Welcome to the third video in this series covering the fundamentals of screenwriting and

storytelling you can find the full playlist link in the description or on the end screen of this vi
deo. Last video I look at the fundamental building blocks of dramatic characters in this video I'm
going to be examining the different character arcs and how they can be practically understood
to help begin a story or fix problems while rewriting so when I talked about building dramatic
characters I showed you how you need to define the beliefs of your characters so that you can
then create their want and need a character are could be the gradual internal change and
believes that a character goes through from the beginning of the story to the end through the
events of the plot which will largely be focused on what a character once your character will be
continually dealing with what they believe about the world in dealing with their main false belief
which is their life remember that the lie your character believes is a false belief they hold about
themselves or the world the arc of the character will be the change and believes that takes
place inside them as they pursued their external want. K. M. Weiland Wright's character arcs
are ultimately the whole point of fiction the change the journey from one spiritual emotional
intellectual place to another is the story of humanity. While in the saying that the internal change
made within characters defines the reason that stories exist at all in other words the change that
a character makes will define the meaning of the story and the reason it exists. Brian Harman
talked about how story structure was built upon cycles of change Wyland is applying this to the
character's internal journey change creates dramatic narrative and changing beliefs creates
meaning. In her book creating character arcs Wilen lays out 3 arcs the change arc the flat arc
and the negative arc into this list I'm going to add one more arc the open ended our first let's
take a look at the most prominent type of character arc the change arc also called the positive
change arc as I explained in the previous video your characters need as a result of being
internally incomplete because of their lie this life will become the main element in the internal
change the character as he or she encounters the truth the changer quirks like this character
believes lie character encounters the truth character overcomes lie by finding and accepting the
truth in 7 detective Somerset is our protagonist and he begins the story with a lie Somerset
believes the world is too lost in darkness to be saved. What are we. And he doesn't believe he's
doing anything worthwhile he has become apathetic the lie that your character believes will
usually be the result of their ghost Weiland rights ghost is movie speak for something in your
character's past that haunts him you may also see it sometimes referred to as the wound. So
your character's ghost a dramatic believe defining event in their past will haunt them and be a
pivotal reason for the lie they hold throughout the story Somerset's lie is that the world is too lost
in darkness to be saved and late in the film Somerset reveals his ghost in this scene Somerset
reveals that he had a woman he loved very much but when she got pregnant Somerset didn't
think he could bring a child into this world I remember thinking. How can I bring a check to a
world is how can how can a person grow up with all this around. And it's here we find
Somerset's lie. Intellia now. I am I note. I am positive. But I made the right decision. Somerset
believe the world was too dark for him to bring a child into it this is sue Somerset is when we
meet him in the beginning of the story now let's look at how he changes over time. Somerset is
assigned to work with detective mills mills holds different beliefs about the main philosophical
conflict at the center of the story while Somerset is burnt out and apathetic mills believes he can
still help make the world a better place 5. I don't follow. Very simple. You were actually far to get
reassigned here. I've just never seen it done that way before but I can do some good luck it
would be great for me if we do start out kicking each other in the fall. Remember the last video
when I talked about how the characters wants and needs are defined with their beliefs the
conflict between Somerset and mills is a great example of this throughout the story mills forces
Somerset to examine his beliefs. Listen. You say. The people is that they don't care. So I don't
care about people. I don't think you're quitting because you believe these things. One of the
leading. When. News does what he can to shake Somerset's beliefs and mills does persuade
Somerset to examine what he believes but mills can't quite get summer set to change his point
of view but the rate someone who does. You're looking for me. The serial killer they've been
chasing jondo show Somerset what an extreme version of Somerset's beliefs would look like. In
a sense is that supposed to be funny. Only in a world that shitty. Could you even try to say
these were innocent people to keep a straight face but that's the point. We see a deadly sin on
every street corner. In every home. And we tolerate it. In a way Somerset N. jondo agree the
city is full of apathy crime and filth but while Somerset thinks he can simply leave it all behind
jondo wants to cleanse the city through violence and torture well John Doe gives his speech to
mills in the car Somerset is the one whose beliefs are being challenged in the climax jondo
breaks mills he wins yet at the same time jondo his for Somerset to fully confront his beliefs and
make a positive change in the last lines of the film we see this summer said police have
changed he has found and accepted the truth. Ernest Hemingway once wrote. The world is a
fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part. Somerset is moved from cynicism
and apathy to believing the world is still worth fighting for. So when you're writing your own
positive change arc is a few elements that are useful to keep in mind first establishing the lie the
character believes is one of the most important things you can do the audience will not be able
to see how the character changes over time if they don't understand the lie the character beliefs
second is understanding the power of a clear ghost for your character when your character has
legitimate traumatic experience that's happened in their life to create their current believes it
makes us believe stronger than just ideas in their heads their beliefs are part of who they are
their beliefs are part of their identity another important element is the other characters or events
that put the characters lie into question reveal the truth and help drive not only the internal
conflict of the character but the external plot as well it can be useful to be aware of the exactly
the character believes and the exact truth they need to find when beginning a story while some
may think beginning this way is too restrictive or formulaic it will give you a starting point of
internal character conflict to allow the plot to grow more naturally out of the characters want and
need. Next let's take a look at the flat arc in a flat arc the character has already found and
accepted the truth they have no need no lie and make no internal change while in rights to
flatter character already has the truth figured out in the beginning of the story and he uses that
truth to help him overcome various external tests the flat arc looks like this character believes
the truth characters belief in the truth is tested character holds on to the truth. But stories are
still about change so if your main character is a flat or character it will usually be the characters
around him or her that will go through change remember when I talked about Katniss Everdeen
this is a flat our character she remains the protagonist of her story but she's not the one who
changes she changes the people around her tennis helps the people across the different
districts realize that they have power and that they can fight the capital and gain their freedom
but a character doesn't have to be the symbol of goodness just because they don't have a need
in there will be blood Daniel Plainview is a flat our character flaw Katniss helps those around her
find positive truths Daniel reveals the dark truths that exploiting others can bring success as
Daniel interacts with the other characters he begins to exploit manipulate and even kill them to
get what he wants his belief in this negative truth allows him to win again and again and again I
have a competition. I want no one else to succeed. Let's take a look at on a flat arc is structured
in a story. At S. begins her story believing a truth that people should be free and should stand
up to their oppressors Daniel begins his story also believing in truth his truth is that exploiting
others and completely focusing on one singular goal will help you get what you want the
beginning will also show with the other people believe about this particular truth in the hunger
games Katniss is generally alone in her belief in this truth others around her either don't believe
their freedom can be one or they are too scared to say anything in there will be blood many of
the characters are also aware of the truth that others can be exploited however they don't
believe these horrible things can happen to them Paul Sunday uses Daniel for is an advantage
you lie Sunday tries to used in those riches for himself and his church. Dennis's sister is taken
for the hunger games Katniss volunteers to take her place even though Katniss is now a captive
of the capital doomed to die in a 6 game Katniss remains defiant in her training in inside the
game patents continues to defy the status quo and do what she believes one of the most
important characters Katniss meets is Roo Roo and Katniss become close and through rues
death Katniss is empowered to be even more vocal and open about sparking rebellion and she
does just that. And there will be blood Daniel begins the story with this truth immediately
challenged as he mined for silver his latter breaks on him and he breaks his leg an injury that
will stay with him for the rest of his life yet even as his leg is broken he focuses on the silver no
matter what Daniel will achieve his goal. Daniel slowly builds his oil empire he takes over more
and more land and makes deals with large oil companies in return for hundreds of thousands of
dollars those who come against Daniel are killed exploited and lied to no one realizes how
dangerous Daniel is until it's too late Daniel is constantly manipulating others to get what he
wants you I. Sunday challenges Daniels control over the townspeople H. W. forces Daniel to
see what having a family could actually be like H. W. is the example of an alternative life Daniel
could choose in William bandy becomes a thorn in Daniel sighed he's a man who doesn't want
money which is the only thing Daniel has to offer the largest threat to Daniel comes when his
forming antagonise all aligned to create the largest attack on what Daniel believes Daniel's
brother who turns out to be a fraud destroys Daniel's last chance at having a normal family bond
with someone after he killed his brother he's caught by William bandy Daniel once brandy's land
for a pipeline in offers money but bandy doesn't want money he wants Daniel to become a part
of the church at the church Daniel is humiliated by Eli Sunday to the point where you like forces
Daniel to admit that he abandoned his son. C. H.. Brandon might say it loud say it loud. Both
both Kennison Daniel go through multiple obstacles and faced all sorts of characters who
challenge what they believe while all sorts of antagonised try to force Katniss into despair she
never gives up she continues to find the capital in sparks hope in the people across the districts
this spirit inside her never changes it only becomes more and more apparent Daniel is the same
way even through everything the other characters through Adam he stays strong and continues
to beat them over and over again and he gets everything he ever wanted it becomes extremely
wealthy and destroys those who tried to stop him remember stories are about change if you are
creating a character that will not change throughout a story it's important to take a look at the
other characters to see which ones may change it's not that you have to know exactly who will
change and how as you begin a story however if you move through the entire story with little
dramatic character change and it's much more difficult to keep an audience engaged with the
story as a whole. The last type of market Weiland outlines is a negative change arc and it's the
most complicated of the 3 Weiland rights the negative change R. tells the story of a character
who ends in a worse place than that in which he started the negative change arc has 3 different
types of arcs within it the disillusionment arc the fall arts and the corruption arc. The dissolution
arc is exactly the same as a positive change arc the character has a lie that must be overcome
the only difference is that when the character overcomes ally and finds the truth the truth is
negative simply put character believes ally overcomes that lie but the new truth is tragic. It's a
cardio Kate Macer begins the story believing a lie she believes that the systems of justice are
generally upright and operate according to the law and she believes that she won't compromise
her morals to catch criminals but when Kate is reassigned to a new task force she realizes that
nothing is like she thought it would be government agents are operating illegally to take down
the cartel she is surrounded by morally gray characters who will do whatever it takes to get to
the cartel leaders. So you have no idea yeah yeah that was **** illegal you want to start a war
nat ional 0 I'll lie and use Kate to get closer to the cartel Kate is constantly showing the reality of
what's happening in the fight against the drug cartels and deep down she knows she hasn't
been able to make any real change so far every day across the border people are
kidnapped. Were killed by his hand with his blessing. To find and would be like. Discovering a
Lexus. The longer Kate works with these men the more she realizes the truth Kate tries to get in
the way of illegal acts done by Matt and all 0 but in the end I'll 0 gets to the cartel leader in kills
him then I'll hunter finds Kate and tells her to sign a document saying that everything they did it
was legal and by the book in this moment I'll 0 was attacking Kate's core belief Kate faults she
signs a document showing that she has found the truth but that truth is tragic and that truth is
that the world is not black and white and that sometimes people must abandon the rule of law to
stop evil. For. Small. With the rule of law students in this. We will not survive here. In our
world. This is the land the walls. Writing a disillusionment arc will work very similarly to the
positive change arc and it can be helpful to nail down the exact lie your character believes and
the dark truth they will come to understand this will give you a launching point to begin your
story or way to find story problems and solve them. In a fall art the character will have a fatal
flaw for light just like the positive change arc but instead of finding the truth and accepting it the
character will fall further into the darkness of the lye usually ending and self inflicted
destruction. Simply put the character believe the lie clings to the lie rejects new truth and finally
believes a stronger or worse lie. In X. men first class Eric clincher A. K. A. magneto is a great
example of this arc Eric is a man who has seen extreme amounts of suffering in Kerry's great
pain with him from the murder of his mother and a concentration camp Eric's lie is that he
believes his anger gives him power Sebastian Shaw unlocked Eric's power through anger and
hate. He's finding and killing shawl will satisfy him but Eric meets Charles Charles tries to
convince Eric of the truth that he must let go of his anger and desire for revenge if he wants to
find peace and that his true power is found at a place deeper than his anger at the mid point
Shaw kills Darwin Eric wants to avenge Darwin by going after Shaw with the other mutants
Charles reluctantly agrees through Charles's help Eric gets even stronger it seems as though
Charles is getting through to error but it wasn't enough Eric goes against Charles and kills shawl
and the success introduces a stronger lie belief that Shaw was right and that mutants must kill
humanity to survive and bring in the future at the end we see the Eric's new light is still rooted in
his childhood trauma. I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again. In the
fall arc the character will usually start in a dark place or already on a dark path they start by
being unaware of the truth get a glimpse of what could be but never embrace it for this type of
art the motivation for the light and why the character does not embrace the truth is very
important in X. men first class well we may not agree with Eris conclusions his past suffering
makes it totally understandable for why he cannot embrace the truth. In a corruption arc a
character will have the truth in the beginning of the story or at least will be very aware of the
truth then throughout the events of the story the character will reject the truth they know for a lie
it will look like this a character sees the truth rejects the truth and embraces ally. The godfather
Michael Corleone is surrounded by the lie but is aware of the truth Michael has been born into a
mob family he's aware of who his family is and what kind of business they run the family's life is
that the way to survive is to be brutal and powerful and Michael believes he's not like that. As
my family K.. But don kalian is shocked this causes Michael to get pulled into the mob at a time
of crisis this is a pivotal moment all his life Michael has believed he is different from his family
and that he must go a different way however there are elements of good in his family they
believe in honor in watching out for family and in loyalty and these are things that Michael also
believes that she can't just leave his family and their moment of need he must help them survive
so he decides to get involved notice how the positive beliefs that Michael and his family hold
help to pull him into the world of the lie this is important to remember when writing your own
stories your characters won't simply join a lie for no reason you must believe in elements of it it
must seem like the right thing to do at the mid point Michael shoots a lot so which changes him
from being a civilian to an active member of this war Michael is descending into the live. After
Michael should slot so he sent to Sicily to hide this gives Michael one final opportunity to
embrace the truth and fully stay away from the mob but this doesn't happen his new wife is
killed which sends Michael back to America Michael Corleone becomes the head of the family
and kills the leaders of the other families solidifying his family as the most powerful mob and
embracing the lie that the way to survive is to power and brutality. The major difference and
corruption are gonna fall arc is that in the beginning of a fall arc the character is not aware of the
truth but in a corruption arc the character will be in this story the line must be appealing because
the character must have a good reason to leave the truth and embrace the lie and the godfather
the lies appealing for 2 main reasons the first reason is that the light is what helps keep
Michael's family safe the Korean family cannot simply lay down arms and move into the normal
world they are too involved in organized crime and they have too many enemies the second
reason is that the mob represents power and control something that Michael realizes he craves
as the story goes forward it's not simply about protecting his family deep down he wants to be
feared and respected. The character arcs can get more interesting than this and I want to focus
on an arc that while and doesn't talk about I'm going to call this the open ended arc in an open
ended dark the character may have a need or they may not depending on an audience's
interpretation of the film let's take a look at whiplash and examine Andrews character arc Enger
wants to become a great musician throughout the story he pursues this one until he gets it in the
end so what is his need and what is his life I think there are 2 main interpretations first you could
say that Andrew has a fall arc remember in a fall arc the character believes a lie clean so that lie
rejects the truth and then believes a stronger or worse life let's see if it works injury starts the
story by believing a lie that achieving greatness will make him fulfilled as Enger gets closer to
his goal Fletcher pushes him harder and harder but you believe his method of teaching can
push people to true greatness when Fletcher cuts enter from the band Andrew has an
opportunity to re examine his belief is greatness really worth it a normal life can be very fulfilling
why not embrace it instead but enter talks with Fletcher again but your is given the chance to
explain himself and once again enter focuses on becoming great not only that but he believes in
Fletcher's method at the end of the film Fletcher embarrasses Andrew Andrew walks toward his
father the representation of the normal life but then Andrew chooses greatness he chooses a
worse life the greatness is what fills him and the greatness is achieved through pushing people
to the breaking point so it seems to work but let's take a look at it again from a different point of
view let's look at the story as if Andrew has a flat arc in the beginning of the story and you
believe greatness will fill him this isn't necessarily a lie this may actually be the truth not only
that but he already. Respects Fletcher's methods in his opinion means a lot to them. Yeah. And
you also looks down upon people who choose to be normal rather than great while others
around him like his father and Nicole stand as representations of the normal life you could
choose he continues to follow Fletcher towards greatness. Because I want to be great. Even
after Fletcher kicks and you're out of the band Andrew doesn't want to turn against him why
because Andrew knows that Fletcher helps create great musicians enter stops being a musician
but we see that he has lost his purpose greatness still sits on his mind he sits in a moment of
confusion is the truth that he knows actually true is greatness worth it when he meets back up
with Fletcher his truth is reinvigorated and in the end he chooses to be great rather than to be
normal Fletcher's methods were right you can build greatness through torment in entry was right
to trust in Fletcher and make him a great musician. Depending on your point of view regarding
greatness and Fletcher's methods the story seems to change meaning and the character arc
seems to change as well this was the intention of writer director Damien Chazelle he wanted the
audience to ask themselves these specific questions is greatness worth it and his torment the
best way to produce greatness the interpretation depends on whether an individual thanks
Andrew believes a lie or has found the truth to films like whiplash put into question the previous
understanding of character arcs now I don't think so whiplash is an intentionally open ended
story about an idea that still isn't fully understood interpreting the story through different
character arcs is intentional and not simply academic theory I'm not suggesting that shows L.
wrote the story by being totally aware of the fall are the flat arc but he did right to intentionally
explore an idea that he was struggling with something that he wasn't sure was a lie or the truth
and this struggle created the different interpretations of Andrews ARC. The police of your
characters in the change that they go through over the course of your story will create the
meaning and reason that your story exists stories without believed in change can be exciting
rides but are usually forgettable these arcs are not the ultimate rules for how you should create
characters but they are frameworks they can set you on the right track to create emotionally
resonant characters and stories when beginning a story or trying to fix problems ask yourself
what are the belief that your characters hold what is the story really about and how can you
create internal change in your characters throughout the story it doesn't mean you have to
outline your entire story and not allow any creative freedom it simply means that you are writing
with the focus I'm not trying to give you an understanding of how every character arc works but I
hope that this video gives you a better understanding of the purpose of character arc and how it
drives the events of the story but why your characters need to be in conflict what is conflict and
what is its purpose in the story next week I'll be taking a look at the purpose of conflict and its
role in a meaningful story so be sure to check out the other videos in this series by clicking the
playlist and if you like this video leave a like and subscribe for more videos just like this one.