All because Brando turns the drug deal down here. If Brando tells the drug guy he WILL go into business with him, there is No assassination attempt, Brando doesn’t have to go into the hospital and Michael, if we trace it all the way, never becomes the Don. This single determines the entire course of the Godfather Trilogy. He wishes Sollozzo the best but refuses him. He points out he would lose his political connections and judges if they discovered he was peddling heroin. In the meeting the Don is offered the chance to go into business with this man, to make millions.
The godfather 1 plot movie#
Establish the unmistakeable tone, and set up the next sequence, when Tom is sent out to LA to get Frank Sinatra the movie role.Īnother classic. We meet the entire Corleone family here in a single 10 page sequence. What do you need to do with your first 10 pages? Establish the world, the tone, the key characters, the beginnings of conflict. –-90: CLIMAX: Story and character arcs end in an inevitable, plausible manner. If the movie is 120 pages, it would come closer to page 90.
This is another lynch pin scene to the essential degree of: There is no movie without it. Movie and character low points should be end of the second act. It approximates the end of rising action, moving the story into descent, placing the protagonst(s) in grave danger, culminating in… –: MIDPOINT: A key scene, though not as essential as either Plot Point scene. First half of the second act is a deepening of story and character, deeping of the movie’s theme, moving us toward… –Pages 25-50: RISING ACTION: Second act is twice as long as first or third. You know this scene because there is no movie without it.
Scene that takes you out of the First Act. –-15: INCITING INCIDENT: The event that signals change to the world you just set up. –-10: FIRST SEQUENCE: Establish the world, the key characters, the tone, beginnings of conflict. Remember again, the key points in what Syd calls his “Paradigm”: Recognizing the structural signposts in other movies might help yours. I do this for those of you who want to outline, and are looking for how you would go about that.
This week, let’s look at those structural points for another movie, The Godfather. A few weeks back we looked at classic screenplay structure– Syd Field- style– for the Matrix.