Robert McKee: Story

Few people entering script writing haven't heard of Robert McKee. He lectures, talks, write books and breathes one thing: STORY.

That is, STORY in SCREENWRITING.

He is a fascinating character and although I can't make you read his book, STORY, you should.

What can we learn from him for scripting our short filmic screenplays?


STORY VALUES AND SCENE TURNING

One element we can look at is McKee's theory on how scenes SHOULD work.

He says that for a scene to have any impact, or in fact, to be judged worthy of even being in your screenplay at all, it should have a movement in its STORY VALUES.

What are they?

A story value is a negative or positively charged emotion/feeling which thematically indicates what is going on in the scene.

The most basic is this:

At the start of the scene, John McLane is alive and well. By the end of the scene he is nearly dead.

The story values have moved from LIFE to DEATH. From positive, in this case, to NEGATIVE. McKee argues this shift in values is what holds our attention and moves the story on for the audience.


OHHH, BIT CRASS

I know, it is. There are much subtely versions of story values moving from + to -.


OUR SHORTS

Now, certainly some of this scene story value chat should work within our short films. You can look at your scenes and ask yourself - are they moving from a postive to negative or vice versa, in terms of the story value.


HOW DO I KNOW WHAT THE STORY VALUE IS?

Look at the scene and ask yourself, what is the major concern of the HERO. Is it staying alive, finding love, being encouraging, looking for redemption, whatever. Most likely the story value will come from the character.


RESOURCES
A condensed version of everything McKee talks about in his book: http://www.kennykemp.com/pdf/story%20structure.pdf