Script Analysis: “Flight” — Part 4: Psychological Journey
Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:
Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Major Plot Points
Wednesday: Sequences
Thursday: Psychological Journey
Friday: Takeaways
Today: Psychological Journey.
The way I look at a script, it is a screenplay universe comprised of two worlds:
External World: Action and Dialogue.
Internal World: Intention and Subtext.
The first is the realm of a story’s Physical Journey, what we see and hear on screen.
The second is the realm of a story’s Psychological Journey, what we intuit and interpret.
The Physical Journey deals with the question: What is the story about?
The Psychological deals with the question: What does the story mean?
The two are inextricably linked. Characters experience something in the External World which impacts their attitude in the Internal World which alters their behavior in the External World which brings them to new knowledge which impacts their attitude which alters their behavior and so on.
Played out over the course of an entire story, we call this dynamic: Metamorphosis (or Transformation).
Joseph Campbell said the whole point of a Hero’s Journey is transformation.
Therefore we cannot consider script structure without embracing the Psychological Journey along with the Physical Journey.
So as we analyze a script, we can ask these questions:
* Which characters go through a metamorphosis?
* Where do they begin and where do they end in the transformation-journey?
* What are the stages in their metamorphosis?
* How do plot points in the External World impact and influence the character’s change in the Internal World?
For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown, go here.
For Part 2, to read the Major Plot Points, go here.
For Part 3, to read the Sequences, go here.
Written by John Gatins, starring Denzel Washington, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
IMDb plot summary: An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.
Writing Exercise: Go through the script or the scene-by-scene breakdown and ask yourself: Which characters go through a metamorphosis? Where do they begin and where do they end in the transformation-journey? What are the stages in their metamorphosis? How do plot points in the External World impact and influence the character’s change in the Internal World?
Tomorrow we wrap up our weekly analysis by considering what takeaways we may have discovered which we can bring to our own writing.
REQUEST: We have some incredible scripts in the GITS library which we have yet to analyze including 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, Dallas Buyers Club, Frozen, Looper, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street, and many more.
I am looking for volunteers to read a script and provide a scene-by-scene breakdown for it to be used as part of our weekly series. What do you get? Beyond your name being noted here, my thanks, and some creative juju, hopefully you will learn something about story structure and develop another skill set which is super helpful in learning and practicing the craft.
The latest volunteers:
Birdman — Doc Kane
Dallas Buyers Club — Devin Dingler
Gone Girl — Ashley
Nebraska — David Joyner
Nightcrawler — Marija
Thanks, all!
To see examples of scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here. Part of the goal is to create a library of breakdowns for writers to have at their disposal for research and learning.
You may see the scripts we can use for the series — free and legal — by going here.
To date, we have analyzed 43 movie scripts, a great resource for screenwriters. To see those analyses, go here.
Thanks to any of you who will rise to the occasion and take on a scene-by-scene breakdown.
Circling back to where we started, reading scripts is hugely important. Analyzing them even more so. If you want to work in Hollywood as a writer, you need to develop your critical analytical skills. This is one way to do that.
So seize this opportunity and join in the conversation!
I hope to see you in comments about this week’s script: Flight.
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