THE BODY

Film is about storytelling and everything you put in to consideration to make it viewable to the audience. It should communicate and make us come back for more therefore, you'll need a narrative to bring out the events taking place in your film. A narrative is the plot of the story. It's the blueprint of your house, the floorplan of your studio. 

Your narrative should tell a story  from the beginning to end using a particular structure. The idea may be similar to other's ideas worldwide but it is how you bring it out that matters the most. Sometimes changing the plot is a powerful technique since it can easily create suspense, curiosity, fear, satisfaction and motivation from the audience towards the film.

If you want a good story for your film here's some things you should have in it:

• Characters- Who is the story about?
• Setting- Where is the story taking place and when?
• Goal- What is your main character's drive?
• Problem- Why is your main character doing these things?
• Plot/Action- What happened to your main character and why is he/she trying to solve the problem?
• Resolution- How is the story solved and how does it end?
• Theme- What message is carried in the narrative?

For instance, let's take a look at The Notebook (2004) based on a novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks and directed by Nick Cassavetes its theme is love conquers all. It was set in 1940s America's South Carolina. The story is about Noah Calhoun [Character 1] mill worker and a rich girl Allie Hamilton [Character 2] who are desperately in love. Allie's parents don't approve [Problem 1] as normal parents wouldn't.

When Noah goes off to serve in World War II, it seems to cut off their plans. Noah writes to Allie every single day but the letters never reach her [Problem 2]. With Noah gone Allie gets involved with another man [Problem 3] thinking that she has been deserted by her love . Two years later, on the tapering point of Allie's marriage, Noah appears and it is clear that their affair is anything but over when Allie goes back to her home town and finds Noah living in their dream plantation house. The house that Noah renovates turns out to be a nursing home  where he and Allie were staying in their old age. We later learn that Allie, who has dementia, is recalling the time she spent with Noah  when they were young.

The Notebook is all about forbidden love because of statue, just like Romeo and Juliet, In Five Years or Call Me by Your Name but the narrative is oh-so-different.

Most of us have been told different stories by different people during our day to day activities. We listen, yes, but not to all of those stories. You will always have that one person who will have a way of putting their story such that you envision them and they stick in your mind but with other people, their stories just fly by. The way someone brings out a story matters since you're targeting a lively audience and you wouldn't want them to walk out on the previewing of your story, or would you?

You can also watch Citizen Kane (1941), Rocky (1976), Pulp Fiction (1994), Babel (2006), Looper (2012) an Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Cruella (2021).