So many video essays about how to get the 3 act structure right, the Hero's journey, analyzing films through this lens, etc. Dan Harmon is always yapping on about his "story circle"... it's like damn is writing really that bland?
I feel like adherence to these guidelines and the quest to find the perfect structure cheapens things and generally gets in the way of things. But I don't know anything about writing so maybe that's nonsense. What do you guys think?
Wait til you hear about the popular "Save the Cat" story blueprint which literally tells you what to do on which page exactly.
Holy crap - I did some googling. There are even software programs that help you do this shit so you can entirely remove anything creative from your storytelling.
If only they could take it to the next level via AI. Say you're in LA and you need to pump out Dumb Action Movie VIII but you want to do blow off the hip bones of a 19 year-old - no worries you can do both. All you need to do is choose the right template and press "start".
Allow me to introduce you to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
I stopped watching comic book movies a long time ago. I made an exception for Doctor Strange in 2016 because I just had to. But it was as bad as I expected. No strangeness. Instead it was the same old formulaic storytelling plus the typical 8 digit expenditure on generic CGI.
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Ninja edit
I googled. There's going to be another movie because of course there is: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. I really need to stop googling. It's corroding my soul.
Raimi is writing/directing it.
I wonder what software he's using to map out the screenplay to the second.
movies are dead and capitalism killed them
Eh, it's a good framework to use to make a script that is filmable . There is a lot of room left in scripts for visual storytelling and the like. There's a lot of a movie that isn't on the page and the more that is leave little wiggle room during production where there will be tons of rewrites and shit will change to make things work on a practical basis. This is about how to write movies in a general sense. If it was cinematography it would be explaining the 180 rule or the rule of thirds. It's useful to know and have under your belt but isn't specific instructions.
Songwriters use verses, choruses, and the like. Knowledge is good. Tools are good. But people are pumping out dreck via formulaic structures like that. It's to movies what Nickelback is to music.
Proof All Nickelback Songs Are The Same
looks up at wall plastered with d-beat record sleeves
:side-eye-1:
I googled for a particular Youtube vid that showed how Nickelback copied one of their own songs. I had no idea that copying their own songs is their entire shtick.
I have no use about Nickelback but dbeat is a punk subgenre focused on imitating one particular band who also had a very specific formula for their songs
I think your explanation is overkill.
That sounds rude but it's the only joke I could think of.
I did Disclose a lot
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Heh.
I started playing guitar August last year. I wrote two songs that I ended up discarding. That was okay. I had no idea what I was doing. Then I used that very video as inspiration to try again.
The chord progression is used in U2's With or Without You. I was going to try to make a very loose cover of that song but doing that was (and is) way beyond me. Over weeks I played those four chords over and over and over and over until I got more and more musical ideas. Eventually I wrote a song I call Joy.
I finished the current version around March. It uses Edge-like echo with some syncopation. When I play the entire song all the way through - it's still choppy. It remains a bit too hard for me to play it smoothly. But maybe in ~6 months I'll be able to play it well enough that I can share it in c/music.
My song is an instrumental.