Endings: The Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- I put this lecture together in 2006, when I started work at Pixar on Toy Story 3. It looks at how to write an "insanely great" ending, using Star Wars, The Graduate, and Little Miss Sunshine as examples. 90 minutes.
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
This is incredible. Someone on tiktok recommended this and I’m so glad you wrote this and that I was lucky enough to see it!!
same! it was: nicolascurciowriter
same
Here from TikTok
Someone gotta say it and I'm kinda tickled that, at only 67 views (11/17/21), that someone is me: *this is Insanely Great.* This channel (lol, 42 subscribers) and particularly this video - a book's worth of invaluable information for ANY writer - will blow up soon enough. Merci mille fois, monsieur Arndt
It's perfect for me, but It's too long and not algorithm friendly. RUclips doesn't like extremely long videos. There are at least 6 or 7 15 minutes videos inside here. It's more like a masterclass. That's why.
@@juansorel You're probably right as far as the algorithm is concerned, and my statement that the channel will 'blow up soon enough' was more a testament to my enthusiasm than a realistic assessment. I am convinced, however, that a production this brilliant (and as instructive as it is entertaining) will find its audience. It may be a sleeper; it will keep on drawing students, writers, film buffs. I will return to it periodically, and will be recommending it to other writers. I came here via Tyler Mowery, who based his Rewriting Crash Course, Ep.2 - Fixing Your Philosophical Conflict upon Arndt's work (specifically this lecture). Unfortunately, while he claims to link it in the description box, he doesn't. Since his is a self-selected audience, it would have led to more overflow than happened now. I love the long format, in general, whether educational or interviews or whatever: fortunately, they're all over youtube, algorithms be damned.
Above and beyond what everyone else is saying, you are clearly a natural teacher. Your presentation is perfect and there is a wealth of information that can readily be understood and put into practice. Thank you, Michael.
I wouldn't necessarily say Luke's internal stakes are the search for greatness. I feel like it was more a search for meaning. That famous yearning scene with the twin sunset, to me, beautifully captures a young person's craving for their life to start. Luke wasn't living his own life yet, he was living his uncle's life. The farm may have been at stake, but that's his uncles stakes. The farm wasn't his future.
I feel like that moment perfectly captures what cinema does so well, using image, performance, and music to capture that kind of ineffable feeling better than any other medium. And it does it with so much graceful confidence. I think about movies that try to recapture Star Wars' magic (*cough*John Carter*cough*), and this is what's missing, that simple use of film language to reveal the heart of a character. Most films would try to explain what Luke is feeling here, especially these days. But dialog would only diminish that moment. All you'd get is, "I want to be something greater than a farmer," or "I want to follow my friends and make a difference in the galaxy." But that only diminishes what's said in this scene. Because it can't be said in words.
It's not a popular opinion, but I thought the sunset scene in The Last Jedi perfectly bookended this scene, and emphasized what it meant. At the end of his life, Luke isn't looking back proudly at his greatness,, or ashamed of his mistakes, but simply gratefully for the rich, storied life he had yearned for all those years ago. He seemed grateful for all of it, the good and the bad, his triumphs and his follies, the whole enchilada. Sure, it wasn't always a life well lived. It was a life lived thoroughly. And to be grateful for that seems like a pretty solid philosophical triumph. And once again, not a line of dialog to explain it. Just Luke and a twin sunset, and Mark Hamill's excellent performance.
The other interesting thing about Star Wars, that I think parallels The Graduate, is how what pulls the characters into adventure is simultaneously the thing they wanted, and their worst fear realized. With Luke, it's the death of his family. He was sad he couldn't go on his adventure, but he had responsibilities to his uncle. Well congrats, kiddo. Now you don't. You're welcome!
And the same thing happens to Benjamin in The Graduate. He wanted something exciting to happen, something that would make him feel like a grown-up. So now he's doing something horribly grown up. He's neck-deep in a middle-aged woman's mid-life crisis, and all the bitterness and regret it comes with. There's nothing more grown-up than making life-decisions that cut you off from any chance of youthful optimism.
So in both cases, you have a youthful character yearning to begin their adult lives, and then spending the rest of the story dealing with the reality of that. Of course, Buck Henry's little opus is much more cynical and honest then George Lucas's romantic fantasy. But I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think I would have loved The Graduate as much at age six, back when Star Wars came out. I think Star Wars is the coming of age movie you watch before you grow up, and The Graduate is the movie you watch afterward. But you kinda need the romantic optimism of Star Wars, or no one would want to grow up.
Man, I thought after watch your video on TS3 it couldn't get any better, but proven wrong. Took me almost 2 days to get through this one and taking all the notes, screengrabs etc. but I'm so glad I did it and I'm sure I got several level-ups during that time. This will come in very handy when fixing my own climax. I might have to go back and fix a lot of little things now throughout my script, but hell, writing is re-writing. Let's pull our sleeves up and get better, and have some fun while doing it =)
This is a full movie on how to write a full movie. Pure gold. Thank you. fr so good!
This is one of those lectures that's gonna go down in history as being one of the best ever delivered on the craft. I can already see agents and managers politely forcing their clients to watch this. Epic content.
Wow. What an absolute goldmine for aspiring writers.
Not just aspiring. Even established writers get this wrong.
Omg 20 minutes in and I can’t believe how much knowledge has been packed. This is a goldmine.
This is an insanely great video essay. I’ve been pouring over it weekly, soaking in more learning with each viewing. Thank you for sharing these valuable lessons you learned.
At the end you note the Luke, Benjamin and Olive are all innocent characters (not flawed) and thus living in a flawed Universe. I’m curious what in these tools may change if your main characters ARE flawed. Hmmmm….
Isn't their innocence itself a flaw?
Wow! This is a high quality content!🔥🔥🔥 Thanks for amazing examples and sharing your experience. It's extremely helpful😍
This is one of the most valuable videos I've ever found on RUclips. Thanks for making this, and thanks for writing Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3!
My only wish is that it was specked-out for long form writing. Novels and the like.
This is an Insanely Great masterclass.
I LOVE this video, fantastic work. Especially the part about how there can be different main antagonists for different levels of stakes. Seems obvious like how it's described here, but I never thought of this in that way before. I'll steal your ideas and try to apply them into my next screenplay outline.
It’s a shame everyone’s attention spans are fucked. Nowadays people just wanna “vibe”. They don’t care about seeing something through to a conclusion. Everyone is afraid of endings. Nothing can end cuz it’s all forever all the time. No real meaning. Emptiness. It’s sad
I love the many visuals with this breakdown. Examples like this are so helpful. Specific and concrete advice.
OMG!!!! Where has this video been until now???? This is the golden part of a Gold nugget!! Thank you su much Michael!!!
Great video, very helpful. Michael misreads the ending of The Graduate somewhat, calling it a happy ending, when the last scene on the bus makes it clear the ending is ambiguous and unsettled.
I had this thought and was wishing he’d let it run the extra minute or so. It’s only great up to that point. What makes it insanely great is the change in the looks on their faces in the last seconds of the film.
@@SeanArcher I think that is more of a denouement that is bitter-sweet, don't you think. And yes, it is unique and prevents it from being typical Hollywood schmaltz. I think the 'ending' he is talking about is more referring to the resolution of conflicts in the movie, not the very final shot or sequence that precedes the roll of credits.
Why this video has so few views and this channel has so few followers is beyond me. Excellent content and presentation, Michael. Thank you for sharing the knowledge.
This video is LEGENDARY. Thank you !
This is gold, and you are the best for sharing it. Thanks from South America, Peru.
I disagree that the emotional core of Star Wars is Luke's call to greatness, if that was the case then that narrative arc would've ended when he returned with Leia, but it didn't, the arc of that story continued on into Death Star Trench intertwining with the philosophical core of Ben's story, where he becomes the inheritor of Ben's philosophy and the Force.
That arc I think is structured in identity, who Luke will become. Is he a child doing his chores? Will he be a farmer? Will he engage in romance with Leia? Will he become a smuggler like Han as per the invite to join him? Will he engage in romance with Leia? Will he become a member of the rebellion? Will he fall to Darth Vader as his father did?
That identity and the unresolved tension of it is I think the stronger emotional thread of the story and the core of it. While there is the "call to action" and the usual beats of that, they happen separately from this core identity conflict, which has a much stronger resonance than a superficial desire to leave. That's the difference between Star Wars' emotional core and something like Tangled, a more fundamental emotional core that can't be resolved externally, and that's where the strength of the emotion comes from.
This is a great video every writer should watch. I would add that The Graduate's ending is a bit more ambiguous than even this great analysis points out. The very final scene on the bus with 'hello darkness' introduces doubt as to if the right decision was indeed made. For me that elevates it to an _Extremely_ Insanely Great ending.
This is absolute gold. Thank you Michael. I know Michael says, "Story can be anything." but this to me is everything for a story about a hero without flaws who is the redeemer of the universe.
WHAT?
Glenn Gers recommended to see your essay. Thank you very much for your deep analysis. I found it very useful and interesting. While watching it I was reminded of the endings of great movies like Modern Times (1936), Matilda (1996), About a Boy (2002), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2006). Greetings from Argentina!
Linda
I cannot put to words how valuable this is, brilliantly put together. I've never been happier with youtube's algorithm!
Thanku v much 4 that amayzing formula ... jajajajja.
Finally someone putting A and B together for me , many thanks from Romania!!
Thank you for uploading this (and thank you for co-writing Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes!)
You've done a great service to writers.
Thank you, you're a good man!
31:53 yep, those are definitely the emotional stakes. How do I know this? Because I watched Star Wars with my 5-year-old daughter, and all she wanted to see afterwards was this same scene over and over again. It really moved her and she couldn't get it out of her head.
Your daughter has good taste!
Would this work with novels?
I think Little Miss Sunshine is better than Star Wars
Gold.
This is simply a treasure that cannot be overestimated! Thank you!
I hated, hated, hated Roger Ebert.
Just disappointed there wasn't even any mention of the end-ending of The Graduate.
Did you even watch the video? It's on the 1 hour mark.
I'm pretty sure he was only gonna focus on climax endings.
Love this! Watched it 50 times. Would love to see how this works in a two-fer movie. Buddy cop, husband/wife... etc
Star Wars: The Force Awakens would have been far better if you wrote the whole film and the story treatments weren't scrapped, my friend. You were Lucasfilm's last hope...
Yeah I found this video while looking further into his 50 page story draft. I was really hoping that he had mentioned it somewhere on his channel, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It'd be really cool if he elaborated more on what his ideas were, assuming he's even legally allowed to.
They didnt wanted to make a good movie. They wanted to caputalize with dumb people's nostalgia, and they got it, at least with the first one.
Dude THANK YOU for uploading this!! I went to this very talk several times at AFF.
Thannk you!!!!!! Been struggling wtih rewritting. thanks for putting this out
3 climaxes in 45seconds or less ❤
I’ve only gotten a third of the way through and I’ve already been able to solve a problem in one of my screen plays that’s been holding me back for a year.
Very curious how this applies to horror/ thriller. Especially philosophical stakes. I have a horror/ thriller script with a twist ending - somewhat inspired by FATAL ATTRACTION - and it seems almost like my "Monster" might actually occupy the mentor space/ ideology. Horror monsters often symbolically mirror our deepest weakness/ deficit and teach us the philosophical lessons... Any thoughts from Michael or anyone else are welcome!
Incredible. I had a script with a terrible ending. Now I don't. Thank you!!!
A home run? 1, outer, 2, inner, 3 philosophical and last but not least, theme.
This is a great resource, would love to see some non-linear stories broken down like this? Can you apply this descriptive framework to something like Gone Girl?
I would love to hear your thoughts on how this relates to other formats of visual media storytelling (modern tv series, miniseries, anime, etc.). Are seasons morphed into the 100 page gauge? Individual episodes? Multiple problem sets and maybe even multiple sets of stakes throughout the story?
This is amazing. My only point of contention is when you say the "Little Miss Sunshine'" script is nowhere near as great as "The Graduate" or "Star Wars". It is equally as great.
Ive successfully sold screenplays a few times in my life... I feel like I learned more in the last 90 minutes than I did in filmschool or my career. Like, I've done this for a living, completly ignorant to what I was even doing holy shit.
So wonderful, thank you thank you thank you for sharing this with the writers of the world! :-)
I haven’t seen Star Wars in a long time but I’m curious since Vader argues for the force maybe the dark side is using community or others to achieve selfish goals? Just came to mind…
Darth Vader fired against R2?!?!?!? C'mon... after all R2 did for him?
Tell the people who think everything is following a formula that their comments are just following a formula.
The other day I watched the film "A Time to Kill" 1996 (Joel Schumacher). This movie shows well the system you're talking about here.
An excellent, excellent lecture. Thank you for this generous sharing of your valuable insights.
Awesome, awesome, awesome! I'm guessing it's similar if you are in fact working with a flawed main character at the center?
I'm just curious how many dozen TRIPLE-LATTES did you have before you recorded this?
Thank you so much for sharing these on youtube. I think I watched the Vimeo links about thirty times. These videos always keep me sane while I'm writing. Thank you for taking the time to share such great insights.
56:57 Tyler Durden moment.
@MichealArndt From having to watch your video beginning to end there are multiple reasons why this should be all applied with bigger budget films and some independent movies. Dialogue is delivered between the attacks of viewpoints, something my professor had explain to me while I was attending film school. I want to get better with this knowledge and apply it to my stories that will make an impact on people's lives. What's the best way to talk to you one-on-one and getting to know each other? I would love to network with you. I'm a Dallas native. Happy holidays!
My selfishness is not letting me to share this to anyone
Fantastic video. Thank you for uploading. I love your work.
one of the best screenwriters is giving us free game. That's nuts
So you just basically described my life to a T. My life is a screenplay. Perhaps a lot of people think this or feel this way but I mean on every level.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!
29:00
42:00
45:50
"Apologies to William Shakespear" LOL! Thank you for such a wonderful video
Both of those Star Wars steaks can be spun as selfish or alturistic.
Its selfish for Luke not wanting to help his uncle (and go off an adventure he'll enjoy more than farmwork) whos looked after him for his entire life, and alturistic for Luke to stay and help him.
Its selfish for Luke not want to help Obie Wan (someone he doesnt know) and the Princess and stick with the life he knows, and alturistic for him to go off and help them.
If you ask me staying put and helping those whove helped you is the more aulturistic choice, an adventure is a lot more appealing than a boring life
I'd add that Han Solo for most of the movie acted in his own self interest which lead him to helping Luke etc. His reward was worth risking his life over.
I've had your original lecture saved on a thumb drive for the past decade. Super cool to see this animated version!
You can't always get what U want, though U might find, U get what U need.
Thank you, really enjoyed this!
Thank you so much for your work and sharing it in this very transparent way. How are there only 1600 views on this??? 🤯
...OK just finished watching everything on your channel. Again, deep thanks for your work really love the movies that you've been involved in, I really appreciate you sharing it, I know it's only been a month but I'm just baffled how there are more views on this anyway have a great holiday thanks so much
Jeez! This one's even better than the Toy Story 3 fail/success video. Thank you for sharing!!
My favorite movie ending: The Killing (1956)
So good! Thank you for sharing ❤️🤩🎉
Fuck It im rewatching star wars tomorrow
Good video
56:06 - How can the Graduate be the opposite of Star Wars? Isn't the Force a perfect metaphor for one's gut feeling? And following the norms and social constructs (made by the wrong people, not listening to their gut feeling) is like joining the Forces of evil 😀
This is a really good question in that there is a superficial similarity between Luke trusting his feelings and Ben trusting his feelings. On the surface, the message of both movies seems to be "trust your feelings".
But my argument -- which you are welcome to contest -- is that this is confusing two sets of stakes.
In Star Wars's philosophical stakes, Luke is torn between the underdog values (altruism) and the dominant values (selfishness). But by the time we get to the climax, Luke is firmly on the side of the underdog values. So the decisive act -- philosophically speaking -- is when Han returns and shoots Darth Vader off of Luke's tail. It is Han's conversion to and enactment of the underdog values that allows Luke to destroy the Death Star. Han's return is when the philosophical stakes flip from failure to success.
When Obi Wan tells Luke to "trust his feelings", that is dealing with the emotional stakes of the story -- whether Luke can become a Jedi and achieve a greater destiny. By pushing aside the computer targeting system, Luke is testing and affirming the seeds of greatness inside him. Luke being able to make that "one in a million" shot is when the emotional stakes flip from failure to success. So the philosophical stakes climax (Han's return) and the emotional stakes climax (Luke hitting the bullseye using The Force) are two separate moments, though they are tied together narratively.
By contrast, the decisive act at the climax of The Graduate happens at the same time for both the philosophical stakes and the emotional stakes. When Ben begins rapping on the window and calling Elaine's name, he is risking emotional failure and philosophical failure at the same time. When Elaine cries out, "Ben!", that is flipping both the emotional stakes and the philosophical stakes from negative to positive at the same moment.
In short, the difference is that in Star Wars, the philosophical decisive act happens via a secondary character (Han Solo gives up his selfish ways and returns to help Luke and the community of Rebels), while in The Graduate, the philosophical decisive act happens via the hero (Ben violates the codes of social conformity in the community and disrupts the wedding).
At least that's how I look at it, but you are welcome to disagree... Hope that makes sense!
Thank you for this perspicacious question!
I have a question here - is it possible at the beginning of the story, for the protagonist to believe in and represent the antagonistic values of the story world? Maybe the supporting characters are the ones who show him otherwise.
I don't see why not. In fact that seems like a good start of a character arc, letting the character find out over the course of the story that their ideas, originally held by themselves and the antagonist are wrong... and they need to change.
Arndt also states that this is NOT the only way to write a movie. A story can be told in lots of ways. He's outlining one path for good stories.
He does say all his examples have a hero who isn't flawed and doesn't change. That's the exception in screenplays. How can it work for heros who are flawed?
In the other videos of his, he talks about Finding Nemo and Toy Story. In Finding Nemo, Marlon goes from being overprotective to learning to let go. Similarly in Toy Story, Woody goes from being prideful and possessive about being Andy's favourite toy to willing to share and realising that his true calling is to simply be there for Andy. Aren't these reversal of values? I think majority of movies, TV shows go through this arc. e.g Breaking Bad (Walter White), Michael Corleone (The Godfather). The movies in the video are just examples of an innocent character who represent the positive values overturning the world that is unfair and embeds the negative values. This is what I've read in other places as a 'flat arc'. Other examples include Forrest Gump, Elf.
you had me in the first picture...i am looking forward to learning from you...
Thank you for this! Brilliant!
guys im about to watch it to see what all the hubbub is about. wish me luck!
The moment of truth. The explosion. The apex of the climax, the story.
My guy watches Barton Fink. Awesome.
I’ve watched a lot of videos about writing, and this is one of the very best. Thanks for sharing so much insight.
Nic from TikTok sent me here!!
I love this and share it with anyone who will listen to me. You've made the world a better place. Thank you for this!
Arndt, you did it mf!!! You did it
Been years since I teared up at Star Wars. That ending is so good! Wish we could’ve seen the Michael Arndt Episode 7! 😊
What a great video.
P.s. Little miss sunshine is my favorite movie. When they start standing up and clapping for her…and when Dwayne says fuck this, and gets up on that stage and dances with Olive 😭😭 fuxn waterworks. You’re a great writer !
This was super fun and informative, thank you! ILittle Sunshine is one of my favourite movies, I came here from the TikTok video too. Great job!
here from the tiktok!
thx but TFA is shit.
37:00 Philosophical
Masterclass. Wow
Thanks!
I LOVE YOU !!!!!