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...

School of Rock 401 Senior year, Storyteller's log

You've made it to School of Rock Senior Year!

As you remember from last time, Dewey has nothing left to live for. His passion is dead.

What is this place the land of the dead?

It's chaos, the void.

But it's also the birthplace of infinite possibilities. Here are a few of them.

I think that's enough to give you the idea...

Were you able to figure out what must happen next? We know the kids have to go to the concert. Why because the movie would be incomplete without it.  Dewey heard Patty's lesson but only paid attention to half of it. He became responsible but didn't give up his dream. He found a common passion with the kids through music. He taught them lessons they'll never forget. The spirit of rock and roll is "stick it to da man". The "man" symbolizes the inhuman aspect of civilization the kills passion and dreams. The kids got Dewey's passion. They already had the responsibility part down pat. Even through Dewey was a fake teacher, his passion was real. The kids believe in it and themselves.

The kids persuade Dewey to come out of his depression and go the concert with them. He agrees. As a result Ned stands up to Patty and leaves her to see the concert. Ned's lost passion has come back. And Patty didn't learn the lesson.

This is really cool because Patty delivered the lesson of be responsible. Once Dewey connected with the kids musically he became a great teacher. Dewey learned the lesson. As a consequence of his action the kids brought the lesson back to Dewey. Lessons always return.

What's happened is that Dewey has reorganized his experience. Responsibility and Passion can go together. This is something Dewey and Patty couldn't see before. Often the audience won't be able to see what the reorganization at the end of the movie is going to be. Dewey is reborn and comes alive at the rock concert.

Here's where we are on the structure map now: Doing the right thing.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Dewey succeeded in a way greater than Patty's vision, and becomes more fulfilled because his new goal includes others.

We now have the competition. Ironically, Dewey competes against his old band. We have one more key point before we can wrap it all up. The kids band faces stiff competition. They need a dynamite ending song. Dewey now proves his has learned the lesson of acting responsibly. Dewey tells the band they are going to play Zack's song instead of his own epic, The Legend of the Rent. This was an unthinkable action for Dewey at the beginning of the movie. He has sacrificed his own moment in the spotlight for the good of the whole band. This is proof that Dewey has learned the lesson.

Now that Dewey has done the right thing hope soars off the charts. Even the audience gets more than they hoped for.

In summary, the four major parts are:
1. ACT I. Dewey has a problem. He needs to be responsible.
2. ACT 2A.Dewey attempts to solve his problem the wrong way by stealing a job and pretending to be a teacher.
3. ACT 2B. Just when he thinks he's on top of the world he has to face the consequences of his own actions and loses everything including his own passion.
4. ACT 3. Dewey has touched others and his lessons and actions come back to him in a positive way. He's reborn and proves it by a self sacrificing choice.

Simple.

The chaotic symbolic death is real and really terrifying. But the reorganization and rebirth are just as real. You come out the other side changed, able to handle more with a more complete and complex view of the world. Maybe more about this later...

Make sure to come back for the School of Rock for your diploma and Graduation party surprise!

School of Rock 301, storyteller's log 2-20-2013

Welcome back to School of Rock- Junior Year.

Dewey is on top of the world days away from rock stardom. What could go wrong?

In most writing approaches anything could go wrong. This is often where I used to get lost. But because we've been following the character trying to reach their goal, having ignored the lesson and going about it wrong- this narrows down our choices. This approach gives our story a solid design. Design? What does design have to do with storytelling?

Let's look at how this approach has led us to such a solid design. There are several design principles that we're following.

1. DOMINANCE. We have one main idea which the story focuses on. It's not all over the place with irrelevant plot stuff. Dewey wants to be a rock god and will do anything to make it happen.

2. UNITY. The story has unity because everything is related to Dewey's actions. The other characters are variations or opposites of the Dewey character. Ned is what Dewey could become if he gives up his dream. Patty is a variation of Dewey in that she wants Ned to solve her problems for her. She preaches responsibility but doesn't act on it. The teachers have also lost some of their dreams. Principle Mullins is by the book responsible, until Dewey cracks her armor with Stevie Nicks song, the Edge of Seventeen. This reconnects her with her passion.
And we see the kids who are already on the road to responsibility without passion. That is until Dewey enters their lives.

3. BALANCE. We get to see Dewey doing it wrong and later we'll get to see him doing it right. We get to see the effect on the others who have lost their passion.

4. CONTRAST. Right from the start we like Dewey more than his band members and Ned and Patty. There's a purity to him and we like his passion. The other characters by contrast are not as likable. We see how the effects of responsibility and passion, or lack of, have shaped all the characters. We've taken the audience up so... We'll be exploring this in later in this post. Don't want to give away the ending.

5. RYTHMN. We've been taking the audience up and down towards hope and fear in an irregular pattern.

Every writer needs to know about design. In fact, every human being needs to know about design. Whether you're writing a story, planning a garden, arranging your living room, writing a blog, composing a symphony, coding software, or painting a masterpiece.

To learn some basics you can check out my, Design for Presentation: The great eye learns to see on slideshare.net

Design for Presentation: The great eye learns to see

I posted it Sunday and 3 days later is has over 77,000 views! Someone is interested in design.

So what happens to Dewey. "Little does he know..." that while Dewey is trying to convince the student's parents that he's a good teacher, Ned gets the mail. This time the message arrives to the wrong right person. Ned gets a check for teaching at Horace Green. But Ned didn't teach at Horace Green!

Ned, Patty and the police confront Dewey and expose his wrong ways. The character's behavior of doing it wrong is brought to light. How else can they learn. They have to see the effect of their actions on others. Their reaction now is to tread water and try and undo the damage.

The movie contains a funny speech here by Dewey as the parents misinterpret his use of the word "touch". He keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself.  As a result Dewey exposed as a fraud and is fired from teaching at Horace Green.

Dewey now faces the consequences. He's lost his job, his new band, his new friends (the kids) and his opportunity for rock stardom. On top of that he considers himself a failure and falls into depression, in other words, he's symbolically dead.

The design principle of CONTRAST comes into play here. Let's look at the mapping of this.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

First we brought Dewey UP. Then because of the contrast we really feel his fall downward. If we didn't bring him up first, it wouldn't have felt as devastating for Dewey and our emotions when we take him DOWN. 

From Dewey's perspective, his life is over.

More extra credit if you can figure out what must happen now. No necessarily how it happens but what must happen. How can be accomplished in different ways.

School of Rock 201, storyteller's log

Welcome back to the School of Rock, sophomore year or act 2 part one.

Dewey answers the phone and it's for Ned. Once he learns this is a paying gig, he pretends to be Ned Schneebly. Out of desperation, he's takes the wrong path. He steals Ned's job. And we, the audience, want him to do this. Why? (I'm thinking about this...)

Once Dewey starts out on this path he's forced to continue. It's like a liar who has to keep lying deeper and deeper to cover their tracks. You know at some point it's going to lead to their undoing. In order to get the job, Dewey has to pretend to be a teacher.

At what point is the crossing the threshold? What point is the inciting incident? Does it matter if getting the call or acting on the call starts the story? Or does the story start when Dewey enters the classroom? You need all of it. The character has to learn the information that there can be action towards a new journey. Then they need to take action and start that journey. It's all connected organically. One piece leads to the next all motivated by the desires and limitations of the character.

Dewey enters class and doesn't teach. He doesn't know how. He wants to give the kids a permanent recess.

This is where Dewey meets his first obstacle. These are not ordinary school kids who would love recess. They want to learn and Dewey is not up to the task. We're sliding towards fear. In addition, the other teachers want to know his teaching philosophy. He bluffs his way through it by being vague as possible, letting them fill in the blanks with their own assumptions and prejudices.

The next thing that happens TURNS the story towards HOPE for Dewey. He discovers the kids can play music and they're really good. Dewey formulates a plan and creates a special secret project- Rock School. His ulterior motive is to have them become his new band with him in the lead, enter the contest and win.

So what happens? Ironically, Dewey starts teaching! He teaches them rock history and the attitude of rock- "Stick it to the man."Now we're really rooting and hoping for him. Dewey's in his element and he really comes alive. The kids are learning from his passion. This is the best kind of teaching. Maybe there is a place for passion after all.

So what happens next? What happens in any story when things start to go well? You put up more obstacles. Dewey learns that the school doesn't allow field trips. How would you solve this problem?

In the School of Rock they solved it by having Dewey seduce Principle Mullins (Joan Cusack) to persuade her to let him have his field trip.

Finally, Dewey gets his trip and faces yet one more obstacle. They've shown up too late for the auditions. Dewey lies saying the kids are terminally ill with "stick-it-to-da-man-ni-osis." The kids are allowed to perform.

Let's look at this on our structure mapping.

You'll notice something interesting during this section of the story. The sine wave has a series of up and down spikes. These reflect the hopes (Dewey's actions) and fears (external obstacles) the character and audience travel across on their journey. With our map we know exactly where we are in our story.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

These are all progressive complications. But they're all directly caused by Dewey's wrongly following his character want. Yes, you need a character who wants something. But it's so much easier to write when that character does it wrong. This triggers the consequences and reactions that keep them driving forward toward their goal and digging themselves into a deeper hole. And keep the audience going from hope to fear and back again.

Dewey is on top of the world on his way to his goal... what could possibly happen? The answers in our next installment. Extra credit if you can figure out what must happen before then...

School of Rock 101, storyteller's log 2-18-2013

School's out. No, school is in session. It's time to look at an actual movie and see how the method of mapping the character's ups and down's and the audience's hopes and fears actually work.

School of Rock

Dewey Finn, played by Jack Black, dreamed of being a heavy metal rock god. He had the passion but not the talent. After being kicked out of his band he returns to his little world of sharing his old friend,s apartment, Ned Sneebly (Mike White).

Planted in this section, to be used later in the story, is the information of the rock contest with big cash prizes. Dewey's dreams of winning are dashed. Remember setup and payoff later. You're story weaving.

Patty (Sarah Silverman), Ned's annoying girlfriend, is introduced. Patty is also a setup who will cause more trouble for Dewey later. Patty is the one who delivers the lesson to Dewey in the form of a threat. She tells him to give up his dream and act responsibly. She tells him to get a real job and pay his rent or be kicked out.

This is a double-edged message comprising a positive and negative component. She tells him to act responsibly is the positive lesson which Dewey needs to learn. Give up his dream is a negative message. Fom Patty's limited perspective giving up the dream is necessary in order to be responsible. They can't coexist in her mind. This is why I think the lesson itself is the important thing, not "meeting the mentor." I don't think we can call Patty, the Mentor. Do you?

Can there be negative mentors? We can learn from negative people in our lives this is true. However, I know of one case where the mentor is a freeway sign- Steve Martin's L.A. Story.

Now, the characters are all set to start the story in motion. What happens? Ned gets a phone call and Dewey answers the "call to adventure". I wonder how they got the "call to adventure" before they had phones? Pony Express? Carrier Pigeon?

What does Dewey do?

We'll look at that in the next blog. First, let's look at how we'd map this. (ClLICK TO ENLARGE)

A. is the beginning of the story. It's neutral in terms of hope and fear because we don't understand the world yet. It starts during a concert and Dewey falls flat on his face literally. The direction and camerawork tell us that this story is going to be about him. We admire his passion and feel sorry for things not working out. Jack Black plays a very unique but likable character. We connect with is enthusiastic passion. Why? Because we want that for ourselves- to feel truly alive. So we identify with him. We hope he'll succeed but probably fear he won't.

B. Dewey returns to Ned's apartment and thing go from bad to worse. He has to pay his share of the rent and he has no money.

C. Patty threatens Dewey to pay his overdue rent or get kicked out. She pesters Ned into making the threat. We now fear for Dewey. What will he do? What can he do? 

Why do we side with Dewey? We follow him because it's his story. Ned is portrayed as having given up his dreams, stuck in a job he doesn't like. He's what could happen to Dewey if he gives up his dreams. We don't want to be like Ned, even if we are a little.  Patty is just a "bitch" who dominates Ned and harasses Dewey. We root against her. Boo! Hiss.

D. Now, alone in the apartment there's a phone call. We know something will happen to change things. Why do we know this? We've all been watching movies and we unconsciously know the structure of good stories. Already we've got the audience connected to our character and hoping they'll succeed but fearing they won't.

So what happens when Dewey answers the phone? We'll see when we cross the threshold into Act 2.

See you in school tomorrow, and don't be late...