Though more of a directing device than a screenwriting device, “sweeping the floor” is a phrase used to describe an action given to an actor so their lines appear more natural. Sometimes an actor with a short scene or just one line wants to give more importance to their small part so they put too […]
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Archive for the “Screenwriting From Iowa” Category
Feb
19
2014
 
Them! & ‘Willing Suspension of Disbelief’Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“How does one persuade an audience to put aside its normally critical approach to subject matter and willingly collaborate with the storyteller in accepting as logical what is plainly incredible, nonsensical and/or absurd? The phrase ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ comes to mind.” Alexander Mackendrick “Them!, a 1954 American science-fiction film, is absolute and unashamed hokum. […]
Feb
18
2014
Get it Right vs. Get it Written (Tip 91)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“Remember that scripts are not so much written as rewritten and rewritten and rewritten (Mark Twain’s rule for writing: ‘Apply seat of pants to chair’). During a period of nearly ten years when I was under contract to a British studio, first as a contract screenwriter, then later as a writer/director, a pattern emerged. Every […]
Feb
17
2014
Postcard #72 (President Travolta)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“I’m gonna to do something really outragous—I’m gonna tell the truth.” Presidential candidate Gov. Jack Stanton (John Travolta) in Primary Colors I try to not post on holidays but this Presidents’ Day I thought a nice way to break up the series of posts I’ve been doing on writer/director turned film professor Alexanader Mackendrick is to show […]
Feb
16
2014
Postcard #71 (Ocala Movie Theatre)Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From IowaI had a meeting in Ocala, Florida today and couldn’t help but take this picture of the Marion Theatre that’s been in the historic downtown area for more than 70 years. The movie theatre has had a few bumps in the road since it was built in 1941, including one 15 year stretch where it went dark, […] “What is happening NOW is not as exciting as what may or may not Happen NEXT. Alexander Mackendrick
Feb
13
2014
“Exposition is BORING unless…”Posted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“Exposition is BORING unless it…”
Feb
12
2014
Obligatory Scene = Story’s ThemePosted by: screenwritingfromiowa in Screenwriting From Iowa“The obligatory scene, usually the denouement of a story, classically expresses the theme.” Alexander Mackendrick “Cinema hits us at a gut level—its impact is sensory and physical.”—Alexander Mackendrick “Dramatic tension generally requires an element of conflict. The nineteenth-century theorists suggested that conflict requires the presentation of an onstage clash of wills between hero and his antagonists. Later critics pointed out that in many cases, when a story is really rewarding, the tension may be a matter of not what happens, but how it […] |
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