Step 09 – Turning Points

Welcome to Step 9 of the course!  Today we go into more structural detail, making sure that the audience is satisfied to see the emotional moments they pay tickets for. Much like your Hero, the viewer, too, goes through a journey of emotions during the course of the movie.

In order to make that experience enjoyable and believable, certain emotional marks need to be hit on every level of the story. After explaining the basis for this emotional logic this briefly, each section on these turning points may give you some further insight in the reasoning behind it.

We’ll be focusing on:

  • Inciting Incident
  • Act One Climax
  • Mid Point
  • Act Two Climax
  • Climax & Resolution

Because there is a relation between the duration of a story and the placing of each of these points, an audience will build a subconscious expectation based on when the first of these points occurs in the film etc.

The main objectives of this step are:

  • to understand and identify the key turning points in your story
  • to ensure those points are placed at the right time for your story

Before turning your attention to your own work, it is best to first apply what you have learned to successful movies you like and know well.
It is sheer impossible to analyze your own work well without learning first by examining other works.

Reading scripts is helpful but completed films often show these points more clearly, as the director emphasizes the fact that we’ve reached a key story moment. This is done by holding an image for a few seconds, or a fade to black.

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