Mood Beats
The beat analysis system as we've explored it so far zeroes in on story moments to see how they affect our hopes and fears for our protagonists as they pursue their objectives. When they progress toward their goals, the story delivers an up beat, and we feel elation or relief. When they stumble or when the odds seem to stack against them, the story registers a down beat; our anxiety increases.
But what about beats that change our moods without directly altering the hero's progress toward his goal. These are mood beats. Used very sparingly, they can modulate our emotional engagement. Creators who rely on them too heavily risk disengaging us from the narrative thread.
There are two types of mood beats, one for each emotional direction-up and down.
Moments that lighten the mood without advancing the story are gratification beats. They often appear as rest breaks between major sequences. A musical interlude generally acts as gratification beat (unless it also advances the story, as it frequently does in the musical genre.) In film a cool title sequence can gratify us before we even orient ourselves in the story. In stories drawing on a rich ongoing continuity, a beat that tips the hat to fans with an aside acknowledging their mastery of its trivia works as a gratification. Other in-jokes and winks at the audience work the same way. Because they situate themselves outside the story, gratification beats risk breaking the fictional illusion and must be doled out sparingly. When a movie or TV shows is too heavily larded with these moments, you may be looking at the result of a product that has been interfered with by producers and executives. They’ve trained themselves to see stories as connective tissues fusing together various categories of gratification. This is why so many would-be blockbusters play like hodge-podges of disparate stimuli than satisfyingly integrated narratives.
Negative moments untethered to the main narrative are bringdowns. This may be a moment of pathetic fallacy, in which the hero’s environment reinforces and comments on his unfortunate situation. Stock bringdowns include the moment when the hero gets splashed by a passing truck after being dumped by his girlfriend. Moments of creepy atmosphere in horror stories might also function as bringdowns.
Next week, we'll look at mood beats as they apply to roleplaying.