The Pigeon: Impossible Blog

I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately, and although there’s a couple of screenwriting books that come in handy, I’ve found that the most useful thing is to actually watch movies and dissect them to figure out what makes them tick. I grabbed this structure from The Story Department Blog which has a great breakdown of The Incredibles as well as several other films. I’ll be posting several more of these so hopefully you find them useful, but don’t forget that nothing compares to actually dissecting the films for yourself.

Sequence A: Ordinary World
0:30 Dream Sequence
2:30 Po’s Room (Ordinary Life)
3:30 Noodle shop
4:00 Noodle Dream/father’s dream
5:30 Furious Five spar with Shifu
6:00 Master Uguay wants to see him (sets up both characters)
7:00 “Tai Lung will return” – send out the messenger
7:30 The Dragon Scroll

Sequence B: Choosing the Dragon Warrior
8:00 Serving customers
8:15 They’re choosing the dragon warrior
8:30 Dad tells him to bring the noodle cart.
9:00 The Dragon Scroll festival
9:30 Climbing the stairs
10:00 Uguay and Shifu talk
10:30 “Peace to
10:45 Let the tournament begin
11:00 Doors close on Po. He attempts to get in.
13:00 “The Dragon Warrior is among us.”
13:30 Po creates rocket chair
14:00 Po’s father is disappointed.
14:30 Chair lights
15:00 Po lands in the middle.
15:30 Po is the dragon warrior. INCITING INCIDENT
16:00 Shifu doesn’t believe it.
16:30 If the panda hasn’t quit by morning, I have failed you.

Sequence C: Setup
17:00 Messenger arrives at prison.
17:30 Escape is impossible. Tour begins.
18:30 Rhino torments Tai Lung
19:15 Tai Lung gets the feather
19:30 Po arrives at Jade palace and geeks out
20:30 Shifu talks to him.
21:00 Po breaks urn.
22:00 Wushi finger hold.
22:30 “When I’m through with you you’ll wish you hadn’t been chosen” PLOT POINT 1

Sequence D: Po sucks
23:00 The furious five in the training room.
24:00 “There is no such thing as level 0.”
25:00 Po hits the training dummy and gets thoroughly beat up.
26:15 “There is now a level 0″
27:00 Po overhears the 5 make fun of him.
27:30 Po accidentally breaks into Crane’s room.
29:00 You don’t belong here.
29:30 Po is upset under the peach tree.
31:00 Uguay gives Po a very subtle pep talk.

Sequence E: Trouble Ahead
31:30 Tai Lung escapes.
35:00 “Fly back and tell them the real dragon warrior is coming home.
36:00 Po is gone, but turns out to be trying to stretch.
37:00 The furious 5 beat up on Po He is awed.
38:00 “Don’t worry. I’ll never quit!”
38:30 Acupuncture. He starts to bond with Mantis and Viper.
40:00 The history of Shifu and Tai Lung.
40:30 Tai Lung turns evil.
41:00 Tigris reveals her weak spot for Shifu.
43:00 “Tai Lung has escaped!”
45:00 Shifu promises he’ll try to teach Po. Uguay dies. MID POINT

Sequence F: Disarray
45:45 Po cooks for five
46:00 Doesn’t know the secret ingredient.
47:00 Po makes fun of Shifu
47:00 “Tai Lung has escaped and you’re the only one who can stop him.”
48:00 Po tries to leave
50:00 How will you teach me? “I don’t know.”
50:30 The five leave to confront Tai Lung.
51:30 Shifu realizes the 5 are gone.
52:00 Po destreoys kitchen.
53:00 Shifu realizes he can teach Po with food.

Sequence G: Gaining Confidence
53:30 Training begins with a hike
54:00 The birthplace of Kung Fu
54:30 I am your master.
55:00 The way to get through to you is with this.
55:30 Training montage. He gets better quickly.
56:30 You are free to eat.
58:30 Po defeats Shifu.
59:00 The five face Tai Lung
62:00 Tai Lung defeats the five
62:30 The five return to the palace.
63:00 Po is scared. His confidence is lost.

Sequence H: Down and Out
63:30 Po is ready for the dragon scroll
65:00 The dragon scroll is blank.
66:30 Shifu will stay behind and face Tai Lung
67:30 Po returns to the noodle shop.
68:30 Po hits rock bottom.
69:00 The secret ingredient is nothing.
69:30 Po gains confidence and knows what to do. PLOT POINT 2

Sequence I: Final Battle
70:00 Shifu and Tai Lung meet
70:30 They start to fight
73:00 Shifu hits bottom. I’m sorry.
73:30 The scroll has already been taken.
74:00 Po arrives and
74:30 They start to fight
76:00 Everything that’s happened comes in handy
77:00 Po craters and Tai Lung reads the scroll
78:00 Po is impervious to Tai Lung’s attack and starts to kick his butt.
79:30 Ska-doosh

Sequence J: Resolution
80:30 The villagers cheer.
81:00 The five bow to Po
81:30 Po finds Shifu
82:00 Shifu is at peace.
83:00 Wanna get something to eat?

Notes on the major beats:
Inciting Incident/Plot Point 1: A lot of screenwriting books seem to argue that the inciting incident and plot point 1 are the same thing. This is a perfect example of how they can actually be split into two different events. The obvious inciting incident is Po being chosen as the dragon warrior. However, this happens way too early to be plot point 1. By adding sequence C, it drags out the inciting incident to actually reveal the second part at the proper act 1 break: Shifu hates Po and doesn’t think he has it in him. Its not until Shifu reveals this that the story truly gets swung into act 2.

Midpoint: This is a skillful combination of several events that turns the story in a new direction. Externally, its revealed that Tai Lung has escaped, even though the audience already knows this. Master Uguay also passes on his staff to Shifu which adds even more hopelessness to the situation. However, the big shift is that internally, Shifu has accepted that he must train Po. This is what drives the second half of Act 2.

Plot Point 2: This is a perfect example of a typical act two ending which drives the main character to their absolute lowest point, but offers a hint at the solution through a revelation of hope/confidence. Its usually this internal upswing that propels the character forward through act 3, even when externally things are very bad.

One of my favorite bits of writing also happens towards the end of act 2. After the five return from their defeat, Po’s confidence is shaken and he wants to leave. They could have left it at that, but Po would have come off as too cowardly. The blank dragon scroll is a perfect device for really slamming the door hard in everyone’s face. The audience has been wanting to read it for the whole movie, and by letting the audience down at the same time as Po, we’re right there with him when he bottoms out.

My big takeaway:
One of the things that impresses me most is how much restraint the filmmakers show. A few action scenes are interspersed, but aside from Tai Lung’s escape and the five being defeated by Tai Lung, there’s no “fight scenes” until Act 3. Of course, you could argue that the sparring matches constitute fight scenes, but these are more about character than plot. This restraint pays off big time in three ways:

First, it gives Act 3 plenty of room to go big and broad. The audience hasn’t been beat over the head with action, so we’re fresh and ready for what has been building up the whole time.

Second, going into Act 3, we really have no idea how Po could win because he hasn’t even taken on any threatening opponents. So, even though his emotional arc (gaining confidence) essentially pays off at the end of act 2 when he realizes there is no secret to Kung Fu, we’re still anxious to see how that manifests itself.

Third, and perhaps most important, because the first 3/4 of the movie really focuses on Po and Shifu’s inner struggles, we’re able to really connect with the characters and the arcs and themes are crystal clear.

Bottom Line: I tend to be extremely focused on plot and external forces because that’s usually the easiest starting point when I write. But, the more you can whittle those external forces down to the bare necessities, the more time you’ll have for the crucial character driven moments. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the character driven stuff can be boring. The secret is that the first two acts are well written enough that they don’t require heavy dramatic action to keep the audience engaged.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.