I've told you before that it is time for me to work on my final project. And thus this project would be entitled "Unbroken Bond". I'm excited to write about it here because i will force myself to update my progress here and what i will learn along the way. Maybe something that would help my junior or everyone who in their first time making a short.
But first, lemme take selfie (oops nope). But first, maybe you should take a note that this is my very first experience build a story and thus, bear with me that we will learn a lot along the way.
What this "Unbroken Bond" is about?
Well i had an idea in my mind actually, it first come out when i was in my internship period last year. What if? (very first basic question you have to ask to yourself) What if Romeo and Juliet still had a chance to meet it afterlife?
I have a basic idea, about a boyfriend/husband who just lost his partner, commit a suicide to meet her in the afterlife. This idea flew in my mind when i saw an online article about a husband commit a suicide after finding his wife is dead. Did he thinking he can meet her in afterlife?
From that idea, i was thinking to build a story from there. So i need to know more about what a story is, how to make a good structure story, and how to present it. I got this amazing information about first step in your story in this magnificent book : SAVE THE CAT! by Blake Snyder go check it out!
1. Logline
The book said that the VERY FIRST you must have is a logline. A lot of time people have been ask about the film they make, and maybe that is the very first people will ask about your film. "What is it About?" If you can't answer, well that means you're screwed up. The book also said if we put irony into the logline, the story would be better. An example is in the movie 4 Christmas, a newly wed couple must having a dinner with their divorced parents. See? An irony. So i decided to add an irony to my film. at first i want a young couple, but it won't be so dramatic so how about an elder couple? their love bond for maybe half a century would add the drama and gaining empathy. Not enough, i made the husband blind. He can't see at first and he doesn't know his wife's face. So how will he find and he knows when he meet his wife? don't you want to know? :D So the logline i made : "A blind husband facing death to reunite with his wife" is not just randomly created. I've been thinking through it and i hope it's not bad, if not so good.
2. Cast your Character
In a book by Robert McKee STORY, it is said that a character must have a goal, and the main character have a strong desire to get it. Because the story is constructed through the main character/hero. Let's take a note every main character is a hero in their perspective, the do because they believe it's right to do. So the character motive is the main story here. The main character must have at least one chance to attain their goal so the audience belief that the character is capable for getting his goal. Success or failure is up to your choice. This motive, which hopefully led to a emotional journey, will gain an empathy to the audience, to see the character trying. The audience love when the character trying because they can relate themselves to him/her, creating a bond between the character and audience. So the character must be empathetic. In the Unbroken Bond, the husband desire is to meet his wife. thus, it become his only goal and he is a willful man. He even facing the death to find his wife. Just like the Greek myth Eurydice, but Eurydice is just a coward who goes underworld instead face the death to find his wife.
3. On Risk
What is the risk? What do the protagonist stand to lose if he does not get what he wants? More spesifically, what the worst thing that will happen to the protagonist if he doesn't achieve his desire? Should the protagonist fail, life would go back to normal? The measure of the value of a character's desire is in direct proportion to the risk he's willing to take to achieve it; the greater the value, the greater the risk. Every decision you take, every option you choose will have a risk. The question is "Is it worth it?" In the Unbroken Bond, the husband is taking a risk by committing a suicide to meet his wife. The risk is, will he meet her in the afterlife? And that decision he made, is also become a moral value of him. His action/emotion/decision is building his personal value.
4. Writing Inside Out
No, it is not Pixar upcoming movie. It is a way the story we would tell, we write it inside out. To gain the emotional truth, we have to look at ourself first. If we happen in that person situation, what we would do? That's the purpose of writing inside out. We bringing the story from the main character's perspective, how the world build from him/her as the center, and how he handle the situation. We look a story of a man, of course we expect the story about their life, right? And thus making us wonder if we are in his/her life, what would we do? Imagine the one you deeply in love is being taken from you, what you gonna do? If Liam Neeson would go insane and do whatever it takes to get his family back, why wouldn't you? That's the same question for you, if the one who had been with you for decades was taken, would you want to get him/her back? if you're blind, old, and the only one thing you have is him/her, would you still have passion to live?
5. Character Arc
What is Character arc? well because the story is built from the character, so the character must have an arc to make the story good. What is the character in the beginning, and the one he become in the end? It must be different. I remember when Matthew Luhn from Pixar said in their workshop about Cars 2 : "What is Mater in the beginning of the film? And he is in the end? Does he change?" Because he didn't change, which means no character arc, the story fails. Even the story writer of the film said he should have asking the people about the story. And the character arc define the main character. Ah, just like when i read a review about Frozen by Ed Hooks, an acting and story mentor. He said about Frozen that the audience directed to believe the main character is Anna, but the one who got interesting story development and arc is Elsa. It is weird because most of the time we've been showed about Anna's journey to bring Elsa back, thus she should be the main character, right?
6. Find your Conflict
Every story at least have a conflict, if you follow the "classical rule" of archplot. The conflict is not all about facing an antagonist character. It could be with the environment, situation, or even the character's ego itself. The conflict is not necessarily big, but it must LIFE CHANGING. Something that would change your life for sure, thus creating us a character arc, see? And every conflict led us to : Ending
7. Define your Ending
Your story must end in the way audience can't imagine the other way. Which means we have to be exactly crystal clear about the story. No question in our mind, for example there's still a problem or a story that left behind unexplained. That will left audience with questions. Oh just like when i saw Dreamworks's Home, i got a few question in my mind. There's some action they didn't explain and just rush it to make the movie goes forward. Sometimes you even have to think about your ending first before the main story. Because if you don't have proper ending, then you're screwed. Think how you end your story before you start it.
That's all for now, folks!
That's the story phase i have to attend to get my story done, i've been arranged my story based on the theory and ideas behind what makes a story, and the story keep changing along the way to shape it better. Ii hope you'll also get some useful information here, and will help you along the way.
The next post i will give you a glimps about the story, the inspiration, some reference, so stay tune!
