This is the start of a new series not a weekly series
But a series that would release a new episode every several weeks for the next several months
Originally this began is a few separate video ideas that I realized had a common thread so I said hey
Let's just make this thing a series
So what's this series about?
You're a real blue flame flame special aren't you son?
Like most of us I love action scenes, and I spend way too much time thinking about them
But not because they're cool or badass or have rad fuckin explosions and shit
But because action is the purest form of cinema an action scene is entirely about visual storytelling
Sure there might be some dialogue and obviously sound plays a big role
But above all else it is about telling a story through visuals because look action scenes go right back to the beginning of cinema
Before there was sound or dialogue there were action scenes at their best action scenes can be transcendent the most visceral
Thrilling form of cinema and when they're bad they can be absolutely maddening the point of this series is to explore why?
So to start I want to ask a question
What is a perfect action scene?
This is a perfect action scene it's the climactic chase scene from Nick parks short film the wrong trousers
It does everything a good action scene should do it's exciting. It's surprising and it tells a story
So what is that story on a macro level it's pretty simple?
Feathers mcgraw tries to escape with a diamond wallace and gromit try to stop him finally they do
But when we zoom in there's a much more complicated story being told in just over two minutes
There are over two dozen story beats
There's this famous video of Trey Parker and Matt Stone the creators of South Park explaining storytelling
but we can take these beats which are basically the beats of your outline, and if the words and then
belong between those beats you're *bleep*
Basically you got you got something pretty boring
What should happen between every beat that you've written down is either the word therefore or?
But and that's entirely what this scene is Gromit is trying to catch feathers, but he uses a gun to open an escape door
Therefore grommet diverts the train onto a new track Wallace lands on the train, but feather shoots his car onto a separate track
But he catches up and takes the gun away
He crashes into a wall most of these connected beats that changes in the characters fortune are called
Reversals heres Shane black, maybe the best action screenwriter of all time explaining reversals
I think reversals in a story are so important the example. I use is called the haystack game
You're telling a story about him to a friend said well. It was fell off the plane and the friends. Oh my god
That's bad. It wasn't oh, that's that's good because he had a parachute as well. Well. That's good well
No, that's bad because the parachute didn't open. He's oh my god well
That's terrible no no no that's good because you're in a reserve chute. Oh, well. That's good. No. That's bad
The reserve chute didn't open either the point is every time
He gives something you take it away, and you twist things constantly you oh my god. They're safe or they're not safe
Oh, but they're gonna make it over. They're not gonna make it. There's good news, but then there's bad news
There's bad news, but then there's good news in this scene. There are 11 reversals
That's about one every 10 seconds Wallace catches up with the net, but the net gets caught Gromit almost catches feathers
But he uncouples his car from the train the track is about to run out
But Gromit grabs a box of spare track and makes a new one the whole scene operates like this almost
Every five seconds there is a new beat a new reversal a new change in the character's fortune and another reason this scene works
So well is that every element it introduces gets paid off the train itself creates countless different scenarios
Divergent tracks separate cars track running out it's constantly morphing and creating new dynamics
It puts the scene in perpetual motion the action can't stop because the train doesn't
early on introduces the notion of feathers using his odd shape to escape which in the end is how he gets captured and
the wrong trousers
Themselves are planted in the scene right at the start and return to pay off in the climactic moment here is Shane black again talking
About the satisfaction of a good setup and payoff in storytelling you hid your setup
So it seemed like it was there just for the moment
Then later you pay it off and you go
Oh the best response you can have to a payoff in a thriller is some of those
Oh right, I forgot of course. I should have thought of that so now that we've explored how this scene works on the page
How is it actually executed well very?
very clearly
Almost the entire scene plays out in wide shots where we can see the full character as well as the Train
Close-ups are only used for emphasis and to draw the audience's attention to important things
The train will always be moving in the same direction across the screen so here
It's moving right to left and we can see that feathers is at the front end of the Train and gromit around the middle
Since the primary drama of the scene is Gromit trying to catch up with feathers
it's important that we always know where they are in relation to one another and that's achieved by making the shots and
Geography of the scene extremely clear when it comes to action clarity is key, so
Yeah, this might be a silly scene about a dog chasing a penguin
But it's also an important lesson that you don't need violence property damage or CGI to make a great action scene
just good clear storytelling and
Honestly a gun-wielding penguin doesn't hurt either
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