Welcome back! We've only got one more week to go, so I hope you've been busy on your assignments.
One question frequently asked is how to walk the line between those projects which are emotionally rewarding, and those projects Hollywood seems inclined to make.
Well--if I were you I would have infinite faith in my own innate creativity--that is, the ability to come up with idea after idea all day long, if necessary. Then perform a thought experiment. "A" is the set of ideas you can come up with, that you would find entertaining and emotionally rewarding to write. "B" is the set of ideas that will sell in Hollywood. Believe me, if the set "A" is large enough, eventually the two sets will overlap--creating set "C". "C" is what you spend your time writing--those ideas which are BOTH potentially salable, and personally valid.
In the actual writing of your script, there is another important thing which must be kept in mind:
In film, far more than in any other medium (including television), the importance of the visual symbols cannot be overestimated. In essence, in film all you have is the visual symbols. Everything else is secondary.
What this means is that, basically, THE STORY MUST CARRY ITSELF ON THE STRENGTH OF THE VISUALS. You should be able to turn the sound off, and still understand everything going on--or at least, enough to follow the thread of the story. In general (and there are always exceptions), if you can't figure out what's going on without the dialogue, your film will appeal to a smaller audience. That might be fine with you--but it is still something to take into account.
Take a look at the films in the top 20 of all-time box office. Most of them are intelligent, or made by very intelligent people. None of them are intellectual--in other words, they aren't meditations on the nature of mind. Films like the "Indiana Jones" or "Star Trek" movies are largely visual, as are "Jurassic Park" and "Independence Day."
(Note that these are also basically "overstructure" films, driven more by plot than character. However, the newly released "Ransom" is very much character driven. It might be an interesting exercise to determine if its core plot twists can be deciphered without listening to the sound track. Perhaps not. And this single fact will probably keep it out of the top 20. On the other hand, it may well earn over 90 million, which is quite enough success for anyone.)
At any rate, we must still take into account the impact of the visual symbols. Here's an exercise, for which you'll need a cork board and a stack of 3X5 cards:
Go through your story outline, and pick out the visual actions and symbols. Arguments, love making, car chases, meetings, conversations, ANYTHING which will be pictured on-screen. See if the basic meaning of your story can be determined from the succession of visual images. If not, you may have a story which is too internal, more appropriate for a novel or play than a feature film. If you are writing a television script, you are more likely to get away with this. (In fact, I suspect that advertisers LOVE scripts which are heavy on dialog and exposition--so that if you leave the room to stir the soup, you don't lose the thread of the story and turn the channel.)
Any way, try this exercise. It is important.
Obvious symbols (the American Flag symbolizing patriotism, a red rose symbolizing love, crashing waves for passion, etc.) are the hallmark of the student film. Such symbols are obvious, and in essence exploit the creative vocabulary established by other artists. To create art in this medium you must, as the expression goes, "Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before."
Note the film "Diabolique." No, not the Sharon Stone/Chazz Palmentieri abortion, but the original French film. It is one of the ultimate masterpieces of suspense. And the filmmakers created an image system where water, plain ordinary water, began to be perceived as an evil, dangerous thing. Brilliant. The way you do this is by showing something (say a clock) in a scene where someone is murdered. Then every time you show a clock after that, there is heavy danger, mortal peril, death or destruction. In your script, you keep finding an excuse to show what time it is. The director, hopefully, will pick up on what you are doing and roll with it. If you do this carefully, your audience will get to the point where the mere flash of a clock will make them feel very uncomfortable. You have, in other words, established an alternative meaning for a clock. "Time is running out," perhaps. Again, it is very important that your audience not be consciously aware of what you have done. If they notice it, you're sunk.
The next level above this is what is called Metaphor. In other words, what is your story really about? It is the subtext of the entire work. In general, this is only determined after you have written your first draft.
DON'T START OUT WITH A "MEANING" IN MIND. Just tell your story. Follow an idea that gets you hot. Then, as you race toward the conclusion, you will slowly become aware that there are patterns at work, that your subconscious seems to have been up to something. You look at the story and realize that a theme seems to be emerging.
WARNING! WARNING! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! (Sorry. I was having a "Lost in Space" flashback.) If you start with a "Meaning" or a "Theme" in mind, your work will almost certainly get preachy as hell, and you will end up, at the very best, preaching to the choir. But if you just tell a story, and you convey the emotions honestly, then it cannot help but express your philosophy, your own world view. And in that case, there WILL be a meaning, a theme, a core of honesty to your work.
Let's say you are 3/4 of the way through your work, and you begin to see the following theme: "Evil is a titanic force, but love is stronger". You notice this because there seem to be a number of scenes where evil does its nasty thing, and that the only times it is beaten back is when people stand together, or act out of love. You notice that sacrifice is often necessary, but it does seem that selfless acts have the ability to defeat even the most virulent evil. (This is not always the case--there are definitely films which have the philosophy that Death Swallows Everything, and even the strongest love is a weak and ultimately futile defense.)
All right. Finish your draft. Then, on a 3X5 card, post above your computer or typewriter your theme AND ITS REVERSE (COUNTER-THEME).
In other words:
Evil is a titanic force, but Love is stronger
Love is a titanic force, but Evil is stronger
Get it? Now, here comes the nifty part. Every scene in your script can support one or the other point of view. You have a scene where evil wins, followed by one where love triumphs, but just barely. Then evil, then love. Evil, and then another evil. Love squeaks one past. Evil has a CRUSHING victory! Dark night of the soul time. All is lost. Then a good deed, done out of love earlier in the story, comes back just in time ("cast your bread upon the waters, and it will return to you many fold") and Evil, which stands alone, is undone by the forces of good, which march shoulder to shoulder even unto the pits of hell. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Gosh, just brings tears to your eyes, doesn't it?
But here's another clue: WHATEVER YOUR THEME IS, NEVER STATE IT DIRECTLY.
Comb through your script, and if your theme is ever stated, TAKE THAT LINE OF DIALOG out. Why? Well...this is the nasty and manipulative side of my personality coming out, and if you tell anyone I said it, I'll just deny it. I never said it. I was miles from there at the time, practicing golf swings with O.J., or washing odd, pesky stains out of that Ford Bronco.
The reason has to do with the nature of subliminal communication. If you have a controversial message, especially one of a political nature, (Say--women are equal to men, or gay is as good as straight, or blacks are as good as whites, or Save the Environment, or anything else that you may wish to subtly propagandize for), it is very important to NEVER give your audience a chance to object to what you are saying.
Just tell your story, with the meaning encoded in the structure of the events. If you EVER get up on a soapbox, and specifically say "Women are equal to men", you give the audience a chance to say: "No, they're not." If, on the other hand, you simply show your female protagonist struggling mightily and honorably to accomplish a worthy end, failing, suffering, and ultimately triumphing--and if you have established audience empathy with her, then her victories become the viewer's victories, and your "meaning" slips right past a sexist's defenses.
An example? It is arguable that "Courage Under Fire" has a substructure which states that women can do a "Man's" job, and still be women. They don't ever hit that message "On the Nose" (in other words, be obvious and unsubtle about it), but they do give you alternative views of the lead character's struggles in the Gulf War. They even cast Denzel Washington in an important role, subtly connecting racism and sexism. In other words, by the time the filmmakers are done with you, the only way not to cheer Meg Ryan is to be sexist, racist, and un-American. Wow. Pretty potent propaganda!
HOMEWORK
What is your theme?
What is your counter-theme?
What character in your work represents each position?
What scene most clearly describes your theme?
In what scene is your character's moral position tested most severely?
What do you want your audience to feel as they walk out of the theater?
