A Story's Structure:
Blade Runner 204
by Adam W. Parker
What establishes the tempo of a movie? Why do some action movies bore us while some one-room dramas have us on the edge of our seats? Maybe we just “don't like that type of movie”.
No, I say.
One of the quickest ways to bore your audience is to have an inconsistent tempo (the quickest way being faulty dramatic structure). So, how is a consistent tempo established? It's established by moving through dramatic sequences (Premise, Problem, Dilemma, Paradox) within a similar amount of time.
Blade Runner 2049 is an interesting case study in this regard. While it remains consistent on the Act level (the first three are ~40 minutes with the last being ~30 minutes), the length of the scenes varies wildly – the shortest lasting 5 minutes while the longest clocks in at over 11 minutes.
This is similar to a song slowing to half speed and picking back up. It can work (as I think it does here) but if handled sloppily, it can cause the viewer to lose interest. Again, I think the artists rein in the tempo by limiting the time variance to the scene level and not letting it slip into the Act level which would have emphasized the pace even more.
But most importantly, this story never strays from actually telling a story – as each intended scene is a valid dramatic unit.
*ACT ONE (40:00)*
Credits (0:00:00 – 0:2:00)
SCENE 1 (11:30)
Premise 0:02:00 – 0:05:30
K in LAPD vehicle over smoggy view, solar panels, indoor farms
A worm farmer in protective gear sees K land close
K exits vehicle, approaches house, and enters
Sapper also cautiously enters house. K is waiting. Silence
Problem 0:05:30 – 0:06:45
K apologizes for intruding “I was careful not to drag in any dirt”
Sapper – “I don't mind the dirt. I do mind unannounced visits”
'Are you police?' – 'Are you Sapper' 'a farmer' (of designed worms)
K – prefers “empty stomach until the hard part of the day is done”
Dilemma 0:06:45 – 0:09:45
K knows Sapper hasn't always been a farmer – bag Military issue
Sapper – 'plan on taking me in?' K reveals gun. Plans to kill
Sapper refuses eye scan and they fight. K wins
Sapper to K 'You kill you're own kind because never seen a miracle'
Paradox 0:09:45 – 0:12:30
K kills Sapper and checks in with HQ in his car
K sees a live flower infertile soil – 'a miracle'
Delays his return and scans the earth with drone
Finds a box buried far underneath the tree – excavation team sent
SCENE 2 (11:00)
Premise 0:12:30 – 0:16:00
K travels through dark, gritty, neon, city to LAPD HQ
Baseline test inter-cut with abuse from human colleagues
Test continues. “Constant K” always passes. He's never emotional
K passes hostile tenets – his door's tagged “F**K OFF SKINNER”
Problem 0:16:00 – 0:18:00
K activates a console as he enters his home. Chats with Joi
K drinks a drink that he pours for her
She says she's making him food even though he cooked his own
Joi is a hologram and offers K holographic food
Dilemma 0:18:00 – 0:20:30
Joi tries to cheer K up, talking, reading, or dancing
K – “..or do you wanna open your present”
The occasion? Anniversary? No, but “Let's just say that it is”
An emanator – the device allows her to go 'anywhere'
Paradox 0:20:30 – 0:23:30
Joi embraces the “feel” of simulated raindrops
She approaches K and they caress each other
Joi – “I'm so happy...with you” K – “You don't have to say that”
K “kisses” hologram but she is frozen during most intimate moment
SCENE 3 (6:00)
Premise 0:23:30 – 0:24:45
Buried 30 years, Sapper's case contains bones and hair
A woman's bones that were cleaned and meticulously laid to rest
Cause of death? no trauma a except fracture to narrow birth canal
She died in child birth
Problem 0:24:45 – 0:25:30
'What's that?' – K notices marks on the hip bones
Notching in the iliac crest – “fine-point, like a scalpel”
Looks like an emergency C-section – tried to save her?
Went to the trouble of burying – “a sentimental skin-job”
Dilemma 0:25:30 – 0:26:45
Where's the child? No other bodies in the field
Coco and other officer leave, K takes controls of autopsy machine
He zooms in and scans finds serial code in bone
“That's not possible” – she was a replicant that reproduced
Paradox 0:26:45 – 0:29:30
Madam warns 'no wall' = war – “So what you saw...didn't happen”
K – “You want it gone?” Madam – “Erase everything”
Even the child? K's reluctant to retire something born – it has a soul
“You've been getting on fine without one” – without “a soul”
SCENE 4 (7:30)
Premise 0:29:30 – 0:31:30
K goes to Wallace HQ with hair sample for info
Clerk – It's old – pre-blackout. “That's gonna be tough”
Luv gets K's alert while on call with client, reschedules call
Everything digital was wiped – everything was digital (baby pics)
Problem 0:31:30 – 0:34:15
Replicant was pre-Prohibition. Standard. Luv arrives is “Named”
Ancient models give bad name. Praises Wallace. K a customer
Archive room – Listens to Deckard & Rachael audio
“It was unclear what she was...at least to someone”
Dilemma 0:34:15 – 0:36:00
“We were difficult to spot then”
Luv asks if anything was unusual about her to warrant investigation
K – “She likes him” Luv – personal questions show desire, asks K
K – “Please thank Mr. Wallace for your time”
Paradox 0:36:00 – 0:37:00
Partner – “[Deckard] liked working alone – so we worked together”
Said Deckard wasn't long for this world – “something in his eyes”
Contact? No, he's “retired”. K – “What happened?”
“Probably got what he wanted – to be alone”
SCENE 5 (5:45)
Premise 0:37:00 – 0:38:15
Luv welcomes Wallace back “you wanted to review the new model”
Wallace “...never enter kingdom of heaven without a gift”
“Can you at least pronounce 'a child is born'?”
“A new model... Well let us see her then” – Wallace is blind
Problem 0:38:15 – 0:39:30
A newborn replicant woman takes her first breaths
Wallace seats near her and feels her face
Wallace remarks on the replicant's fear instinct as he caresses her. “Before we even know what we are, we fear to lose it. Happy Bday”
Dilemma 0:39:30 – 0:41:45
Luv connects Wallace with his drone eyes that inspect replicant
He's taken us to nine new worlds but “We should own the stars”
Needs more replicants/slaves but can't make them fast enough
He kills the newborn replicant
Paradox 0:41:45 – 0:42:45
Needs procreation. Then he could “Storm Eden and retake her”
“Tyrell's final trick. Perfected, then lost”
“But there is a child” He wants Luv to find the replicant's child
“The best Angel of all. Aren't you, luv?”
ACT TWO (41:00)
SCENE 6 (6:45)
Premise 0:42:45 – 0:45:15
K is alone in a crowd, pondering the photos of Sapper's tree
A group of women told by old woman to find out what K knows
They approach flirtatiously but one recognizes he's a blade runner
Others leave, Mariette stays saying he's just “a guy eating rice”
Problem 0:45:15 – 0:46:15
She asks what the picture is – “a tree” – she's never seen one before
“It's pretty”, she says – “It's dead”, K retorts
“Who keeps a dead tree? Not gonna kill me are you” – she flirts
Joi rings – “Oh, you don't like real girls”, she says as she leaves
Dilemma 0:46:15 – 0:48:00
K returns to the house, wanting more answers
He notices a piano key that is stuck – it doesn't play
He opens the top and reaches in – a tin box
Inside a baby sock and photo of a woman w/ baby by the tree
Paradox 0:48:00 – 0:49:30
K is outside examining the tree
He sees carving near the base of the trunk – '6 10 21'
A flash of shocking vision – horse toy, fire
K burns house (evidence)
SCENE 7 (9:15)
Premise 0:49:15 – 0:52:00
Luv is taking the bones of Rachael
Coco walks in on her – she's not supposed to be there
Luv says she's has papers, “hold this” as she searches
She kills Coco with one blow and continues like nothing happened
Problem 0:52:00 – 0:54:15
Madam comes to K's apartment venting
Madam asks K to share an implanted childhood memory
It's a memory of him being chased by kids for a toy wooden horse
He stops the chase by burning the toy (it appears)
Dilemma 0:54:15 – 0:56:30
K searches DNA record for child
“Mere data makes a man”. ACTG vs 1s & 0s. Does it matter?
“You don't prefer your Madam?” K omitted detail from “memory”
The same date on the tree was on the carved horse in “memory”
Paradox 0:56:30 – 0:58:30
Joi says he's special, born rather than made – “...wanted, loved”
If it were true he'd be hunted for the rest of his life
“It's OK to dream a little” she says – “Not if you're us” says K
The records show boy and girl with the same DNA. Impossible.
SCENE 8 (5:45)
Premise 0:58:30 – 1:00:00
They fly in spinner past sea wall, it's raining heavy
The enter San Diego – “Here we are”
Mountains of trash with machines dumping more
Landfills are the location of an orphanage
Problem 1:00:00 – 1:01:45
Lightning flashes – K lowers altitude
Fired on by scavengers – has to go a bit higher to safety
A scavenger hits K's vehicle with a harpoon which releases a kite
It's a lightning rod – lightning strikes the vehicle. They crash
Dilemma 1:01:45 – 1:03:00
K is unconscious as Joi tries to wake him
A group of scavengers approaches
They open his vehicle, K regains consciousness and is attacked
He maims a couple carrying firearms and warns the rest
Paradox 1:03:00 – 1:04:15
More scavengers approach on the horizon – no way out
It starts “raining fire” – missiles ravage the Scavengers
Luv wipes out scavengers but spares K – to save him
She's controlling this deadly weapon while getting a manicure
SCENE 9 (11:30)
Premise 1:04:15 – 1:06:45
K secures car and walks into orphanage
Group of bald kids are waiting at the entrance
They surround and examine him, one guides him through crowd
Boss threatens to put lazy kids outside “where it's raining fire”
Problem 1:06:45 – 1:10:00
The overseer explains his operation – is apparently abusive
Asks K what sort he has in mind – K flashes badge “I'm not buying”
They travel to Overseer's office for files – a sense of deja vu for K
The records have been torn out of books to both their surprise
Dilemma 1:10:00 – 1:14:00
The horse ashtray sparks a thought – Could his memory be real?
The furnace is the same as his “memory”
K searches the hiding spot from his “memory”
The toy horse exists in the same place it was in his “memory”
Paradox 1:14:00 – 1:15:45
'6 10 21'... Joi – “I always told you – you're special. Born – not made”
Joi – “A real boy needs a real name” She names him “Joe”
Joi – “Your mother would have named you” K – “Stop”
K wants to know implant or real – “Who makes the memories?”
SCENE 10 (7:15)
Premise 1:15:45 – 1:17:30
Woman with a device alters a VR scene in a forest
K enters – she's happy to see a visitor
She doesn't mind a visitor, it's just unusual
“A life of freedom so long as it's behind glass”
Problem 1:17:30 – 1:19:30
Couldn't go off-world because bad immune system at a young age
He asks if she will help with the case. She delightfully accepts
She explains why and how she creates. Freedom in work
Authentic memories = human responses. She blows virtual candles
Dilemma 1:19:30 – 1:21:15
K asks if they can be real memories – it's illegal, she says.
Not about detail but feeling – she offers to scan and judge
She scans K as he thinks of the memory
She begins to shed tears
Paradox 1:21:15 – 1:23:00
The memory is real
Silence as her tears stream, and he simmers
“I know it's real”, says K. He erupts in emotion and exits calmly
Officer K is arrested
*ACT THREE (40:00)*
SCENE 11 (9:30)
Premise 1:23:00 – 1:25:15
K takes another baseline test, hesitating and nervous
He fails. An angry Joshi – “You didn't look like you on the inside”
K – “I found the kid”... “Even he didn't know who he was”
“It's done” Joshi wants clarification – “What you asked, it's done”
Problem 1:25:15 – 1:28:00
K travels home, followed by someone, admits Joi was right
Mariette shows up, invited by Joi – “I want to be real for you”
“Let's do it” – Mariette and Joi sync
“Merged” woman advances towards K – they touch hands
Dilemma 1:28:00 – 1:30:45
Joi/Mariette removes K's jacket
K pulls her/them close
They kiss and she disrobes
Ad for Joi – “Joi is anything you want her to be”
Paradox 1:30:45 – 1:32:30
Mariette wakes, gets dressed, and plants tracking device in K's bag
The wooden horse catches her eye – Joi kicks her out
Mariette insults Joi – there's not as much to her as she thinks
K offers Joi coffee, they laugh
SCENE 12 (8:00)
Premise 1:32:30 – 1:34:00
K – “They'll be coming after me soon”
Joi wants to join K but needs to be transferred to emanator
K is reluctant, if emanator is destroyed she dies
Joi – “Just like a real girl”
Problem 1:34:00 – 1:35:45
Luv loses tracking on K / Toy horse is real wood and valuable
Badger offers him a real horse, K just wants to know where it's from
“Smells like old dirt but the structure is new”, Radiation? Bomb?
Only one place that dirty – a place no one lives
Dilemma 1:35:45 -1:37:45
Luv finds K's apartment empty / K searches landscape for any life
Stops and zooms in on an area
Heat analysis reveals a strange swirling cloud
Life. Joi – “What is it?” K- “Guess we're about to find out”
Paradox 1:37:45 – 1:40:30
Luv intrudes and asks K's location, Joshi says she doesn't know
Joshi says Luv's too late, she knows all about her plan
Luv – kill “the fabulous new”? can't hold back the tide with a broom
Luv – I'll lie – kills Joshi – uses Joshi's dead face unlock to find K
SCENE 13 (10:30)
Premise 1:40:30 – 1:43:30
K walks, sees a bee on his hand, leads him to a bee keeper's hives
He hears music – it's coming from a casino next to the hive
He enters the casino no signs of life
It has an active trip wire
Problem 1:43:30 – 1:46:30
K explores the dusty ruins for the source of the sound
He finds piano but no one playing, presses key... a dog appears
Deckard appears wielding a gun – K tries to remain peaceful
Deckard shoots at him as he tumbles over the balcony out of sight
Dilemma 1:46:30 – 1:48:45
Deckard tells dog “stay” as he searches for K who's hiding
K accidentally sets of trip wires and explosions
Through the smoke, the showroom doors can be seen shutting
Deckard flips a switch – activating Elvis hologram show
Paradox 1:48:45 – 1:51:00
K uses light to find a better hiding spot – thinking he's safe
Gunshots nearly miss out of nowhere. Hand to hand combat
K – “I don't want to hurt you” – refuses to punch Deckard back
Deckard stops and says “I like this song”. Invites K to drinks
SCENE 14 (5:45)
Premise 1:51:00 – 1:52:15
Deckard explains Vegas used to be. Millions of bottles of whiskey
Deckard pours whiskey for dog
K asks if dog is real
Deckard – “I don't know. Ask him”
Problem 1:52:45 – 1:54:15
Deckard ask's K's name, they settle on “Joe”
K – “I wanna ask some questions” Deckard – “Like what?”
K begins his interrogation about Rachael – no answers
Deckard – “Too many questions”
Dilemma 1:54:15 – 1:55:15
Deckard – “I had your job, I was good at it” – He avoids questions
Deckard breaks down and answer's one of K's questions – “Rachael”
K asks what happened to the kid. Deckard says he was long gone
K –“You didn't even meet your own kid?”
Paradox 1:54:30 – 1:56:45
Deckard – “Everyone had a part. Mine was to leave”
Blackout came and made it impossible to find the child if he tried
K – “Did you want to?” Deckard – “Not really” – they'd be hunted
Deckard – “Sometimes to love someone, you gotta be a stranger”
SCENE 15 (6:15)
Premise 1:56:45 – 1:58:45
Other agents are closing in as K relaxes
An alert of incoming vessels – Deckard – “Who'd you bring?”
K – “I came alone”. Deckard runs for vehicle
K bursts through wall to pull him back from vehicle explosion
Problem 1:58:45 – 2:00:00
Escape vehicle is destroyed. Agents enter and seize Deckard
K manages to get up, but another agent appears pointing a gun
K takes agent's gun, kills him and other two agents
Luv comes out of nowhere and puts him down with two kicks
Dilemma 2:00:00 – 2:01:30
K continues to struggle to get up, Luv kicks him down
Joi appears telling Luv to “Stop”
Luv approaches the emanator, raises her foot over it, pauses
Luv – “I do hope you're satisfied with our product”. She “kills” Joi
Paradox 2:01:30 – 2:03:00
Mysterious group of people search the rubble
They find K and pull tracker from his pocket
He briefly regains consciousness in a campsite with strangers
Mariette is there looking down on him
*ACT FOUR (29:45)*
SCENE 16 (5:45)
Premise 2:03:00 – 2:04:45
K wakes up in an abandoned building, bandaged , Mariette is there
Men approach – She says somebody wants to meet him
Mariette insists “You can trust us”
Freysa jokes about looking up and to the left – she has no right eye
Problem 2:04:45 – 2:05:45
Freysa was there with Sapper when Rachael's child was born
She helped hide it and vowed to keep it secret
Sapper let K kill him to keep their secret
If a baby can come from us we're “More human than humans”
Dilemma 2:05:45 – 2:07:00
A revolution is coming – she's building an army to free their people
Freysa asks K to join their revolution
Freysa hands K his gun and points it at herself – the cause over life
Tells him to kill Deckard to keep his child safe
Paradox 2:07:00 – 2:08:45
In time, she will be revealed to world “She?” A daughter, not a son
K insists it was a boy. It was a diversion to throw off the trail
K thought he was the special child – other replicants thought so too
The memory creator he met is the Deckard's child
SCENE 17 (8:00)
Premise 2:08:45 – 2:10:30
Deckard awakes alone in Wallace's HQ
Wallace walks in and greets Deckard saying he admires him
He grabs Deckard's hand and holds it – “You are a wonder to me...”
Wallace has “lock” and “key” but door is still shut – needs the child
Problem 2:10:30 – 2:13:00
Wallace reveals Rachael's skull, quotes Scripture 'Rachael's womb'
Wallace plays Rachael audio – does if it feels like first meeting?
Wallace questions if Deckard was called just to fall for Rachael
Wallace – Was Deckard & Rachael “Love or Mathematical Precision”
Dilemma 2:13:00 – 2:14:00
Deckard kept himself free of info and it cost him everything
Wallace – “...you can still help me. You had help...” wants any info
If Deckard helps good things can come to him, Wallace promises
“You don't have children do you?” – “I have millions” Wallace replies
Paradox 2:14:00 – 2:16:45
Wallace says Deckard loves pain – it reminds him of the joy was real
Offers Deckard 'more joy' – A clone of Rachael approaches
“Did you miss me?” she asks – “Don't you love me?” she pleads
Deckard rejects her saying “her eyes were green”. Joi kills her.
SCENE 18 (11:00)
Premise 2:16:45 – 2:18:30
A giant Luv ad approaches K – “What a day”
strips K of his last bit of humanity by calling him “Joe”
He ponders action as he reflects on Freysa's “Dying for right cause”
he reflects on what Sapper said about never seeing a miracle
Problem 2:18:30 – 2:21:30
Deckard is being transported over sea to off-world by Luv
K attacks the convoy carrying Deckard away – forcing them to crash On shore of the sea wall, Luv orders pilot to get them back up
K approaches on foot, Luv says open door, pilot is shot
Dilemma 2:21:30 – 2:24:15
Luv and K exchange fire close range
K is hit in the belly, Luv pounces on K with a flurry of kicks
battle it out as Deckard slowly sinks into the sea, handcuffed
Luv mortally stabs K and kisses him
Paradox 2:24:15 – 2:27:45
She walks away to free Deckard who is close to drowning
Thought dead, K suddenly explodes out of the water, strangles Luv
Luv fights back as she tries to drown K, all while Deckard flounders
K rescues Deckard who “died out there” – free to see his daughter
SCENE 19 (5:00)
Premise 2:27:45 – 2:28:30
K and Deckard arrive at facility where Deckard's daughter is
Problem 2:28:30 – 2:29:15
K gifts the wooden – “All the best memories are hers”
Dilemma 2:29:15 – 2:31:30
Deckard asks why K helped him – K evades, smiling
Paradox 2:31:30 – 2:32:45
K lies dead in the snow as Deckard meets daughter for first time
END
Examine the story structures of the following breakdowns:
A Story's Structure (Overview)
RealScenesvsFakeScenes
12 Angry Men
MyNeighborTotoro
more coming soon