I guarantee the following words will forever change the way you watch movies!
I absolutely love going to a theater and taking in a great popcorn flick. But up until a few years ago I never thought about the way a movie (or novel) was put together. Over the last few years I’ve discovered something that has changed forever the way I watch movies.
In a nutshell, every movie has the same ten parts, and once you know them you can identify exactly where the movie is going next!
Most successful movies (and novels) make use of what is called “The Universal Story” or “The Hero’s Journey”. Popularized by Joseph Campbell with his 1949 book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, the Hero’s Journey is the story of all of us, and by extension, the same but different story found in every successful movie or novel.
In other words, strip all the thematic and dramatic elements away and Finding Dory is the same story as Back to the Future which is the same story as The Last Jedi. At the core of each of these movies is “The Universal Story”, which is the story of you and me.
The Universal Story, or Hero’s Journey, goes something like this. The Hero lives in his normal world, often unsatisfied but just as often unwilling to make any changes. The Hero is pulled out of his normal world, usually against his will, into a world he knows nothing about. Some cataclysmic event pushes the Hero into this new, unfamiliar world and he must walk through no man’s land until he is able to overcome the “villain” (which comes in all shapes and sizes). In the process of walking through the perils of the unknown world the Hero is changed, usually for the better, but not always, and is different when he reenters the familiar world by the end of the story. That is the universal story upon which all stories, in print and in film, are built. As Martha Alderson writes in her book, The Plot Whisperer,
My most important insight is this: All of us face antagonists and hurdles, hopes and joys, and by meeting these challenges we can transform our lives. I have come to believe that every scene in every book is part of a Universal Story that flows throughout our lives, both in our imaginations and in the reality, that surrounds us.
Every great movie is built on the Universal Story, and that story resonates deep within us because it is the story of all mankind.
Now, check this part out. This is where it gets really interesting! This is the part that’s going to change the way you watch movies!
Writers of writing have taken to dissecting this Universal Story into discernable smaller parts that can be easily replicated in print and on film. What are those key building blocks that make up the story of us all? What are the key ingredients for every successful movie? Well, in part, that depends on who you read.
In 1949 Joseph Campbell listed 17 separate parts of the Hero’s Journey.
In 2005 Blake Synder pointed out 15 separate beats to a successful movie in Save the Cat!
In 2007 Christopher Vogler listed 17 different parts of the Hero’s Journey in his seminal book The Writer’s Journey.
In 2016 K.M. Weiland noted 20 separate parts of the character arc in her book Creating Character Arcs.
Todd Klick has listed 120 different “beats” in his book Beat by Beat.
And just last year Neal Soloponte noted there are 195 different “stages” to every movie or novel in his book The Ultimate Hero’s Journey.
So how many are there?
While the actual number of parts or beats or stages differ from expert to expert, they all agree on the following 10 biggest blocks. Once you know them you can track a movie from beginning to end and instinctively know where the story is going even before it gets there. Here are the 10 parts of every successful movie:
The Hero is shown living in his NORMAL WORLD unaware of changes about to come.
The Hero receives a CALL TO ADVENTURE with an “Inciting Event” that first introduces the problem.
At first the Hero REFUSES THE CALL to adventure.
The Hero is forced to accept the call to adventure and goes through the DOORWAY OF NO RETURN into the Unknown World.
The Hero begins moving along the ROAD OF TRIALS as he tries unsuccessfully to solve the problem.
Right in the middle of the movie there is a MIRROR MOMENT which requires the hero to change his way of thinking and change his plan for attacking the problem.
The Hero tries and tries but eventually begins to lose hope, believing ALL IS LOST.
Having found one last ounce of hope, the Hero enters the FINAL BATTLE.
The Hero moves us through the DENOUMENT where all ends of the story are tied together.
Finally, the Hero begins living in a NEW NORMAL WORLD, better than he was before.
That’s it! That’s the game plan for every successful movie. It works because it describes in a step by step manner a story that resonates deep down within each of us.
In part 2 of this blog, I will illustrate each of these 10 blocks with examples from various genres of successful movies. In the meantime, take this list of 10 with you to Cinemark or AMC over the next couple of weeks and see if you can identify each part in your next movie. And just to make it easier here are a couple of helps.
The “Doorway of No Return” happens about one quarter of the way through the movie (30 minutes into a 2-hour movie).
The “Mirror Movement” happens exactly halfway through (1 hour into a 2-hour movie).
The “Final Battle” begins the last one quarter of the movie (with only 30 minutes left in a 2-hour movie).
Cool, right? I told you this would change forever the way you watch movies!
