“I’ve always made films and I never really stopped, starting with little stop-motion experiments using my dad’s Super 8 camera. In my mind, it’s all one big continuum of filmmaking and I’ve never changed. I used to noodle around with the camera but I didn’t go to film school. I studied English literature at college and pursued a straight academic qualification, all the while making my own films and wanting to make more. I paid for my first feature, Following, myself and made it with friends. We were all working full-time jobs, so we’d get together on weekends for a year, shooting about 15 minutes of raw stock every Saturday, one or two takes of everything, and getting maybe five minutes of finished film out of that. We went to the San Francisco Film Festival with it [in 1998] and Zeitgeist Films picked up distribution, which really helped me get Memento going. I got paid to direct it, I had millions of dollars in trucks and hundreds of people and everything, and I haven’t looked back since.”
Writer/director Chris Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Memento)
DGA article The Traditionalist by Jeffrey Ressner
Posts Tagged ‘Memento’
Filmmaking Quote #32 (Christopher Nolan)
Posted in screenwriting, tagged Christopher Nolan, Jeffrey Ressner, Memento, The Dark Knight Rises on July 18, 2012|
Filmmaking Quote #10 (Christopher Nolan)
Posted in Filmmaking Quote of the Day, tagged Bob Fisher, Christpher Nolan, Inception, Memento, The Dark Knight on July 21, 2010| 8 Comments »
“For me, it comes down to deciding whether it is a film that I feel I have to make. I ask myself, will I be sorry if I miss this chance? Is it a film that I would be excited to see? Will the story stick in my mind years and years after it is done? Those are the types of things I think about. The irony is that once you get into the process, sometimes the story leads you into a different direction than you initially imagined.
I think film is first and foremost entertainment. But, all forms of entertainment throughout history have always produced works that last and transcend the concept of entertainment. All entertainment can take many different forms. It can be serious and intellectually stimulating, and it can also be a temporary way to forget our everyday worries. There is a whole spectrum of possibilities encompassed by the word entertainment, but I do believe that film has developed into the most important story-telling medium of our age. I am certain about that statement.
As much as I love books and the theater, I think the cinema is a uniquely modern medium that we look to for the stories of our times.”
Writer/Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception)
On Film/A Conversation with Christopher Nolan by Bob Fisher
Rock, Paper, Scissors & Screenwriting
Posted in screenwriting, tagged character, Christopher Nolan, In the Heat of the Night, marty, Memento, Network, Paddy Chayefsky, Rock Paper Scissors; a geek tragedy., Stirling Silliphant, story, The Dark Knight, The Hospital, theme, World RPS Society on June 28, 2010| 2 Comments »
The origins of the classic hand game “Rock, Paper, Scissors” are unknown. But what is known is its popularity is undisputed and universal. There are even RPS contests and leagues around the world. In fact, the World RPS Society has cash prizes and a world champion every year. Online you can find all kinds of websites, t-shirts, and tips on improving your game.
And, yes, there is a documentary on the subject called Rock Paper Scissors; a geek tragedy.
Though there are variations of the game, the basic rules are the same;
—Paper covers rock
—Rock smashes Scissors
—Scissors cut paper
You gotta love the simplicity. For the sake of this post on screenwriting, let’s explore three popular ways that accomplished writers say they have used as starting points for writing screenplays;
—Story
—Characters
—Theme
But we’re not really pitting them against each other, just showing three examples of writers who use one as their starting point.
STORY
“I always start with story rather than characters. When I write I try to write from the point of view of defining a character through action. That way having the narrative shifts define what we think of the characters. That’s why I love film noir crime fiction because double-crosses, twists and turns… you’re constantly readdressing your opinion of the characters and you’re reassessing who you think those people are. I find that a really interesting and very strong form of characterization, but it means putting story first and then just seeing where that leads the characters.”
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Christopher Nolan
Memento
(And writer/director of the #3 all-time (domestic) box office film The Dark Knight)
CHARACTER
“I DETEST the word plot. I never, never think of plot. I think only and solely of character. Give me the characters; I’ll tell you a story–maybe a thousand stories. The interaction between and among human beings is the only story worth telling.”
Oscar-winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant
In the Heat of the Night
THEME
“The best thing that can happen is for the theme to be nice and clear from the beginning. Doesn’t always happen. You think you have a theme and you then start telling the story. Pretty soon the characters take over and the story takes over and you realize your theme isn’t being executed by the story, so you start changing the theme.”
Three time Oscar-winning screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky
Network, The Hospital, Marty
Three different writers with three different starting points, but each with successful results. The important thing isn’t to argue or worry over your starting point, but pick which works best for you and start (and, yes, there are other starting points). But just as important, finish what you start. And if you really want to have a hand up on most screenplays write one with a solid story, solid characters, and a solid theme.
Screenwriting & Structure (tip #5)
Posted in Most Viewed Posts, screenwriting, screenwriting tips, tagged Alien, Countercultural, Dan O'Bannon, David Mamet, Goddard, LaBron James, Lance Armstrong, Lew Hunter, Magnolia, Memento, movies, Picasso, Pulp Fiction, Robert Frost, Robert McKee, Scott W. Smith, screenwriting, screenwritingPulp Fiction, Syd Field, Tiger Woods, writing on March 20, 2008| 4 Comments »
“Structure is the most important element in the screenplay. It is the force that holds everything together.” Syd Field
Today is the first day of spring and that signals a change. (Not so much here in Iowa, because the forecast is we’ll get 2-6 inches of snow tomorrow.)
If you’ve been thinking about writing a screenplay why not begin today? This blog is on structure and is a fitting place to begin.
The more scripts you write and the more movies you see the more you’ll understand structure and why it’s a vital part of screenwriting. I’m going to limit this blog on good old western culture traditional structure. You don’t get more basic than this:
Act 1 – Beginning
Act 2 – Middle
Act 3 – End
Syd Field became the modern-day screenwriting pioneer when he wrote Screenplay back in the 1974. Field had been a reader and development executive at various studios and after reading 10,000 scripts he felt he really knew what made a good script.
He even broke it down into page counts.
Act 1 1-30 (setup)
Act 2 30-90 (confrontation)
Act 3 90-120 (resolution)
There’s nothing wrong with a script coming in between 90 and 100 pages either. He’s how a 100 pages script might look like:
Act 1 1-25
Act 2 26-80
Act 3 81-100
Now if this were the sixties I could hear someone saying, “Hey, man, that’s just not my scene.” But these things aren’t written in stone either.
Sure we can look at many films like Memento which turned structure upside down, and Pulp Fiction and Magnolia that mixed structure up. And let’s not forget about the famous quote by Goddard “I believe in a beginning, a middle, and an end — just not in that order.”
How do I answer those? Let me start with the Goddard quote. According to Lew Hunter who later asked Goddard about his famous quote it was simply an off-hand comment at a cocktail party.
As for the film exceptions? It is hard enough to write a solid screenplay, get an agent, and get the film made. The concept of a beginning, middle and end are universal because that is the way most of us of our lives;
We wake up
We eat
We go about our work or school
We eat dinner
We recreate
We go to bed
We’re born, we live, and we die.
Throughout history that is the cycle civilization has lived. Humans around the world have also made sure that life is not predictable. Love, war, new inventions and discoveries help ensure that within the human tradition there are millions of variations.
Traditional structure is the most understood form of storytelling which is one of the reasons it is the most commercial as well.
It’s as basic as one writer said; Get your hero up a tree, throw rocks and him and get him down. That’s structure 101.
Many screenwriting books have different ways of breaking down structure but here’s a common one that Robert Mckee has landed on based on the people that went before him:
1) Inciting Incident
2) Progressive Complication (Rising Conflict)
3) Crisis
4) Climax
5) Resolution
If you can understand those five areas of structure (one for every finger one hand) it will save you some frustration. We’ll look at these in detail at another blog, but for now it’s enough for you to understand that this structure fits most successful films. (Even if you want to flip structure inside out it’s best to understand structure. Check out Picasso’s early paintings to see what I mean.)
There is always that rebel in us that says. “I don’t want to do it the way it’s always been done. I want to do my own thing man. I want freedom!”
But keep in mind what poet Robert Frost said, “Writing free verse is like playing tennis without a net.”
There is freedom in structure. Embrace it. When the limits are set, great things can happen. Performing within certain boundaries helps us understand the greatness Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, and LeBron James.
Think of all the structure that goes into:
Making Movies. The script is written and then budgeted. Actors are hired who you want to show up on time. Sets are built and props are found. Cameras are rented and crews are hired. Caterers cook food. Drivers drive trucks. People work, people get paid. There is a lot of structure in place to make a film.
Making Music. Before a concert becomes a reality many logistics have to have taken place. Travel arrangements, tickets sold, money transacted, bathrooms working, electricity flowing, stages constructed, lights hung, usher in place, security in place, green M&Ms in place. There’s a lot of structure there. So you can smile the next time a lead singer screams for anarchy because that’s the last thing he wants at his concert.
There really is freedom in structure.
“I’m a structuralist myself. We believe in discipline, hard work, and architecture. Writing is like carpentry.” Dan O’Bannon, screenwriter (Alien)
Playwright/screenwriter David Mamet compares ignoring structure to the countercultural design movement in the 60’s:
“I was a student in the turbulent sixties in Vermont at a countercultural college. In that time in place, there flourished something called the Countercultural Architecture. Some people back then thought that the traditional architecture had been too stifling. And so they designed and built countercultural buildings. These buildings proved unlivable. Their design didn’t begin with the idea of the building’s purpose; it began with the idea of how the architect “felt.”“As those architects looked at their countercultural buildings over the years, they may have reflected that there is a reason for traditional design. There’s a reason that doors are placed in a certain way.
“All those countercultural buildings may have expressed the intention of the architect, but they didn’t serve the purpose of the inhabitants. They all either fell down or are falling down or should be torn down. They’re a blot on the landscape and they don’t age gracefully and every passing year underscores the jejune folly of those countercultural architects.”
David Mamet
Because I want to hammer this point home take a look at the cars you see today. Cars could be made with three wheels or five wheels but most cars are still made with four wheels because engineers and car builders have decided that is what works best.
Copyright 2008 Scott W. Smith