“Moral argument doesn’t mean your hero and opponent appear in the first scene and engage in a verbal argument about morality. Moral argument in a story is an argument of action you make by showing your hero and opponent taking certain means to reach a goal.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story (Moral Argument) p 119
Read the full scene by scene breakdown here:
Here is a list of scenes, their length and which characters are in each scene.
The first character is often the one driving the scene, but not always.
Check out who dominates the sequence of scenes building up to the Climax – the two most important women in Dexter’s life: Deb and Hannah.
Season 7 Episode 7:
Read the full scene breakdown here: DEXTER – Season 7 Episode 7
So what can we learn from the scene by scene breakdown of our favorite serial killer?
5 interesting points:
Here is a list of scenes and their length (Season 7 Episode 7). Notice a structure?
Notice the 3 Act structure ?
Look at the scene lengths from Act 1 through to the Midpoint (scene 23) – quite short right?
Then we’ve got the Midpoint scene – a big important dialogue between Dexter and his lover Hannah on the nature of murder – which lasts almost 3 mins.
Then, from the Midpoint, scenes 24 through 29 are a series of short scenes until –
– the Act 2 Turning Point (comprising of 3 scenes: 30,31 + 32) which are all 2 mins +
Then, look at the length of scenes building up from the opening of Act 3 until the Climax – scenes 33 through 44 –
– eleven short sharp scenes just a few seconds long until BANG – the explosive Climax – 3 minutes – the longest scene in the episode – Dexter V Hannah OR Hero V Antagonist – 3 whole minutes of sheer high-voltage intense emotional drama!
Then, to wind us down, 5 mid-length scenes of the Resolution (between 0.25 and 1.34 in length) to resolve the episode and set up the next.
Brilliant writing, and tightly structured – especially note the short sharp scenes leading us to the explosive Climax.
Read the general scene breakdown here: DEXTER – Season 7 Episode 7
Welcome to my series of posts on DEXTER – The Crafting of an Episode – where we’ll be analyzing one episode in detail over the coming weeks.
The objective? To arm ourselves to write awesome television!
The episode we’re looking at is Season 7 Episode 7.
Please watch first as this analysis will contain SPOILERS!
I’ve begun by listing the scenes in numerical order including scene length,a short description of what happens and the number of characters.
What’s surprised me the most so far is how many scenes have 2 characters. Most scenes.
Feel free to take a quick look at the breakdown and comment.
In future weeks we’ll analyze in much more detail, scene by scene. We’ll look at characters, plots and subplots, action and dialogue, use of subtext, story world, motifs, goals, needs, morals and theme.
Here’s the scene by scene breakdown: DEXTER – Season 7 Episode 7
Hold tight – it’s gonna be a breathtaking ride!
“The moment of revelation should trigger the hero to take new moral action immediately, proving that the revelation is real and has profoundly changed him.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p85
“The moment of revelation should be new information for the hero: he must see, for the first time, that he has been living a lie about himself and that he has hurt others.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p85
“The moment of revelation should create a sudden burst of emotion for the audience as they share the realization with the hero.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p85
“The moment of revelation should be sudden, so that it has maximum dramatic force for the hero and the audience.”
– John Truby, Anatomy of Story, p85
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