Act I - Your get your character stuck up a tree Act II - You throw rocks at him/her Act III - You get 'em down The End

I think what people in the comments misunderstand is that the story circle isn't just one circle, it's a bunch of little circles throughout every step of the main circle. I guess you should have mentioned that. But that's how it is. It's also worth noting that to make better use of this you have to understand where the "beats" are. A beat is a moment that drives the story forward, and it's scattered throughout the circle.

It looks like Harmon's story circle is a slightly simplified adaptation of Joseph Cambell's "Hero's Journey" which is a narrative framework that pretty much every story ever told follows. If you're not aware of it, I definitely recommend reading up about it, it's pretty interesting stuff, and helpful to keep in mind while writing.

1. you protagonist 2. you need 3. you acts on his need 4. you finds his need 5. you takes 6. some twist happens 7. you returns 8. you change

_David Benioff has left the chat._ _D.B. Weiss has left the chat._

in step #6 you said "you must push the antagonist to the brink," I believe you meant protagonist

It should be : 1. You - Bruce/Batman 2. Need - He want to retire to be with his gf, so he need Harvey to succeed. 3. Go - He try to help Harvey, even got the Joker attention in the process. 4. Search - He try to adapt to win, try thinking like Joker only to find that the Joker is just an agent of chaos. 5. Find - He finally got a chance to kill/catch the Joker 6. Take - He catched the Joker, but loose his gf. 7. Return - Joker escape, Harvey turns bad, it’s up to him once again. 8. Change - Bruce don’t want to quit anymore, he must give more to fix everything. Kept Harvey in the light, while still doing what his gf believed. Actually this video got most of them right, but the narrative made it confusing. It tried too much to incorporate all the storylines, while in fact, story circle tends to revolve around the arc of each character, not the sequences.

A series where this is applied to hit movies and classics would be awesome

Look, in my opinion, people can do whatever they want. They could follow this model or they could not. It all depends on them and how well they do it. BUT, as some people say, "You need to know the rules in order to break them."

This is the most complex way of explaining that movie I’ve ever seen. Lol

"this circle can make you a better writer" Me after watching: "OK SO MY CHARACTER IS NAMED MR PEANUT BUTTER"

Just when I was having writer's block on a script, this drops in my recommended. Thanks KZfaq and StudioBinder!

This is really handy for stories where the focus is on a singular character as a protagonist, but I'm curious what happens when you have a secondary and tertiary protagonist mixed in...

This just helped me with my D&D campaign...Thank You!

-Who is the One that Drives this Story, -What the One Needs, -the First thing to do, -Trials that the One Faces, -Figuring out what the One want's, -Failed and Lost Something, -Making a Comeback, -the Moment that Changes Everything, -All Full Circle, and -the Cycle Continues.

love the little touch of editing on that circle like a timer for each section, and all the editing ofc

00:00 introduction 01:04 1 - you : estabish the protagonist 01:30 2 - need : somtying isn't right 02:20 3 - go : crossing the threshold 03:14 4 - search : the road of trails 03:58 5 - find : meet the goddess 04:35 6- take : paying the price 05:46 7 - return : bringing it home 06:30 8 - change : master the both of worlds

The circle may not apply to every story out there, but it does apply to every story in the top 30 all time box office hits. Which means, this structure is the most effective way to evoke emotion from the general audience.

Correction at 5:22 - "You have to push your *protagonist to the brink." Amazing work here! Thank you.

I look at Harmon's "Story Circle" or Campbell's "Hero's journey" as guidelines with many good ideas within. I, personally, don't see The Dark Knight neatly fall into a structure like this, but it simply contains elements of it. "Paying a price", for example, is a key element in Batman's growth as a character and I would say it's a defining characteristic. The irony that a silver-spooned billionaire chooses to subject himself to mental and physical anguish is about overarching outward goals (Save Gotham) and inward goals (Save himself from grief) throughout the trilogy. It's raw and relatable. So, yes, one of the "Circle's" elements are essential, but not sequential. It's just present. Thanks for the presentation. Kudos to the designer!

Need more breakdowns like this. The way they do storylines for anime/manga is amazing.

Dan Harmon's system is pretty much the Syd field paradigm with Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey but simplified into really easy to remember points. Very nice!

It’s basically the hero’s journey. Not a bad thing! Really quite a good template for a story

This has to be the best channel I have recently found I can’t thank you and your team enough! I just wish I would have found the channel earlier this week has been so helpful since I’ve subscribed

Coming to rewatch this after watching "never ricking morty" for the meta

Thank you guys, your channel has really helped me become a better writer and this technique has made me feel so accomplished just for writing a story circle

I don't know how many times I've watched videos about Dan's story cycle and other videos about how good The Dark Knight is but I enjoy it every time. Thanks.

This video is so perfectly edited and mad and described and just everything about this break down is immaculate

Thank you for making this video! I struggle with writer's block because I can't find the right words to describe my scene. But thanks to the chart, I may have found a way to move past it.

Like other's have stated - it's pretty much a simplified version of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey - definitely recommend to read the book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" - it goes into more depth about how each story is part of the same universal framework we've all grown used to in our local and global culture.

Well made video! I always like seeing the dark knight broken down as it is such a masterpiece we can learn from. But... I think maybe Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan should take credit for this one, certainly not Dan Harmon (but by reading the comments i don't think i need to even say that at this point) Plus it's mostly Campbell's the hero's journey. And if you really want to go back to the source (highly recommend) so that you're not getting secondary knowledge, i recommend Aristotle's Poetics, which was written way back when all of this began. Also the video starts out with a great clip from Adaptation. If you have watched Adaptation you would know that Charlie Kaufman (writer and main character) finds story structures like the hero's journey to be "bullshit" and he is completely sick of the conventional structure that hollywood movies cling to. It seems like it is not the only way to write a movie, but i do think that it is important to at least understand the rules of narrative before you break some of them

The communing with the Goddess moment of The Dark Knight is capturing the joker not Harvey claiming to be the Batman.

after testing dan harmon story cycle for a bit, i noticed that it's not supposed to cover a whole film in one cycle. it's more of a subset in plot points, and in each character arc. however the cycle quadrants did helped me on the upper half and lower half momentum, and the relationship between each opposite points. it's a useful guide to aha moments, or at least ground your film to a meaningful story.

The fact that you are talking about Batman makes the learning of this process of writing so much better! Good choice of analogy

Omygosh this is so helpful. I was writing a story, and it lengthened the plot to things I couldn't even imagine when I started. Thanks so much!

YES!!! I just finished reading John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story and the weakness and need portion was so beneficial!!!! Thanks for uploading!

This is a really beautiful and well-presented - simplified - take on the classic Hero's Journey. This would certainly help beat writer's block for some types of story, but - and it's a huge, wobbly but - this is only one type of story; the Hero's Journey is actually pretty limiting if used as a guide to constructing narratives rather than analysing existing ones. This only became obvious to me after reading John Truby's "The Anatomy of Story"; it doesn't deal with a cyclical, Hero's Journey-type plot, but with an even more fundamental structure of premise and design principle, plus character needs (moral and psychological), their weakness(es) (again moral AND psychological), and how you can establish the change that will be necessary to reach by the end. It's also good because it doesn't stick to one genre or one type of story (i.e. the hero's journey); the examples cited in text are from a pretty eclectic range. Can't recommend this enough. But excellent video; really enjoyed it.

My problem with every writing guide online like this one is that the best stories I've experienced dont follow these tips whatsoever. Yet, they're still better than every hero's journey story I've ever seen/read.

"Dan harmon distilled centuries of story telling..." Joseph Campbell: 😮

Editing is amazing!

Even though I had never forgotten, thank you for remembering me how great this movie is

Amazing!! Thank you so much for this master class.

The editing on this was incredible. Subbed

Thanks for this cycle.. You channel is awesome. Explaining such a complex structure in such a simple generalized way❤️❤️❤️

I'm very happy someone made in analysis using Harmon's story circles. I hadn't known anyone had, though I've known about his diagram based advice for a few years. Hat tip, this is damn fantastic.

I'm a story Circle nerd, I'd love to just see regular "How this does or doesn't fit the circle" looks at stories.

This is one of the best made videos I’ve ever seen on KZfaq!

This is such a great video. I always return to it before I start a new script.

You can also apply this to the entire story arc of The Dark Knight Trilogy: Batman *BEGINS* _ORDER_ The Dark Knight *FALLS* _CHAOS_ The Dark Knight *RISES* _ORDER_

This was one of the best video for the writing process

Like I said yesterday in the video about foil characters, subtitles are essential not only to understand whatever narrator, but the examples themselves. It's a feature that international audience appreciate a lot (like me, from Italy)

Downloaded the bundle! Thanks so much!

Amazing breakdown. But, I think taking the circle map of this kind of film will not help but confuse the beginners.

This really helped me solidify my major story beats. Thanks for this.

this video is great for breaking down his method of storytelling. i started using it in my script writing and it makes a difference.

Excellent summary and details of how a truly great story works. Just published my 11th KZfaq project a few days ago with some storytelling techniques, will incorporate more or all of these next time. Thanks!

[1:16] The "8 proven" circle used as a clock is genius!

FUN FACT: The Kishotenketsu, an ancient storytelling structure, can actually correspond to the Dan Harmon Story Circle. Ki (Introduction): 1. You 2. Need Sho (Development): 3. Go 4. Search Ten (Twist): 5. Find 6. Take Ketsu (Conclusion): 7. Return 8. Change For centuries Eastern and Western storytelling structures have been at odds with one another, but Dan Harmon managed to create something that makes the best of both worlds.

In context of Man of steel 1. Clark Kent is established as a man who wants to help others using his abilities but has to hold back cuz the world is not ready to learn about his existence 2. He needs the world to accept him as one of us. He also needs to find where he comes from and why he was sent to earth. 3. He sets out doing odd jobs and tries to live as an ordinary man while risking his identity using his powers to help people when needed 4. He is not satisfied by living among humans while knowing he can never be one of them so he needs to find about his origins to understand his purpose in the world. 5. He finds what he was looking for, his origins and the reason why he was sent to earth 6. He pays the price by giving away earth’s location to General Zod 7. He returns to the start, a man who wants to help others with his powers, this time by saving the world from zod 8. He is changed, from secretly helping others and not knowing his purpose to a god like being who is known by the world as Superman who’s purpose is to be the symbol of hope that krypton never had.

one of my favorite videos ever! keep it up.

REally love the animations of the story circle. Very well done. How did you do that? The whole video was dope.

That was a great analysis. Great job and thank you for sharing!

Keep returning to this and worksheet for my students. Great work!

Studio Binder....i love ur page sooo much... Even i write scripts...the script i wrote..i was cross checking with that circle....its very good...so thank u...i feel confident

I would love to see you explore other story structures, like the 3 act structure or 5 act structure. Or basically structures with any amount of numbers.

Nicely put together video, but I'm pretty confused... I love Harmon's model and I love the Dark Knight, but like many "3 Act Structure" guides I've seen in the past this feels a little shoehorned; many of the steps you've argued feel like plot points pulled from all over the place and presented as main character beats, like the "search" beat which is normally about the characters adapting to the situations and changing to suit their main goals (Wants Vs Needs) but you've argued that it's just him jumping hurdles, and while his character does have beats that do illustrate change I think the film's arc is more presented in ideas that are presented by different sides; it's more like an essay film perhaps? I mean, the film might well have a simple Harmon Circle I'm missing, most definitely based round the idea of what a hero has to do (breaking his one rule) to become the hero they need (which literally vocalizes the Wants Vs Needs... maybe the arcs in the people of the city? Probably just him figuring out what Gotham needs as a hero) but for such an arc to be discussed you need to actually discuss the beats that define the edges of each "section", otherwise you're not discussing structure, because we're not discussing the actual fine lines that make up the film, just a vague estimation of what happens where and shoehorning it in. Anyway, long rant over, nicely produced video my friend.

This is really well done, guys. Thanks.

Best pick for any kind explaination . Man this the best piece of art ever made.

I never have issues with ending a story. I always know the beginning, the middle of the story the climax portion, and the wrap up, the end. My problem isn't knowing the major elements of the plot I'm building, it's more so everything in between it that trips me up, the build up, the character development, how should a character respond according to the character traits I've given them, how can I escalate from a soft spot to an intense piece and transition smoothly between it? How do I make the characters surrounding the main character important enough to have meaning to a reader or audience?

I like this but I believe when you describe step 2 you are talking about "want" not need. The words can (and also are) used interchangeably by people but I think it is better to explain the motivation to make it clear in step 2 you are establishing what the character wants to happen.

all i have to say after watching: this is the kind of thing makes me want to actually study film. thanks for the motivation family!

1. you (establish the protagonist) 2. you need (protagonist needs externally / wants something internally) 3. you go! (protagonist acts / entering the chaos circle) 4. you search (protagonist faces obstacles) 5. you find (but its not as the protagonist expected) 6. you take (but not without paying a price) 7. you return (bringing home what you took) 8. you change (protagonist has developed)

Wow. This is a very interesting video. I find that using some kind of detailed plot structure makes writing a whole lot easier. At best stories write themselves. I did come up with a way to divide a plot structure to eight parts. I divide the story to four acts. I take the middle of the story and split it to two separate acts. Adding the beginning act and ending act gives a total of four. Then each act has two parts one part sets up the act. The second part is an exciting part to end the act. The act endings are in order lock in, mid point, final break and climax. This video has its own variant of the structure. It should still work. I find that the eight parts in that structure parallel the eight parts I came up with. I like how this story structure is like the Hero's Journey but more gerelized an vague. I am a big fan of the Hero's Journey. It can work well for heroic adventures in speculative fiction. The best example that comes to my mind is Star Wars. I find that a more vague version of it can fit a wide variety of stories. This is like Save the Cat. I like how this story structure in the video addresses the character development of the protagonist. I find that this character development is very helpful for good storytelling. A character arc is a mix of character and plot. So it helps to develop and unify both. I even wonder if theme can work here too. A protagonist is better when they are dynamic. When they change, they may learn some kind of lesson along the way. It is a more subtle way to address theme. Subtly is the better approach. It is not a good idea to get all preachy. I am a fan of the Hero's Journey. I have noticed that if I try to do a simple bare bones fantasy story it ends up being highly derivative of the Hero's Journey. I think that is because this is a good structure. It bridges the gap between story plot and mystical processes in New Age. It is a nice blend. I can add in psychology, which is good for character development. I can also add theme which is involved with mysticism. Setting is also important. It can really change. I prefer a more outlandish setting, and my favorite genre is fantasy. I think fantasy gives me a lot more leeway to get into the heroic and mystical parts. I think that studying the technical details of plot is a lot of fun. It may seem formulaic at first. However I find it very liberating. It is a matter of learning the rules before breaking them. There are many variations of detailed plots out there. So it is good to compare and contrast. So one can tweak structure to suit different stories and still make it work. The key focus is tweaking. One shouldn't overdo things and break the plot. It is going to make the story suffer. Even if one uses the same structure, there is still a lot of room for variation. The structure is so abstract and vague that it can apply to any story idea. When people complain about cliches, it is about more concrete things in stories. These are things like instalove, pseudo medeval Europe fantasy world, love triangles, the dark lord, damsel in distress, maguffin, chosen one, Merlin clone mentor etc. I think it is possible to copy the same structure over and over again without it getting stale. If it does get stale, than only the savviest audiences would notice, like critics. It is also really nice to be able to change plots around for even more creative variation. This video adds more to the fun creativity by having its own plot structure. That is awesome. The beginning of this video has writers stumped with their script. I can see how story structure can help. It would also help to write an outline. I am a plotter, so this is second nature to me. Outlining is a vital part of the writing process. I can't stress this enough. It helps avoid writer's block. It is even taught in English class. There are different ways to write an outline. When doing a story, I like to show a plot structure and then give the specific events of the story. The story circle worksheet can even work as an outline. I am new to scripting, but I imagine tha outlining can still apply here. Now I am curious about Batman. Maybe I ought to check out this movie. I have seen most of the recent Marvel movies and I like them. I would like to go further and chack out DC. The only recent DC movie I have seen is Wonder Woman, and I like that. I noticed something. Harvey Dent looks just like Jaime Lannister form Game of Thrones. The resemblence is striking. The Prince Charming from the Shrek movies also looks like Jaime. Harvey gets disfugured and looses his good looks. The same thing happened to Jaime. Harvey looks a lot more horrifying. I am surprised that something outdid Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones is so intense that it got a MA rating. I wonder what the rating of Dark Knight is. So I Googled it. I find that it is PG-13. They are really pushing that rating. Yikes! It is not going to discourage me from watching the movie. I am just saying. Yikes!

such a damn good editing 👌

what an amazing video!! i loved the music and the editing, and the content was just awesome 👏✊👍

Glad I bump into this video, thanks!

_"The only sensible way to write a story in this world is without rules."_

Does this apply to every kind of story? I am writing a paranormal romance and this structure confuses me big time.

Great video, mate! You should do more of these!

This is very nicely made video essay with great information. Thanks a lot .

This was soooo therapeutic for me. I applied this analysis to my on life and after enduring chaos and devastation, I am at step 7. This puts things into great perspective for me. Now to push forward and WIN!

Such a beautiful presentation and so many great inputs. Great video. Thank you 👌😊

Thank you so much. I'm writing a story based on Scream, and I've been struggling with it.

This helped me understand this movie better and is helping write my own story out.

Harmon's Story Circle reminds me of The Hero's Journey.

It seems like Batman Begins would be a more straight forward example of the hero's journey.

This was not only a great video about screen writing but this was also a great Batman video. I’m blown away.

Love the movie Adaptation. So glad to see a clip of it!

This is the best video I've seen explaining Harmon's method, thank you so much!

I'd like this applied to a short film script.

I agree with Arthur Moore, but it's worth watching it several times taking notes! Thank you for this video!

Thank you so much for this! I wonder how/if it can be used in short film

What strikes me about how The Dark Knight is made is how it has, what is basically, the most complicated, intertwined plot seen in a major blockbuster since... I think since forever. Yet it still manages to be compelling and character-driven, with great moments of intimacy and subtlety. You can rarely have a plot that is so big that doesn't crumble under its own weight and doesn't turn into a mess. Many have tried to repeat this, and... Well, the results weren't the most successful.

This is the problem with the internet. I know, I'm going there. Joseph Campbell's conception of a narrative arc has been around for nearly a century. And whilst it basically applies to western narrative in particular, it is pretty universal and everyone who writes story, whether they be screenwriters or novelists or in animation, is aware of the ideas and beats inherent in a narrative circle. Dan Harmons story circle is a simplified version of this. Because Rick and Morty episodes are twenty minutes long. Even watching this video you can see how many plot points you've had to miss out just to make your argument fit. The reason I'm saying this is that I probably spend too much time on KZfaq, and I just constantly see the same pseudo information regurgitated between channels and lament the possibility of someone picking up The Hero With a Thousand Faces or something similar and actually offering us new information. Like The Dark Knight predated Rick and Morty by 8 years, they have as much to do with each other as Embrace of the Serpent and Crocodile Dundee. Videos like this aren't even journalistic or accurate, they're just the screenwriting equivalent of microwaved noodles.

Brilliantly explained. Studio binder your team is gem

Just what I needed. Thank you!

It is taking a long time for the story circle bundle to get to my email. Where is it coming from? Singapore?

Question: would you want to follow this the same way for a short film that is say 20 min long, or would you want to be able to condense this because you don't have much time to relay this type of detail?

1. You. Establish the protagonist. 2. Need. Something isn't right. 3. Go! Crossing the threshold. 4. Search. The road of trials. 5. Find. Meeting the godess. 6. Take. Paying the price. 7. Return. Bringing it home. 8. Change. Master of both worlds.

danke hab das gestern angeschaut und mir direkt die cheatsheet geholt, direkt ne story in überschriften zu dem circle geschrieben und schaue mir heute das video nochmal an um zu jeder überschrift einen text zu schreiben und es funktioniert so gut. ich muss einfach null darüber nachdenken was grade so passiert. alles kommt von alleine. danke