Podcast

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Podcast Episode 6: Raiders of the Story Circle

Hey guys, it’s been a long time since we put up a new podcast episode, hasn’t it? Well we’re back, baby! In this episode we start off by comparing my structure to Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, then we basically just end up talking about Raiders of the Lost Ark for a long ass time, so long that this is our second longest episode, and it doesn’t even have a free story idea! Nevertheless, I think you’ll like it.

Lots of links this time around:
And here’s a series of posts from Dan Harmon where he discusses his story circle:
And here’s Film Crit Hulk (in annoying all caps) making the case for a five-act structure, which is also worth a read:

3 comments:

Ishmael said...

I tend to think of the "return" in Harmon's circle as applying most directly to continuing stories such as ongoing television series, but bear in mind the "return" does not have to be a literal return to the locale of the beginning. It represents the reversal of the change made earlier in the story that led to the more important, lasting change.

The video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuD2Aa0zFiA identified the Star Wars "return" as the return to the rebellion. It's a literal return for Leia, but for Luke it has more to do with escaping the belly of the beast (the Death Star) and returning to a relatively stable environment, even if it isn't the exact environment he came from.

As with most of these structures, there are plenty of ways to apply them, and there's probably not one "right" answer.

Matt Bird said...

That's true, Leia is returning to her home base, and she is the hero we start out with.

Lou Anders said...

Also, the shadow does follow Luke back. It's the "they let us go, you idiot" moment, when Leia reveals that the Death Star escape was "too easy." And of course the Death Star, the ultimate embodiment of technology in a faith vs technology film, follows them back. (FWI - this is my favorite of the podcasts to date! Great work!)