Plot-Genre-Events - ScreenWriting Science

Screenplay Summaries: Plot and Genre

Introduction
One approach to identifying the types of events to be included in a screenplay is to consider the script’s ‘Genre Expectation’. Here, the audience anticipate particular events according to their Genre or Plot type. This may include, character types, such as the femme fatale of film noir (Double Indemnity), escape scenes (National Treasure), shock value (Saw), or challenges to a relationship (When Harry Met Sally...). Movies are often reviewed in the context of: ‘Did they deliver’?

Plot
A great deal has been written on the terms, 'Plot' and 'Genre' in the categorization of films (see Cited Materials). Generally speaking, Plot refers to the cause-and-effect relationships of why things happen in a story. The number of plot types range up to George Polti's thirty-six plots (and a couple of hundred subdivisions) as well as Rudyard Kipling's sixty-nine plots. In Tobias' book, 20 Master Plots (and How to Build Them) (1993), a total of twenty plot outlines are presented. Specifically:

1. Quest - The Bank Job, Congo, Entrapment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter adn the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
2. Adventure - Congo, Dersu Uzala,
3. Pursuit - The Bank Job, Blade Runner, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Cellular, Chain Reaction, Clear and Present Danger, Dr. No, Eagle Eye, Enemy of the State, Eraser, Goldeneye, Goldfinger, The Hunt for Red October, I, Robot,
4. Rescue - Apollo 13, Flightplan, From Russia with Love,
5. Escape - Cast Away, Collateral, Dante's Peak, Eagle Eye, Flightplan,
6. Revenge - Gladiator,
7. The Riddle - National Treasure
8. Rivalry -
9. Underdog - High Noon,
10. Temptation - A Simple Plan, Derailed, Double Indemnity,
11. Metamorphosis -
12. Transformation - Collateral,
13. Maturation - About a Boy, Bambi, Billy Elliot, Breaking Away, Coyote Ugly, Dead Poets Society, Deuce Bigolow Male Gigolo, How Green Was My Valley,
14. Love - Casablanca, Four Weddings and a Funeral, How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days,
15. Forbidden Love - Brokeback Mountain, Casablanca, Derailed,
16. Sacrifice - Casablanca,
17. Discovery -
18. Wretched Excess -
19. Ascension -
20. Descension -

Noble and Noble in their book, Steal This Plot: A Writer's Guide to Story Structure and Plagiarism (1985) take a slightly different approach and emphasizes thirteen 'Plot Motivators' coupled with thirteen 'Story Spicers' to give a total of 169 combinations.

'Plot Motivators':

1. Vengeance -
2. Catastrophe -
3. Love and Hate -
4. The Chase -
5. Grief and Loss -
6. Rebellion -
7. Betrayal -
8. Persecution -
9. Self-Sacrifice -
10. Survival (deliverance) -
11. Rivalry -
12. Discovery (quest) -
13. Ambition -

'Story Spicers':

1. Deception -
2. Material Well-Being (Increase or Loss of) -
3. Authority -
4. Making Amends -
5. Conspiracy -
6. Rescue -
7. Mistaken Identity - North by Northwest -
8. Unnatural Affection -
9. Criminal Action (Including Murder) -
10. Suspicion -
11. Suicide -
12. Searching -
13. Honor and Dishonor -

Genre
Genre generally refers to the setting, mood, theme and character archetypes of a film. Again, many breakdowns and subcategories have been developed, such as those described by the American Film Institute, as well as commercial movie rental companies such as Blockbuster and Netflix. The main film genres listed by the American Film Institute are:

1. Action -
2. Adventure -
3. Comedy -
4. Crime and Gangster -
5. Drama -
6. Epics/Historical -
7. Horror -
8. Musicals/dance -
9. War/Anti-War -
10. Westerns -