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Game of the Scene
Every episode covering Game of the Scene.
"We were playing two different games."
— Chas Fisher | DZ-103: Game of the Scene 2 - Triangle of Sadness, The Favourite
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DZ-102: Game of the Scene - Bluey, John Wick 4
How can 'games' help us write better scenes?
AI✦This episode is built entirely around the idea that every scene has an underlying game with rules, arenas, players, referees, and win conditions that can make your writing more dynamic.✦
Listen to make your scene writing more dynamic (by looking at the underlying game)
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Stu and Chas turn their attention to a topic that has long eluded them: the game of the scene. We look at how considering the game that characters are playing — its rules, arenas, players, referees, and win conditions — can help you write more dynamic scenes… →
DZ-103: Game of the Scene 2 - Triangle of Sadness, The Favourite
How can games elevate dramatic scenes?
AI✦Stu and Chas build directly on their previous episode by showing how games force characters other than the protagonist to interact and reveal themselves through the rules they follow, break, or enforce.✦
Listen to understand how games force characters to interact and reveal themselves (through competency, decisions, and rule-breaking)
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In part two of this two parter, Stu and Chas go further into the game (of the scene) and look at how games force characters other than the protagonist to interact. We deep dive into the wonderful social satires of TRIANGLE OF SADNESS and THE FAVOURITE… →
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DZ-40: Tactics and Scenes
How do tactics make your characters and scenes more dynamic?
AI✦Tactics determine the game each character is playing in a scene, and understanding that game makes scenes more dynamic and reveals what characters will do to win.✦
Listen to learn how a character's tactics reveal who they are under pressure--and how their changing tactics reveals their growth.
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In this episode, Stu and Chas turn their gaze to the “tactics” that characters use in scenes to get what they want. Tactics are how the characters try to achieve their goals and (we reckon) can be revealing of the essence of their character. The shifting and thwarting of tactics can make scenes more dynamic; while over the course of a story, the changing of tactics can reflect the growth of characters... even if their goal stays the same… →
Films:
Zodiac (2007)
, Training Day (2001)
, Hell or High Water (2016)
, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
, Winter's Bone (2010)