What does character driven mean? Face off between School of Rock and Back to the Future

I've decided to jump around a little and interrupt the complete story weave map of Back to the Future. There are several reasons. First is that it was a much bigger project than I imagined- mapping almost 200 story beats and defining the story function for each. I learned a lot completing the parts that I did. I've had a lot going on in my life so it's been hard to find the time to tackle such a big task. 

The second is that I'm still trying to decide how to do it! I mean I could put all of the beats on one dragon and it would look like the cockpit of a 747. It would be hard to gather useful information at that level of detail. Yet, this is exactly what we must do when we make a movie- work with that level of detail. The trick is to show how it's useful. I think the partial maps that I've shown have done this. Like showing how setups and payoffs in the story must link together.

Third, is I want to keep sharing the fun information that I've been learning from my Dragon weaving theory, like what happens if you move the parts around?

 So here's the next post...

I'm sure many of you have heard the expression "character driven story." Has anyone ever explained what it means? No, it's not when the character drives in the story. Unless it's about a bus driver. No one has ever explained it to me. So with the help of the dragon, I'm going to show you two films to illuminate the difference between a story that is character driven and one that's not. 

First let's ask what the character wants. What does Marty want? Come on, isn't it obvious? He wants to go camping with Jennifer.

Now, what does Dewey want? He wants to be a rock god, so he can go camping with Jennifer. No, sorry. He wants to be a famous rock and roll star. But, he's miserable at it and he gets kicked out of the band. And on top of that he can't pay his rent so he's about to be kicked out. So, in other words, he's desperate. 

Marty wants to camp with Jennifer. Dewey wants to follow his dream to play music. How do these characters drive the story? What does Jennifer have to do with going back to the future? The only thing that I can see is a psychoanalytic interpretation which we won't get into here. It has nothing to do with the story. So does Marty drive the story? Or is he stuck in the middle of random events?

Now let's look at Dewey. Dewey's desperate, so what does he do? He answers Ned's phone, pretends to be Ned and steals his offer for a substitute teachers job. Does he drive the story.?"Stick it to the man", you bet he does. Every thing in that movie is a direct result of Dewey pretending to be a teacher so he can pay his rent and follow his dream of playing music. And he gets it. He becomes the teacher of School of Rock.

Marty does drive part of the story. When Marty saves his father's live, he interrupts the space time continuum and now according to the family history, instead of falling for his father, Marty's mother falls for Marty. I knew Freud had something to do with this. But now because of his impulsive action he begins to drive the story. Figurative and literally. He drives the DeLorean back to the future.

So there you have it. Which is a better film? I love both of these movies, however I think you could learn more about storytelling from School of Rock. It's a clearer example of character driven. 

Here are both films laid out so you can easily compare them using their dragon weaves.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Till next time, happy weaving...

What's at stake in Back to the Future, Storyteller's log

The Dragon shape of stories has been continually surprising me with the new insights that I've learned since started looking at stories in this new visual way. Comparing the two dragons of Back to the Future with School of Rock was very illuminating and I'll show that when I finish storyweaving Back to the Future.

It maps the ups and downs of the characters and the audience as they are spellbound in hoping and fear. This X axis also shows what's at stake, in other words the biggest hope (+) and the greatest fear (-). It's important for the audience to know what the stakes of a story are in order for them to engage with the character's journey.

So continuing with the Dragonweave of Back to the Future, I thought I'd map where these hopes and fear stakes are introduced in the story.

(For those who want to work on their own stories in this way, I'm using VUE, Visual Learning Environment, it's a mapping software put out by Tufts University. What I like about it is that allows you to sort your elements onto various layers with on/off visibility and it's free. The dragon is my dragon shape on the locked bottom layer.) Click to go to the  VUE WEBSITE

(Click to enlarge)

The hopes and fears are also implied narrative questions. Will the hope succeed or will the characters suffer our worst fears? Each of these are two sides of the same coin with the audience always rooting on the side of hope. The villain roots for fear.

You can see how the filmmaker continually reminds the audience of what's at stake so the audience will keep hoping and fearing totally engaged in the story. This is so true that during one shot, while the DeLorean is supposedly traveling close to 88 MPH, the car ISN'T MOVING!

Below is a blank template of the dragon that you can import into VUE to map your own story weave.

(Click to enlarge)

Back to the Future Part 7 The Parents Kiss plan

Well mapping a complete film is much more complicated than I had imagined. And fitting it onto the dragon shape is going to require a life size dragon. What is life size for a dragon anyway? 

I'm going to map a section at a time. So this section is the one of two plans that have to be accomplished in ACT 3. Marty has to get his parents to kiss at the dance and then he needs to connect the DeLorean with the lightning bolt to get back to the future. Here are the main beats for this section. The hopeful beats are green and the fear beats are green. Blue indicated neutral or a surprise in the plan.

When Lorraine comes on to Marty, I've indicated this beat as green because that's what's supposed to happen in the plan. In the image below, the beats are arranged along the dragon spine.

In this second Dragonweave diagram, I've stretched out the time line so we can see the spikes of the dragon as the beats go up and down as they slowly rise over the dragon spine.

In this next Dragonweave diagram, I've indicated where the different items have been setup earlier int the story. Stories are all about setups and payoffs. 

With our friend the dragon, we can see what's happening with the audience.

At this point we're happy for Marty, however we know and we're anticipating the seeing him solve the harder part of getting back to the future. By contrast, the dance was the calm before the storm. In this case it's literal. The lightning bolts coming soon...

Back to the future part 6, Act 3 storybeat functions

Once again, sorry for the delay but here is Back to the Future ACT 3 beats.

ACT THREE Back to the Future Storybeats and their functions.

91. ANTICIPATION OF ACTION:

At the night of the dance, George waits for Marty to arrive. 

92. WARNING;

Marty writes Doc a letter warning Doc about the Libyans in the future. He slips the note into the pocket of Doc's coat.

93: ACTION- PLAN TO GET PARENTS TO KISS STARTS;

Marty arrives at the dance in Doc's car with Lorraine and asks her if they can "park" for a while. 

94. IRONIC DIALOGUE AND CHARACTERIZATION, FUNCTION BUYING TIME FOR GEORGE TO ARRIVE ;

Lorraine brought liqour and begins to smoke. Marty chastises her and she dismisses him, saying he sounds like her mother. 

95. UNEXPECTED ACTION IN PLAN;

Marty’s plan takes a wrong turn when Lorraine comes on to him strongly.

96. EXPECT PLAN FOLLOWUP ACTION;

The door opens and Marty is pulled out.

97. SURPRISE TWIST;

However, it’s not George, it’s a drunk Biff who wants revenge. 

98. OBSTACLE TO PLAN;

When Biff sees Lorraine, he gets in the car with her and starts to molest her. 

99. OBSTACLE;

Biff’s gang tosses Marty into the open trunk of a car, slamming the lid. 

100. RESCUE;

The Marvin Berry’s band scares Biff's gang off. 

101. OBSTACLE;

But they realize that the keys are in the trunk with Marty.

102. GEORGE FOLLOWS PLAN BUT MEETS SURPRISE;

At Doc's car, George arrives and pulls Biff from the car. George tries to hit Biff, but fails. 

103. ACTION IN CHARACTER;

Biff roughly pushes Lorraine away.

104. PLAN STARTS TO WORK;

George stands up for Lorraine and punches Biff, knocking him out.

105. MARTY RESCUED;

Marvin frees Marty, who sees Biff knocked out. 

106. PLAN CONTINUES TO WORK;

George takes Lorraine's hand and they go to the dance.

107. OBSTACLE;

The dance stops when Marvin can’t play with his hurt hand. 

108. OBSTACLE;

Marty knows they still need to kiss during the dance. 

109. PLAN ACTION;

Marty plays guitar in Marvin's place playing a romantic song. 

110. OBSTACLE;

Marty begins to fade when a student cuts in between George and Lorraine on the dance floor.

111. PLAN WORKS;

George regains his courage, takes Lorraine back and kisses her passionately. 

112. SIGN OF ICON- PLAN ONE FINISHED;

Marty reappears in the photo and finishes the song.

113. SIGN OF PLAN ONE FINISHED;

His father and mother dance happily in each others arms.

114. COMIC RELIEF;

Berry asks Marty to play another song and Marty get carried away with music from the future.

115. GOODBYES;

Marty leaves and runs into George and Lorraine. Lorraine asks if it's OK for George to take her home and Marty agrees. 

116. ANTICIPATION OF ACTION;

At the town square, Doc impatiently waiting for Marty. 

117. WARNING IGNORED;

Doc discovers the note in his pocket. Fearing knowing the future, he tears up the note.

118. OBSTACLE:

A fallen tree limb disconnects the cabling he has installed. 

119. ACTION;

Doc climbs the clock tower to reconnect it. 

120. WARNING;

Marty tries to warn Doc about his future, but is drowned out by the storm and the clock bell.

121. ACTION;

Marty runs back to the DeLorean and races to the starting point.

122. REALIZATION:

While waiting for the timer Marty realizes that he has a time machine, he can go back early and warn the Doc. 

123. OBSTACLE & FORESHADOWING;

Just then, the car stalls and Marty frantically tries to start it again. 

124. ACTION;

It restarts, the timer goes off, and Marty begins speeding toward town square. 

125. ACTION;

Doc reconnects the cable just as the lighting bolt surges through the line.

126; PLAN TO GET MARTY BACK COMPLETED;

The DeLorean connects with the electricity and speeds off into the future. 

127; SIGN OF PLAN COMPLETED;

Doc celebrates in the street.

128. SIGN OF PLAN COMPLETED;

Marty arrives safely in 1985. 

129. FORESHADOWING OBSTACLE PAID OFF;

The Delorean stalls again and Marty has to run to the mall.

130. TRAGIC ACTION;

Marty’s too late and sees Doc killed again.

131; ACTION- TIME LOOP?;

He also sees himself race off and disappear in the DeLorean. 

132. REACTION;

Marty is devastated that he couldn't arrive in time to save Doc.

133. SURPRISE ACTION;

Doc, however, sits up.

134. REACTION AND REVALATION:

Marty is shocked until Doc reveals his bulletproof vest. 

135. AFTERMATH;

Doc drives Marty home and telling his plan to travel 30 years in the future.

136. CHANGED WORLD;

Marty wakes up the next morning to find his whole family has changed to become more successful and happier. 

137. SETUP;

Lorraine asks Marty about his camping trip with Jennifer, but he replies the car is wrecked.

138. REACTION;

Everyone reacts it until George shows them Biff is waxing the car in the driveway.

138. POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF MARTY’S ACTION;

Biff brings in a box of George's first published sci-fi book. 

139. MORE POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES;

Marty doesn’t understand when Biff hands him the keys until he learns it’s for his new truck.

140. REUNION;

Marty’s glad to see Jennifer.

141. NEWS;

Suddenly the DeLorean appears. Doc tells Marty he has to come with him, something’s wrong with his and Jennifer's kids in the future!

142. VISUAL PROOF OF HAVING BEEN IN FUTURE;

Doc, in wild clothes, gathers garbage as the new fuel for the new engine.

143. WARNING;

Marty tells the Doc he needs to back up further to get up to 88 mph.

144. WARNING UNNECESSARY, NEW ACTION- SETUP FOR SEQUEL;

Doc has converted the car to a hovercraft and flies them into the future. 

THE END

This was exhausting analyzing out all these storybeats and their functions also because there was a lot of other things going on in my life concurrently. So before I take on the next BIG task of mapping all these beats on the dragon spine I'd like to share some other insights about back to the future. When I was at Disney Feature, I was asked by Jack Bossom, the head of artist development, if I would talk to a group of trainees. He said it could be about anything I wanted. So I chose time and editing in film. And what better movie to analyze about time and editing than Back to the Future? This is one of the things that lead me to future teaching and lecturing at Disney. I also told you that I'd share some trivia about Back to the Future. So without further ado, here are the secrets of time travel...

How long does it take a Delorian to get from 0 to 88 miles per hour?

Let’s look at how the” race with lightning” is structured. Back to the Future is smartly structured in that it gives the audience the necessary information about how the race with lightning will work well before the climax of the movie. The Doc explains how it will work to Marty (and the audience) in his lab with a scale model of the scene. This is wonderfully demonstrates visually how the plan is supposed to work and additionally, because of the mishap during the simulation, we get to see what’s at stake- the whole thing could go up in flames!

By the time we arrive at the climax of the movie, we already know that Marty has to accelerate the DeLorean to 88 mph and arrive at the wire where the lightning will strike at 10:04 generating the necessary gigawatts to send Marty back to the future. With the audience having this information, the filmmakers could dive right into the action.

There are ticking clocks in the scene, one in the car and another on the clock tower. This made it interesting to analyze because I could compare how the chronological time was different from the emotional time.

The overarching question in the narrative question hierarchy is will the plan work and Marty get back to the future. Within the larger question are a series of smaller ones that delay the answering of the larger one.

The sequence opens with a night shot of the clock tower, Doc walks up the camera, looks at this watch and asks the first narrative question for us, “Where is that kid?” A police officer asks the Doc what’s he’s doing. Will the officer stop the plan? Marty shows up and tries to warn the Doc about the future. As they argue over the letter, time is ticking away. Marty has to leave or risk losing being stuck in the past.

Now to build maximum excitement, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. The DeLorean won’t start and the cable plug pulls out. Now as the clock ticks we want to know will Marty be able to start the DeLorean and will the Doc connect the cable? Marty starts the car and begins the race against time intercut with Doc struggling with the cable.

The story time, as related by the Doc, tells us that the lightning will strike in seven minutes and twenty-two seconds. From the start of the engine to the lightning bolt hit it takes eight minutes and nine seconds of chronological time measured with a stopwatch. This is a difference of 57 seconds longer than it should have taken! Does it feel like it? No, the story races along. If fact, it races along so fast that most people don’t notice that there’s one shot of the car supposedly going almost 88 miles per hour where it’s not moving! The narrated emotional time was longer than clock time, yet feel like it’s shorter.

In analyzing Back to the Future, I discovered that a takes over a DeLorean 90 seconds to accelerate to 88 miles per hour. What was really amazing was that it took almost 30 seconds to travel one block going 88 miles per hour. This was a great example of understanding the enemies of design. They cut out boring parts and slowed down time in the moment of greatest excitement so you could drink it all in and enjoy the moment- story-delaying at it’s finest.

The sequence concludes with a wonderful shot that acts as a bridge to the future. The Doc cheers and looks up at the clock tower. We hear a helicopter approach and suddenly we’re back in 1980. It’s as if Doc had looked up to see the future.

How is time manipulated?

The filmmakers have added extra little delays in the presenting of the narrative that suspend time. Remember the narrative has us speaking each of these ideas one at a time in an effort to find the answers to the expectations and questions that it sets up. This keeps us very busy. The secret to this magical transformation of time is that time changes occur in-between the cuts. That's why it’s not obvious that it’s happening. This is also why it can be so powerful. Cuts must match on actions so as to appear as one flowing action. 

This section is from my book, Directing the Story; Professional Storytelling and Storyboarding Techniques for Live Action and Animation published by Focal Press.

Directing the Story

Till next time...

Back to the Future part 5, ACT TWO storybeat functions

Well, I'm finally back to the present and here is the next installment of Back to the Future's complete story weave. When I took on this assignment for myself, I did realize how complex mapping all the beats of a story would be or how long it would take to just identify the function of each beat. There's that and the fact that ACT TWO is twice as long as ACTS ONE and THREE.

As you last remember, Marty hopped into the DeLorean time machine and tried to escape from the terrorists, whom Doc stole the plutonium from, and accidentally turned on the time machine set to 1955.

BACK TO THE FUTURE ACT TWO STORY BEATS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS:

41. ACTION- CRASH INTO A NEW WORLD:

A scarecrow suddenly appears startling Marty. He crashes into a barn. 

The noise wakes up the farmer and his family. Seeing the DeLorean, they think it’s an aliens spaceship. When Marty emerges wearing his radiation suit. 

Marty tries to explain but the farmer shoots at him. 

Marty escapes in the DeLorean.

42. REALIZATION- I’VE GONE BACK IN TIME!

Marty thinks he’s having a nightmare until he sees his future home site.  

The DeLorean runs out of gas so Marty hides it and walks to town.

His home town in 1955 is completely foreign to Marty. 

43. ACTION- GETTING ORIENTED:

Marty goes to a malt shop and finds Doc’s address in the phonebook.

44. DISCOVERY:

Marty sees his future father, George, next to him at the malt shop. 

Marty tries to understand what’s happening.

45. REALIZATION- RELATIONSHIP:

Biff comes in bullying George. Marty realizes Biff has bullied his father since they were teenagers. 

46. REALIZATION- RELATIONSHIP:

Marty follows George and discovers the reason that George was in the tree when his parents met, he was peeping on a girl in her bedroom.  

47. ACTION- REPLAY OF EXPOSITION OF WE’VE HEARD

George falls in the path of an oncoming car. 

48. ACTION- MARTY DOES IT WRONG- HE INTERFERES WITH HISTORY:

Marty pushes George out of the car's path gets hit himself.

49. CONSEQUENCE- MARTY CHANGES HISTORY

Marty is knocked out and taken to the driver’s house.

50. IRONY PAID OFF: MARTY’S MOTHER ACTS JUST LIKE SHE TOLD HER DAUGHTER NOT TO:

Marty wakes up hearing his mother's voice. He discovers she’s a teenager. And she begins to come on to Marty. Marty’s saved by a call to dinner.

51. ACTION- GATHERING INFORMATION:

At dinner, the family eats while watching "The Honeymooners" on their first television. Marty asks how to find Doc's address, which Lorraine's father says is over on the east end of town. 

52. DRAMATIC IRONY- WE KNOW MARTY WILL BE HIS KID:

Lorraine's father tells his daughter, if she ever has a kid like Marty, he'll disown her.

53. ACTION:

Marty finds Doc Brown's house. Doc answers and he hooks Marty up to an invention to read other's thoughts. But it doesn’t work.

54. INFORMATION GIVEN:

Marty tells Doc about his time machine works and he's from the future. 

55. CONSEQUENCE:

Doc doesn't believe him. Marty tries to prove it with photos but Doc thinks they’re forged.

56. DISCOVERY OF CONSEQUENCE OF MARTY’S ERROR:

Doc notices that Marty's brother's head is beginning to disappear.

57. EXPOSITION LEADS TO BELIEF:

Marty explains how Doc hurt his head and led to the vision of the flux capacitor- Doc finally believes him. Shows him a drawing.

58. ACTION:

Marty takes Doc to the DeLorean, Doc’s elated that his time machine works. 

59. COMMITMENT:

Doc vows to send Marty, “Back to the future”!

60. OBSTACLE:

Watching the video from 1985, Doc panics when he learns time travel requires 1.21 gigawatts of power. Doc explains plutonium is not easy to get in1955.

61. OBSTACLE COMPOUNDED:

The only power that can generate that power is a lightning bolt you can’t predict a lightning strike. Marty’s stuck in the past.

62. PAYOFF EXPOSITION:

Marty remembers the flier about the lightning strike at the Hill Valley clock tower in one week. 

63. ACTION PLAN:

Doc begins to plan to harness the power of the bolt and send Marty home.

64. WARNING:

Doc warns Marty about interfering with things that may change the future and jeopardize his existence. Marty mentions interfering with first meeting between his father and mother. 

65. DISCOVERY: 

Doc looks at the photo of Marty and his siblings. Marty’s brother is fading from the photo as a result of Marty's interfering with his future parents.

66. ACTION & INFORMATION:

Doc takes Marty to the high school. They spot George being picked on. 

67. PERSUASIVE ACTION:

Marty tries to get George to talk to Lorraine but Lorraine has eyes for Marty. 

68. STAKES:

Doc worries that Marty has changed the past irreparably, George doesn’t have the guts to ask Lorraine out. 

69. ACTION- LIE:

Marty lies telling George that Lorraine wants him to ask her to the dance. 

70. SETUP:

Marty asks George what he's writing. Sci-fi stories. 

71. CHARACTER REVEAL:

Marty asks to read one and George refuses, fearing rejection.

72. RELATIONSHIP MISUNDERSTANDING:

George sees Lorraine with Biff and thinks that Lorraine wants to go to the dance with Biff.

73. ACTION:

Biff is across the cafeteria and harassing Lorraine. 

74. MARTY’S WRONG ACTION:

Marty stands up for Lorraine pulling Biff off her. 

75. CONSEQUENCE ACTION:

Biff begins pushing Marty and he pushing back.

76. INTERRUPTED ACTION:

Strickland breaks up the fight.

77. ACTION

Marty follows George begging George to ask Lorraine to the dance.

78. OBSTACLE & SETUP:

George continues to refuse and no one will make him change his mind.

79. PAYOFF ACTION:

That night, Marty wears his radiation suit and sneaks into George’s room. He tells George he's from another planet and orders him to ask Lorraine out, threatening to melt his brain if he doesn’t. George believes him.

80. ACTION:

Marty takes George to the malt shop where Lorraine is and gives George love advice to use on Lorraine which seem to work.

81. OBSTACLE:

George's efforts are foiled with Biff shows up. 

82. MARTY’S WRONG ACTION:

Marty defends George and fools Biff. Marty grabs a scooter from a girl and escapes turning it into a skateboard. 

83. CONSEQUENCE:

Biff and his gang follow Marty in Biff's car. 

84. ACTION:

Marty tricks Biff into crashing into a manure truck.

85. CONSEQUENCE:

Lorraine becomes even more attracted to Marty.

86. ACTION PLAN DEMONSTRATES EXPOSITION:

Doc shows Marty his plan, using a model car and scale model town, to use the lighting bolt to power the DeLorean. When the lighting strikes, the energy will travel a cable from the clock tower, cross the street to a hook attached to the car providing the 1.2 gigawatts necessary for time travel. It works great.

87. CONSEQUENCE DEMONSTRATES STAKES:

Except that it starts a fire.

88. OBSTACLE:

Lorraine interrupts them and she asks him out to the dance. 

89. SILVER LINING OF OBSTACLE:

Marty see a way to get George and Lorraine together and accepts her offer.

90. ACTION PLAN INFORMATION:

Marty tells George his plan. George will find Marty taking advantage of her in her car. George will pull Marty out of the car, pretend to beat him up saving her.

NARRATIVE QUESTIONS REMAINING:

Will Marty's plan succeed in getting George to kiss Lorraine at the dance or will Lorraine stay hooked on Marty until he fades from existence?

Will Doc's plans clock tower lightning plan work to power the DeLorean back to the future or will Marty go up in flames?

We want to keep watching to learn the answers. It's great how the filmmakers gave you vivid pictures of the hopes and the fears of these narrative questions.

These narrative questions are different from the ones that ended ACT ONE. There we wanted to know will Marty escape the terrorists?

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Stay tuned for the story beats and their functions from Act 3.

Dragonweaving Back to the Future part 4 storyteller's log

Sorry for the delay's with Back to the Future. I ran out of Plutonium and got stuck. Anyway, I'm still analyzing the beats of acts 2 and 3.  In the meantime,  I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what and how we're going to be mapping Back to the Future. I'm calling it Dragonweaving.

As we saw earlier, the dragon gestalt is composed of 4 progressions and three turns or changes of direction. These correspond to the three acts, with the second act being twice as long. (Remember, a gestalt is an emergent property that's greater than the sum of the parts.)

We're mapping both the ups and downs of the character along with the hopes and fears of the audience over time.

Here are the four progressions of Back to the Future:

Progression 1:
Marty has been hanging out with the dangerous Doc. We know he's dangerous because Principle Strickland tells us so. But we see just how dangerous he is right in the opening scene- he's stolen plutonium.

Turn 1:
Doc's actions cause consequences. The terrorists don't like being tricked so they kill him. Marty narrowly escapes in the time machine back to his past in 1955.

Progression 2:
In the past Marty disrupts the flow of the space time continuum changing the future. He saves his father causing his mother to fall in love with him. And he beats the bully Bif.

Turn 2:
Marty tracks down Doc and learns he's stuck in the past because you can't buy plutonium at the local 5 and 10. (For those who don't know a 5 and 10 store referred to stores where you could buy things for 5 and 10 cents. I guess it's equivalent to our current dollar stores. But even they don't sell plutonium) The consequence of this is that his brother and sister are starting to disappear from existence, this is shown by the visual icon of them fading from Marty's family photo.

Progression 3:
As Marty is beginning to lose everything, in the manner of Alice who worried she's going out like a candle flame. Doc makes a plan, which is BRILLIANTLY demonstrated by the use of a scale model. It shows us exactly what's at stake. The model car drives through the town and connects with the lightning bolt at a scale speed of exactly 88 miles per hour. (Ever wonder why 88 miles per hour?) What's brilliant about this scene is, not only to we see what the plan is with no dialogue needed, but we get to see what could happen if things go wrong- the car bursts into flames. A second plan is made where Marty will get his father to take his mother to the dance and have their first kiss.

Turn 3:
Marty gets his parent to kiss.

Progression 4:
Marty prepares the time machine while Doc has to deal with obstacles of getting the wiring back to the clock tower. The plan works and Marty is sent back to the future. The doc is saved and his family has changed for the better.

Here is it mapped on the dragon. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Let's try one example of one thread of the dragonweave of Back to the Future:

Early in the film, Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer are about to kiss.

OBSTACLE & SETUP: The clock tower lady interrupts their kiss wanting a donation to save the clock tower.

ACTION: Jennifer needs to give him a phone number where he can reach her so she writes it on the flier and he puts it in his pocket. 

Now this information has been setup for later use. It also served as a story delay for their romance.

Later, in the past, Marty wants to go back to the future. (That was a very weird sentence- later, in the past...) 

OBSTACLE: They don't have enough power for the time machine to work. They would need a lightning bolt which you can't predict.

PAYOFF!: Marty remembers he can predict a lightning bolt strike- exactly where and when.

ACTION: Doc makes a plan to power the time machine with lightning.

OBSTACLE & STAKE: The model car goes up in flames.

Now we cut away to the dance action. Once Marty is successful in getting his parents to kiss he goes to meet the Doc.

Doc has the time machine all set and the clock tower wired. 

OBSTACLE 1. The wiring to the clock tower comes out.

OBSTACLE 2. The DeLoean time machine won't start.

The clock tower is a great prop to use because it also literally functions as the "ticking clock" countdown. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

You'll notice I've color coded some of the parts. The red boxes indicate obstacles and they are connected with an incoming red arrow. This means that things are going back for the character and the audience will start to grow tense and fear for the characters. The green arrows indicate a rise up towards good things and the audience's hope. The yellow dotted arrow shows where the setup has been paid off. 

As you can see dragonweaving becomes a very eleglant way to map the progress of not only your story and plot but also how it's affecting your audience.

This is the first time I'm doing a dragonweave so according to my theory I'll probably do some things wrong and then suffer the consequences and... 

One thing I already discovered is that this one thread contains 11 threads. I've got over 80 storybeats to map. I'm going to need a really big dragon.

See you next time and extra credit for anyone who can figure out why 88 miles per hour. 

Entertainment while you wait... A new chapter on creativity

I'm still working on the next segment of Back to the Future. In the meantime, Focal Press just announced that the lost chapter of my book, The Animator's Eye has been found on the web!

MISSING CHAPTER CREATIVITY FOUND! 32 PAGES !

There's cool stuff on paradigm shifting, surrealism, and an overview of the creative process with a cool chart for you to follow in your creative quest. And lots of pictures. Did you know that live action is only a special case of animation, just like Newtonian physics is only a special case of Einstein's theory of relativity?

The Animator's Eye New Chapter on Creativity

Look for the tab- Why We Create

Actually when I wrote the book, I wrote too many words and created to many pictures. So some of it had to be cut, and we decided to put it up on the web. It's actually one of my most fun chapters. It gets a little crazy. You'll also find video of the finished film from the book and the storyboard animatic for the film. And video drawing tutorials and gesture reference with me acting it out! Oh, and check out the inspiring audio journey's my friend, Toni Pace, recorded.

The Animator's Eye documents the whole process of making an animated film from idea to distributing it on the web. Now with the missing chapter found, it's your complete guide.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep analyzing the beats of act 2 of Back to the Future...

Back to the Future Part 3 Act 1 Storyteller's log

In the last blog post on Back to the Future, after my CTN road trip detour, I described how I would first find the beats, then identify them as to their function. This is necessary in preparation for mapping the complete story weave of the story. Here are the beats for ACT 1 of Back to the Future and how they function in the story. I created this list of functions as I needed them to understand their role in the story and how they drive it along.

1. INTRODUCE WORLD OF PROBLEM AND DOC (Indirectly) 

Long camera pan reveals wealth of clues about Doc and themes of the movie.

In his garage laboratory we see a large collection of clocks, photos of scientists, inventions and indications that he hasn’t been there in a while. 

Robotic can opener opens dog food and empties into bowl marked Einstein.

TRIVIA HOMAGE: Look for Harold Lloyld hanging from the clock. 

2. INTRODUCE PROBLEM: Stolen Plutonium 

A news woman announces the theft of plutonium.

3. INTRODUCE UNKNOWN KID and Einstein

Marty McFly calls out, He places a set of keys under doormat, then drops it down. Marty enters the garage, calling out for Doc and whistling for Einstein. 

He comments on the mess the place is in.

4. PAYOFF INFO: Stolen Plutonium, NARRATIVE QUESTION: Why?

Marty puts down his skateboard, it rolls on floor to hit a box of Plutonium.

5. ACTION (MISDIRECT: Think turning on time machine) 

He turns dials on machinery, turning all the settings to maximum. 

5. ACTION

Marty plugs his electric guitar into a huge amplifier and plucks a string. 

6. COMEDY REACTION

The amplifier blows up, the impact throwing Marty back. 

7. INTRODUCE MARTY

Marty lifts up his sunglasses and we finally get to see his whole face.

8. INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACTION

 Marty answers Doc on phone who says to meet him at Mall at 1:15 a.m.. 

9. SETUP TIME 

The clocks all start chiming, Doc’s elated, his experiment worked, his clocks are slow.

10. DISCOVERY (MISDIRECT) Marty is shocked at the news. We think he’s excited about TIME TRAVEL but instead, it means he's late for school. Marty skateboards to school.

11. INTRODUCE: His girlfriend Jennifer warns the principal is gunning for him. 

12. INTRODUCE: Principle Strickland warns Marty to stay away from Doc, he’s dangerous. (ESTABLISH DOC’S PERSONALITY)

13. FORESHADOW: Strickland tells Marty he’s a slacker, just like his father. 

"No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley”.

Marty replies, “Yeah well, history is gonna change."

14. SETUP SKILL: Marty and his band get up on stage to audition for school. 

A judge (Huey Lewis, in a cameo) cuts them off. They’re  too loud.

15. RELATIONSHIP POSITIVE: After school, Marty and Jennifer are walking through the Courthouse Square. Marty tells Jennifer his band got kicked off stage. He doubts he'll ever succeed in music. Jennifer tries to reassure him, she believes in him and gives him a pep talk.

16. RELATIONSHIP NEGATIVE: 

Marty expresses his fear of rejection if he sends in his music. 

17. SEGWAY: 

Marty admires a new Toyota. It would be great for their camping trip.

18. FORESHADOW RELATIONSHIP: Jennifer asks if Marty's mother knows about their plans for the next night. Marty tells her he lied, his mother thinks he's going camping with the guys. Marty says how his mother was probably born a nun. Jennifer defends her.

19. RELATIONSHIP PROGRESS: 

Just as they’re about to kiss, a tin can is shoved in their faces.

20. RELATIONSHIP INTERRUPTION TO PLANT INFORMATION

"Save the clock tower!" a woman exclaims. The clock tower was hit by lightning thirty years ago and hasn't run since. They want to preserve it.

Marty gives her a quarter to go away. She thanks him and hands him a flier.

21. RELATIONSHIP & DRAW ATTENTION TO FLYER TRANSFER TO MARTY: They’re about to kiss again, but a car pulls up honking. 

Jennifer's has to leave and scribbles her number on the back of the clock tower flyer with "Love You!!!". She gets into the car. Marty looks at the flyer and smiles.

22. TRANSPORTING:

Marty skateboards hitching on the bumper of a cop car to his house.

23. SETUP RELATIONSHIPS:

Marty sees his father’s wrecked car. Biff his dad’s supervisor, is blaming his dad, George for Biff’s accident. Then he berates him for not typing up his work for him. Biff ridicules Marty as well as he leaves. Also sets up that he knows his mom, Lorraine.

24. MORE SETUP RELATIONSHIPS:

Marty’s brother leaves dinner to work at a burger joint. His sister tells him that Jennifer called twice.

25. MORE IRONIC FORESHADOWING:

Her mom, Lorraine lectures that any girl who calls a boy is inviting trouble.

Lorraine says she was never like that.

26. SETUP EXPOSITION:

Linda asks how she's supposed to meet anyone by waiting. 

27. PAYOFF EXPOSITION:

Lorraine tells Linda it will happen like when she met her father, George. Lorraine explains her father hit George with his car after he fell out of a tree.

She asked him to the school dance and when they kissed she knew.

28. ACTION:

Doc tells Marty to get the video camera. A DeLorean rolls out of the van.

Doc emerges from the DeLorean and tells Marty to start recording.

29. ACTION: VIDEOED

Doc puts Einstein in the DeLorean, with a watch, Doc's clock is synched to the exact same time. 

Doc pulls out a remote control and sends the DeLorean streaking right towards him and Marty. A bright light flashes and the DeLorean disappears. 

Doc cheers, "88 miles per hour”!

30. IRONIC MISDIRECT:

Marty’s shocked thinking Doc disintegrated Einstein.

31. EXPOSITION:

Doc tells Marty he sent Einstein into the future.

32. ACTION:

The DeLorean returnes. Einstein is alive and well, but his watch now one minute late. 

33. EXPOSITION & SETUP: TIME TRAVEL EXPLAINED 

Doc shows the "flux capacitor", inserted in the DeLorean, which makes time travel possible. 

Doc explains in 1955 hitting his head caused a vision of the Flux Capacitor. 

It took 40 years to develop it. The time machine is a success and Doc plans to travel through time. 

34. ACTION:

Doc absently sets the vehicle's destination time to 1955.

35. EXPOSITON:

When Marty asks what the DeLorean runs on, Doc tells him it needs plutonium to generate a nuclear reaction to create 1.21 gigawatts of power . 

Marty asks where he got plutonium. Doc hired terrorists to steal it with the promise of making them a bomb. But instead, Doc delivered a fake bomb.

36. ACTION:

Doc and Marty in radiation suits, load plutonium into the DeLorean. 

Marty shoots video. 

37: OBSTACLE CONSEQUENCE ACTION:

A van drives into the parking lot and begins shooting at them. 

Doc yells, “run”, it’s the terrorists that Doc cheated. The terrorists kill the Doc.

38. ACTION:

Marty tries to hide but the terrorist tries to shoot him. Marty prepares for his end.

39. SURPRISE TWIST:

The terrorist’s rifle jams. 

40. MAIN CHARACTER ACTION:

Marty tries to escape in the DeLorean. The time machine begins to activate. And when it reaches 88 mph there’s a flash of blinding light.

This is the end of ACT 1. It also marks our first crossing of the x axis 0 point. It is at this point that Marty has taken significant action towards propelling the story by escaping in the time machine, not realizing that it will take him back in time.

When I look at this list, I'm already overwhelmed. I can't keep it all in my memory. There has to be a better way to see the big picture. 

To start, lets' look at the hierarchy of narrative questions raised in ACT 1. We'll focus on the main driving questions of the story and ignore ones that are for comedic purposes, such as the giant guitar amp. Some of these questions are asked directly in the story, while others are implied. Sometimes even the title can ask an implied question. In Back to the Future we want to know who's going to time travel and when will they go to and what will happen?

The reason why these are important is that you are making a pact with your audience that you will answer these questions for them by the end of the story. If you don't, you risk alienating your audience. 

First, we want to know who the Doc is, and who the kid is. By delaying the introduction of the Doc, he becomes more mysterious. We also focus on Marty who will be our main character that we identify with. We also want to know who will travel to where with the time machine. This expectation is played with by the suggestion that all of the guitar amp dials could also be read as dials on a time machine. As writers we should know that we, the audience, couldn't have had enough information to go time traveling in the first few pages. 

Marty is late for school and is warned about the principle. Can he escape him? He can't. He's warned he'll become like the rest of his family. Will he? The next question asked is will Marty's and Jennifer's relationship develop? Then the woman interrupts their attempted kiss with a request to save the clock tower. Will they save the clock tower? 

Marty returns home where we're given a lot of exposition that will guide us later in the story. Marty then videos Doc as he demonstrates the time machine. There's a quick visual question asked, what will the time machine look like? The second quick narrative question is did Einstein get disintegrated? We get the answer almost immediately as he returns demonstrating that the DeLorean time machine works. Then the terrorists come, and we ask will they get away. The answer is no- the Doc is shot. Will Marty get shot too? The gun jams, and Marty gets away then there's the flash of light. Where's he go?

When I say it's a hierarchy of narrative questions, I mean that there are big overreaching questions and then smaller questions that get answered along the way of the bigger questions. I've found a way to map these is to imagine them as a computer programming language where everything must be contained within hierarchical matching brackets.

Let's give it a shot.

{Who's going to time travel? 

{When? 

{What will happen? 

     {Who is Doc?

         {Who is Marty? 

           We learn Marty is a school kid who's friends with the Doc.}

                 {Will Marty evade the principle? 

                          {Is Marty a "slacker"?

                                 {Will Marty and Jennifer's relationship develop?

                   No. Instead it's an excuse to be given more exposition.}

                        {Will they save the clock tower? But does it matter?...

      We meet Doc the eccentric inventor.}

       {Will the time machine work? 

        After Marty thinks Einstein is disintegrated, the answer is yes.}

                {Will the terrorists kill Doc?

                  Yes, doc gets shot.}

                        {Will Marty get shot?

                          No. The gun jams. Marty gets away.}

                                {Will the DeLorean time travel?

Yes, and it takes Marty and we know that Doc set it to 1955.}

If you follow the narrative questions and their answers, we see that there is one important driving question left and two smaller ones. What will happen to Marty in the past? Will he become a "slacker"? And what will happen with their relationship? Also how does his family fit into this?

There's one more question, will the clock tower be saved but do we care? The first question, what happens to Marty, keeps the audience sticking around to see what's going to happen. The second question we don't really have enough information to care about.

To be continued...

                  

                 

      

CTN animation road trip

This weekend I"m at the CTN animation road trip in downtown Burbank. It's been a lot of fun.  Here's some pictures from the road trip. It's going today too so come on down. This was the first year for Tina Price's CTN outdoor show in Burbank so there's no Cosplay yet. (Cosplay for those who are unfamiliar with the term is when people dress us as the characters. Kind of like the Disney characters who walk around Disneyland only this can include Superman, Batgirl and Japanese anime characters.)

As soon as the road trip reaches 88mph. we'll presently, return to the past in back to the future.

We interrupt Back to the Future for a road trip

I'm busy analyzing the ten pages of beats from Back to the Future and discovered some interesting trivia but I have some other big news. It's time for CTN's Animation Road Show in downtown Burbank this weekend.

You can all the info right here: CTN Road Trip

I've been busy preparing for this so I haven't had to much time to post. Look for my banner and stop by and say Hi. It's the first time I'm going to have a booth at a Comic-con type event.

Now on to the trivia.

I found some interesting stills for Harold Lloyd's film Safety Last from 1923. Do these look familar?

Harold Lloyd Safety Last

Here's the trivia. Do you know where this image is in Back to the Future? They paid homage to Harold Lloyd. Have you ever seen this image from the film? Then go back to watch it.

Next post, we go Back to the Future!

Back to the Future story weave part 2

In order to weave the story of  Back to the Future, I identified all the key beats of the story. The next step is to label each beat for it's story line and how it functions in the story. Then we can color key each story thread to make it easier to follow.

It also might be cool to create icons for each function. This could be another important mapping tool to show you when you might need a song or have too much action and need to give the audience a break or maybe you're missing a symbolic death.

In looking at the beats of the story these are the functions that I identified:
Narrative questions. These are usually answered during the story with actions.
1. Problems
Introductions
Setup information
Suggest a direction
Twists
Warnings or messages
Foreshadowing
Character emotions
Conflicts
Setup Ironic contrast
Action
Trigger Action (TURNING POINT)
Explanation
Surprises
Set scene
Comedy
Discovery
2. Wrong action
3. Consequences
Obstacles, function as story-delays
Setup payoffs
Ticking clocks
Plans
Goal (TURNING POINT)
False goal
Choices
4. Right actions The audience often cheers when this happens.
Symbolic death (TURNING POINT
Reorganization
Music
Love

Here's our chart once again. We have 4 progressions and 3 changes of direction.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE) 

A narrative question is a question that is implicitly raised by the actions of a story that leave the audience wanting to know the outcome. This is the key way we engage in stories. 

A narrative question and it's answer are the smallest unit of a story. Here is the formula:

? > .

I'll have more on this later when I get to the algebra of storytelling. Don't worry there's no math involved. (I wonder if you noticed the narrative tease.)

Here are the main narrative questions of Back to the Future:
Will Marty get away from the terrorists?
Will Marty get back to the future?
Can Marty get his parents together?
Can Marty get Doc the information to save his life?

There's also lots of smaller narrative questions.
Will Marty see the Plutonium?
Will Doc fall off the clock tower?
Was Einstein, the dog, disintegrated?
Can Doc get the plug back in in time?
Can Marty start the Delorean?
Bif introduces a whole lot of narrative questions as the main obstacle for the progress of the story.
For example, can How can Marty escape Bif in his car, while he's on an improvised skateboard?

Here are the main storylines:
The terrorists and theft of Plutonium.
Marty and Jennifer.
Marty goes back to 1955 and must return.
Marty interferes with his parents romance and must restore it, before he returns.
Bif is an obstacle for Marty and George's plans.
Doc creates the time machine and has to help Marty go back to the future.

I identified over 80 significant beats that tell the story of Back to the Future. In the next post, I'll write up the list of beats with their function identified. When I look at the list as text it appears that they all look the same. I think what I creating could be called "spatial writing", you can see the function of each part and where it fits in relation to the others as well as how the audience is responding to it. As Marty would say, "This is heavy".

And stay tuned for some Back to the Future trivia...

Back to the Future- Complete story weave part1

I'd now like to show you several analyses of movies to show how the dragon theory applies. From there, we can see how there are interesting structural variations to fit different types of movies. And it also gives us a new taxonomy of movies in addition to genres. A taxonomy is a type of science concerned with classification. This was an unexpected insight after looking at many films through the dragon lens.

Today we're going to start with, one of my favorite films, Back to the Future. I already analyzed this film, in terms of how it was edited, for my book, Directing the Story. Here I want to attempt a full analysis of the story weave of the the film's dragon. This is the first time I've tried analyzing a complete story-weave. Previously, I've only looked at the broad strokes of films, for example the School of Rock example.

Back to the Future

Why do a complete story weave? I hope to show that by analyzing the complete story-weave it will reveal how the film is literally woven together. In this way, you can, by virtue of the visual dragon structure see how all the pieces literally fit together to make a tapestry. If this works the implications are very powerful as an analysis tool to help you make sure you film is completely woven together in a way that can satisfy your audience.

But first a digression. All story theory's are by nature an abstraction of the essence of a story. I believe that the trick is to find the right degree of abstraction that fulfills two criteria. First, it must be abstract enough to allow for it to encompass many types of films. In other words, there must be some degree of open ended-ness. Secondly, it must be specific enough to guide you through the maze of screenwriting or novel writing. In my experience most film theories err on the side of being too abstract. In other words, they leave me lost in the maze. It is my hope that the dragon approach will allow you to follow the path of the dragon through the maze without being lost. When you see the tapestry, it's like a revelation.

Now many writers have written stories that fit the dragon gestalt without knowing anything about the dragon. They've used their own methods or compilations of other theories. However, I think that any theory that says it fits "every story ever told", as does the hero's journey, must by nature be too abstract to be useful or just not true. As Kurt Vonnegut showed in his mapping the ups and downs of the character's fortune. Kafka's story the Metamorphosis does not follow the hero's journey. However, Kafka shows a way to map it, nonetheless. So, according to Vonnegut, it appears Campbell was wrong.

What I propose with the dragon approach is that the dragon is an emergent shape that emerged when I analyzed movies based upon mapping the audience's hopes and fears in a way that provides an emotionally satisfying experience and a learning experience. This just also happens to be the shape of many successful stories and movies. I don't care if it fits "every story ever told". Those aren't stories I wish to tell. I believe and hope to show that the dragon gestalt has just the right degree of abstraction to be useful as a guide, and yet still opened ended enough to allow for a wide range of stories to be told that all feel unique.

So let's go back to the future. What do I mean by story-weave? I literally mean how the story is woven together. We're going to track the theme and sub-themes, actions, discoveries, setups, payoffs, conflicts, dramatic ironies, expectancies, twists, surprises, hierarchy of narrative questions, lessons, problems, wrong solutions, consequences, right solutions, choices, plans, ticking clocks (Yes, multiple clocks), symbolic deaths, rebirths and opposites traveled to reach new worlds never imagined. And we're going to do it visually.

We'll start with the basic four components.
1. Introduce a world of problems.
2. Attempt wrong solutions.
3. Suffer the consequences.
4. Do the right thing.

Here is the 4 part chart again for reference. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

One reviewer of Iggy's Incredibly Easy Way to Write a Story described this very eloquently in his review.

"Glebas' method reminds me of a fine gesture drawing. Like a gesture it articulates the feeling, structure and story of the pose in a quick, clear way without the artifice of a bunch of extra squiggly lines. In fact, the "Visual" portion of the book that depicts the structure is conveyed literally like a gesture drawing."

I wish to express my appreciation for everyone who has written reviews of my books. Thank you.

WARNING SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN BACK TO THE FUTURE, STOP READING AND GO WATCH IT NOW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

Back to the Future

1. The problem is introduced in the opening Rube Goldberg-type montage opening of the film. A TV radio announcer reports news of the theft of Plutonium. We meet Marty, Doc's friend. We also learn that Doc has created a time machine.

2. Already actions have consequences, Doc's theft of Plutonium in exchange for giving a bomb to terrorists has backfired when they realize he gave them a fake bomb. This triggers the story into motion. During the demonstration of the time machine, Delorean car, the terrorists return attempting to kill Doc. Doc is shot and Marty escapes in the Delorean and into the past! He "crosses the threshold" to the past. (Who was guarding the threshold?)

Marty now does things the wrong way. He immediately gets involved with his future mother and in-laws potentially changing the course of history.

3. Marty must now suffer the consequences. He's already facing symbolic death as his siblings start disappearing from existence. This is signified in a beautifully visual way by them literally dissolving out of the photo of Marty and his siblings. He's next if he doesn't make things right.

4. Marty must now make everything right. He has to get his future father on track with his future mother so they'll kiss and history will be righted, and he must face further obstacles to warn Doc and return to the future.

Back to the Future fits the dragon shape. But it's interesting, first, because the problem of the story is also because of a character taking a wrong path. The Doc steals Plutonium. This has dangerous consequences. It also sets the story in motion once all the introductions are made. Secondly, Marty's taking the wrong path seems to happen accidentally. He just happens to be there with the Doc when the terrorists come. He just happens to try to escape by driving away in a Delorean, which also happens to be a time machine. He just happens to time travel to 1955. It's not until Marty follows his future father, George, and tries to save his life does he do the wrong thing and change the fabric of time. It is now Marty rather than George who gets hit by the father of  Marty's future mother, Lorraine. She now falls for him instead of George. But we all know what Freud say about accidents.

Another thing I don't care for in certain film theories is when they say something must happen on page x. Once again, if the theory is abstract enough, then yes, something exciting can happen on page x. Once these four parts are mapped unto the dragon we can see that the dragon guide has some flexibility in it's elastic use of time. When I demonstrate the dragon for 127 hours you'll see something very interesting about the elasticity of time. Here is the chart again showing the elasticity of time and the parts.

P.S. While researching the map, I came across some interesting charts mapping the time jumping from Back to the Futures 1, 2, and 3.

To see original page: Back to the Future charts.

Next time we'll start weaving. Till then, tell each other good stories...