Beat (filmmaking)

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In filmmaking, a beat is a small amount of action resulting in a pause in dialogue. Beats usually involve physical gestures like a character walking to a window or removing their glasses and rubbing their eyes. Short passages of internal monologue can also be considered a sort of internal beat. Beats are also known as "stage business".

A beat sheet is a short list of the pivotal actions and emotional turning points in a story.

Beats as pacing elements

Beats are specific, measured, and spaced to create a pace that moves the progress of the story forward. Audiences feel uneven or erratic beats. Uneven beats are the most forgettable or sometimes tedious parts of a film. Erratic beats jolt the audience unnecessarily. Every cinematic genre has a beat that is specific to its development. Action film has significantly more beats (usually events); drama has fewer beats (usually protagonist decisions or discovery). Between each beat a sequence occurs. This sequence is often a series of scenes that relates to the last beat and leads up to the next beat.

Following is a beat example from The Shawshank Redemption:

• At 25 minutes: Andy talks to Red and asks for rock hammer. - Decision
• At 30 minutes: Andy gets rock hammer. - Event
• At 35 minutes: Andy risks his life to offer financial advice to Mr. Hadley. - Decision
• At 40 minutes: Andy notes ease of carving his name in the wall. - Discovery

After each beat listed above, a significant series of results takes place in the form of the sequence, but what most people remember are the beats, the moment something takes place with the protagonist.

See also

• Unit of action, in acting

Notes

References

• Browne, Renni; King, Dave (1993), Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, New York: Harper Perennial, ISBN 0-06-272046-5
• Decker, Dan (1988). Anatomy of a Screenplay. Screenwriters. ISBN 0-9665732-0-X.
• McKee, Robert (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-039168-5.
• Schellhardt, Laura (2022), Screenwriting for Dummies (3rd ed.), Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 978-1-119-83575-2

Further reading

• Block, Bruce A. (2001). The visual story: seeing the structure of film, TV, and new media. Focal Press. pp. 220–221, 248–252. ISBN 978-0-240-80467-5.
• Bloom, Michael (2001). Thinking like a director: a practical handbook. Macmillan. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-571-19994-5.
• Rabiger, Michael (2008). Directing: film techniques and aesthetics. Screencraft Series (4th ed.). Focal Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-240-80882-6.
• Schreiber, Terry; Norton, Edward; Barber, Mary Beth (2005). Acting: advanced techniques for the actor, director, and teacher. Allworth Communications, Inc. pp. 188–190. ISBN 978-1-58115-418-4.