Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters by Michael Tierno

Author:Michael Tierno
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books

All the audience needs to interpret whether a scene or movie has ended happily or sadly can be dialog, or simply a gesture from a character in a reaction shot, but the kind of action that usually works best to communicate emotional conclusions is physical and demonstrative. For example, when Rocky finally rises during the fifteenth round of the boxing match right before the referee counts him out, this shows that he lasted fifteen rounds, and this action means Rocky is happy. And this moment is not just a change in Rocky’s fortune, it’s a reversal of fortune—it carries the weight and emotions of the whole plot.

You may be interested to find out that practically every great movie depicts an extreme change in the hero’s fortune. It’s as if we moviegoers were fortune-change junkies. So don’t underestimate the severity of this need in the audience. The hero’s fortune must go from one extreme to the other, and how it gets where it’s going must be presented logically, and entertainingly. Another little secret about this I’ve noticed is that many great screenwriters have figured out how to have it all still come down to one moment as well, as we noted earlier in Rocky. With that thought in mind, it’s time to take a look at how the concept of reversal of fortune works in the context of Aristotle’s favorite kind of plot. On to the next chapter!

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.