DZ-46: Structure & Point of View

Listen if you want to understand how narrative point of view can organise your entire story structure

Waaaaaaaaaay back in DZ-5, Stu and Chas examined how shifting narrative point of view (i.e. what the audience knows in relation to the characters on screen) heightens emotions in any given scene. We've now taken that micro idea and applied it to the macro: how can deciding what the audience knows and when in relation to the characters organise your story? Are whole sequences or even acts driven by the audience following a character, feeling concerned about a character, empathising with a character or being absorbed in the irony of knowing more than all the characters interacting on screen.

To tackle this topic, Stu and Chas dive in to films that make very conscious structural choices in relation to narrative POV, namely: GET OUT, DUNKIRK and the underrated German film THE LIVES OF OTHERS (with honourable mentions to LA CONFIDENTIAL and MANCHESTER BY THE SEA).

Wait till the end to hear poor Stu's mind absolutely blown in relation to the Kuleshov effect.

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

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CHAPTERS

• 00:06:21 – Introduction
• 00:10:57 – Manchester By The Sea
• 00:19:57 – Get Out
• 00:50:15 – Dunkirk
• 01:31:00 – The Lives of Others
• 02:11:32 – Wrap Up

FILMS

• DUNKIRK (2017) — (w) Christopher Nolan
• GET OUT (2017) — (w) Jordan Peele
• THE LIVES OF OTHERS (2006) — (w) Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck

SCRIPTS

• Study the script: DUNKIRK (2017) — Christopher Nolan
• Study the script: GET OUT (2017) — Jordan Peele

SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES

• Perp & Victim 2: Opening Kills in Horror (2000s+)

LINKS

• Watch: Vimeo: Get Out - Alternate Ending
• YouTube: Vox: The sound illusion that makes Dunkirk so intense
• Read: The Kuleshov effect

RELATED EPISODES

• DZ-05: Shifting audience point of view and heightened emotions
• DZ-10: Midpoint Reversals and The Ride
• DZ-21: Scene Transitions and the Hook

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Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2017/dz-46/