How Movies Work

1. How Movies Work • Stories • Above all, American movies are stories about people who are having conflicts that need resolution • Movie stories are “character driven;” people make things happen • Shots • The camera tells the story, whether in close ups, long shots, or pans • Always, the movie has a “point of view;” an angle on the story that the camera defines • Stars • The characters in the movies are played by actors who are often familiar to the audience • The most well-known actors are “Stars;” personalities with whom we have developed special relationships

2. Stories • The Field Theory: A film story has from 10 to 20 “plot points,” major twists or key events in the action. At midpoint of Act 2, there is usually a major reversal of expectations, sending the action spinning in a new direction toward an unexpected resolution in Act 3. (Syd Field wrote several handbooks on screenwriting) 25% 50% 25% Midpoint Act 1 Setup Act 2 Confrontation Act 3 Resolution

3. Synopses of Hollywood Stories • There are, roughly speaking, nine generic setup/confrontation/resolution synopses • Man against man (over a woman; the eternal triangle) • Man against men (war) • Man against woman (Mom doesn’t let junior go) • Woman against man (Dad doesn’t let sis go) • Woman against woman (the younger sister steals the older sister’s husband) • Man against nature (fire threatens small town) • Man against disaster (it’s a tornado!) • Man against himself (conflict of conscience) • Man against his environment (teenager struggles to be accepted by peers)

4. Story Boards • Hollywood movies are first cartooned into “story boards” • A story board is cartoon of what each scene will look like • The entire movie is often “storyboarded” so that the crew – camera, actors, directors, technical personnel – can see what the pictures need to look like in order to engender conflict and provide resolution

5. Shots • The camera tells the story in pictures • A movie is a picture story; the conflict and resolution must be visible on screen • There are three primary elements to the picture on the screen • Mis en scene • Shots • Sound

6. Mis en scene • Mis en scene is a French term meaning “what is put into the scene” • There are three elements to mis en scene • Set • Costume • Lighting

7. Sets (Settings) • The set is the environment in which the action takes place • Sets are divided into “exteriors”—those that take place outside, and “interiors”—those inside rooms • Movies that are filmed “on location” make use of a “realistic” set • Movies filmed “in studio” use “fabricated” sets.

8. Costume • Clothing, wigs, make-up are all part of the mis en scene • Costumes can establish and maintain the “persona” of characters in the movie • Costumes, of course, must “fit in” with the set to make a coherent mis en scene

9. Lighting • Light is what movies are made of; the movie is nothing more (or less) than the interplay of shadow and space on the screen! • Lighting can make a scene happy, sad, hopeful, or despairing. • Lighting can make an actor mysterious, it can make an actress beautiful • The lighting is what makes mis en scene visible

10. Shots • Movies do not move! • A movie consists of thousands of still pictures (shots) that have been edited together in order to tell the story • There are many different types of shots, but five types are most essential • Distance--The close up, the medium, and the long shot • Dialogue--The over the shoulder shot • Tone--Color tone, black and white tone, grainy tone • Angle--High angle, low angle, extreme angle shots • Moving--dolly shots, crane shots, reframed shot (moving from a close-up to a long shot, moving from a high angle to a low angle)

11. Stars • Movies need people to play characters that make the conflict in the story happen • Characters in movies are “minor” or “major” in relation to how much time they are on screen and how much they have to do with moving the story from beginning to end. • A “star” is a movie actor with a special attraction to the audience • The audience expects a specific type of story and character from the star • The audience allows the star to play a character, but expects the star to remain “true to type” no matter what the character does. • The star is a reflection of the audience’s “fantasy self” – the star is who the audience feels itself to beor be with, in the intoxicating realm of movies and their stories.