Common Sense Logical Film Structure.

A simple and logical explanation of structure in logical common sense language.

First you need a benchmark for all your major components. Some baseline to be able to compare everything to. Once you have all that established, then you can show events and we will understand what they mean in comparison to what has been set up. So someone who is poor, is offered 10 grand!! Now without the benchmark of zero dollars, we wouldn't grasp the significance.

You need a theme too. A moral of the story. Like "You can't be greedy and expect people to thank you for it." But that needs to be directly linked to the character and the conflict that will drive that type of character to change showing how the moral of the story works.

So after that you have to present the story world to the protagonist. Because if the protagonist doesn't have a chance to get into the movie, then there is no movie. This world needs to be something new to the protagonist because if it's just going to work like every single other day, it's not a story. It's just life.

People hate change. So next, either the character is reluctant to venture into this new situation or others are reluctant to have the protagonist change. But something will make the protagonist decide to get into this new situation.

Now Every person in every new situation, will try out what they would normally do in that situation. Obviously you'd look around and check things out. You would find out about this new situation. You would try to sort it out the easy way. But this story can't be sorted like that because this story is going to be crucial to showing the moral of the story.

So once they know about the new situation or world, they will try to sort it out based on the new stuff they have learned Something new that they wouldn't normally do in normal life. But then reality hits. They realize the core truth about the situation they are in.

Then with that information, they get more and more understanding of the seriously full on situation they are in and the only way to get through it is to change but they don't wanna change. They would rather turn evil than to change. Often the people close to them will be totally disappointed in who the protagonist has turned into because of the stupid attitude they have in relation to the bad side of the theme and moral of the story . There is an exception to every rule, and when we don't ditch or change the rule in those exceptions, bad things happen.

Showing the bad side of the theme points out how destructive the moral of the story can be if you don't live by it, and how it can end up costing you everything. And so the protagonist encounters something that makes them change to show the good side of the moral of the story.

That new attitude has them able to make amends for being a prick to the people who were close to the protagonist.  This also allows them to adapt to the new environment and survive where as the antagonistic force doesn't adapt and therefore can't win. The protagonist can now work towards solving the problem. But then they have to prove that they have changed and prove the good side of the moral of the story. And they do.

Now there are variations but in general, this is the logical way flow of a moral of the story, happy ending movie. The key is not to do it in a literal way but to try to find unique ways to show these important parts. These parts are crucial to the realistic common sense way that people go through interesting stories. Coming up with awesome ways to accomplish these parts is where the magic happens.

For more insights into structure, check out Chris Soth's Mini Move Method.