Now if this particular beat or scene structure was so common in successful Hollywood films, then it should be quite easy to find. For this session, we're going to analyze a successful movie script called lupa is a science fiction time travel time type movie. And we're going to take a look at the script and find out if we can pinpoint the turning points and the major beats. Before we start, let's take a look at the log line for the movie looper. This is the one sentence description of the whole storyline. In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past Were a hired gun whites.
Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to close the loop by sending back Joe's future self for assassination. The synopsis expands on the line and gives more information. I'll give you a minute to read it before moving on. First, we should have open and final images that are a little like bookends. They're similar but different in important ways. They are opposites.
In the opening images, Joe waits in a cornfield for a victim from the future. It's a normal day of work for him. And he has a script beginning describing the scene. For the final scene images, Joe is in a cornfield again. But he's dead. He has changed so much that he killed himself to save the child.
I searched for a statement about the movie theme and the first five pages. Instead of one statement, the theme was referred to again and again. Basically, it's a dog eat dog world. Everyone's out for themselves for what they can get. It motivates everything. What you are is what you have.
The strongest evidence of this is perhaps when Joe uncovers his prized possession, a cherry red sports car before going out The town will ignore the setup between pages one to 10. As I want to focus on the main beats and turning points. The catalyst is the event that changes things in Joe's life. And sure enough, it appears at the beginning of page 13. Joe must choose between helping a friend in trouble or staying safe. He chooses to help and later denies his friend, but the whole process shakes him up.
The script describes how this event starts. There should be a big event to push our hero into act two and we find this exactly where we should on page 20 to six. Joe's next victim has to be himself from the future. If the beat structure is correct, we should find the story in the form of a love interest, or arounds page 30. And sure enough, Joe meets his future wife on page 31. Another big turning point needs to occur around page 55 which is the move is midpoint.
In the lupus script, Sarah finds Joe in her barn on the farm. And yes, it's bang on page 55 right in the middle of the storyline. I'm going to stop right there, instead of going through the whole structure, because the point is largely proven. He's time wish search for an event or a beat with the right page number, then we eventually find something that correlates. It proves that this structure has behind successful films. looper is an ideal script to analyze because it has around 110 112 pages.
If you're working with a script that has more or less, then you need to compensate for the page numbers.