Rule #1: Use your characters for their character traits.
a) What can each character do? If there’s a lock to be picked, give it to the lockpick.
b) What will and won’t the character choose to do, given that character’s personality? If you need someone to take out the guards, don’t give that job to the pacifist.
Corollary: A heist can be used so the audience can understand a character.
In these cases, demonstrate character the way you would demonstrate character in any other scene. Don’t let the heisting get in the way of demonstrating character, but don’t let demonstrating character get in the way of the heist.
Above all else, never let anything get in the way of story.
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Rule #2: If the heist is not in-and-of-itself the plot, make sure the heist affects the plot in some way.
a) Just like in any other sequence, the more ways a heist sequence affects the plot, the better.
A heist could simply help the characters get the MacGuffin (the interchangeable thing the plot revolves around), but it could also reveal character, cause conflict between characters, set up future pay-offs, introduce new characters, etc.
b) Just like in any other sequence, if a heist sequence doesn’t actually affect the plot, consider removing it.
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Rule #3: Each heist is essentially made up of 2 phases that each break down into 3 parts.
Phase 1: Before the Heist. This consists of:
Part 1: Obstacle Exposition, where we learn why this heist is difficult to pull off.
Part 2: Explaining the Plan, where we learn how these characters plan to pull of the heist.
Part 3: Preparation, where we watch the characters preparing for the heist, including getting materials and rehearsing.
Phase 2: The Heist Itself
Part 1: Infiltration, where the characters get inside the place where the MacGuffin is kept
Part 2: Acquisition, where the characters actually get the MacGuffin once they’re in
Part 3: Getaway, where the characters get the MacGuffin and themselves to a secure location.
a) The audience generally expects that a heist will allocate its time as follows (these are rough approximations):
Obstacle Exposition: 5%
Explaining the Plan: 5%
Preparation: 25%
Infiltration: 50%
Acquisition: <1%
Getaway: 15%
b) Spending a different amount of time than the audience expects on a given part will subvert the audience’s expectations.
c) Emphasizing one specific part to the point of effectively eliminating the other parts will subvert the entire genre of heist movies.
c) Changing a part of this structure will subvert the audience’s expectations.
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Rule #4: The more the audience knows about a plan, the less likely it is to succeed. The less the audience knows about the plan, the more likely it is to succeed
a) If the plan is explained as we see the plan being pulled off, throw Rule #4 out the window.
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Rule #5: A heist’s quality (not to be confused with the quality of a scene in which a heist is shown) is expressed in how well each part of the heist contributes to the heist.
This is not a rule of writing. This is a rule of planning a heist for Masterminds, but the writer needs to understand the plan better than the Mastermind.
a) Every time the Mastermind plans for a character to sneak around, that should contribute to the heist.
b) Every time the Mastermind plans for a character to get exposed, that should contribute to the plan.
c) Every moment that either doesn’t contribute to the heist or hinders the heist, the audience gets the idea that the Mastermind's plan isn't foolproof.
d) The more highly the audience thinks of the Mastermind, the more parts of the heist should contribute to the heist. Otherwise, the Mastermind is set up to be excellent at his job, but the audience never gets to see him be excellent at his job.
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Rule #6: Every person involved in the heist is a liability, and thus must be essential to the heist.
a) In a heist, a character needs to be essential to the heist, not just the plot.
A character who exists only to add dramatic tension or comic relief can be included in many parts of the story, but in a high-stakes situation like a heist, the characters who don’t contribute to the heist need to stay out of the heist sequence.
b) If 2 characters in a heist can be combined, do so.
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Rule #7: Decide on the impressive scenes everyone will remember, then choose obstacles that make the necessity of those scenes so clear that you don’t need to fill in too many plot holes.
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Rule #8: The audience only cares about the parts of the heist that are either difficult, or cool, or compelling. The other parts need to be referenced or shown so that the audience understands how the heist worked, but they don’t need to be focused on.
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