'Taking a turn'

Films cannot be a straight road.

I think we can all agree on this.

Hence, aside from the One-line and Log-Line, we must be able to give a Template. A template which indicates where the story is taking a turn.

For example:

A Nazi solider returns home after losing an arm in battle. Unknown to him, his own real brother is part of the Underground, leader of ‘Illegal Radio’. A waitress is part of the Underground group and the Nazi soldier is trying to woo her. The Gestapo releases an ex-member of the Underground, in the hope that he will try to contact his comrades. With information given by him, the Gestapo storms a meeting at a restaurant. This is the same restaurant where the waitress works. The Gestapo starts suspecting the waitress. They ask the Nazi to spy on her. The Nazi finds out that the waitress is indeed a member of the Underground. Once he follows her and sees her meeting her colleagues. He calls up the Gestapo and gets them arrested. He takes the girl with him because he doesn’t want to get the girl arrested too. In the car, the girl informs the Nazi that among the people he has got arrested, is his own real brother. The Nazi goes to the Gestapo headquarters. One girl at the Gestapo office is an Underground sympathiser too. he secretly takes him to the prison cell where his brother and the others have been arrested. Soon, they will be taken to the guillotine to meet their deaths. She tells him that the struggle must go on, come what may. She asks him to take the place of his brother as head of Illegal Radio. She tells him that the best option is for you to say that you have deliberately got your brother arrested. As the arrested Underground members are being led to the guillotine to die, the radio crackles to life, “This is the voice of the Illegal Radio’. We see that the Nazi soldier has taken the place of his brother as head of Underground Radio. Thrilled that the struggle is alive, the arrested members happily proceed towards the guillotine.

Now, if we were to mark the turning points, this is what it’d look like. Yes, opinions can vary on these points. I have marked the turning points with a forward slash:

A Nazi solider returns home after losing an arm in battle. Unknown to him, his own real brother is part of the Underground, leader of ‘Illegal Radio’. / A waitress is part of the Underground group and the Nazi soldier is trying to woo her. / The Gestapo releases an ex-member of the Underground, in the hope that he will try to contact his comrades. With information given by him, the Gestapo storms a meeting at a restaurant. This is the same restaurant where the waitress works. / The Gestapo starts suspecting the waitress. / They ask the Nazi to spy on her. The Nazi finds out that the waitress is indeed a member of the Underground. / Once he follows her and sees her meeting her colleagues. / He calls up the Gestapo and gets them arrested. / He takes the girl with him because he doesn’t want to get the girl arrested too. In the car, the girl informs the Nazi that among the people he has got arrested, is his own real brother./ The Nazi goes to the Gestapo headquarters. One girl at the Gestapo office is an Underground sympathiser too. She secretly takes him to the prison cell where his brother and the others have been arrested. Soon, they will be taken to the guillotine to meet their deaths/ She tells him that the struggle must go on, come what may. /She asks him to take the place of his brother as head of Illegal Radio. She tells him that the best option is for you to convince the Gestapo that you have deliberately got your brother arrested./ As the arrested Underground members are being led to the guillotine to died, the radio crackles to life, “This is the Illegal Radio’. We see that the Nazi soldier has taken the place of his brother as head of Underground Radio.

Thrilled that the struggle is alive, the arrested members happily proceed towards the guillotine.

Yes, yes, you might say, but this is the storyline itself. Yes it is.

Still, it might be interesting to ask, “What are the turning points in this story? Where all does the story ‘take a turn’? to better judge a story.

I’d very much like to know what you think of this.

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