How Writers Can Create A Powerful Dilemma - Jeff Kitchen
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 бер 2023
- BUY THE BOOK - THE HERO'S DILEMMA: Drama at the Heart of Your Story
amzn.to/3NjJedN
BUY THE BOOK - WRITING A GREAT MOVIE: Key Tools For Successful Screenwriting
amzn.to/38VSHEg
JOIN THE SCRIPT.KITCHEN SUBSCRIPTION
script.kitchen/subscription-p...
FREE CLASS ON REVERSE CAUSE AND EFFECT WITH JEFF KITCHEN
bit.ly/2LMDWeb
WATCH MORE VIDEOS WITH JEFF KITCHEN
bit.ly/3sHuDg6
CONNECT WITH JEFF KITCHEN
script.kitchen
/ scriptkitchen-10042964...
/ jeff-kitchen-2b751b
/ script_kitchen
VIEWERS ALSO WATCHED
Overview Of The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations - • Overview Of The Thirty...
Biggest Mistake Writers Make When Beginning A Story - • Biggest Mistake Writer...
How To Begin Building A Story Off A Few Words - • How To Develop A Story...
Biggest Mistake Writers Make When Beginning A Story - • Biggest Mistake Writer...
Easiest Way To Create Plot - • Easiest Way To Create ...
How Writers Can Create A Powerful Dilemma To Make Their Stories Better - • How Writers Can Create...
(Affiliates)
►WE USE THIS CAMERA (B&H) - buff.ly/3rWqrra
►WE USE THIS EDITING PROGRAM (ADOBE) - goo.gl/56LnpM
►WE USE THIS SOUND RECORDER (AMAZON) - amzn.to/2tbFlM9
SUPPORT FILM COURAGE BY BECOMING A MEMBER
/ @filmcourage
CONNECT WITH FILM COURAGE
www.FilmCourage.com
#!/FilmCourage
/ filmcourage
/ filmcourage
/ filmcourage
/ filmcourage
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FILM COURAGE UA-cam CHANNEL
bit.ly/18DPN37
LISTEN TO THE FILM COURAGE PODCAST
/ filmcourage-com
Stuff we use:
LENS - Most people ask us what camera we use, no one ever asks about the lens which filmmakers always tell us is more important. This lens was a big investment for us and one we wish we could have made sooner. Started using this lens at the end of 2013 - amzn.to/2tbtmOq
AUDIO
Rode VideoMic Pro - The Rode mic helps us capture our backup audio. It also helps us sync up our audio in post amzn.to/2t1n2hx
Audio Recorder - If we had to do it all over again, this is probably the first item we would have bought - amzn.to/2tbFlM9
LIGHTS - Although we like to use as much natural light as we can, we often enhance the lighting with this small portable light. We have two of them and they have saved us a number of times - amzn.to/2u5UnHv
COMPUTER - Our favorite computer, we each have one and have used various models since 2010 - amzn.to/2t1M67Z
EDITING - We upgraded our editing suite this year and we’re glad we did! This has improved our workflow and the quality of our work. Having new software also helps when we have a problem, it’s easy to search and find a solution - goo.gl/56LnpM
*These are affiliate links, by using them you can help support this channel.
#writing #storytelling #stories
![Writing A Great Movie: Key Tools For Successful Screenwriting - Jeff Kitchen [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xCCzm4n506o/mqdefault.jpg)
![Writing A Great Movie: Key Tools For Successful Screenwriting - Jeff Kitchen [FULL INTERVIEW]](/img/tr.png)
Here is the first video from this series which helps to add context - ua-cam.com/video/D9k2MD8rUtw/v-deo.html
His memory of certain movies is flawed, but I think I was able to follow well enough.
What I got from this is:
The dilemma must be dominant in the story, even if it isn't directly addressed in every scene.
The two sides of the dilemma must be emotionally even.
One side of the dilemma may repel the audience, but the protagonist SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING that option must not repel the audience.
If something about a character doesn't make sense, dig deeper until it does.
If I got something wrong or missed something, I invite others to correct my errors.
Just like life, trauma either buss pipes or build diamonds.
Wrestling the hurricane with Herculean tenacity.
Another great release. Thank you once again.
I've LOVED throwing a dilemma at my Players at the D&D Table... There are quite a lot of ways to set up a group of adventurers with a "Damned if you do, Damned if you don't" situation... I also LOVE running themes along the parallels of "Monsters are people, too."
Yeah, sounds kinda crazy to personify or humanize a monster... BUT it's do-able when you have even a semi-interactive medium to play with.
A solid dilemma I've thrown at Players with relatively mixed results (and that's how you can tell you've made a good one) is a Cursed Sword of Vampirism...
It's an otherwise relatively ordinary weapon (and doesn't technically have to be a sword, only a weapon, cursed, and vampiric in nature)... It has a subtle "magical aura", obviously "dark" or hinting at evil if the Game Systemically allows that to be noticed (some do and some don't, and D&D isn't the only TTRPG I play)...
SO firstly, a cursed item STICKS to the person who "claims it"... Whatever that constitutes in your Game, whether just touching it matters, or you require someone to crow delightedly, say the word "Mine", or willingly draw it and try to swing it (whether or not they succeed or just wave it around or nothing at all more than admire it)... whatever... Upon "claim", THAT Player's Character is "cursed"... BUT the Vampiric Curse is special... as you might expect, it means that using the sword to deal damage ALSO gains health for the Character... It's the nature of Vampirism. Someone dies so the Vampire lives, gets stronger... It's literally Parasitically Feeding off another person... AND animals CAN qualify if you (as GM) agree with it, depending on how "strict" you want to lay on that Vampiric Curse nomenclature... Part of "the Kicker" is that even a curse CAN render a weapon "magical" and thereby gives it automatically abilities to injure certain creatures and aberrations that "Ordinary Weapons" can NOT... SO there IS already an advantage. The Player just can't get rid of the damned thing until "Remove Curse" is cast at a suitable level/power... AND it can be quite expensive.
I also like to add to the "basic enchantment" of things... SO let's give the enhancement of "Corruption", meaning that over time, the Player's Character WILL slowly gain all the powers AND all the weaknesses inherent to being a Vampire... We can even go so far as to base that "evolution" on the usage of the weapon... SO the more often and the more damage doled out by the Sword of Vampirism, the more the Player's Character gains Health from it, and the more he or she EVOLVES into a true-blue, authentic Vampire... all the way to undeathly appearance, shapeshifting into Bats and Wolves, a mist-form... a severe aversion to sunlight, even auto-immolating upon contact with direct sunlight (eventually)... reactions to Holy Water and Garlic... and taking damage from "Turning" as in the Priestly or Monk's ability to "Turn Undead" depending on the level of caster and all...
BUT what kind of benefit would really draw a Player's Character to WANT such a blade??? Trust me, add even a +2 (out of 20 is a net +10% chance) to hit whatever you're swinging at, OR REDUCE the chances of "fumble" (say... only a 50% chance of fumble on a Natural 1) and you've got Players practically WATERING AT THEIR MOUTHS for this thing, until (of course) they start to realize just how "bad" it can get...
Like I said, it gets mixed results... Some depending on the particular Players as much as the variables I play with... Added damage often helps... even with the +10% to hit or the mere 50/50 Fumble reduction. Of COURSE I let the sword "heal" more Health Points, numerically than the Character had at onset... AND at least some of those points are permanent. That's usually a juicy benefit... BUT at the cost of steadily becoming the undead monstrosity...
...aligning steadily more evil... corrupting your beloved Character/Hero in the process...
It comes down to what would YOU do??? Get rid of this one instrument that allows you to heal yourself, even violently... so your team's Healer doesn't get tapped out or spread too thin? OR do you risk it? Do you risk becoming an undead monster with the interest of your team's mission???
For Adventurers, there's ALWAYS a big, horrific, and ugly demise awaiting them around the next corner. There's always another villain, a bigger monster or demon, something else threatening them and everything they care about. There are NEVER guarantees of finding enough "power" or allies or friends or resources to be able to deal with it. That makes dropping a powerful weapon a tough choice... and tougher for every added benefit.
I don't know WHO this is likely to help... BUT I hope it offers some exemplified understanding of dilemma and how the choices can be balanced severely enough that even only in moments of desperation, otherwise good and decent people can "sell out their souls" as it were. It's interesting to watch unfold at a Game Table, and I've enjoyed every conversation I've had around such things.
I think honest dilemmas illuminate our darker internal shadows and recesses, and they teach us quite a lot about our own dubious and often arbitrary boundaries. ;o)
I love to use D&D as a litmus test for my story dilemmas.
The question is, generally speaking: if I put my players in this dilemma, would they be intrigued and challenged, curious and excited?
@@DeLaSoul246 That comes down to "prep" and "Session-0"...
Basically, set the expectations for the Game BEFORE you just dump it out of the blue on them... and rather than the "knee jerk" reaction of assuming "GM's being an asshole"... They'll realize this is another challenge for them to engage with... discuss...
It helps to have a group of Role-Play focused Players. They tend to sink their teeth into such dilemmas easier and deeper than the power-gamers (who'll do anything for advantage and damn the intangibles)... or the archetypal "hack-n-slashers".
Of course, you also know YOUR group better than I do... SO you CAN create dilemmas to suit their particular paradigms of decision and priority making. ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 Your suggestion is great for D&D!
I think that it is an even greater tool for story writing, because it won't affect writers. Thank you!
For me, I usually prefer paladins, which I assume are tanks, so it would be hard to resist, especially if I knew that there were a way to undo my choice.
That being said, I would be pissed if I found out that it would affect a character that I meticulously created...only to see him ruined.
If it were a disposable character, that we didn't care about losing, then it would be more fun.
What an enlightening video. I have a much deeper understanding of crafting a powerful dilemma.
Brilliant.
Great video
Profound stuff! Thank you.
Thanks!
Thank you again Andrew! We hope to publish this full interview later this month. It was a fun exercise where Jeff builds a story from scratch.
Great insight. I like how he goes in depth with the concept of having a dilemma.
What do you think about this video? Please leave a comment below.
Very VERY informationally lucrative and love the explication of such a perspective to the relationship btw humanity & adversities.
Gave me a very enlightening perspective that perfection could possibly be correlated to the lack of soul development or "character" in itself.
Bleeds a very philosophical aspect to an artistic expression from film to books and any medium driven by narrative.
Great piece, fam
magical seeing the process. thank you.
Cheers Mike! Here's our full interview with Jeff - ua-cam.com/video/b2RlPZmz9nc/v-deo.html And if you want even more than that, here is a playlist that features many writers and their process - ua-cam.com/play/PLez8jOvskc-Pp9uMNo-GqARDXoV2O3gIX.html
Grateful to this guy for sharing his expertise, but I don’t feel that this video was helpful. He wasn’t teaching about dilemma so much as figuring out something about a robot (?) script in real time. This video didn’t deliver on its title.
So much WAFFLING... this man should take a moment to gather his thoughts and THEN they should turn on the camera.
This segment is part of an exercise where Jeff is thinking up a story from scratch in real time and he is teaching while he does it.
@@filmcourage oh that makes much more sense now
This one is a little different than our usual interviews. For reference, this is the starting point for this series - ua-cam.com/video/D9k2MD8rUtw/v-deo.html We are still releasing this session in segments but it will make the most sense when it is released as one full video.