When I took a course in Screenwriting at my University, it began with a lot of talk about formatting, story structure, character, set-ups/pay-offs, and a million other topics that felt static and dry. As I would listen to my professor tell us about these “principles,” I used to wonder if what he was saying is true or just some academic bullshit (lol).

When I read scripts, what I had learned in these classes only broadly applied to what I was learning. For example, using something like a three-act story structure, a concept I had learned from my screenwriting course, only helped me to understand the “big picture” and didn’t help me learn how to go about writing scripts like the ones I loved.

I needed something more specific.

So, if you are in the same place that I was, then I’m glad to share with you how to go about studying a movie scene. A scene is to a script as a line is to a poem: if you don’t know how to write a good line, it going to be much harder to write a great poem. The same concept applies to screenwriting. Also, by learning how to study scenes, you will not only know how to write great scenes but you will also better appreciate great films because you will understand how they function.

Scene Analysis Tips

The first thing you need to do when you watch a scene is this: determine what the conflict is. Returning to why goals are important to screenwriting, goals are crucial to identifying who or what is driving the conflict. This is especially easy to identify if your characters have wants that conflict with one another. This opens the door to understanding the script’s subtext, which Robert McKee describes as “life under the surface– thoughts and feelings both known and known, hidden by behavior” (252). Usually, most great scenes have a textual (what we see and hear) and a subtextual meaning.

Second, you need to figure out how the scene begins. Does it begin on a high note? a low note? You can usually figure this out by looking at the previous scene.

Third, you need to break the scene into points of action and reaction, but it’s usually best to look at a scene’s subtext for this. the action and reaction between two or more characters is called a beat, not to be confused with a pause, which is another definition for this term. When that action and reaction changes that’s how you know that you have moved onto a new story beat. This helps you to dissect a scene more closely.

Fourth, consider how the scene ends and compare it to how it began. If the scene begins on a high and ends on a low (or vice versa) then the scene has changed, which makes it relevant to the story.

Lastly, review the beats that you have labeled (where you wrote a short description for each action and reaction), and from here you’ll begin to see the “shape” of the scene. At this point it will be easier for you to find the scene’s turning point.

Conclusion

All in all, if you can do this, then you will be able to learn so much more about how stories are structured, and more importantly, how you can apply a writer’s strategies to your screenplay.

Good Luck!

Drop a comment if you have any questions.

Works Cited:

McKee, R. (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting. New York, ReganBooks.