Write On: How to Write a Great Ending (Video Essay)

At the time this posts, I’ll be at my grandmother’s funeral. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to share my eulogy here (I’m still polishing it), but I thought this would be as good as any to take a look at writing an ending.

Like many of The Closer Look’s video essays, “How to Write a Great Ending” is very much movie-centric, what with its talk about time from the end of the climax to when the credits roll and whatnot. But I think there’s some really interesting ideas here – I particularly like Rule #2 – even if you disagree with Henry’s take on Casino Royale.

Write On: The Art of the Death Scene (Video Essay)

There was a fair amount of grousing when Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out about how it was just a glorified remake of the original Star Wars. Whatever. I thought it was brilliant and did so many things right. I’d count the ways, but it’d be faster and easier to direct you to this absolutely brilliant edition of the absolutely brilliant Movies with Mikey. 

That's right: it's a bonus video essay! Also, Movies with Mikey is one of my favorite things out on the Internet right now. It will make your life better.

Anyway, today’s featured video essay has a big ol’ SPOILER for The Force Awakens. 

It feels a bit silly to call out a spoiler warning for one of the biggest films in film history. Statistically, you’ve either seen this film a couple times or you haven’t seen it and have no desire to ever see it. Have you somehow not seen The Force Awakens but really want to? I don’t know how to help you.

 

Enough tap-dancing: Today’s video essay comes from The Closer Look and takes a closer look at the big death scene in the final act of The Force Awakens. Yes, the first few minutes focus on the cinematography of the scene, but by 3:40 we get a deeper dive into why this is a masterful sequence from a storytelling perspective. The really big take-away for me comes at 6:50 – big enough for me to go back and revise one of the sequences in my own story (duh-duh-DUH!).