It seems that E. M. Forester once clarified a plot and its relationship to causality by
explaining:
“'The king died and then the queen died" is a story."The king died and then the queen died of grief" is a plot. The time-sequence is
preserved, but their sense of causality overshadows it.
I stumbled on John Truby's blog on some story techniques. He has some interesting tips on how one can combine a few genres which seems to be the Hollywood strategy nowadays.
John Turby's blog has quite a few good articles which you might want to read through. See this one too which is very interesting.
See this http://www.dramatica.com/downloads/Dramatica%20paradigms-0707.pdf which talks about the story paradigms of the following "story gurus":
Here is another web site that I found interesting.
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Eye contact | Is this source of connection missing, too intense, or just right in yourself or in the person you are looking at? |
Facial expression | What is your face showing? Is it mask like and inexpressive, or emotionally present and filled with interest? What do you see as you look into the faces of others? |
Tone of voice | Does your voice project warmth, confidence, and delight, or is it strained and blocked? What do you hear as you listen to other people? |
Posture and gesture | Does your body look still and immobile, or relaxed? Sensing the degree of tension in your shoulders and jaw answers this question. What do you observe about the degree of tension or relaxation in the body of the person you are speaking to? |
Touch | Remember, what feels good is relative. How do you like to be touched? Who do you like to have touching you? Is the difference between what you like and what the other person likes obvious to you? |
Intensity | Do you or the person you are communicating with seem flat, cool, and disinterested, or over-the-top and melodramatic? Again, this has as much to do with what feels good to the other person as it does with what you personally prefer. |
Timing and pace | What happens when you or someone you care about makes an important statement? Does a response—not necessarily verbal—come too quickly or too slowly? Is there an easy flow of information back and forth? |
Sounds | Do you use sounds to indicate that you are attending to the other person? Do you pick up on sounds from others that indicate their caring or concern for you? |
Source: The Language of Emotional Intelligence, by Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. | |
Hers are a few things I liked from that site:
[There] are several types of opening that you can use to start your film. None of these are mutually exclusive, you can choose to mix and match certain elements from each type.
The Blatant Opening Within a few moments you know exactly who the hero is and what the movie will be about. The James Bond series are a great example of this type of opening. In this first ten pages of your script you will introduce the hero, the villain and exactly why they oppose each other. The blatant opening works particular well for action films, a fast, intense opening will hook the reader and keep them flicking through the script.
A Regular Day In this opening you will put over the pace of life in a regular day for your main character. Then an event will happen which breaks the normality of your character’s life, one which they will need to rectify for their life to return to the way it was.
True Beginning The script starts right along with the start of the story for the main character. They might have just been given a million dollars, or landed in a new country.
Dramatic Irony This is the only beginning that won’t contain your main character. Instead you give the audience some information that your main character won’t know and will soon affect his/her life greatly. Dramatic irony allows the audience to be in a superior position and sets up both tension and anticipation.
Foreshadowing This opening takes place before your main story begins and anticipates what is going to happen later in the story. Like the dramatic irony opening the audience is placed in a position to predict what is going to happen. This is often used for doomsday and horror movies.
Narrator The narrator can be the hero, a secondary character or just a stand alone narrator. The narrator tells the story of the events which happened to the main character at a important time in their life. [hmmm... I dont think I would like this style]
Flash forward The flash forward has two stories running side by side simultaneously. The B story has a narrator who tells the main story, which has already happened. At certain points in the story there’s a flash forward to the narrator who continues with his tale. The A story is the main story, the B story is of the narrator looking back.
Montage This is a great type of opening if you have a lot of information to get across before the main story begins. Also known as a shotgun, a collection of short clips accelerate through the information until the story proper begins. Then the speed of the story can slow down to a regular pace. In a matter of minutes you can explain years of your main characters life. [hmmm... montages are powerful but I would probably not use it at the very begining of a movie...]
and maybe even this http://web.student.tuwien.ac.at/~e9125168/javas/jtaggen.html?tagline=blog
One of these should triggers your creative side - saddle up and go!
\header {
title = "Suttum Vizhi Chudarae"
composer = "Composer: Haris Jeyaraj"
subtitle = "Movie: Ghajini"
meter = "Scale: Cm"
}
<<
\chords {
c1:m r1 c1:m r1
c1:m r1 g:m
}
\relative c' {
c4 dis dis c dis f f g c, dis dis c dis f f g
f f g g g f g f dis d r2
}
\addlyrics {
sut -- tum vi -- zhi chu -- da -- ra -- e, sut -- tum vi -- zhi chu -- da -- ra -- e
en -- nu -- la -- gam un -- nai sut -- ru -- dh -- ae
}
>>
Here is a list of 36 dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance:
Check out how conflict can be introduced. Enjoy!
