Dear Reader, If you are reading this from the future, then somehow you ended in this blog, I was probably a great movie director that filmed a sitcom named Social Studies, but If I didn’t and instead I turned out to be a great lawyer, or unemployed, drafted by the US Army, kidnapped by Aliens, lost in the sea, traveled in time to France in July 14th, 1789, or just a boring person with a white collar job in an office in some big city with a wife, children, and debts, then I obviously didn’t turned out to be a movie director, but whatever is the case I leave this knowledge to you so you can use it and write your own amazing blockbuster. Who knows? Maybe you turn out to be the next Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Stanley Kubrick or (in the worst of the cases) the next Michael Bay. Maybe you will film the next Pulp Fiction, 2001: Odyssey in the Space, The Avengers, The Wizard of OZ, Psycho, or (in the worst of the cases) the remake of Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, or Transformers. If you are someone who is grading this scrapbook as an English IV assignment, then the information will be useful. In this entry you will learn the structure of a Screenplay. As example I will use one of my favorite movies (not Beowulf): Captain America: The First Avenger (How many references to Captain America I have made in this blog?).
WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER YET, THIS ENTRY MIGHT BE A SPOILER ABOUT THE PLOT, SUCH CAPTAIN AMERICA’S FRIEND (BUCKY BARNES) DIES BUT RETURNS IN THE WINTER SOLDIER WITH HIS BRAIN BRAINWASHED BY HYDRA WITH ORDERS TO KILL CAPTAIN AMERICA, RED SKULL GETS THE TESSERACT, AN ITEM FROM ASGARD (THOR’S WORLD) IMPORTANT IN AVENGERS AND IN MARVEL’S CINEMATIC UNIVERSE MOVIES, ROGER’S LOVE (PEGGY CARTER) GETS HER HEART BROKEN WHEN STEVE ROGERS GETS LOST IN THE SEA AND IS NOT FOUND UNTIL THE END OF THE MOVIE (WHICH IS LIKE 60 YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II), AND CAPTAIN AMERICA GETS INTO THE AVENGERS TEAM BY NICK FURY (SAMUEL L. JACKSON). THAT BEING SAID, YOU MAY CONTINUE.
First, a screenplay is divided in three acts: ACT I, ACT II, and ACT III. ACT I lasts about ¼ of the duration of the film, for example, a 120- minute movie’s ACT I lasts 30 minutes. In the ACT I, it is introduced the Ordiary World, which is the hero and the characters’ normal place. In Captain America, it is shown Johann Schimidt (Aka. Red Skull) hunting the Tesseract in Norway, which he gets, being the war the Ordinary World of Johann Schmidt. Then it is shown Steve Roger’s Ordinary World trying to get into the army, and getting beaten up in the alleys and always saved by Bucky Barnes. Then there is a Call to Adventure, in which the hero is called to enter to the Special World to solve a problem; in Captain America, the call to Adventure is when Steve Rogers goes to the fair with Bucky Barnes and some girls , and Steve Rogers separates from the group to go to an Army’s draft booth in the fair. Then there is usually a Refusal to the Call by the hero, in movies such The Patriot, Mel Gibson does not want to get involved into the war initially, however Steve Rogers is a willing hero that seeks to go to the Special World, but there is still a Refusal to the Call not by Rogers, but by Bucky Barnes that finds him and tries to discourage him to go to war, telling him that he will only find death in the battlefield. When there is a Willing hero in a movie, there will always be someone who tries to discourage the hero ( check out Dance with Wolves, it is the same thing as in Captain America).
Then the hero has an Encounter with the Mentor, who sometimes is a Merlyn-like figure that encourages the hero to go into the Special World. In Captain America, Rogers meets Dr. Abraham Erskine, who finds him, talks to him, and encourages him (more) to join the Army, telling to Rogers “We already have many big guys, maybe we will need a little one”, so Dr. Erskine takes Roger’s file and approves him to join to the army, Crossing the First Threshold to the Special World. The Cross of the First Threshold is the final event of ACT I, solving the hero’s decision to enter to the Special World.
ACT II deals with the hero’s actions in the Special World, and it starts with the meeting of Tests, Allies, and Enemies. Here, the hero is tested to prove his (or her) worth, also he meets Allies, and Enemies, which would be the boot camp, where Steve Rogers faces several tests such taking down the flag to earn a rest from the training, and the bravery tests made by Col. Phillips, that throws a fake grenade to prove that Rogers is a coward wimp, but Rogers proofs his bravery by jumping to the grenade to protect his peers and the Agent Carter (his crush), also Dr. Erskine talks to Rogers about his Enemy, Johann Schmidt, who was administered the same serum as Rogers, but it had side effects in Schmidt. Dr. Erskine tells Rogers this to tell to Rogers why he was chosen, because despite his is asthmatic and wimpy, he has a good heart and is not rotten as Schmidt, then Peggy Carter, takes roger into the secret lab where the serum is going to take place, the serum is administered, and Rogers now has abs. But a HYDRA spy kills Dr. Erskine, and steals a bottle of the formula, Rogers hunts him down and asks him “Who are you?!”, and the spy responds “The first of many. Cut off one head, two more shall take its place. Hail HYDRA!”, and the spy commits suicide by eating a pill of cyanide. Then Steve Rogers learns that HYDRA was responsible, and he wants to fight it, but he is dressed with bars and stars and give shows in order to sell War Bonds. Moreover, the hero Approaches to the Inmost Cave, which is the most dangerous place in the Special World. Rogers goes to the frontline to entertain the soldiers, but then he learn that Bucky was captured by HYDRA, and he goes into HYDRA’s factory to rescue Bucky, he figures out the locations of the other factories, takes Schmidt's mask off, becoming now Red Skull. Then there is an Ordeal, a battle in which it is unknown what is going to happen
with the hero. Captain America rides HYDRA’s train, but he finds someone who is actually trying to kill him,
then an accident happens, and somehow Captain America finds Bucky hanging from the train and is facing death by falling from the mountain in which the train is traveling. Unfortunately, Bucky falls (but doesn’t die, he returns as the Winter Soldier in the sequel). Captain America continues with the battle and gets the Reward, which is Dr. Arnim Zola, one of HYDRA’s top officers. The Reward is the consequence of the ordeal, sometimes is an object (such in the poem Beowulf, which is Grendel’s head), a person (Such in Captain America), the enemy’s plans (such in Star Wars IV), however, the Reward is the consequence, therefore sometimes it can be a negative consequence, such a delusion, for example (I know it’s a horrible example, but it’s the only one I came out) in Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan loses both her friendship with the “plastic girls” and her friendship with her real friends, showing that popularity went to Lindsay Lohan’s head (I don’t remember the name of the characters). With the reward, ends the ACT II, and starts the ACT III. ACT II lasts 2/4 of the duration of the film, which is more or less around 60 minutes in a 120-minute film.
ACT III last the remaining ¼ of the movie, or the last 30 minutes, and deals about the consequences of the deeds done by the hero in ACT II and here is where the climax of the whole film is. The first thing that happens in ACT III is The Road back, which are the consequences of obtaining the reward and the forces disrupted by such action. Sometimes is a chase scene (Such in Star Wars IV), other is the exile of hero from the Special World after making a mistake (such in The Lone Ranger, or Django), but in Captain America’s case, it is a setback from the hero’s good fortune; Captain America feels guilty about losing Bucky in the Train attack, but Peggy Carter comforts him, and encourages him to go after HYDRA for Bucky by telling him “You will not be alone” (I so love the quotes of this movie!). Then the Climax comes, or in other words the Resurrection. The Resurrection is the final attempt to make a change in the Special World, when the hero is exiled, he (or she) returns reloaded, such in Scott Pilgrim vs The World, that Scott pilgrim comes back with to face a last ordeal with Ramona’s 7th ex-boyfriend (Ms. Hudler, you MUST watch this movie, it is so epic), in A Million Ways to die in the West, the coward cowboy returns with a bullet dipped in poison to kill the antagonist; In Captain America, Steve Rogers decides to bring down HYDRA for once, and enters in Red Skull’s headquarters to capture him, but Red Skull captures Captain America, and when Red Skull is about to kill Cap, the army breaks into Red Skull’s Headquarters to bring down HYDRA. Red Skull runs away, but Cap goes after him ,and sneaks into the plane that Red Skull gets into (after receiving a kiss from Peggy Carter. Well done, Cap!). Red Skull fights Cap in the plane, Red Skull touches the Tesseract but gets burned (or tele transported by a portal to space. Some people speculate that we will see again Red Skull in one of the movies following Captain America). The Tesseract falls into the ocean, and Captain America has to sacrifice himself by putting the plane into the ocean to save America from a catastrophe (the plane carried weapons to
destroy the major American cities). Cap and Peggy Carter have this talk in which both agree to meet again for a date (by using the radio of the plane), although both know how it is going to end, and show us implicitly that Captain America and Peggy Carter love each other, and Captain America gets lost in the frozen sea. After the resurrection, it is followed the Return with the Elixir, in mythology was the item that the heroes were looking for, for example in Norse Mythology (which is going to be my freebie in the next issue) Thor retrieves his hammer, after having fighting with the Giants of the Jotunheimr that stole his hammer Mjolnir. But the elixir is not always an object, sometimes is a lesson learned by the characters after the experience of the Special World, for example, in the poem Beowulf, Wiglaf learns that Beowulf was a great hero that fought for the good of his people, and he (Wiglaf) gives to Beowulf a honorable monument after he has died and he decides to follow Beowulf steps. But in Captain America, the world realizes what Captain America had to do to save the free world, Peggy Carter misses Cap, and Captain America is found 60 years after World War II by SHIELD, and he finds out that most of his friends are dead (Almost. Peggy Carter returns in The Winter Soldier as an old lady with Alzheimer). But Captain America’s elixir is the honor of the people that give to Captain America, and the knowing that his deeds to save the free world were not in vain because the Nazi party falls, and HYDRA also(Apparently. In The Winter Soldier, HYDRA somehow filtrates in SHIELD, but still, Captain America defeated HYDRA in World War II). And finally ends with the credits, which are the images of World War II propaganda posters (I loved the credits).
This structure is not only found in movies, but also in mythology, epic poems, books, The bible, etc. Although this structure is a clear way to build an story, you can always defy the archetypes by being iconoclast and doing something different. That’s why Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, is a classic of Cinema, it changed a little this structure by building a frame story which events do not happen in chronological order, but the events somehow fitted in the structure and still made sense.
FADE OUT. (FADE OUT is something that is typed in a screenplay to indicate that the movie is over, and so this entry).
Fandom theatrical poster of Captain America: The First Avenger. Vintage edition of 1940’s for Hipsters (Although Marvel is probably too mainstream).
Nick Fury as Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp fiction. After being a gangster, he decided to do the right thing and decided to put the Avengers together.
The Writer’s Journey. A Bible for every writer. It doesn’t only teaches about how to write, but also teaches about life.
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