Saw and High Noon. On the surface these two films could not be more different. One deals with brutal psychological torture while the other concerns a town marshall standing up for what is right. Yet, both films are brought to their respective climaxes by the same dramatic device.
Anyone recognize the following number?
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679 82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273 7245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094 3305727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912 9833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132 0005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235 4201995611212902196086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859
Anyone who had a basic introduction to mathematics will recognize the above sequence as Pi - or the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. If you had the same math class as I did, you were also told to just shorten it down to 3.14. Why? Because the number literally extends forever and ever. And even your teacher knew that there is nothing more mind-numbingly boring than not knowing when math class will end.
Which is exactly the same way your audience feels when your story has no end in sight!
You’ve got to give your audience some signal of the scope of your story. And there are two ways you can do it - either by limiting space or by limiting time.
Take the example of Pi above. If, like your teacher, I told you to only carry Pi out to a certain number of decimal places, say 8, you could easily answer with 3.14159265. The amount of space with which you could give your answer was limited.
On the other hand, if I told you to write out Pi but you only had 5 seconds to do so, you might come back with 3.14159265358. The amount of time with which you could give your answer was limited.
Either way everyone’s happier because math class ended quickly. Which left time for more important classes…like creative writing!
Both answers were correct - the only difference was the limit placed on them.
Same with stories - there is no correct story, but there are stories that are structured correctly. Those with proper structure are limited either by space or by time. When it comes to storytelling we change space to the author-friendly term options. It’s a little easier to write a story brought to an end by a lack of options than by a lack of space!
Dramatica calls this part of a story the Story Limit.
There are stories that are structured correctly
Both Saw and High Noon are limited by time. In Saw, Jigsaw’s latest victims have until 6pm to kill each other. In High Noon, Marshall Kane has until 12pm when the revenge-seeking outlaws he sent to jail arrive in town.
An interesting concept with the Story Limit: As the deadline approaches in a Timelock, the characters will feel like their options are running out. In an Optionlock story, the characters will feel like they are running out of time. This is the difference between being outside your story and inside your story - what is really going on, and what it feels like is going on - objective and subjective.
In High Noon, Kane feels like he is running out of people he can turn to for help. One by one they either refuse or confess that they are too afraid to stand next to him. As time runs out, he’s left with his only option - himself.
Interestingly enough, in the original cut of High Noon, the shots of the ticking clock were not in there. Test audiences were bored out of their mind (even in 1952) as they waited impatiently for something to happen. Only when the shots of the clock were cut in did the audience finally feel the tension they were longing for.
Give your audience some signal of the scope of your story
Without getting into too much gory detail, Saw employs the same dramatic device. With only so many minutes left until their final deadline, the characters explore every gruesome option available to them.
So please, don’t bore your audience. Let them know when it’s all going to end. There is nothing more frustrating than that sinking feeling you get when you say to yourself, “When is this film ever going to end!” Don’t believe me? Then click on Dr. Evil below and see for yourself how unrelenting perpetuity can be…
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment