DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1)
Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast
Release Date: 11/23/2016
Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast
How does your protagonist’s final choice resolve the plot, character arc and theme? In this episode, Stu and Chas focus solely on the final choices made by protagonists and how that reflects their character journey and successfully, or not, dramatises the internal. We compare and contrast different uses of narrative POV in respect to these final choices, in particular whether and when the audience is made aware of the options available to the character, the act of making the choice, and the consequences of the choice. We breakdown examples from DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES,...
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How do dramatic questions create tension? In this episode, Stu and Chas delve into the cultural phenomenon of ADOLESCENCE. We try to find the craft tools that have made the show so compelling and such a catalyst for conversation. In particular, we breakdown how the show’s emphasis on questions creates tension: not just tension through plot, but tension through character, and ultimately tension through theme. We analsyse the show episode-by-episode, and discuss how the overall structure skilfully shifts from a plot-heavy police procedural towards a thematic-heavy melodrama...
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How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story? Following on from our episodes on establishing tone through action lines and through character, this is what we have been building up to: how to pull off a tonal switch… that does not throw the audience out of the film. And, in particular, how to pull that off on the page when writers don’t have framing, lighting, music, editing, etc. at our disposal? With that goal in mind, Mel and Chas dissect specific moments on the pages of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU and SWISS ARMY MAN. While there are definite...
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How do you make extended technical scenes funny on the page? Mel joins Chas to tackle physical comedy. We limited our homework selection to extended scenes (as opposed to moments and sight gags) in live action projects and - with the help of our Patreons - selected early sequences from BRINGING UP BABY, the pilot for HAPPY ENDINGS and that wonderful food poisoning scene in BRIDESMAIDS. We discover how these incredible writers take their time (on the page) to set up geography, framing and running gags. We also get tips on judicious use ALL CAPS, ellipses and M-dashes to recreate visual gags…...
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What magic do Christmas movies use to make them so rewatchable? In this “backmatter” episode of Draft Zero, Stu, Chas, and Mel Killingsworth embark on a festive exploration of what makes holiday films so engaging and so re-watchable that they can become part of our rituals. To that end, we breakdown the charm of of Christmas films like KISS KISS BANG BANG, RIDERS OF JUSTICE, and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. We discuss what defines a holiday movie, the power of nostalgia, the importance of ensembles to a sense of family, and how voiceover, snappy dialogue and intricate plots can make...
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How does ending your story on the climax affect audience experience? While Stu is on show, Mel and Chas sit down to analyse the meaning behind the ending of 2024’s CHALLENGERS, especially when - upon reading the script - the most impactful moment of the ending on screen (for Chas in particular) is not written on the page. Following on from episodes on filmmakers talking directly to the audience as well as previous exploration into choices and decisions (and hopefully serving as a prelude to our episode on Hero’s Choice), Mel and Chas explore the choices the characters make in that final...
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What tools help ensure that you as the filmmaker are not misunderstood? In our final (ha!) episode looking at Talking Directly to the Audience, we turn away from character-and-text based craft tools to look at other ways that filmmakers - whether they be directors, writers, editors, or anyone else - can make the audience feel their 'hand' more. To that end, Mel, Stu and Chas dive into ADAPTATION, STORIES WE TELL and THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION. We discuss structure (in particular how to structure more “meta” stories), the influence of TikTok and YouTube in portraying character...
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DZ-112: Breaking the 4th wall How is the effect of breaking the 4th wall different to VoiceOver? As part of our series on how filmmakers can directly communicate to the audience, we finally examine the most blatant tool of them all: when character look directly down the barrel of the camera… and thus look directly at us, the viewer. Chas, Stu and Mel take the craft tools/levers they identified in previous episodes and use them to examine HIGH FIDELITY, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY and - of course - FLEABAG. By examining how “in-world” the camera is, who is talking, and whom the character is talking...
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How does the unreliability of a narrator impact the way a story is told? In this episode, Stu and Mel (sans Chas!) take a deep dive into FIGHT CLUB and its use of the unreliable narrator. This is a bridging episode between our previous episode on VOICEOVER and our forthcoming episode on TALKING TO CAMERA as Fight Club does both. We dissect the film’s disconnected sequence-driven structure and how the voiceover ’stitches’ the film together. And then we look at what makes ‘Jack’ an unreliable narrator and how his control over the storytelling impacts us. As...
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How can you use Voiceover without it feeling like a cheat? In this episode, we finally delve into the world of VOICEOVERS (as part of our larger series exploring craft tools that allow characters & storytellers to talk directly to the audience). Chas, Stu and Mel deep dive into the VERONICA MARS pilot, Disney’s THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, and the Michael Bay epic PAIN & GAIN. In exploring what makes these particular examples of Voiceover great (and not feel like a cheat or a well-worn trope), we apply the four levers identified in our Part 1 (in particular ‘when in time is the...
info_outlineHow can you successfully integrate exposition into your story?
In Draft Zero's first two part episode, Stu & Chas take an in-depth look at one of screenwriting's most common challenges: EXPOSITION. For many stories there are pre-existing facts that need to be communicated to the audience — whether those facts be about the rules of the world, the nature of a location, character motivations, character backstories or just character names. So how have great writers made exposition move the story forward, rather than stopping it to tell the audience stuff they need to know?
To that end, in Part 1 of Excelling At Exposition we break down scenes from PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, SHORT TERM 12, INSIDE OUT, THE WORLD'S END, THE BIG SHORT, IT FOLLOWS, JURASSIC PARK and JURASSIC WORLD. Audio quotations are included for educational purposes.
Many thanks to /r/screenwriting for suggesting so many examples.
EPISODE LINKS
- On the Page: Ep 457. Terry Rossio
- Compiled PDF of all Screenplays Excerpts
- PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL by Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio
- Find it on JustWatch
- SHORT TERM 12 by Destin Daniel Cretton
- Find it on JustWatch
- INSIDE OUT story by Pete Docter & Ronnie Del Carmen; Screenplay by Pete Docter & Meg LeFauve & Josh Cooley
- Find it on JustWatch
- THE WORLD'S END by Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright
- Find it on JustWatch
- THE BIG SHORT screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
- Fandor: Who Deserves the 2016 for Best Picture by Kevin B. Lee
- Video Essayists - Nerd Writer & Every Frame A Painting
- IT FOLLOWS by David Robert Mitchell
- Find it on JustWatch
- JURASSIC PARK screenplay by David Koepp, based on the novel by Michael Crichton and on an adaptation by Michael Crichton and Malia Scotch Marmo
- Find it on JustWatch
- JURASSIC WORLD by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver and Colin Trevorrow & Derek Connolly, story by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver
- Find it on JustWatch
- Draft Zero: DZ-15: World Building Rules, Okay?
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