Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 7 From Page to Screen 263

To understand how story structure can work in a feature fi lm, consider this

interesting Academy-Award winning example:

Th e script quickly establishes the central dilemma of its main

character, the sharp-tongued adolescent Juno: She is facing an

unplanned pregnancy. In the Setup section, she deals with the initial

news and arranges to terminate the pregnancy. At 20 minutes

into the fi lm, she leaves the clinic, creating the fi rst major turning

point of the fi lm: she will go through with the pregnancy. In the

Complicating Action section, which lasts 22 minutes, she deals with

the pregnancy by selecting a couple for adoption and telling her

parents. Th is section ends near the midpoint of the fi lm when she

decides to go to the couple’s house alone. Th is action builds on the

initial connection she made with Mark, the adoptive father of her

baby: she is “crossing boundaries,” as her step-mother will soon tell

her. Th e Development section lasts 24 minutes, during which the

drama of her relationship with the biological father of her baby,

Paulie, builds to a confl ict, and she establishes a bond with Vanessa,

the adoptive mother. Juno initiates the fi nal major turning point

when she makes a conscious choice to ratchet up her relationship

with Mark: She calls him and puts on lipstick before driving to their

house to exchange mix CDs when he is alone. During the 26 minute

Climax and Epilogue section (the three-minute epilogue is primarily

a song performed with Paulie), Juno works to resolve the confl icts

in her life and achieve her objectives. Th ere are other devices used

to set up sections and establish rhythms in the fi lm, such as the

labeling of seasons and musical passages, but the major dramatic

turning points divide the fi lm quite neatly into four sections with an

important, but seemingly subtle, choice falling right at the

mid-point of the fi lm.

Figure 7-13 Jennifer Garner,

Jason Bateman, and Ellen

Page in Juno, directed by

Jason Reitman and written

by Diablo Cody. (Courtesy Fox

Searchlight/Photofest)

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