By: Kal Bishop
The Hero's Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188 stage template.
Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.
There is only one story.
The Hero's Journey:
a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharsis).
d) Gives you a universal structural template upon which you can superimpose your situational story.
and more...
A Page by Page Breakdown
Question: Thanks for this invaluable set of information you have sent me. I have a question. Is there a way you can give a page break down in the screenplay to all these elements? For example, at about what page would we see the call to adventure? At about what page would the hero cross the first threshold? At about what page would the hero meet the Oracle and so on.
Answer:
This varies slightly and I'm not going to do a detailed breakdown here. What we're really talking about is 3-Act versus 4-Act structure. Too complex to debate by email.
Depends on whether your Hero has three core challenges and your story terminates at the Ultimate Boon or has four core challenges and the story terminates post the Crossing of the Return Threshold.
But even then it is not a question of how many pages each should be. It is more a question of ensuring that all the stages of the Transformation have been passed (to ensure that the process is complete). If you do that, then the pages will self-regulate.
Learn more…
WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!
The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
Managing Creativity and Innovation and related techniques and tools can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/
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Kal Bishop, MBA
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kal_Bishop
