DZ-96: Ensembles 1 - What do we mean by an ensemble?

Listen if you're working on a story with multiple protagonists and want to understand what makes an ensemble different from a single-protagonist narrative In the first part of our series on ensembles, Chas, Stu and Mel start by laying the groundwork for our future episodes. And we begin by asking the seemingly innocuous question: What do we mean by calling a story an ensemble? As we unpack our own assumptions, biases and thoughts, we ask (and attempt to answer) more questions: How does an ensemble differ from a single protagonist or two hander? Why does this distinction even matter? What challenges What genres inherently are ensembles? And what do we hope to learn from the series? We ice-skate over myriad films including JURASSIC PARK, ALIEN, TOP GUN vs TOP GUN: MAVERICK, DEATH AT A FUNERAL, WAR OF THE WORLDS vs INDEPENDENCE DAY, LORD OF THE RINGS vs WILLOW, OCEAN’S 11 vs OUT OF SIGHT, THIEF vs HEAT, AWAY FROM HER, DIRTY DOZEN, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, SE7EN, READY OR NOT. Look, there’s heaps. We talk a lot of movies. Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode. <3 Chris! 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 Casimir, Eduardo, Jennifer, Garrett, Bjorn, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Alex and Khrob. → Read the transcript for this episode. ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Cold Open 00:00:09 – ScriptUp Sponsorship 00:00:48 – Intro to Ensembles: Series Scope and Episode Roadmap 00:04:17 – What Makes a Story an Ensemble? 00:07:40 – › Character interaction, not just character count, defines ensemble 00:11:39 – › Character questions and agendas as markers of individuation 00:17:09 – › How genre conventions shape ensemble versus single-protagonist focus 00:22:44 – › Structural rhythms of splitting and reassembling the group 00:26:51 – A Taxonomy of Ensemble Genres 00:29:57 – › Why heist films structurally demand an ensemble cast 00:35:41 – › Scale and disaster films as ensemble drivers 00:39:21 – › Hangout and holiday films as inherently ensemble forms 00:43:59 – › Murder mystery versus detective story on the ensemble spectrum 00:47:25 – ArcStudio Sponsorship 00:48:32 – Group Dynamics: How Characters Interact Within the Ensemble 00:53:19 – › Competitive, Combative, and Collaborative as the core dynamic framework 00:59:25 – › How couplets and shifting alliances generate ensemble momentum 01:01:20 – › Character archetypes as shorthand when screen time is compressed 01:05:15 – › Why shared context explains why these characters occupy the same story world 01:08:39 – Wrap Up & Hopeful Learnings 01:12:32 – › Cohesion, integration, and what ensemble demands of theme 01:15:15 – Patreon Thanks FILMS JURASSIC PARK (1993) — (w) Michael Crichton, David Koepp, Michael Crichton (d) Steven Spielberg ALIEN (1979) — (w) Dan Obannon, Dan Obannon, Ronald Shusett (d) Ridley Scott HEAT (1995) — (w) Michael Mann TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022) — (w) Eric Warren Singer, Ehren Kruger, Christopher Mcquarrie, Justin Marks, Peter Craig (d) Joseph Kosinski OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001) — (w) Ted Griffin (d) Steven Soderbergh SCRIPTS Study the script: JURASSIC PARK (1993) — Michael Crichton, David Koepp, Michael Crichton Study the script: ALIEN (1979) — Dan Obannon, Dan Obannon, Ronald Shusett Study the script: HEAT (1995) — Michael Mann Study the script: TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022) — Eric Warren Singer, Ehren Kruger, Christopher Mcquarrie, Justin Marks, Peter Craig Study the script: OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001) — Ted Griffin SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES ALIEN Aesthetic (Pt 3) - Framing Ripley ALIEN Aesthetic (Pt 2) - The Ensemble ALIEN Aesthetic (Pt 1) - The Visual Strategies ▶ How does Ripley take control in Alien? ▶ Ripley invades Ash's space in Alien ▶ Facehugger attacks Ripley in Alien ▶ Why the fight choreography of Arnie's TOTAL RECALL is so good (and so brutal). LINKS Sponsor: ScriptUp - use promo code DZ10 to get 10% off Spsonor: ArcStudio - for $30 off a subscription! EPISODES IN THE ENSEMBLES SERIES DZ-96: Ensembles 1 - What do we mean by an ensemble? DZ-97: Ensembles 2 - Servicing Characters DZ-98: Ensembles 3 - Character Function & Theme ——— 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/2023/dz-96/