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1 " All tales, then, are at some level a journey into the woods to find the missing part of us, to retrieve it and make ourselves whole. Storytelling is as simple - and complex - as that. That's the pattern. That's how we tell stories. "
― , Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey Into Story
2 " ... the midpoint of each film is the moment when each protagonist embraces for the first time the quality they will need to become complete and finish their story. It's when they discover a truth about themselves. "
3 " the shape of all stories: the enduring pattern of how someone is found by being lost. All tales, then, are at some level a journey into the woods to find the missing part of us, to retrieve it and make ourselves whole "
4 " A character’s want is a superficial conscious desire for the thing they think they need in order to present themselves to the world, a "
5 " Silence of the Lambs screenwriter Ted Tally put the art of writing dialogue succinctly: ‘What’s important is not the emotion they’re playing but the emotion they’re trying to conceal. "
6 " Well, technically it’s the study of matter. But I prefer to see it as the study of change. Now just think about this. Electrons, they change their energy levels. Molecules? Molecules change their bonds. Elements, they combine and change into compounds. Well, that’s all of life, right? … It’s solution then dissolution, over and over and over. It’s growth, then decay, then transformation. "
7 " Great characters are consciously or subconsciously at war with themselves. "
8 " if you disguise exposition with ‘emotional overlay’, it’s rendered undetectable. "
9 " The conflict between how we wish to be perceived and what we really feel is at the root of all character. "
10 " What are Facebook and other social media but adverts for how we’d like to be seen? "
11 " A character’s façade, then, is an outer manifestation of an inner conflict. "
12 " Exposition, after all, is telling and drama is showing. "
13 " All good exposition is disguised by making it dramatic – by injecting conflict. "
14 " The greater the conflict, the less visible the exposition. "
15 " If someone offered us £10 million, we’d all spend it differently. "
16 " People construct a public face in order to deal with the conflicts that rage inside them. "
17 " THE ROADMAP OF CHANGE ACT 1 No knowledge Growing knowledge Awakening ACT 2 Doubt Overcoming reluctance Acceptance ACT 3 Experimenting with knowledge MIDPOINT – KEY KNOWLEDGE Experimenting post-knowledge ACT 4 Doubt Growing reluctance Regression ACT 5 Reawakening Re-acceptance Total mastery "
18 " Our inability to cope with randomness, our terror of a world out of control, throws us into this total reliance on narrative—this happens because of this; you must vote for this person because of this; if you drive this car you'll get the girl—and it's almost impossible to confound this desire. "