DZ-43: Driving Sequences - Character and Plot Intensity

Listen to understand how dramatic questions shape audience engagement and pacing through sequences.

Chas and Stu are joined for the fourth time by the inestimable Stephen Cleary - this time to take a deep dive into sequences. A real deep dive. A 3+ hour deep dive.

Stephen postulates that sequences can compel the audience in different ways via the type of dramatic questions being posed. Are they plot questions ("Will she defuse the bomb?") or character questions ("Will she understand what compels her to defuse bombs?") or a combination of both? What is the impact on the pacing, structure of your story or audience experience of your characters by changing the type of question being asked? What happens to your story when your protagonist decides to literally abandon the plot?

Our deep dive roams through THE BOURNE IDENTITY, NAKED, THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, FARGO (the movie) and CHILDREN OF MEN... with many-a-tangent referencing HEAT, FRENZY, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, AMOUR, CHEF, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, THE KINGSMAN, FURY ROAD, THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES, LIVING IS EASY WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED, MOONLIGHT, and probably some more that we've forgotten.

PS: Thanks to all our listeners who provided feedback on a draft edit of this episode.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

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→ Read the transcript for this episode.

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"But at the point where the audience gets a little bit, okay, this is getting a bit philosophical, you then just drop, you just end up dropping, you're dropping a 12 minute car chase." — Stephen-Cleary @ 00:00:00

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CHAPTERS

• 00:00:00 – Introduction
• 00:01:38 – History and Theory of Sequences
• 00:05:08 – › Testing reel-length theory against silent film evidence
• 00:10:53 – › Dramatic questions as the engine of sequence structure
• 00:17:10 – 3 Kinds of sequences
• 00:19:44 – Plot-Lite Revisted - AMOUR, CHEF AND HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
• 00:24:01 – High Intensity Plot Sequences - HEAT and FRENZY
• 00:27:09 – › Intensity as the constant across plot and character sequences
• 00:31:10 – › Three sequence types and the limits of pure character storytelling
• 00:36:07 – BOURNE IDENTITY - Homestead sequence
• 00:38:29 – › Converting plot sequences into plot-character sequences
• 00:47:01 – › When the hero refuses action, plot reasserts itself
• 00:51:27 – › Character resolution across the trilogy's arc
• 00:54:43 – NAKED - Maggie Sequence
• 00:58:11 – › How plot dissolves as a character loses meaning
• 01:02:47 – › Classical sequence structure beneath unconventional storytelling
• 01:06:35 – Road Movies and LIVING IS EASY WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED
• 01:09:26 – › LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED as plot-to-character arc
• 01:13:00 – NAKED - Security Guard Sequence
• 01:17:40 – › Defining character questions versus plot questions
• 01:21:31 – Plot as The Hook
• 01:24:06 – › Using sequence types to provoke genre conventions in BOURNE
• 01:26:44 – THE KINGSMAN
• 01:29:41 – › How plot relaxation enables character intensity
• 01:32:43 – Character Sequences & Audience Introspection
• 01:34:52 – DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
• 01:38:54 – › Character question versus plot question in opening sequences
• 01:41:03 – › How plot and character questions interlock across story structure
• 01:44:35 – › Character-first structure as inversion of conventional story logic
• 01:51:32 – › Adaptation craft and writing the subjective experience on the page
• 01:55:41 – THERE WILL BE BLOOD
• 01:58:32 – › Plot overload versus character engagement as audience resource
• 02:03:25 – › Imagistic sequencing as an alternative story logic
• 02:05:28 – FARGO
• 02:09:29 – › How a detour scene reveals character without plot function
• 02:14:57 – › Marge's strategy: letting people reveal themselves
• 02:20:12 – CHILDREN OF MEN
• 02:23:33 – › Character question versus plot question in opening sequences
• 02:31:04 – › World as character and the faith-versus-chance thematic core
• 02:43:40 – › Pure character scenes and how they contrast with genre expectations
• 02:50:27 – › Sequences as a tool for writers to understand and control audience engagement
• 03:03:44 – Key Learnings
• 03:06:21 – › Sequence types as a structural palette for writers
• 03:09:44 – Final Words

FILMS

• THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) — (w) William Blake Herron, Tony Gilroy, Robert Ludlum (d) Doug Liman
• NAKED (1993) — (w) Mike Leigh
• THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (2007) — (w) Ronald Harwood (d) Julian Schnabel
• THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007) — (w) Upton Sinclair, Paul Thomas Anderson (d) Paul Thomas Anderson
• FARGO (1996) — (w) Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (d) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
• CHILDREN OF MEN (2006) — (w) Timothy J Sexton, David Arata, Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, P D James (d) Alfonso Cuaron
• KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015) — (w) Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn (d) Matthew Vaughn

SCRIPTS

• Study the script: THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002) — William Blake Herron, Tony Gilroy, Robert Ludlum
• Study the script: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (2007) — Ronald Harwood
• Study the script: THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007) — Upton Sinclair, Paul Thomas Anderson
• Study the script: FARGO (1996) — Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
• Study the script: CHILDREN OF MEN (2006) — Timothy J Sexton, David Arata, Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, P D James

SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES

• Staging the violence in TOTAL RECALL 1990 vs 2012
• Time and space in staging "Oners"

LINKS

• YouTube: HEAT - Bank Robbery
• YouTube: FRENZY - Potato Truck Scene
• YouTube: NAKED - Maggie! Scene from Mike Leigh's 1993 Drama
• YouTube: NAKED - Jonny and the Secur...