Movie Monday: Part III, The Climax

It’s Movie Monday, which means we are digging back into our storytelling series! In case you missed it, we are exploring the 4 parts of typical story arc, using one of our client films: the Redstart Residence Short Documentary. The first two weeks, we talked about the Exposition and the Conflict (or Rising Action). This week, we are moving on to the third part of the story arc, the Climax.

What is the Climax?

As you may have guessed, the Climax is the peak of tension or conflict in a story. The tension steadily rises through the first and second act, until it reaches its tipping point at the climax. The conflict is then resolved, and the story arc descends into the Resolution, which we will talk about next week. Let’s take a look at how we handled the climax for the Redstart Residence.

Redstart Residence: Climax

As Garrett and Bryson outline the design goals for the home along with the challenges they faced, the success of the design really hinges on one particular challenge and corresponding solution. Around 3:15, Garrett explains that they had a solid concept but their main struggle was with the proportions of the home. He explains that they had an ah-ha moment when they decided to make the art gallery a part of the large volume entertaining space, rather than keep it low and closed off like the bedrooms. The rest of the design came together very quickly and naturally after they solved the proportions problem.

As this was a pivotal point in the design, we wanted to make sure we highlighted the moment appropriately. That means we spent a bit more time on this particular challenge/solution and placed it right in the middle of the film. For this film, the design process served as the tension in the story arc and driving force for the characters, however Arc Three also wanted to showcase two equally important themes of a collaborative client relationship and their overall design philosophy, which we will get into next week. As you can see, the topics and themes of a film can get a bit complicated. We are trying to include as much as we can in such a short time, which is why it is so important to map out the story ahead of time. We want to make sure that everything we include in the film has a function within the story, otherwise it’s wasted space. The reason we advocate for storytelling in your film is that we think it’s the most effective way of communicating your message to your audience. Our brains make sense of stories and we relate to one another through stories. Stories are a powerful tool for any brand, and we encourage you to think about how to incorporate storytelling into your brand.

Next week, we are wrapping up this storytelling series with Part 4, The Resolution. Stay tuned!