Fractal System | The Systems Universe

THE FRACTAL SYSTEM

Like Rules to a Board Game

To design a board game, one must orchestrate a set of rules, and fuse those rules to a set of objects - pieces, pawns, cards. The game’s rules determine how players interact with the game’s objects. The structure should balance the spirits of strategy, chance, and imagination. Toggling the balance of these concepts affects the appearance of the game - purpose, challenge, duration. In other words, the conceptual structure of the game directly affects the physical objects of the game.

Like a board game’s structure, a story’s structure should be tested. If the functions and mechanisms of the story aren’t designed well, then the cohesion of the story feels weak, and the audience finds it difficult to connect and to extract value or meaning. If the story's objects - shots, scenes, characters, items, and more - do not accurately represent the story’s concepts, then the artist has not successfully orchestrated the production of the story. Most storytellers recognize the value in following some kind of structure, like a three-act structure. They can divide their story even further into beats or milestones, like the hero’s journey.

At the very least, storytellers must create a set of rules and then design a set of objects that follow those rules. The more consistently the world’s rules are adhered to, the more real that world becomes.

The Fractal Set

This is the DNA to the Fractal System:

1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128

Doubling from one.

Numbers in the Fractal Set are called Fractal Numbers. In the Systems Universe, if an object or concept occurs x number of times, and if x is a Fractal Number, then the object or concept is a Fractal Element.

For example, if there are 4 scenes with a cabin location, then that cabin is considered a Fractal Element.

4 Scenes | Location | Cabin

In the template below, x signifies the recurrence of the element, while scope, category, and name describe the element.

( x scope | category | name )

In the example below, Red Notebook and Phil and Larry are considered Fractal Elements because their recurrence is Fractal.

8 Scenes | Character | Phil and Larry

If x is not a Fractal Number then it is not a Fractal Element. In the example below, Black Shirt and Diner are Fractal Elements, but Vertigo Shot and Drinking coffee are simply elements. They are not Fractal Elements because they do not use Fractal Numbers.

4 Episodes | Wardrobe | Black Shirt
2 Scenes | Location | Diner
7 Shots | Camera Movement | Vertigo Shot
3 Shots | Action | Drinking Coffee