The Art & Science of Screenwriting with Susannah Part 2

Continuing from where we left off in last weeks session we looked at the Audio/Visual style of the Narrative Matrix.
The elements that this includes is; DOP, Sound, Art Department (Costume/Make-up)

CRAP                                   MEDIOCRE                               AWESOME  |_________________________|_________________________|

Using the above scale we talked about what would put us in the "Crap" region or the "Awesome" region in terms of the Script and Teamwork as well as the flaws of a "Genius" Filmmaker

Script: Preparation, and by this keep writing until it's perfect

Teamwork: Prepare by briefing the department heads on what you want from them//the film. Keeping everyone on the same level of understanding. Communication.

We also talked about how every filmmaker thinks they're a genius (No objections there) but how there is a difference between being selfish and closed minded to the suggestions of the departments and ultimately trying to make the film alone and only using the people around you as tools and just being confident and making decisions carefully.

We then analysed to films. Wings of Desire and City of Angles, whereby the latter was based on the former.

We watched the opening of both of these films and then pointed out the differences in the audio/visual style of each of them.
For example in WOD the wings themselves are present in the opening to allow us to immediately associate him with being an angel. In COA on the other hand, we can guess that he is an angle, no such obviousness is required, whether that be because the audience can predict as much from the films title or by knowing and understanding the rules of angles. Another interesting point in terms of costume that I picked up on is how they wear black, which is normally associated with darkness/death/the grim reaper.

The purpose of this exercise was to show what different connotations you can get from two similar films with different audio visual agendas based on audience.

We then watched two clips, one is taken from Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain [The Conquest of Mexico scene] and the second from Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan [The Omaha Beach scene]

By looking at these two different scenes we then talked about the different forms of chaos and the psychology within the. What effect they can have on the audience.
For example in Saving Private Ryan, despite all the craziness going on around them, the audience have an anchor, which is Tom Hanks. By reverting back to him and his reaction the audience don't feel so lost amongst the chaos. As well as this the way that the audio is muted puts us in the same mind scape as the character we are anchored to.
Jodorosky's method is going from silent calm to enraged bloody violence out of the blue, which will shock the audience, and force them to keep it in their mind, voluntarily or otherwise.
We then thought of our own films and renvisioned a scene based on the Jodoroswky or Spielberg method.

The last few points we looked at in the session:
Using one good shot to help elevate the entire film
Can you loose the dialogue and tell it visually?

Even though I'm not writing the script for the major project, when I get a look at what Tom has written I will be able to go over it with these points in mind and whilst working with the cinematographer I can determine the best ways to portray certain events.