I’m still analysing my old screenplay

currently at: 4/30

This will take a while…

I still stand by my old ABC definition of a beat

And that being:

(Pre-beat)

A - A new element is introduced into a scene

(What is new that wasn’t here before?)

B - That element ACTS or it’s PROPERTY is introduced

(What does the new thing do?)

C - A response is given by the environment

(How does the world respond?)

(Post-beat)

I’ve given an outline of some basic beats I’ve discovered in the last entry but I’m becoming more sceptical about some of them…

AxBC - Unanswered Beat (Chekhov’s gun, x- marks a pause)

ABxC - Unresolved Beat (Reverse Murder Mystery)

I’m starting to think that these two don’t have to do anything about BEATS and everything to do with SCENES. The WHOLE idea about AxBC and ABxC was that there is a delay in information.

AxBC is a Cherkov’s gun aka. there is a detail that becomes forgotten in this scene and then important in the next

ABxC is a Reverse Murder Mystery or a Reverse Whodunnit aka. there is an event of which the conclusion is missing in this scene, but comes as a big reveal in another scene.

Since these talk about scenes and not beats I should find another way to label them. To keep things clear and simple I will use ABC labelling exclusively for the beats, not scenes.

?BC - Unknown Beat

A?C - Uncaused Beat

AB? - Unfinished Beat

These are amazing at obscuring some specific information to cause immediate tension. They DON’T have their own respective Abc, aBc or abC. They all resolve into an ABC.

ABbCc -Dispute Beat (Two characters act differently on the same event causing a dispute, resolves into an ABC)

I’m unsure about this one. It could just be ABC + ?BC where they both share the same A. I’ve found it only once in my screenplay. What is in my screenplay looks more to AB? + ?BC. I still have to spent some time figuring that out

Not really sure what to think… Maybe ABC system isn’t about what is happening but what the viewer knows. Maybe it’s about in what way the information is presented… that would explain a lot.