Character: Stakes

- In the last few videos we thought

about obstacles a character can face

leading to choices they have to make

and the arc they follow.

Each choice a character
makes has potential risks,

impacts, and rewards involved with it.

Those can be called the stakes.

- The stakes of a story are summed up

on one question, why do we care?

Why do I care if Nemo and
his dad aren't reunited?

- You have what's at risk
if the characters fail.

If the stakes are low,

usually it's not a very entertaining film.

But the higher the stakes
are, the more tension you get,

the more enjoyable it is.

My favorite film of all
time is Jurassic Park

and the stakes are pretty high.

If you fail the dinosaurs will eat you,

that's pretty clear.

- You have to be as the audience,

gripped by those stakes.

"I don't know what's going to happen."

- Early on in the arc,
I'd say that the stakes

wouldn't seem as extreme, maybe.

As the story progresses the stakes raise.

- We have a lot of
conversations about how big

our stakes need to be.

Does it need to be life and death?

Or is it better if it's just, you know,

for a comedy sometimes you want it

just to be about the
character's reputation

or something smaller so
that you're not bringing

too much gravity to a situation.

The important thing is, to the character,

it should feel like the world to them.

Even if it's just a talent show,

you want to show to the audience

that that talent show is
everything to this character.

I think by the end of Napoleon Dynamite,

we all want Napoleon
Dynamite to win that show

and to be accepted by everybody.

- Anything that is happening
with your character

I think it's really important

to feel the emotional connection of that.

If I don't feel it, they're not there.

- Stakes add drama and
weight to any choice

and can be divided into three categories,

internal stakes, external
stakes, and philosophical stakes.

Let's hear more about this
from our story artists.

- The external stakes are, literally,

what's going on in the world.

Are they lost?

Are they being chased by burglars?

Physically, what will happen to them

or to the world if they fail?

- A great example of external
stakes is from Brave.

By giving her mom the
cake that the witch made,

Merida turns her mother into a bear.

That is an immediate, physical
consequence of her choice

that impacts both them as
well as the story itself.

Then, if Merida doesn't decipher

and solve the witch's riddle,

her mom will become a full
bear and be lost forever.

- Internal stakes usually
are psychological.

What's going on for the character
emotionally or mentally?

What are they potentially going to lose?

What will they potentially gain?

Why is it important that
they gain that thing?

Why is it sad or difficult
if they lose that thing?

Asking those questions
will help you figure out

what those stakes really are.

- A good example of internal stakes

is from the original Toy Story.

Throughout the film, Woody
is forced to confront

his own insecurity and pride,
embrace Buzz as a friend,

and learn to share Andy's attention.

What's at stake for
him, internally, is all

of his relationships with the other toys

and his very sense of self.

- Philosophical stakes are
what is impacting the world.

What is making the values
or the belief system

of this world change?

Or not change.

And what does it mean if
it does or doesn't change?

For philosophical stakes,
I think Lord of the Rings

is a great example.

If Frodo doesn't throw
the ring into the fire,

then Middle Earth is gonna
be ruled under evil forever.

- When you watch movies
that have this pitch battle

between ideas,

concepts, good versus evil,

those kinds of things are philosophical.

- Okay, let's summarize.

External stakes, the
possible physical impacts

of a choice or action.

Internal stakes, the mental
or emotional consequences

of a choice, and philosophical stakes.

What are the underlying ideas
or values in your story?

The distinction between
internal, external,

and philosophical stakes is tricky.

So, in this last exercise
let's get some practice

thinking about this
using the films you love.