Busy Week, Mini Post
Sam, a good friend and excellent teacher, said recently
“Observe crafte wherever you find it.” He’s right. Keep an eye out for
well-crafted writing and filmmaking while you’re watching. You can learn a lot.
Keep an eye out for techniques that you can use in your work. You might just
find the perfect way to set up your character or reveal that tricky piece of
information.
What’s the force?
We’ve all seen Star Wars so many times it’s hard to remember
what it was like to experience the story for the first time. I was watching it
recently with The Boy and I was struck by how skillfully Lucas revealed the
force. We all know the force is that invisible energy that surrounds us and all
that jazz. But how did Lucas tell us what it is and how it works? Here’s a
hint, he did it in two scenes.
First he told us about the force. Obi Wan is hanging out
with Luke in his shack. He’s all “Luke, the force is like this energy that is
all cool and stuff.” Luke’s like “Okay bro.” Obi Wan describes it fine but at
that point it’s just a religion. We don’t know that it’s a physical force in
the world. At that point it could be “a hokey religion”.
Cut to Darth Vader in the Death Star. The admirals are
talking smack about the Death Star and Vader is all “Step off. The force is
hardcore.” Dude says “whatevs. Srsly, ur lame.” Then Vader chokes the dude out
with the force. We see the power of the force first hand. It’s not a hokey
religion; it’s a power that isn’t all incense and meditation, it’s choke a dude
out and giggle while you do it hardcore.
What did Lucas do there? He set up the mystical force. Then
he immediately shows us the power of that mystical force. It’s pretty cool. He
completely sells the force in two scenes and tells us everything we need to
know to accept it and move forward.
Introductions Count
If you haven’t seen the first minute of the Netflix show
House of Cards with Kevin Spacey you absolutely should. It’s directed by David
Fincher (a master director) and amazingly well written. The first minute is
spectacular. Without spoiling it I’ll just say that in about 1 minute we’re
introduced to Spacey’s character and we find out everything we need to know
about who he is. Is there more to the character? Absolutely. Do we know
everything we need to know to get into the story? Absolutely.
I can do it myself
I could sit here and pretend that I could come up with
equally smooth and elegant solutions in my script without ever seeing it done
elsewhere. I would be lying. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There’s a
fantasy element to the story I’m writing. Harlan’s imagination plays a huge
part. I need to find an elegant and simple way to sell that part of the story
to the audience. Maybe I’ll do it like Lucas. I also need to convince the
audience to get on board with Harlan. Let’s face it; Harlan might not be the
most engaging person in the world. I would love to have the first minute engage
you so much in Harlan that you feel like you have to keep watching just one
minute longer. Then another minute. Then two more. House of Cards pulled that
off so maybe I’ll take a page from that playbook.
Some folks to pay attention to
These are a few of the writers who’s work I really
recommend. These guys are mainstream writers. They know their craft and will
teach you tons if you pay attention. And if you know these guys, tell them I
want to work for and learn from them.
Anyone who writes for Pixar.
This is a short list of fantastic writers and by no means
comprehensive or in order of greatness or anything like that. These are just
names I thought of off the top of my head who’s work I enjoy learning from. Who
would you recommend?
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