THE ART OF ENTERTAINMENT

well you're in your little room and you're working on something good your mind had the thing of how I got started your little room welcome to the anatomy of chaos where we delve into the art of story this video is a study in entertainment exterior black mountains day fog drifts through the skeletal trees like ghosts the woods cloaked in shadows the oppressive night recedes from the Black Hills a haunted place a mound of fresh soil covered with foliage lives heaped in a clearing leaves dirt stones and branches shovel a hand breaks from the mound struggles to free itself from the shallow grave tears open the claustrophobic mouth of the body bag to reveal a gas mask she gropes frantically she frees herself from the tarpaulin coffin Rip's the rubber hood from her head and coughs out the gag she gasps for fresh air Maura 32 swallows deep anxious breaths she looks around wild-eyed takes in her surroundings panicked her face pale horrified doubles over with nausea pukes she loses it she notices an open-door shirt quivering hands pluck it from the pen unfolded but let's stick she absorbed the shock desperation gives way to look at resolve this is the opening scene to my screenplay Black Eyed Angels it was designed to throw the audience into the middle of a conflict and provoke questions who buried her why why the gas mask what did the note mean are they coming for it also implies something about the main character who is she what you over to this point why do they want her to stay away all of these questions are intended to challenge the audience to dare them to race against time to solve the mystery to collaborate with the storyteller and deliver a meaningful experience this collaboration between the storyteller and the audience is the heart of entertainment when people discuss entertainment it's often with a reductive attitude regarding it as little more than escapism the suggestion is audiences are also brain dead and bored that we seek out anything to keep our mind distracted from reality critics often regard entertainments the lowest valued quality in a story it's associated with pop culture mindless are meaningless distraction and frivolous spectacle in truth entertainment is an art form to understand its true nature we need to look at the origin of the word it comes from the Latin moved Internet than a day in debt which means among or between and phonetic which means to hold to entertain means to hold someone's attention from moment to moment entertainment is the phenomena of at least two minds engaged in a collaboration to invite the audience to project their attention forward in the narrative to inspire them to ask the most sacred question and story what happens next entertainment is the art of engaging the audience's attention and challenging them to collaborate with the creative process this is the first objective of the storyteller in entertainment the only truly profane thing is boring the audience art is bridge from one line to another every artist decides what kind of relationship they'll have with their audience some artists build little more than a dock expecting the observer to put in the effort to cross the waters into the world other artists build a bridge all the way across the water and shove it down the throat of their audience perhaps the most effective artists build a bridge halfway across the water just enough to invite others to take interest and the audience participates by building the rest of the bridge to meet them halfway when an audience is given enough incentive to collaborate and respect it enough to engage the story on their own terms the payoff for the art is much more rewarding what the audience takes from a piece of art is proportionate to what they put into it the greatest artists the artists that both resonate and offer a transformative experience tend to create something that invites that welcomes the audience into the collaboration then challenges them with some mystery some disjointed surprise that provokes them to critically analyze their own worldview Andrew Stanton illustrated this principle and a powerful technique of storytelling we would call this the unifying theory of TwoPlusTwo make the audience put things together don't give them four give them two plus to the elements you provide in the order you place them in is crucial to whether you succeed or fail at engaging the audience editors and screenwriters have known this all along it's the invisible application that holds our attention to story entertainment is the technique of baiting the audience with a succession of challenges and rewards that lure them into an emotional conversation and offer some new insight we begin by offering an emotional point of view through our character then provoking curiosity then presenting a conflict as our characters confront the select we become emotionally invested we begin to care we want things for them depending on the stakes and the outcome of the conflicts whether the character gets what they want or not we'll find meaning in the experience this sense of meaning is the reason we read and watch stories entertainment is the lure that draws us into the meaningful experience when we tell a story we're applying for a loan each member of the audience is like a bank with a limited resource and highly discriminating loan policies the currency we're dealing with is perhaps the most valuable asset anyone can land the currency of atencion atencion is the intellectual investment of time when we tell a story if we've demonstrated some ability to interest the audience they'll offer a short-term loan they'll lend their attention with their hand on the ejection lever the entire time with every setup every question every mystery and conflict represent we're asking for more attention more effort on their part to collaborate with us and paying off the story which means with each setup the audience is expecting a payoff a setup is the introduction of a conflict or the possibility of danger that provokes the audience's curiosity it endowed an object or character with potential energy this can be an antagonist mystery a force of opposition an unanswered question an odd event that implies something out of the ordinary is happening a payoff is the activation of a potential danger or resolution to the conflict this relationship is best described by Chekhov's gun Anton Chekhov stated it like this remove everything that has no relevance to the story if you say in the first chapter that there's a rifle hanging on the wall in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off if it's not going to be fired it shouldn't be hanging there in other words every memorable element must be necessary and irreplaceable otherwise it should be removed this principle is intended to foster the audience's trust and keeps them invested in the essential elements of the story when we tell a story we're entering into a contract with the audience they promise to supply their attention and we promise to make it worth their time the longer we wait to pay off a set up a larger the payoff the audience expects when we fail to pay it off the audience loses interesting disengages often they feel robbed of their politely Sandra has an excellent technique for tracking your setups and payoffs in our book the coffee-break screenwriter the art of entertainment is knowing how to offer a compelling set up and knowing when to pay it off this is the art of anticipation anticipation is the most engaging form of entertainment that means the audience is fully baited fully invested they've collaborated with their imagination and even made predictions on the outcome of the conflict as a storyteller were like drug dealers we want to generously offer free doses of premium quality experience then once we've hooked them we draw the anticipation as long as we can without exhausting the reserves of attention every audience has different amounts of attention in their bank which is why some great stories will resonate with only a few small audiences with increasing saturation of forms of entertainment modern audiences are inundated with solicitations for their attention this has created a much more discerning discriminating easily distracted audience audiences want to invest in something emotionally rewarding we all have a voracious appetite for entertainment this flood has directly affected the way we tell stories it has also created broader gaps between demographics and the kinds of stories they'll invest in this is a great time for story there's never been so many opportunities or so much appetite for the consumption of art as a storyteller as an artist our role is to seek out a relationship with our audience and try to understand what grabs their attention and values then engage them on their level as writers we are drawn to strange events odd moments disturbing or jarring experiences keep in mind when we introduce them we are promising the audience we're going to make it mean something by the end of the story intelligent audiences are often very suspicious of clever setups we've been burned by stories and fantastic hooks that leave us hanging our job as storytellers is to pay off the set ups with emotionally satisfying resolutions when we describe something when we point a camera at an object we are telling the audience this object is important to the story once we've directed the audience's attention to an object or event we have a responsibility to activate its role in the story or risk alienating the audience the forex story structure that I laid out in a previous videos is founded on the principle of engaging the audience to project their attention into the future the first and second acts are elaborate setups the third and fourth acts are a series of payoffs setups are events that get us to ask questions and provoke our curiosity this is where the gears connect but what makes the story resonate is the ability of the writer to deliver a satisfying payoff a common criticism of many stories is that they have a dynamic first act but everything falls flat in act 2 and the climax is bland or predictable often this comes from failing to understand the relationship between setups and payoffs understanding the principle of setups and payoffs liberate so writer from a formulaic approach to structure as long as we engage the audience with compelling setups and reward them with satisfying payoffs we are free to structure the story in any way that resonates with the audience one of my favorite illustrations of the way entertainment works is a scene from the Last Tycoon Robert DeNiro plays Monroe Stahr a production chief of the biggest movie studio in the Golden Age of Hollywood he has hired an author played by Donald Pleasance to write a screenplay for him Pleasant PSA's characters having a hard time adapting his literary sensibilities to film so star drags him into his office to teach him a lesson on the way story works I can't go on it's a waste of time why you've stopped mirth two hacks they cut right and they bugger up everything I wrote well why don't you just write it yourself I have accenture son that was just talk we'd lose the audience talk hmm I don't think you people read things the men the men are dueling when this conversation takes place at the end one of them forms into a well and has to be holed up in in a bat would you write that in the book of your own of course I wouldn't I inherited this absurd situation let me ask you do you ever go to the movies rarely because people are always doing and falling down wells and talking a load of rubbish listen as your office kind of stoven at the lights or the magic I think so suppose you're in your office you've been fighting duels all day you're exhausted this is you a girl comes in she doesn't see you she takes off her gloves she opens a person she dumps it out on the table you watch it this is you now she has two dimes a matchbox and a nickel she leaves the nickel on the table she puts the two dimes back into her purse she takes the gloves they're black puts them into the stove lights a match suddenly the telephone rings time she makes it up she listens she says I've never owned a pair of black gloves in my life hangs up heels by the stove lights another match suddenly you notice there's another man in the room watching every move the girl Nick's what happens I don't know I was just making pictures what was the nickel for Jane what was he nickel for the nickel was for the movies what do you pay me for I don't understand the damn stuff yes you do well you wouldn't have asked about the nickel entertainment is more than just meaningless distraction it's two Minds challenging their own worldviews and experiencing an emotional transformation it's a conversation between an artist and their audience when done well it's a deeply emotional meaningful exchange next time you're pitching your story or getting feedback from a beta reader keep an eye out for this question what happens next if they ask this there's a good chance your story's working let me know in the comments how you define entertainment feel free to visit my website Lost Tribe Entertainment calm to download my outline template thanks for watching anatomy of chaos

Channel: The Art Of Story

Views: 38,481

Keywords: How to write, Writer’s block, Movie review, How to sell your script, Writing Tips, How to publish, How to sell your story, How to write a screenplay, Bad habits, Book review, Tutorial, Writing mistakes, Funny, Writing, Screenwriting, Story structure, Criticism, Inspiration, Movies

Id: MK5hUD_RGT8

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 29 2016