READING REVIEW: LESSON 14

This Reading Review is based on the Lesson 14 reading from Robert McKee’s Story.

There are 10 questions. The Review is not graded.

1. McKee writes about the Chinese ideogram for “Climax.” It includes two terms:

  1. Tension and Release
  2. Danger and Opportunity
  3. Conflict and Resolution
  4. Plot and Subplot

Hint: “…the wrong decision at this moment will lose forever what we want…”

(Page 303, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “In each scene, they make a decision to take one action rather than another. But Crisis with a capital C is the ultimate decision. The Chinese ideogram for Crisis is two terms: Danger/Opportunity—‘danger’ in that the wrong decision at this moment will lose forever what we want; ‘opportunity’ in that the right choice will achieve our desire.” (Page 303, Robert McKee’s Story)

2. How does the climactic moment of Star Wars contrast with the climactic moment of The Empire Strikes Back?

  1. The climax of Star Wars is a straight action out of the Crisis
  2. The Empire Strikes Back corkscrews its climax
  3. Empire gives new information in the climax that necessitates Crisis Decisions
  4. All of the above

Hint: “For a Climax built around a Turning Point is the most satisfying of all.” (Page 304, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “The destruction of the Death Star climaxes the film, a straight action out of the Crisis.

“…THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, by contrast, corkscrews its Climax…

“…When Vader suddenly steps back and says: ‘You can’t kill me, Luke… I’m your father,’ Luke’s reality splinters.” (Page 305, Robert McKee’s Story)

3. Generally, McKee tells us, the Crisis and Climax happen in the last minutes. It doesn’t have to be this way, but what is the risk of an early Crisis?

  1. Repetitiousness
  2. Over-intellectualization
  3. A need for multiple, exposition-heavy flashbacks
  4. All of the above

Hint: “… the problems of variety and progression are staggering. Yet mastery of this task may produce brilliance…” (Page 307, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “The great risk of placing the Crisis on the heels of the Inciting Incident is repetitiousness. Whether it’s high-budget action repeating patterns of chase/fight, chase/fight, or low budget repetitions of drinking/drinking/drinking or lovemaking/lovemaking/lovemaking, the problems of variety and progression are staggering. Yet mastery of this task may produce brilliance, as it did in the examples above. (Page 307, Robert McKee’s Story)

4. Once the audience finishes its long journey to the Crisis Moment, give it to them right away or you risk annoyance and boredom.

  1. True
  2. False

Hint: “’What’s he going to do? What’s he going to do?’ Tension builds and builds…” (Page 308, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “The Crisis decision must be a deliberately static moment.

“The audience wants to suffer with the protagonist through the pain of this dilemma. We freeze this moment because the rhythm of the last movement depends on it. …the audience leans in, wondering: ‘What’s he going to do? What’s he going to do?’ Tension builds and builds, then as the protagonist makes a choice of action, that compressed energy explodes into the Climax.” (Page 308, Robert McKee’s Story)

5. Which of the following does Robert McKee assert produces emotion?

  1. Lush photography
  2. High-end special effects
  3. Meaning
  4. The love story subplot

Hint: “This crowning Major Reversal is not necessarily full of noise and violence. Rather, it must be full of…” (Page 309, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “’Meaning produces emotion.’ Not money; not sex; not special effects; not movie stars, not lush photography.” (Page 309, Robert McKee’s Story)

6. What does McKee recommend regarding your screenplay’s climax?

  1. Give your audience what they want, when they want it.
  2. Don’t give your audience what they want, give your audience what they need.
  3. Give your audience what they want, but not how they expect it.
  4. Give your audience what they want, exactly how they expect it.

Hint: “An artist gives us the emotion he’s promised… but…” (Page 311, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “The protagonist may or may not get what he wants, but it won’t be the way he expects.” (Page 305, Robert McKee’s Story)

“In Aristotle’s words, an ending must be both ‘inevitable and unexpected.’ (Page 310, Robert McKee’s Story)

7. According to McKee, an audience wants:

  1. Emotional satisfaction—a Climax that fulfills anticipation
  2. An up ending. They have enough tragedy in their real lives
  3. An up ending after leading the audience to expect a down ending
  4. An ironic ending after leading the audience to expect an up ending

Hint: “Who determines which particular ending will satisfy an audience at the end of the film? The writer.” (Page 311, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “For the vast majority doesn’t care if it ends up or down. What an audience wants is emotional satisfaction—a climax that fulfills expectations.” (Page 311, Robert McKee’s Story)

“Who determines which particular ending will satisfy an audience at the end of the film? The writer. From the way he tells his story from the beginning, he whispers to the audience, ‘Expect an up-ending’ or ‘Expect a down-ending’ or ‘Expect irony.’” (Page 311, Robert McKee’s Story)

8. How does McKee describe “Key Image”?

  1. An image taken from the film’s poster art
  2. An image that brings the whole story back to the audience’s minds
  3. An image that “unlocks” the protagonist’s true goal just before the climax
  4. A method of having an image recur, pioneered in D.W. Griffith’s The Key

Hint: “In other words, Truffaut is asking us to create the Key Image of the film—a single image that sums up and concentrates all meaning and emotion.” (Page 312, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “Like the coda of a symphony, the Key Image within the climactic action echoes and resonates all that has gone before. It is an image that is so tuned to the telling that when it’s remembered the whole film comes back with a jolt.” (Page 312, Robert McKee’s Story)

9. One risks overstaying one’s welcome by tying up an extra subplot in a screenplay’s resolution. How does McKee recommend solving this problem?

  1. By moving the resolution of this subplot to an earlier point in the story
  2. By making the scene as funny as possible
  3. By making the scene as brief as possible
  4. By bringing the central plot back to life

Hint: “Bergman tweaked the main plot in the Resolution. Imagine if it had ended in front of the firing squad, then cut to a garden wedding with happy families reunited…” (Page 313, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “…by bringing the Central Plot back to life for just a moment, the screenwriter gave it a comic false twist, yoked his Resolution back to the body of the film and held tension to the end.” (Page 313, Robert McKee’s Story)

10. Even if it isn’t resolving a subplot or showing the spread of the effects of the climactic moment into society, why does McKee say a resolution is important?

  1. It’s a second version of the Obligatory Scene
  2. It gives the audience a chance to catch its breath before leaving the theater
  3. It always provides new information on the antagonist’s motivations
  4. It traditionally provides new information to make the climax make sense

Hint: “…it’s rude to suddenly go to black and roll the titles.” (Page 314, Robert McKee’s Story)

Correct: “A film needs what the theatre calls a ‘slow curtain.” A line of description at the bottom of the last page that sends the camera slowly back or tracking along images for a few seconds, so the audience can catch its breath, gather its thoughts, and leave the cinema with dignity.” (Page 314, Robert McKee’s Story)