DZ-49: Antagonists! 1 - vs Humans

Listen if you want to understand how to craft compelling antagonists who oppose your protagonist through direct human conflict Prompted by a listener (and patron of the podcast) question, Stu and Chas dive into antagonistic forces. And because Draft Zero does not do anything by halves, this is Part One of a Five Part Epic Exploration™ into antagonists; namely: vs humans, vs self, vs nature/supernatural, vs systems and “other”. aka the classic narrative conflicts. For this “vs humans” part, we chose to look at DIE HARD, MISERY and THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE OF EBBING, MISSOURI (with special mentions to THE DARK KNIGHT, LA LA LAND and - of course - STAR WARS). In particular, we look at some classical villains, internal vs external antagonists, and how antagonists and protagonists can swap roles over a scene or a sequence. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Watch and comment on YouTube. Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre and Lily. ——— CHAPTERS 00:12:27 – Die Hard 00:24:34 – Misery 00:40:12 – The Dark Knight 00:45:32 – Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri 01:11:30 – LA LA Land 01:14:33 – Wrap Up FILMS DIE HARD (1988) — (w) Roderick Thorp, Jeb Stuart, Steven E De Souza (d) John Mctiernan MISERY (1990) — (w) Stephen King, William Goldman (d) Rob Reiner THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017) — (w) Martin Mcdonagh SCRIPTS Study the script: DIE HARD (1988) — Roderick Thorp, Jeb Stuart, Steven E De Souza Study the script: MISERY (1990) — Stephen King, William Goldman Study the script: THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017) — Martin Mcdonagh SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES DIE HARD: integrating inserts in the action Character Introductions 002: Hans Gruber LINKS Read: Boss (video games) Read: Different kinds of antagonistic forces? (for draft zero episode) Read: How can I create meaningful conflict for my characters without a physical antagonist? Read: There was a post the other day about making villains 'deep'... YouTube: Movie Villains Done Right YouTube: The Dark Knight -- Creating the Ultimate Antagonist EPISODES IN THE ANTAGONISTS! SERIES DZ-50: Antagonists! 2 - vs Self DZ-51: Antagonists! 3 - vs Nature DZ-52: Antagonists! 4 - vs Systems DZ-53: Antagonists! 5 - vs Audience DZ-49: Antagonists! 1 - vs Humans RELATED EPISODES DZ-35: Driving Characters or Character Driven? DZ-43: Driving Sequences - Character and Plot Intensity ——— 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/2018/dz-49/