DZ-49: Antagonists! 1 - vs Humans

Prompted by a listener (and patron of the podcast) question, Stu and Chas dive into antagonistic forces. And because Draft Zero does not do anything by halves, this is Part One of a Five Part Epic Exploration™ into antagonists; namely: vs humans, vs self, vs nature/supernatural, vs systems and “other”. aka the classic narrative conflicts.

For this “vs humans” part, we chose to look at DIE HARD, MISERY and THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE OF EBBING, MISSOURI (with special mentions to THE DARK KNIGHT, LA LA LAND and - of course - STAR WARS). In particular, we look at some classical villains, internal vs external antagonists, and how antagonists and protagonists can swap roles over a scene or a sequence.

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

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CHAPTERS

• 00:12:27 – Die Hard
• 00:24:34 – Misery
• 00:40:12 – The Dark Knight
• 00:45:32 – Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri
• 01:11:30 – LA LA Land
• 01:14:33 – Wrap Up

FILMS

• DIE HARD (1988) — (w) Roderick Thorp, Jeb Stuart, Steven E De Souza (d) John Mctiernan
• MISERY (1990) — (w) Stephen King, William Goldman (d) Rob Reiner
• THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017) — (w) Martin Mcdonagh

SCRIPTS

• Study the script: DIE HARD (1988) — Roderick Thorp, Jeb Stuart, Steven E De Souza
• Study the script: MISERY (1990) — Stephen King, William Goldman
• Study the script: THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017) — Martin Mcdonagh

SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES

• DIE HARD: integrating inserts in the action
• Character Introductions 002: Hans Gruber

LINKS

• Read: Boss (video games)
• Read: Different kinds of antagonistic forces? (for draft zero episode)
• Read: How can I create meaningful conflict for my characters without a physical antagonist?
• Read: There was a post the other day about making villains 'deep'...
• YouTube: Movie Villains Done Right
• YouTube: The Dark Knight -- Creating the Ultimate Antagonist

EPISODES IN THE ANTAGONISTS! SERIES

• DZ-50: Antagonists! 2 - vs Self
• DZ-51: Antagonists! 3 - vs Nature
• DZ-52: Antagonists! 4 - vs Systems
• DZ-53: Antagonists! 5 - vs Audience
• DZ-49: Antagonists! 1 - vs Humans

RELATED EPISODES

• DZ-35: Driving Characters or Character Driven?
• DZ-43: Driving Sequences - Character and Plot Intensity

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We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.

Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2018/dz-49/