@kolbo/mcp/skill/references/filmmaking/scene-engine.md

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# Scene Engine

Use this causal engine for writing and auditing dramatic scenes and sequences.

## The chain

```text
Goal → Obstacle → Tactic → Reversal → Audience Value Shift
```

Apply each term precisely.

### Goal

Define the single result the protagonist is fighting toward. Keep the major goal stable. Make each scene goal a necessary causal link toward it.

Use the removal test: if deleting the scene leaves the causal path intact, the scene lacks a necessary goal or belongs elsewhere.

Do not confuse the goal with what the hero “ought” to do. The obstacle and stakes force the next tactic.

### Obstacle

Define a circumstance that jeopardizes a stage of the path or the whole goal. Name what is at risk and whether the scale is local or global.

A cost is not automatically an obstacle. The obstacle must threaten failure strongly enough to force a choice or tactic.

### Tactic

Define a plausible move based on the character's current incomplete knowledge. Treat failure as search under uncertainty, not stupidity.

Every failed tactic must return information, narrow the search, alter power, or reshape the next move. Repetition that teaches nothing is wheel-spinning.

### Reversal

Create a turn against expectation:

- the character's own action flips against its purpose;
- hidden agency is revealed;
- the situation turns opposite to what the tactic intended.

Require at least one meaningful reversal in each resolved sequence. A sequence begins when a particular jeopardy opens and ends when it is overcome or defeats the character and forces a new path. Sequences may nest.

### Audience value shift

Name how the reversal changes the audience's verdict on a character:

```text
before verdict → after verdict
```

If a plot turn produces no changed judgment, treat it as inert. Design value shifts to deepen a portrait rather than randomly oscillate.

## Scene development

Before writing, establish:

1. Story goal and the scene's causal link.
2. Open jeopardy and scale.
3. Current knowledge/truth gap.
4. Tactics and information returned by each.
5. Sequence reversal and form.
6. Audience verdict before and after.
7. The final beat that makes the event legible.

For screenplay pages, write clean present-tense dramatic action and standard screenplay formatting. Let behavior carry subtext.

## Structural audit

Report:

```text
SCENE / SEQUENCE
Goal — causal link and removal test
Obstacle — what is jeopardized and at what scale
Tactic — why it is plausible and what it returns
Reversal — form and placement
Value shift — audience verdict before → after
Weakest point — the single highest-leverage failure
Minimal repair — preserve the user's design
Clean repair — rebuild enough to make the chain work
```

Do not demand a reversal in every individual shot. Audit it at the sequence scale while allowing individual scenes or beats to escalate pressure.

## Bridge into directing

Translate the structural engine into filmable direction:

- scene goal becomes the dramatic job of the coverage;
- obstacle becomes visible pressure in space, time, behavior, or consequences;
- tactic becomes playable action toward another person or object;
- reversal gets a visual or sonic event and an editorial emphasis;
- value shift gets the reaction image that changes the audience's read.

Never paste structural analysis into a generation prompt unless it produces observable action, performance, blocking, camera, or sound.