ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the narrative moments that move stories forward, and these are provided generally by story beats in scenes. Spending an afternoon watching and gathering tips, and learning those behind-the-scene secrets, inspired the author with tips and tricks the author now use for own career. Students call out the different scene breaks in films and then the people analyze what the story beats in those scenes do for the story and how the audience is motivated to want more. There was an intentionality that each filmmaker had with their films, whether they found it as they shot, after they crafted some scenes or via the limits imposed by the shoots. The filmmakers found their own unique approach to make their films that enabled certain scenes to be captured. People often differentiate between what they call “narrative” films and “documentaries” but the author prefer “fiction” versus “non-fiction.”
