Set up and inciting incident, which occupy the first 20-30 min of movie time are the most crucialaspects of any film because these two tell, what the story is about and where it is heading to.
This article could be more understanding for those who know the technical terms of screenplay writing but I also hope the below brief explanations would help general audience as well in knowing those terms.
Three-Act Structure - is the mostly used form of screenplay writing. (I would like to reiterate what most of the famous screenplay writers say and believe, three-act structure is a form but not formula for screenplay writing)
In simple terms, Three Act Structure means the screenplay is divided into three acts:
Act 1 (Set up) – which gives information of what the story is about and what Protagonist’s goal and about the other major characters in the story.
Inciting incident – What makes Protagonist to take up the goal or the first twist in the story.
Act 2 – The journey towards the goal – the conflicts that Protagonist faces and how he over comes them.
Plot point 2 – The final twist which makes Protagonist, after winning over many hurdles, go deeply down in the battle and has to raise again to face, probably the only major conflict/challenge that is left to win over.
Act 3 - The final phase where Protagonist wins over the final conflict/challenge and reaches his goal.
These are one line explanations of the terminology and you can write pages on each one of them but for now let’s focus more on the film LEADER and apply these terms to see how the screenplay writer Sekhar Kammula made the setup and inciting incident very interesting!
Before the film was out, we all know the film is a political drama and Protagonist is a Chief Minister’s son who becomes Chief Minister of the state. The film makers made the publicity to let people know that this film is about - a CM’s son who wants to become a CM. The goal of the Protagonist is out and what the film is about is out, before the film was out, which is the first thing that audience should (must) know before watching the film or else their expectations about the film could be different to what they are going to see in the theatre and could lead to undesired results.
Set up:
Though the goal is out, the director/writer has to show in the film, how Arjun (Protagonist) sets this goal and why he wants to achieve this goal. The reasons generally will be due to some incidents that happen in Protagonist’s life, which are normally revealed either in beginning of the film or as flashback.
Sekhar Kammula used it in setup to make it clear that what happened in Arjun’s life has made him to aspire for becoming a Chief Minister of the state.
The set up here is the first 20 min of the film where we see the current CM, Arjun’s Dad gets shot dead leaving his last word as to make Arjun, the next CM for the state. We also see the antagonist, Arjun’s cousin Dhanunjaya wants to become next CM, and the situations and people around him favoring Dhanunjaya. Here the writer gave the information to the audience about the evil characters, showing that Arjun is trying to enter Lion’s castle. He also informed audience, what challenges Arjun could face in future and also the initial innocence of Arjun on politics and a sign of not intentioned to become CM.
Inciting incident:
Though Arjun Dad’s last words to Arjun, is to make Arjun as CM, since Arjun was not interested, his Dad’s words didn’t motivate him completely to become CM. Only at later point, the inciting incident happened which made Arjun, a ‘LEADER’.
The inciting incident is the first turning point, where Protagonist turns his journey towards the goal. In LEADER, that comes when Arjun reads his Dad’s dairy where his Dad wishes Arjun to become CM.
Sekhar kammula also elevated this scene very rightly so, by having the song ‘Vandemataram’ here. He scored 10/10 at this point because, the visuals and lyrics of this song are very much connected to the story and to the Protagonist, Arjun. In this song, Arjun observes people’s disastrous life which makes him to take the decision of becoming CM of the state and bring some change in their lives.
Observation:
Introducing various evil characters around in the setup, showing the poverty side of the society and most importantly Arjun’s Dad’s wish, the writer made his Protagonist Arjun to take the decision of becoming CM at the end of the Act -1 (Set-up).
This is how one can make the film look natural, real and get audience believe in the story. Sekhar kammula used not just one reason of his Dad’s wish but he also used the evil characters, the pitiful situations to add more value for Arjun’s decision and succeeded in convincing the audience. This is the first and most impressive point of this film LEADER – the inciting incident.
- Sai Kiran
- Sai Kiran
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