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Day 2: What I learned …
You’ve watched today’s scene and read the group’s insights. Then you rewrote a scene using those insights.
Tell us what you learned by taking those steps!
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2 Replies
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I learned that a great movie can be made in a very limited scene by having each actor be very different and unique, causing conflict over a pressing issue. And also 11 against 1 is a great inciting incident. Will they persuade the one to give up his values, or will he convince the others to at least talk about the case?
I’m working on improving my inciting incident scenes, understanding there are some 3 inciting incident scenes in Act 1:
1. few minutes into a movie something ignites the story. Protag Ellie meets protag Jim in this RomCom.
–Giving stronger & unique intros to major characters with conflicting motives, and making the conflict stronger: She’s into saving the earth & failing, not romance. He’s into getting the gal into bed and winning a wager.
2. around 12 minutes into the movie the protagonist is introduced to the conflict they’ll need to resolve in the rest of the movie (this is the one in the 12 ANGRY MEN scene).
–I bring in very unique, bellicose antag Great-uncle Layo on his off-grid/alt-energy ranch & mention of the other antag who dissed & hurt him decades ago (details come up later). Ellie has committed to live on the ranch and help with the inventions. The inciting incident is that Layo is so obstinate about not wanting anyone to know about his inventions, Ellie considers both of them complete failures in the mission to save the earth.
3. around 25 minutes into the movie the protagonist is hit by another major crisis. They then leave Act 1 to enter the “new world” of Act 2.
–Ellie agrees to a non-commitment “situationship” with Jim, but expresses disdain for “dirty oil money,” at which Jim unseen by Ellie expresses “Yikes!” We are left wondering if they will fall in love & get married. Will Jim win his bet and get her in bed? Will Ellie fulfill her mission to help save the earth, getting Layo (who has real solutions) on board, or will Jim derail her?
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What I learned is that the inciting incident is a reflection of the overall story and for it to have true value, it must be intrinsic to the theme while also forcing the character to go a journey he/she needs to go on to become a more fulfilled person (whatever that means to each character as regards character traits, flaws/wounds etc)
The inciting incident here is that one person on a jury of 12 does not agree immediately with a guilty verdict and so the jury cannot just leave and go home (because there would not be a story), so it forces the characters including the protagonist, to go on this journey of discovery together and talk out the reasoning behind the actions of this 18 year old. The lone voter who does not immediately vote ‘guilty’ is a man of integrity, who is uncertain yet unable to judge a man’s guilt in under 5 minutes, even if the evidence shows otherwise. We learn from his dialogue and action that he is values life and understands the importance of this verdict, morei important than catching that ball game – which says a lot about other jury members. This inciting incident highlights the difference (and importance) between one lone person and the group think. We are intrigued as we are already invested in the outcome of the journey, will the others convince him to find the defendant guilty or, now that he has succeeded in stopping the gulity verdict, will the discussions that follow give us more of an understanding of the events that happened and will it also convince us to look at things a little deeper than what is immediate apparent. It is an intriguing moral condundrum.
Already the conflict is evident in the different characters. Each of the men have their own unique viewpoint/lack of care/flippancy/prejudice/ignorance and the promise of unravelling each man’s prejudices/viewpoints while learning more about the boy’s actions sets the tone for the film, also offering a unique perspective on the potential flaws and strengths of our judicial system.
From a writing scene pov, it is both a masterclass in character study and creating an inciting incident that is the heartbeat of the story.
Looking for such profound yet simple inciting incidents is key to creating a masterful script which both reflects what the story is about, thrusts the character/s into place/s where there is no way back but forwards on a journey that will bring them closer to the truth from both without and within.
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