DZ-15: World Building Rules, Okay?

Listen when your opening pages feel like exposition dumps (which is bad, okay?) In our most epic/longest episode yet, Chas and Stu tackle world building in films. Specifically, how the rules make something a world and not just a setting. Starting with world-centric genres like sci-fi and fantasy, we also cover horror, crime drama and - er - "other". We discuss a variety of techniques for setting up the rules of the world, including cold opens, voiceover, title cards and outsider characters! We've limited ourselves to the opening 3-5 pages... mostly... because (so the theory goes) they're the pages that teach the audience how to read/watch your story/film. Like with the character introductions episode, we cover a lot of scripts. In no particular order... [deep breath]... THE MATRIX, THE MATRIX RELOADED, MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, INCEPTION, GRAVITY, MINORITY REPORT, MOON, LOOPER, ELYSIUM, JURASSIC PARK, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, MADAGASCAR, FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, PAN'S LABYRINTH, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, NIGHT WATCH, VAN HELSING, THE ONE I LOVE, 28 WEEKS LATER, WORLD WAR Z, DAWN OF THE DEAD, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, ZOMBIELAND, WOMAN IN BLACK, BRICK, ANIMAL KINGDOM, DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE, THE UNTOUCHABLES, GOODFELLAS, SHORT TERM 12, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, MOONRISE KINGDOM, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, and FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. Damn that was a lot! And we've probably missed some, too. So have a listen and please let us know! As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily. ——— FILMS THE MATRIX (1999) — (w) Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski INCEPTION (2010) — (w) Christopher Nolan THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001) — (w) Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, J R R Tolkien (d) Peter Jackson JURASSIC PARK (1993) — (w) Michael Crichton, David Koepp, Michael Crichton (d) Steven Spielberg PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) — (w) Guillermo Del Toro SCRIPTS Study the script: THE MATRIX (1999) — Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski Study the script: INCEPTION (2010) — Christopher Nolan Study the script: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001) — Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, J R R Tolkien Study the script: JURASSIC PARK (1993) — Michael Crichton, David Koepp, Michael Crichton Study the script: PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) — Guillermo Del Toro SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES Strong Openings: PAN'S LABYRINTH LINKS Read: Visual Memory: 49 What are Non-Submersible Units? Read: io9: 7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding Read: Scriptnotes: Ep 149: The Long-Lost Austin Three Page Challenge (on Van Helsing) Read: Scriptnotes: Ep 135: World-building Read: Scriptnotes: Ep 160: A Screenwriter's Guide to the End of the World RELATED EPISODES DZ-09: Characterising Introductions DZ-14: Writing For Actors with Succession's Sarah Snook ——— More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser. We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter. Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2014/dz-15/