Story Structure From Cave drawings to Hollywood Whether it's a roller coaster ride, a video game, or a feature film, there is an underlying structure to stories. Exercise: Think of an event in your life that was challenging but you completed, either successfully or unsuccessfully. Examples of this include events like trying to lose weight, preparing for a competition, quitting a bad habit... What are some of the earliest example of storytelling? Chauvet Caves- The Chauvet Cave in Southern France contain cave drawings dating back to 32,000 years ago (30,000 BC). For the film, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," the documentarians were given unprecedented access to the caves to tell the story of the drawings from the prehistoric period. The stories primarily revolved around hunting and depicts animals including mammoths, lions and rhinos. Cave-dwellers showed use of handcrafted weapons and the utilization of every part of the animal for survival. Trailer for "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" Tomates MOVIE Cave of Forgotten Dreams Official Trail... CLIPS E UD YouTube Watch on Aristotle Watch later ShareFast-forwarding to 330 B.C. Aristotle wrote "Poetics," and broke down the elements of drama into six categories: Fable (Plot), Character, Thought (Theme), Diction (Language), Melody (Rhythm), and Spectacle. We are still using the same elements of drama today in crafting stories for film. Plot - the arrangement of incidents on a stage, composed of "clearly defined problems for characters to solve." Aristotle said the playwright must create a plot "that is both credible and astonishing." Character - "the agents of the plot" Characters must "face and overcome obstacles we can recognize." Theme - examines "patterns in life" and sums up the reason the playwright wrote the play! Language - Characters "facing and overcoming obstacles need to express themselves in heightened language." Aristotle said that dialogue consisted of both narrative an dramatic language. Rhythm - simply put, pacing that comes as a result of the plot, character, language and spectacle that leads to a crisis point and then the "denouement," or falling off of the action. Spectacle - everything seen and heard on the stage. Some stories emphasize spectacle more than others. The "Curve" of story structure There is a structure to stories that has been recognized throughout time and expressed in many different ways. A simple Google Image search reveals there is a commonality to this pattern: Link to imagery of the classic story arc In "Hero With a Thousand Faces," Joseph Campbell's analyzed the path of mythical heroes throughout time to put together a common path of "the hero." His work was so influential that George Lucas followed his template to create the structure for "Star Wars: A New Hope." This clip perfectly sums up his perspective on why we tell stories:In the early 90s, a Disney employee, Christopher Vogler, put out a memo to his colleagues called "A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces based on Joseph Campbell's work. This ultimately became a book called "The Writer's Journey" and has been used by many writers and producers in Hollywood since its inception. The following is how Vogler pared down Campbell's concepts to fit the Hollywood model for structure: Call to Adventure Refusal of the Call Mentor Ordinary World ACT I Approx. 30 screenplay pages First Threshold Crisis Tests, Allies, Enemies Approach to Inmost Cave Ordeal ACT II Reward (Seizing the Sword) The Road Back 60 screenplay pages Climax *Each page of a screenplay is roughly equated to one minute of screen time Return with the Elixir Resurrection ACT III 30 screenplay pages
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