Moving Images, Understanding Media

262 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

resolution. As indicated earlier, this concept dates back to the fi rst decades of

the cinema. However, let us consider terms indicated by Kristin Th ompson

in her book Storytelling in the New Hollywood, in which she freshly examined

story constructions of feature fi lms to see how they were built.

Turning Points in Narrative

Motion picture narratives are propelled forward by key turning points in

their major actions, when they seem to “shift gears.” As researched and

demonstrated by Th ompson, these tend to fall rather evenly throughout the

story, resulting frequently in four sections (and occasionally three or fi ve).

Th us, a two-hour movie nearly always falls into four major parts of about a

half hour each, although these lengths can vary and still work quite eff ectively.

Th e most frequently observed and logically divisible portions of feature fi lms

have been labeled and described by Th ompson as follows:

• Setup – During the fi rst section of the story, the initial situation of the
  narrative is introduced, including relationships between characters.


• Complicating Action – Th e main character or characters have to react
  to a confl ict that changes the initial situation of the fi lm and the ability
  of characters to fulfi ll goals or function normally.


• Development – At this point, the characters have been pursuing their
  goals and confronting obstacles in a variety of ways, and they must
  fully confront their struggle in this section.


• Climax and Epilogue – Th is part begins with a fi nal major turning
  point and all of the core obstacles to the characters’ goals have been
  established. Typically, this is a section of distinctly rising dramatic
  action to result in a fi nal confrontation or resolution of confl icts in
  the fi lm.
  A screenplay that received many awards and accolades by the press
  during the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century was Juno by Diablo Cody.

Figure 7-12 Natalie Portman

screaming in the Paris metro

in Tom Tykwer’s segment of

Paris, je t’aime. (Courtesy La

Fabrique de fi lms/ Photofest)

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