![]() One is the deliberate result of a series of decisions designed to engage with you and tell you an effective story. What we use to differentiate these two stories, besides basic opinion, is story structure. It’s simply a series of events that happen in chronological order. The events have a causal relationship to one another, but it doesn’t build or seek to engage. You can sympathize with the dog’s desire to fetch the ball, and events in the story build on one another and culminate to a climax and an ending. The dog has a goal: Bring the ball back to its owner. But the second story is the more engaging of the two. Neither are particularly interesting or “good” stories, and "most" story doesn't necessarily mean "best" story (article coming soon). So he sneaks up on the dog, snatches it back, and brings it to the boy, who rewards him with a treat and a belly rub.” At first he’s sad, but then he looks up at the boy and realizes his desire to please him will never be fulfilled unless he gets that ball back. He’s overcome with joy, but then another dog takes it and runs away. So the dog sniffs around and eventually locates the ball. The boy throws a tennis ball into the bushes and the dog panics because he can’t find it. Or Story 2: “A boy and his dog go to the dog park to play fetch. The boy throws a tennis ball, and the dog retrieves it.” Which of these two stories is more engaging? Story 1: “A boy and his dog go to the dog park to play fetch. Suppose for a moment that I wanted to tell you a story about a boy playing fetch with his dog. The way the writer constructs each scene and how each story beat leads to the next is what we refer to as “story structure.” To do so, they build a story to effectively earn those emotions from their audience. My definition is simple: Story structure describes the mechanics of why and how you give a shit about a story.Ī writer wants to make you feel a particular feeling or express an idea or make you think about whatever it is that they want you to think about. After all, even the finest writers should admit that “story structure” is a pretty nebulous term that covers a ton of information, and the nuances and term definitions can change depending on who you ask or what writing pedagogy makes sense to you.Īs for me, I made up my own definition, as I’m clearly qualified to do so what with my zero script sales and the master’s degree I don’t have. Unless who or whatever went out of its way to explain what it means, and you’re not already familiar with the concept, you may have left that conversation scratching your head. If you’ve ever taken a film class or read a screenwriting book or a pretentious film think piece (Hi!) or tolerated a speech from your pretentious film snob friend, chances are that you’ve heard the term “story structure” thrown around in one way or another. When I say, “ Snow on Tha Bluff doesn’t have a story,” I want you to know precisely what I mean, and understand that this isn’t meant to be a criticism. ![]() Now, before we get into the thick of it with Snow on Tha Bluff, I feel the need to go back over some basics. SPOILERS, FOR A NUMBER OF FILMS, INCLUDING SNOW ON THA BLUFF, STAR WARS, SICARIO, SCARFACE, AND THE GODFATHER BELOW!Īlso, I think it’s as effective as it is because it doesn’t have a story. I, on the other hand, think that Snow on Tha Bluff is an incredibly powerful and subtle statement against the glamorization of street life and violence in America. On the surface, Snow on Tha Bluff basically looks like Ignorance: The Movie, and if you’re of a closed mind, I don’t think there’s much for you here. (Were I a betting man, I would put my money on most of it being fake, but no answer would really surprise me, and in the end, I don’t think it really matters.) One day, a drug dealer named Curtis Snow, who lives in a neighborhood in Atlanta called the Bluff, stole a camera and started filming his life. With a little editing magic, the footage he shot ended up becoming the 2012 docufiction film Snow on Tha Bluff. Some of the footage we see in the movie is real, some of it's fake, and due to the statute of limitations on certain illegal activities portrayed in the film, the director and its subject have refused to offer any clarity on what is and isn’t staged.
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