Behind, Beside or Ahead

By sequence X we are well into the story, and as you’d expect, we have caught up significantly. We mostly know what’s going on. We know the relationships, the characters and the situation, even without reading the remainder of Act 1, and the first half of Act 2.

There are still places where we are behind the action, but there are also significant moments when we are with the action. And even some moments where we are ahead of the action.

Moment 2. At the beginning of this sequence, we are with the Queen. We share her feelings about being trapped in the castle, powerless. We share her fear about the outcome of the coming battle. We share her doubt about the general’s certainty.

Moment 3. Although we are with the King, we are watching him from outside. We are not with him. We judge him, and are hoping he gets his comeuppance.

Moment 4. And here comes the comeuppance.

Now we are ahead of the story. We don’t know these raiders in the dark. We’ve never met any of them, and we can’t even see them. But we know that they represent bad news for the arrogant unsuspecting King, and therefore for the anxious Queen.

And sure enough, that’s who we see next. First the Queen, then the King.

Moment 5. Our focus shifts to Inga. We are still concerned about the Queen, but we are with Inga’s concern about the Queen.

A brief digression to the King, but it doesn’t connect us to the King. Instead it connects us back to the women in the castle, who are utterly dependent on what happens on the battlefield.

Moment 6. If we were with Inga before, from the moment she realises the battle has begun, we are joined at the hip with her. We know what she needs to do. We agree with her. We encounter every setback as she does. We share her resolution, and her anxiety.

Moment 7. And now we cut to Callum. It’s not totally unexpected that we see him – after all he’s Inga’s next objective. What is somewhat surprising is that we see the next short piece of story from his point of view. I’m doing that deliberately to give a later moment more impact.

A brief moment of third person storytelling from no-one’s point of view bridges us back to Inga’s story, as she tries to get the queen out of the castle while it’s still possible.

But…by the end of the sequence, we need to be with the Queen. Not Inga. Inga has already decided on her plan of action, and is carrying it out.

The Queen is still catching up. And realising that her world is about to turn upside down. Much more than Inga’s world. After all, we can assume (and will probably underline earlier) that Inga came from the world they are about to escape to.

So we need to switch the story POV to the Queen, so we can empathise with her loss, and her fear of the coming unknown.

Moment 8. Which we do by having the Queen realise that Inga has killed Callum at the same moment we do. And then staying with the Queen as the flight begins.

In this sequence, sometimes the audience is ahead, sometimes they’re behind. Sometimes they are with, sometimes they are watching from outside. But this is a crucial action sequence, and mostly the audience is with one of the characters. Almost always with the character Who’s Got the Problem Now.

Time: real or compressed

Another potential variation in storytelling on screen is how you deal with time. In this story we have:

1. Sequence 1: compressed micro-beats (orientation without heavy conflict, but introducing potential future conflicts).
2. Sequence 2: a single real-time scene (no escape—audience sits with the Queen).
3. Sequence X: a blend—compressed movement punctuated by short real-time confrontations (e.g., Inga/Callum; Inga/Queen).

Time in a story can be compressed, real, or stretched. Each affects the audience differently.

See: Making Screen Time work for You.

All sequences should feel like they are ‘of a piece’ – that there is a continuous flow of events, consequences, and actions, leading to a key moment. But that doesn’t mean that they need to deal with time the same way. Even within a sequence, the flow of time can change.

Sequence 1 is a series of short micro-scenes. This gives a sense of impetus, which is useful because there is very little overt conflict in this sequence. There are built-in contradictions that we understand are likely to lead to conflict down the track, but there is minimal direct conflict in this opening sequence.

That is not unusual for opening sequences. There is a lot for the audience to pick up at the beginning of the story, and sometimes overt conflict gets in the way, and draws all the attention.

Sequence 2 is a single scene. It is one continuous piece of time in a single location (apart from the opening symbolic shot).

This suits the action of this sequence – just as the Queen has no real escape, we have no real escape. We are stuck in the world and the events with her.

Sequence X is much more complicated. Parts of it are like sequence 1 – a series of micro-scenes that build and flow and create impetus. But other parts of it are like proper scenes – albeit shorter than the scene in sequence 2.

For example, there is a series of micro scenes of Inga realising that the battle is lost, deciding what to do, and acting on it. She runs down the stairs and goes to the stable, etc.

Then there is a slightly larger scene between her and Callum – but only large enough to register, not to halt the flow. And then we have a larger scene between Inga and the Queen, where Inga persuades the Queen to escape with her. Followed by their escape.

So the entire sequence is of a piece – it goes from the Queen worrying about what’s going to happen in the battle, to her and Inga escaping on horseback. But it’s a mixture of compressed time (the flow of micro-scenes) and longer moments of real time (the scenes built on dialogue and interaction between characters).

The pacing of sequence X moves in fits and starts. It rushes forward, and then it slows briefly while things shift through real-time interactions between people, and then it rushes forward again.

For the next steps, see Sequences: How They Work, part 3

Key Takeaway

• Our connection with a character is shaped by whether we are behind them, beside them, or ahead of them.
• The energy of a sequence swings on whether time is real, compressed, or stretched.
• The trick is to manage both of those triple choice options, while maintaining flow and cohesion.