I'm currently working on the fourth draft of a script, that is still told in a linear form, but doesn't work the way I want it.
Reason: the second half of the story is taking place on a ship, and the confinement of space is not something I want for that movie. The movie is about mystery and a wide range of options on how life develops, and the confinement in a ship is just the opposite expression.
Another reason: the whole story is one of mystery, and the more three-dimensional story space (how about calling non-linear storytelling three-dimensional story telling?) is more suited for that kind of story.
Solution: non-linear storytelling, where you are not weighed down in one location.
Another plus: I always liked the riddle structure of non-linear story telling.
The key thing is to have great rules on how the non-linear story shall unroll.
My favorite movie of that kind: Memento: one of the five best movies of the past 20 years. It's incredible how mysterious the world becomes having a protagonist without short-term memory (and no memory at all after a particular catastrophic even).
It's actually linear story-telling (telling it backwards), but it comes across as non-linear, because we have so few clues of what's coming next.
No other non-linear movie has done this better: to create a clear reason why the story is told as it's told, in this case: backwards.
That rule does not have to be logically derived from the story (in storytelling, the logical/conclusive is always the obvious, and therefore boring). Going backwards in time has nothing to do with memory loss (you can't go back in time with memory loss).
That story telling tool is derived from the audience's perspective: you are going backwards in time with this story, but you don't know what comes earlier. As if you had forgotten - just like the protagonist with his lack of short-term memory.
And this works great in Memento.
So I'm currently working on the non-linear story space/perspective of my story.
What's your take on non-linear storytelling?
Reason: the second half of the story is taking place on a ship, and the confinement of space is not something I want for that movie. The movie is about mystery and a wide range of options on how life develops, and the confinement in a ship is just the opposite expression.
Another reason: the whole story is one of mystery, and the more three-dimensional story space (how about calling non-linear storytelling three-dimensional story telling?) is more suited for that kind of story.
Solution: non-linear storytelling, where you are not weighed down in one location.
Another plus: I always liked the riddle structure of non-linear story telling.
The key thing is to have great rules on how the non-linear story shall unroll.
My favorite movie of that kind: Memento: one of the five best movies of the past 20 years. It's incredible how mysterious the world becomes having a protagonist without short-term memory (and no memory at all after a particular catastrophic even).
It's actually linear story-telling (telling it backwards), but it comes across as non-linear, because we have so few clues of what's coming next.
No other non-linear movie has done this better: to create a clear reason why the story is told as it's told, in this case: backwards.
That rule does not have to be logically derived from the story (in storytelling, the logical/conclusive is always the obvious, and therefore boring). Going backwards in time has nothing to do with memory loss (you can't go back in time with memory loss).
That story telling tool is derived from the audience's perspective: you are going backwards in time with this story, but you don't know what comes earlier. As if you had forgotten - just like the protagonist with his lack of short-term memory.
And this works great in Memento.
So I'm currently working on the non-linear story space/perspective of my story.
What's your take on non-linear storytelling?
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