Archive for November, 2009
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
When was your year of film?
Mine’s 1999. That’s right. The year of Wild Wild West and The Phantom Menace is my year of film. Perhaps I should explain.
I consider the ‘modern age of film’ everything that came after 1975 - specifically the release of Jaws. But since then, certain other key films have shaped a lot of what has come after. Did The Sixth Sense and Fight Club re-invigorate the twist ending as a movie staple? Did Blair Witch bring viral marketing to the mainstream? Did The Matrix change fight scenes forever?
I’m not saying that 1999 was the year of best films (although a lot of those pictured above are some of my favourites) but 1999 was a year that changed my perspective on exactly what you could do with the movies and what audiences could be persuaded to watch.
I think The Matrix allowed philosophical science fiction to be cool and even kick-ass. Being John Malkovich took mind-boggling intellectualism but wrapped it in a clear, concise (and funny) accessible high-concept. David Fincher adapting Chuck Palahniuk allowed a curious blend of anarchy but funded by a giant corporation. American Beauty earned its Oscars AND its huge audience (not easy).
Plus it’s the year this guy appeared.
’nuff said, right? Well, obviously this is just my year of film. From my point of view the movies of 1999 provided an overall influence on cinema that hasn’t yet been replaced in many respects. It’s also the year that I started trying to write professionally, so this is all personal.
But have the breakout films of 1999 had an effect that even the makers of the above movies have struggled to re-capture in balancing both critical and commercial success? We’re just waiting for the next mega-year to move us on to the next phase.
But as I said, this is all personal. Did a year in your childhood change everything for you? Did a particular year draw you to a genre you’d never really liked? When was your year of film?
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Introducing your Character
I’ve been doing a lot of scriptreading work lately and have spotted a recurring problem that sometimes we can all forget about.
A while ago, we talked about the concept of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances and how it’s maybe easier to get an audience on side with a ‘normal’ character only for them to get sucked down a magic wyrmhole etc. This is all very well, but what I’ve been noticing in a lot of what I’ve been reading is that that ordinary character is often quite dull until the fun happens at the inciting incident. Which is pretty bad! So I was trying to think of some better examples:
Yes, he’s using Ghostbusters as an example. Again. 
Thing is though, it’s ‘cos it’s good. Take Venkman: His inciting incident is when he’s kicked out of the University and starts up his own Paranormal Investigations & Eliminations service (”some call it fate, some call it luck, some call it karma...”) But before any of that happens, he’s already interesting. Not only is he using a telepathy test to pick up girls, someone has painted ‘Venkman, Burn in Hell‘ on his door. I’m intrigued by this guy - and that’s before we know the world’s in peril.
On the other end of the scale, ‘Se7en‘ opens with Morgan Freeman as Det. Somerset routinely picking lint off his jacket, placing his well-ordered badge, notebook, pen and flick knife into all the correct pockets - ready for work as the sounds and sirens of the city emanate from outside. When a fellow officer describes a murder scene as a simple crime of passion, Somerset’s response of ‘Just look at the passion all over this wall’ shows he sees things differently. But his methodical, well-ordered approach and his soothing metronome show he has set up his own barriers to protect himself from the horror of the city he seems to love and hate.
While the plot hasn’t got going yet, both these characters become fascinating and that’s partly because we get a good glimpse of their flaws (or their ‘character need’, if you like). Venkman needs to start taking what he does seriously if he’s ever going to save the world and Somerset has perhaps become too guarded and detached from the world to stop himself despairing.
Both are very different, one funny, the other foreboding. But both really make the characters captivating long before the high-concept turns up. Also, perhaps more importantly, we’re hooked long before page 10 which is when, as a reader, I can put the script down if the writer hasn’t grabbed me!
Any other good examples you can think of how the character hooks you before the plot? Genre and non-genre ones are all welcome. Happy writing!
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Clarity & ‘The Box’
Hmmn? Oh yeah, I supposedly write a blog, don’t I. It’s been a very hectic few weeks that’s seen me trying to stretch my puny brainstem around several script projects simultaneously without getting them muddled up. As such, this post is really about two things but I’m going to try and be clever and blend the two together. Fingers crossed.
An upcoming film I’m really looking forward to is Richard Kelly’s ‘The Box‘ in which James Marsden and Cameron Diaz are given a mysterious box with a button on it. If they press the button, they’ll receive one million dollars but someone they don’t know will die. The couple spend the film trying to find out who gave them the box whilst dealing with the temptation.
Sounds kinda hokey? Well, yeah. And it probably won’t surprise you that this is based on short story by Richard Matheson (who wrote ‘I Am Legend’ - the excellent book not the film) and has already been adapted before into an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’. Want to see the trailer?
Did you watch? Whether you did or not probably depends on what you thought of the pitch above. Even if you think it sounds crap, you can’t deny that that premise is clear. The movie poster’s tagline of ‘Could you end a strangers life…to change your own?‘ pretty much sums up the thematic question. And for the writer-director of the barmy Donnie Darko and the chaotic Southland Tales to be so clear in his storytelling shows he has perhaps learned a lesson.
Something I badly need to learn too. The reason the last few weeks have been a bit of hard time is, while all of the projects I’ve been writing have had cool scenes, interesting characters and some nice visuals, I couldn’t really sell them to you. And by that, I mean tell you what the hell actually happens. In particular, a feature film idea of my own and a short film idea of the director have been causing strife.
Both ideas have seen me trying to take vast collections of cool shots, fancy notions and story fragments and lasso them together with a nice catchy plot. But my lasso keeps snapping 
If you find this happening, try going back to the beginning. Sum your story up in three sentences. Beginning, Middle and End. Then when I’ve done that, I try and sum up my idea in six sentences (to expand the middle bit) by answering these questions:
These might sound awfully simplistic, but honestly, I’ve been tearing my hair out so it’s good to go back and make sure you’ve got a firm grasp of what you’re actually trying to do. I wrote back in June about working with directors so think it’s always good to get your collaboraters (directors, producers, co-writers etc) to do the same experiment. It’s always interesting when you start comparing your answers!
So the point is, I’ve been struggling with some messy plots and am looking forward to seeing ‘The Box’. All clear? Lovely 
