Film Courage: What is the Classic Hollywood Story or story structure
that every filmmaker slash writer should know?
Pete Chatmon, Filmmaker/Author: I think plenty of people have said it better than
me. The Hero's Journey by Christopher Vogler. I think understanding the archetypes of well first
that classic 3x structure which is the setup the confrontation the resolution and watching a cat
and being introduced to a character in their world as they are experiencing it having them deal with
whatever inciting incident challenges them and makes them rise to action and then obviously
the resolution where we see how the journey of act two has impacted them and will
affect their life and the lives of those closest to them as they move
past the world of our film I think that's something you have to understand because it's
where most storytelling exists and how and then in turn how most people are used to
absorbing and digesting a story so learning what works before you break the rules is important
I think that there are other then then you get into more particular understandings of character
and structure that hero's journey book by Vogler is great because he breaks down the character
archetypes from the I might misquote some of these people but you've got allies you've got
you've got the shape shifters the people who are introduced as allies perhaps but then they have
ulterior motives whether driven by plot or driven by character all of these things are are helpful
to make you kind of look at the world of your story and begin to pick up the right tool to craft
it into something that best realizes whatever your themes and your points are that you're trying to
trying to accomplish so I feel that's that's the key then if you are I think that Robert McKee's
book obviously has a great story triangle that was one element of the book that but it was very
I'm a visuals person and so I think in his triangle he has at the top of the triangle is
the Classic Hollywood narrative that we're talking about now at the bottom is
the anti-hero a Travis Bickle and Taxi Driver and then at the bottom on the other side is the the
multiple character story a magnolia or anything Robert Altman and the joke that he makes is as
you move down the triangle your audience gets smaller and I think that's true unless you have
a movie star in it and you can make Magnolia or Crash or whatever it might be right but yeah
understanding those things I think is important to being able to have some agency and control
over the story while still being responsive to what the characters tell you needs to happen
did you watch Casablanca again after you took McKee's class oh yeah I've tried I've watched it
often yeah okay yeah and did you see it with new eyes once you once you took his class definitely
I saw it with new eyes you start there's there's I can enjoy something while watching
watching the sausage being made what I can watch oh I see what they're doing I see why
they did that in that scene and that was still it was very economical it was still
character driven and that was a smart way to do it in 1941. what or even now I'm watching
we're watching Top Boy on Netflix and there are certain things that kind of have to happen in
the story and when they happen I'm watching and I'm ah that was a very smart way to do
something that has to happen and so when the mile markers that's when you can begin to add
your own perspective add your own sauce your old your own interpretation and make it unique but
you can't if you don't know that that mile marker is happening you can't do it at all a bad example
would be if you were a vegan you have to know what certain elements are doing in a non-vegan dish
to then say we need this thing to accomplish what cheese would accomplish what and so
the architecture of storytelling you've gotta you've got to have a you got to be fluent when you
went to direct was it some of the later episodes of you of you I did episode 307 and 308 so that
was third season episode seven and eight out of ten total episodes so did you go and re-watch
and study who these characters are because they're very very clear interesting characters fascinating
yeah with any show I'll go and some shows make it impossible because they have too many seasons but
with you I watched every I probably watched every episode twice because I'm watching for
style I'm watching for and that could be from the writing to the to the tone how they handle
different moments whether it's violence or sex or camera nowadays how are you applying
text and then being on a phone because that's a whole other thing and I'm trying to digest
it's the information's already there for me to to start from so I'm trying to take it all in
a lot of times I might notice oh well you used to do this thing in season one
and it's not happening anymore is that why did you step away from that and sometimes
you're oh that was the thing we hated or maybe they might say oh what that was cool
I don't know why we aren't doing that anymore let's do that so I'm trying to information is key
and then I'll read any and all scripts up to my episode because some things won't be finished
so in a scenario that you might have I could watch maybe two episodes 301 and 302 and then
I've got to read three four five and six to know where we are in the story and then
figure out what is happening in my episode and then I've got to have questions about where it's
going so I I'm aware if I'm setting up anything in particular for the final two sure and a lot
of chance meetings in a show that and and a lot of characters lying and not revealing themselves
which is sort of the audience is privy to it but the other characters aren't right and that
show last little inside for for the directors out there that show was an interesting challenge that
I didn't foresee which is blocking for Joe for Pam Badgley's character where when we're in his mind
and he's got his thoughts blocking in a way where he can have business and be moving around a room
so those those thoughts can kind of be private and he's not compelled to engage with the other person
so it's if I'm if if two people are looking at each other it's a little weird to have
this monologue going that this voiceover on him while he's talking to somebody over here
but let's say I make him take a walk over here get a plate out of the cupboard his backs to
her he comes back here puts the plate down and a fork and a knife and then he looks up that
could cover all the VO [voice over] of his inner thoughts and so it was a lot of having to think
the actor and come up with pitches that would work for that reason
and so I'm sure that'll be a skill that I'll take to something else that I can't predict.