STRUCTUREC O M M 1 1 9 : B R OA D C A S T P R O D U C T I O N

STRUCTURE•During the production process once you have an idea, worked out part of your production plan, and done some audience research then you turn your focus to the project itself. Last week I asked you to be creative and think of possible plotlines for FINAL BREAK and this week we’re going to look more closely at STORY STRUCTURE.

STRUCTURE• What is “Story Structure”?

– Most theories on story structure break “structure” down into a series of acts or stages that include:• The Situation• The Trigger• The Challenge• Reversal• Climax• ResolutionSEE NEXT SLIDE FOR STRUCTURE GRID

STORY STRUCTURETHE SITUATION Who are the characters? Where are they in life?THE TRIGGER Sometimes called the “initiating or “inciting incident”; something

changes in the main character’s life, something they have to deal withTHE CHALLENGE

The characters starts to deal with the problem or conflict in their life; they encounter obstacles and there is often jeopardy, a sense of danger or some kind of loss

REVERSAL Some new problem occurs, or some new challenge which either reverses the character’s first attempts to deal with the problem/challenge; it may also take the plot in a different direction

CLIMAX The situation reaches a critical pointRESOLUTION The story is resolved and finishedNot all stories follow this format but the majority broadly follow these lines. Woven around this structure will be the important elements of NARRATIVE (see next slide)

NARRATIVE ELEMENTSCHARACTERS Who are the main protagonists and what is their emotional journey?THEMES What are the underlying messages of the piece?SETTING Where does the action happen?GENRE What conventions does it fit into?PLOT What is actually happening?

These elements are different in each story; there are an almost infinite number of different characters, themes, settings, and genres which can be woven around the SAME basic story structure. Your textbook uses the familiar fairy tales of SNOW WHITE as an example (page 30).

NARRATIVE ELEMENTS• Your assignment is to do the EXERCISE for the STORY & NARRATIVE STRUCTURE of CINDERELLA using the SNOW WHITE structure on page 30 as an example. You will find this STRUCTURE & NARRATIVE EXERCISE in the WEEK #4 Folder.•Don’t be fooled into thinking this “silly” by the use of Fairy Tales – all stories use structure and well-known stories like CINDERELLA and SNOW WHITE are great examples of the kind of structures that form all stories.•We’re using the Grimm Brothers’ version of CINDERELLA found here http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html

TRAILER STRUCTURE•Another good way to examine and explore story structure and narrative is to look at trailers for movies. The point of a film trailer is obviously to make you want to see the film so trailers typically convey some of the narrative elements used in the film such as:–A sense of the central plot and/or themes in the film–A sense of the characters in the film–A sense of the genre of the film (what type of film is it? Horror? Drama? Comedy? Etc.)

TRAILER STRUCTURE•But trailers are only so long so they have to use pivotal moments in the story structure so that they can convey a lot of information about the film in a short space of time. It will tell you:–Something about the main character’s situation–Something about the trigger or inciting incident–It will give you a taste of the types of challenges the main character is facing

TRAILER STRUCTURE BOARD DISCUSSION• Go to WEEK #4 and participate in this week’s discussion by

choosing a movie trailer for a film you’ve not seen and identifying these story and narrative elements as conveyed by the trailer alone:

– SITUATION (what’s generally going on?)– TRIGGER (what kicks of the action?)– CHALLENGES (what are the character(s) dealing with?)– GENRE (what type of film is it? Horror? Drama? Etc.)– MAIN CHARACTERS (who is in the film-remember you may not be given

their names and that’s fine, but you will be given information about what they’re like as characters)

– MAIN POINTS OF PLOT (what is going to happen over the course of the film? A chase? A fight? A journey back in time? Etc.)

– SEE WEEK #4: TRAILER STRUCTURE for detailed instructions