the beginning of the story. But the characters experiences allows her to move forward, she makes a hard choise that proves her moral. A choise between good and good, or between bad and bad. A choise that feels impossible but a choise, when made, proves her moral and her change of character.
As the character conquers the climax she as a person will have changed and so has the world around her. She is now in a NEW CONTEXT. To really show her change the character will meet a situation very similar to what she met in the beginning when she through her weakness hurt somebody, but now her actions will be different and she shows her change just before the film fades to black and the credits start rolling.
The 5-point story structure is a simple way of looking at a story that helps when trying to construct it. But even though the basics of telling a story is simple the execution is hard. The only way to get better is to work hard at getting better. Talent can only get you so far. A good skill and ability is only achieved through hard work. A storyteller needs to tell stories.
Thank you for reading,
Peter Hertzberg
Comments
Post a Comment