I am currently a student at the University of Texas (Hook 'em!) and am lucky enough to be in the film program there. In class, one of my film professors showed us what the author Kurt Vonnegat (Slaughter House Five) said was the formula for a good story. It goes like this: ? ! .
Pretty simple huh?
?-who are the characters and what do they want/what is their goal?
!-rising events (obstacles/problems) that occur to the character when trying to achieve their goal
.-they reach their goal
I know this may sound too simple and obvious, but no matter how many gunfights, or laser blasters, or effects you have in your movie, they amount to very little unless they are part of a good, solid story with empathetic characters.
This is a basic rule of story structure, but always remember, get to know the rules so that you can break them!
Pretty simple huh?
?-who are the characters and what do they want/what is their goal?
!-rising events (obstacles/problems) that occur to the character when trying to achieve their goal
.-they reach their goal
I know this may sound too simple and obvious, but no matter how many gunfights, or laser blasters, or effects you have in your movie, they amount to very little unless they are part of a good, solid story with empathetic characters.
This is a basic rule of story structure, but always remember, get to know the rules so that you can break them!