How to Write a Great Ending
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 มิ.ย. 2024
- Get Practical Tools to Write Your Great Screenplay: www.practicalscreenwriting.com
In this video I go deep into some of the organic and natural elements of building a great ending. I analyze how great endings work and also show you some common mistakes to avoid when ending your story.
Films Used:
Alien
Django Unchained
The Avengers
The Godfather
The Shawshank Redemption
Whiplash
#Screenwriting #Climax #Endings - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
Get Practical Tools to Write Your Great Screenplay: www.practicalscreenwriting.com
Does the ending have to pass all 3 tests at the end ? Can it fail external but pass internal and philosophical?
11:45 had the audio removed (copyright presumably), was anything important said during that bit?
Whiplash's ending takes control of people's social anxiety and fear of an audience in an amazing way. There was no physical danger but I was more entranced and on the edge of my seat than I had been in a movie in a long time.
Its a fantastic ending
Dalton Clay. Bang on! Very well put. I love that film. :)
Whiplash and The Matrix have my favorite film endings ever.
Why I feel that this movie-making thing, is more like learning psychology.
Yeah
cause it literally is. that is the key. if you dont perceve world and humans trough psychological lense you are just not the right person to make a meaningful movie. but if you have your own understanding and theories on human psychology that are based on your experience, using it will almost always produce a great script.
@@McGradyKalcho that's true and Christopher Nolan has mastered it
By creating characters with understandable and relatable motives I am understanding my own psyche much better. Writing is therapy.
@@hastwper6682 No Christopher Nolan has definitely NOT mastered human psychology. Here's one key example of Nolan not understanding human psychology - the joker's motivation for doing everything that he does in the Dark Knight is that he, for some inexplicable reason, wants to disprove Batman's belief that human beings are inherently morally good.
Setting aside the fact that a bus full of criminals (some of whom could be murderers or even serial killers depending on the type of prison they are from) somehow decided that a bus full of ordinary humans were not going to kill them to save their own lives and that they should, therefore, not take the lives of those ordinary citizens first, the Joker - who has never met Batman before - somehow knows with an astonishing degree of certainty what Batman's thinks about human nature and how to get under Batman's skin. Now, to the point...What exactly is the Joker's motivation in the Dark Knight? In interviews, Nolan describes the Joker as an anarchist.
An anarchist is not someone who likes chaos or disproving other people's moral beliefs for the sake of doing so, but someone who wants to tear down a social structure that uses force or violence to enforce a rule of law that they disagree with. Most if not all of human history and entire books on the subject of anarchism such as "Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism" suggest that the Joker's motivation is a psychological impossibility. If the joker had an actual backstory rather than the mysterious Rashamon-style cop-out backstory that we were presented with, then - we as the audience - could actually figure out what his motivation is and how he figured out exactly what Batman's ideological beliefs are without every having met Batman before.
A mysterious backstory is a lazy, but clever way to distract your audience from the fact that you, as a screenwriter, don't understand your character's motivation. And why create a mystery about a character's backstory without ever solving that mystery? An unsolved mystery is as unsatisfying as watching someone leave a half-eaten subway sandwich, watching a door close half-way or watching a little girl jump over a jump rope without swinging the rope over her head.
And why does the Joker care whether or not people call him crazy? What is it about the Joker's emotional makeup that makes him care about other people's opinion on his sanity or lack therefore? Why would someone who walks around wearing clown makeup all the time care about other people's opinion on his state of mind?
*Just imagine*
if this video was made before Game of Thrones Season 8
Why?
@@fredrikpettersson2972 ending
@@fredrikpettersson2972 what the fuck do you mean why? Have you been living under a rock?
@@Astroghouls Please explain
Fredrik Pettersson It‘s just that the writers, who back then had no source material left (the books), needed to come up with their own ending. And it was... not that pleasing for most people to say the least.
The greatest ending of all time for me is in Unbreakable. A lonely, broken man's lifelong quest for purpose and meaning is finally acheived, but it comes at the cost of his humanity. So underrated.
Unbreakable is such a beautiful film
But what makes you think that Mr. Glass ever had a sense of humanity or sense of moral responsibility if that's what you mean? Before Mr. Glass ruined other people's lives through his acts of terrorism in pursuit of a scientific truth, what good deeds or acts of kindness had he ever done?
@@behindthepageaudiobooks he shows David his power
@@sameerhafeez7029 Do you mean he teaches David how David can use his power? Or do you mean something else?
Is that the one that ends with a text wall?
This is by far one of your most effective videos because you nailed everything about those great endings and really simplified the process to get there. You've really grown and I'm definitely going to take up your writing course.
Thanks for the kind words! Looking forward to having you inside the course.
I totally agree. This was incredibly helpful when I needed to re-write both my screenplay and novel.
I think Reservoir Dogs ending is almost as good as it gets, the final moment when Mr White kills Mr........ its so satisfying for me because he’s been helping him thru the entire film and when he finds out he’s been helping the cop the whole time, it goes completely against he’s core value (all cops must die) it might seem fkd up to say this but I love it.
Dude, thank you. I’m stuck on making my ending absolutely memorable and epic and this is a huge help.
What are you writing sir?🙂
What about endings were the protagonist doesn't "win" to make a point about philosophical stakes? Like Romeo and Juliet? There are lots of other examples but that's the first that came to mind. I'd love to see a video on not happy endings and how they can still be effective and meaningful.
I touched on this in the video somewhat, but I could definitely go more in depth. It’s not that the protagonist must win or succeed, but that a sudden reversal (from defeat to victory or victory to defeat) helps create a strong emotionally impactful ending.
Aristotle called it peripeteia
I'm not going to separate Romeo and Juliet in stakes but I think they went from winning it all (having the perfect plan to run away together and getting married) to suddenly lose it all and die
I think they fit with this video itself, you only have to reverse it to match the tragedies
@@TylerMowery I think my question would be how you'd write a compelling story while the main character fails most or all of the stakes. I think that may be easier for the book I'm writing with supporting characters close to the main who will pass.
@@aaronlittle5478 make audience so attached to audience , show every possible side of them promise them everything and at last give them nothing .
Or give them a little hope like and make it like something better than nothing( titanic) you gotta play with audience psychology . 😉
Oh yeah, it's all coming together
🤣🤣🤣
I believe the best ending of all time is a tie between Damien Chazelle’s La La Land dream sequence and Bong Joon-Ho’s Memories of Murder finale.
Last time I was this early I was going to write a novel
Early?
@@KutWrite ¹
@@KutWrite ::v:::v: vg & g&vvv::vvgvvg:v:vvvvvvvvvgvgvvvggvvvgggggvgvgggvggggggg:gvvvvgvggvvvvyggvgygggvvgggg vv.
I'm cackling
Django and Shawshank, two of my favourite films and favourite endings of all time. Awesome analysis of both, one of the best channels on writing I’ve seen on youtube 👏👏
Thank you!
Thanks sir, you bring us our favourite movie. Shawshank is the best example of a movie with a great story 😭
Dude... you look very young, but you’re one of the best teachers I’ve encountered. You really are great at this. .
Thank you!
Tyler Mowery thank you for the content bud. Best of luck in your endeavors. 🙏🤝
I've been sitting on an unfinished script for over 2 years now that literally just has the ending left to write. This helped a lot. (also just found your channel. Love it)
So how’d it all work out?
This reminds me
of the ending in the film _"The Mist"_
Haven’t seen it. I’ll take a look
@@TylerMowery not sure if its a great ending though
Its just an ending that stuck with me ever since I watched it as a child
Such despair..
@@TylerMowery Good luck.
Just make sure its the black and white version. The theatrical coloured version look, well.........................rough
@@josiahvoisin7991 i didn't like it either, it felt like a last minute gotchya ending. Just something to take away from the trajectory of the group actually surviving at the end. Would have been better if the father survived for a year in the mist by himself and going insane before being rescued by the military. Or you know, just give them the simple rescue ending, that would have been better. Hell they could have even made the military shoot them instead to cover the whole incident up SCP Foundation style. It just felt like a double edgy turn around that seemed like the author was saying "Look at Me i did somethings you didn't expect all in the same scene, aren't I great?!"
liked before watching. This channel is treasure. Am kind of jealous that a lot of people might learn this. That's gonna be lot of competition!
But will they apply what they learn?
@@TylerMowery ah! so there is hope for me then. Hope of ignorance and laziness.
Hey thats philosophical stake right there, will Tyler mowery's students fall for laziness(fear of failiure) and ignorance. Or will they dive in adventure(Not caring about failiure) and apply knowledge.
Setback1(One of the student is interested but postpones writing for earning and joins a day job that pays well but crushes his heart, he still hopes to write in the weekend)
setback2(His gf makes him choose, either her with a good career or writing story for hollywood, he chooses her and quits writing completely)
-setback3(Hero loses his job because his new boss chucks out less competitive employees now. Learns about hero's involvement with writing as a side hustle and FIRES him. Our guy loses gf and job)..
- Hero is angry, angry over his life, his desire to write, his gf, his job, everything! In anger he becomes bold, and doesn't care abt failure. writes a hollywood Blockbuster in a week(Like silverster stallone did) and posts it to every production house he knows and starts working in a menial job(some ego crushing disgusting job)
Sudden reversal - No production house cares abt his story, but one hollywood star does, in an ego clash with a very famous screenplay writer, the hero decides to hire a new story writer, and he comes across this work which suits his films a lot. In an anger to teach that famous screenplay writer a lesson, The hollywood star asks his manager to contact the writer of this script and get him hired ASAP! Hero gets hired and continues to deliver three more block busters(Time reel), credits his success to this youtube channel and boom, Tyler mowery channel becomes a book, he goes to multiple morning shows like ellen show. TH-cam views are on all time high, finally tyler mowery's work becomes a cult classic for all students in writing classes in the future. Tyler mowery's work becomes a cult classic to replace syd field's work! Because now people see the result and they start implementing your teaching!
Boom! there you go I just implemented for you!
(Ignore and forgive grammar mistakes if any)
@@TheKrodhguru hahaha
Don't worry fellow writer. It takes 1 video to learn this, but an entire career to master it, and very few will. happy writing!
How To End Your Story :
The Circle Ending- A story that does a full circle and comes back to the beginning
The Moral Ending-
An ending where you learn a lesson and see the character develop
The Surprise Ending- A big plot twist last minute
The Reflection Ending- The Character looks back on their past achievements and experiences
The Emotional Ending- Leave your readers feeling sad, bittersweet, or happy
The Cliff Hanger Ending- End on something that will leave your readers at the edge of their seat
The Humor Ending- Finish in a funny or humorous way
The Question Ending- Make the reader wonder what will happen next
The Image Ending- Show, don't tell
The Dialogue Ending- Finish with a quote from one of your characters
👍
11111¹¹¹11¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹1¹¹
I would to achieve all in one.
I made a dialogue, surprise, emotional, circle ending
Do TvTropes take this from you or you take this from TvTropes?
Tyler, as a person making a movie to submit for academy admission, i say to you YOU ARE A GIFT TO ART WORLD. I learned so so much and all of your directions gave me usable knowledge almost instantly after watching the video. I wrote 2 scripts based on your concepts and it makes so much sense to me. I was so amazed when i saw how young you are on "making a script in 48h" video. I hope you are using this knowledge and that you will make a great career for yourself, or at least that you will never stop teaching and someday at oscar awards or cannes somebody gonna mention you in their speech. If in some crazy destiny i ever end up there i am sure going to do it! Best teacher i ever had by far. THANKS
Here's a simple answer:
Just end the story the way everyone sees it. No twists, turns, or revelations. A simple ending people can see a mile away based on how the story would go already suffices and can be even an amazing ending even when it's just one that people can see coming.
JP Beaubien taught me that. And I gotta say, the journey is more important than the destination. And even if it's just "the good guys win and the bad guys lose," there's nothing wrong with that.
Tyler, I just wanna say thank you for making these videos. I've always had a hard time trying to sit through classes, movies, just about anything. But your video format asks and answers questions in a way that's so intriguing, organized and sensible that I'm thinking of crafting a story of my own. Not sure how well it'll go, but I am really excited about it. Thank you!
Am I the only one who takes notes when I watch these videos?
Nope😌👊🥴
Tyler's videos are also really helpful to novelists like me🤭
Thank you kindly for the education of writing and telling a meaningful story that really makes a difference between ones that are classics and ones that are forgotten or never materialize into anything. The insights add onto the gifts of being authors and screen writers.
I didn't expect this video to supply me everything I needed to know about Climax. Ugh, Thank you so much. Really great explanation
I could be assuming incorrectly, but I feel like Michael Ardnt should be credited in some way.
This is a straight up ripoff if he doesn’t credit him at some point
Excellent video, even for a seasoned screenwriter.
This was actually really helpful. Fortunately, unlike some past attempts, my novel had the stakes set up well, so when I thought about it in these terms, the ending became obvious (and a bit darker for one character - congrats, you killed one of my characters - a noble sacrifice is the only consistent climax I can imagine for her).
I cannot thank you enough for this video. I’ve be been struggling with the climax and end of my own movie these past few weeks. The whole thing is filmed edited and finished but the end. Sent this video to the co-director and as soon as he finished this video we had a meeting and wrote an ending that was a thousand times better than the one we were planning and hesitant to film. Fantastic video. Thank you so much.
I can't THANK YOU ENOUGH for your videos!!! They're so soooo helpful!!!
Stellar content!! Extremely well done and helpful. Thank God for content creators like you!
Not enough people have seen this video, it’s actually amazingly helpful
gahh how is all this useful information free!? I would be so lost without this channel.
WOW! This is THE most helpful video I've ever watched on writing! thank you so much for making this! Helped me a ton!
I think it's important to connect the external stakes to the internal stakes. In your example it might be worded as: hope is the freedom of the mind, as freedom is the hope of the body.
Insane value! Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom, really hypes me up to start writing my own screenplays!
On occasion the reversal may involve the opposite of what was stated above, rather than the external state being brought to its highest point of failure, instead the protagonist may succeed in attaining the external state only to realize it wasn't as expected or failed to fulfill the subconscious need (internal stake) driving its pursuit.
Thanks a lot Tyler Mowery!! You have done a great contribution to the writers out there by opensourcing the theories of writing with your playlist. All the best for your practical screen writing and many writers should get benefit out of that. You worth the praise!! Many of these theories/philosophies are not only useful for screen writing but also for any kind of writing/communication/creation, I believe. It is a lot of learnings for me. Thanks a lot! God bless you!
This is my first time seeing stakes broken down in such a way and it’s really helped me get at the core of my novel. After a long bout of writer’s block I think this is what’s going to help me push on. :)
Very clean and precise instruction.
This video is about great endings and this is "20:20" long. 😳
Oh my god!!!!!
We have hope
Welp...
Perfect
This was incredibly helpful, I’m writing the ending to my one act play and feeling stuck. I can’t wait to apply this to my show!
Every video he does is packed with great knowledge.
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen, you solved story writing, congrats.
First off, awesome informative video.
I wish you included in your two examples, movies in which one ends up failing at the end and the other winning at the end. As opposed to both winning at the end. Maybe a future video?
Thanks.
This helped so much! Thanks a million for this, I'm so glad I watched it.
Another great video Tyler. As always, bless your soul
haha thank you!
This is what I just needed thank you
Glad to hear it!
@@TylerMowery ☺️
@@TylerMowery My story is about suffering, depression and regret and I need to end it on a powerful note. So Thank you again!!
@@wisdom6133 my story is mostly action and I'm gonna write heartbreaking end
@@markodelic6017 I can't wait 👍
This is great. Concise, clear, and firm. Thank you. ❤
Thank you Brother, I really needed this!
(I even took notes)
Love the bg music. A real Aquemini vibe to it.
I love endings and beginnings. I hate middles even though they're the easiest to write
This is brilliant, keep up the great work.
Super helpful thank you Tyler!
Thanks for making this kind of videos... I really appreciate it
Glad it’s helpful!
This is such a great consice explanation of ideas. I've never heard it laid out so plainly.
concise lol
Thank you so much for making this! I really wanted to make a nice finish to my series
Strange, your vid helped me solve how to do the beginning, great. I was having trouble with the beginning even-though I have the full argument outlined and the philosophy, but had not clear the emotional side of characters , neither how to make a huge philosophical them to be concentrated into and ending, my stakes wasn't outlined yet, thats what you have put very clear. Thanks so much, now i believe I have a compelling start and a clear intense and meaningful ending.
Excellent video. It was a no nonsense superb on the dot stuff!! Trust me, this is far better than half of the junk on TH-cam!! Go Tyler!! Go!!
I rarely hit the thumbs-up on videos, even videos I love. But you get a thumbs-up, my friend. Great video 👍
Brilliant is the word I wanna use to describe the video!! Kudos Tyler
Tyler always gives a master class.
Very instructional video. Thanks.
Thanks a lot ! very graphically explained!
I've been you're sub since you had 24k and I'm happy you're growing at ridiculously amazing level... Tho I'd like you to do an analysis of HBO's The Night of and Steven Zillian's writing as screenwriter in general !!
unfortunately I cant afford the screenwriting course, but I got into the fb group, I hope to start this "journey" in the best way possible, great channel, congratulations!
I'm interested to see your take on applying this structure to a good (& maybe also bad) rom coms (which usually have lower stakes). Also, for open ended films that leave the philiosophical stakes unanswered (i.e. Inception, The Irishman).
These videos are incredible knowledge nuggets. you are good at what you do sir. By the way, social network is my favourite movie and screenplay of all time because its so distinctively different from probably every movie i've seen that uses these same formats but differently. That movie is such a breathe of fresh air anytime i see it. it really encourages outside the box thinking.
Again, fantastic video, full of insight.
Thanks for the kind words!
Sometimes, you start a script with the philosophical abstract conclusion, and then tediously build the story and characters around that in reverse. Writing like that, might seem the less obvious way to build character arcs, because you get more options the further away you get from the conclusion. But you are at the same time assured that the build up works logically (no need for sugarcoated movie tricks to cover lapses in logic to land on your feet), and you don't risk getting stuck, because you forgot a personality trait in a character early on and need to redo more scenes and their interrelations! So the advice that works very well for me, is begin with the climax, and work both ways from that. Proofreading later corrects the possible unnatural flow of dialogue or small stuff missing. but it is a lot less work like this, even if just writing characters top down storytelling style, seems to give you a better sense of the characters.
In this video you are like a tutor. Very good.
Without steaks, the story is meaningless.
I think you mean "stakes."
@@davidliu4134 The word still fits as both need to be properly prepared, cooked, and spiced up.
Without steak my life story is meaningless so you’re not wrong
@@davidliu4134 r/whooosh
ba dum, ts
This video is valuable.
Damn I just need this right now
Thnk u this really helped
Great points
I just want a say thanks because your videos helped me become a great writer... 👍🏽🤫
Awesome mate! Thanks!
So the story should go from good to bad to worst to best.
amazing explanation
EEEEE IVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THIS IM SO EXCITED
Solved my problem by 1:24 Thanks!
Really good. Thank you.
FYI, your VO cuts out from 11:44-11:55, I'm guessing due to the music mentioned..."Django kills the slavers and the music kicks in...." That's where it cuts out.
No it's just music! You don't miss anything. I had to silence the music because the video got blocked. The only word you miss is "this" in "this is the philosophical climax"
@@TylerMowery thanks for the reply. I was worried I missed something. :)
I was blaming it on my shitty internet connection
siyabonga mfwethu, this is a fantastic video!!
Thanks for your videos Tyler, your content is very interesting, well organized and clear. I think I will be subscribing to your course soon, since my biggest problem is procrastination. I'd like to see a video analyzing some of Bong Joon-ho's films, a writer director I consider a master since I saw his 'Memories of Murder' a couple years ago... Thanks again and keep up this great channel!
Love Bong Joon Ho! Memories of Murder is great, as well as Parasite, Snowpiercer, and Okja. Haven’t seen Mother.
GREAT VID FAM
Best one ,it's very helpful and
Make some video about creating short film ideas
Blood debts has the greatest ending i have ever seen. 8 almost cried of emotions.
Very useful lessons.
Well explained 🙏🙏
What about the movies which have complex ending like ending of inception.Endings which are open for interpretations
“If you have problems with procrastination, spend time watching this video course on writing... rather than writing” lol. Great video though, subscribed.
thank you so much bro.
Great ❤️ really helpful
you are- a master class all by your self man .... where- did you learn all this
Well done again Tyler! Thanks for sharing your hard work.
Thanks Sara!
Great video, maybe you should make a follow up about a film that does the exact opposite of this and succeeds in it to show how the “rules” can be broken on a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey or something like that
Did anyone else notice how he says "and the music kicks in" and the sound instantly cuts out for a few seconds? Something strange going on.
Copyright
Can you do a video on Screenplay outlines?
Yes