Thea B31 Fall 2008
Ch 9 - Writing Study Guide (revised)
I. THE SCREENWRITER:
a. Writers are generally responsible for the dialogue, they outline most of the action, sometimes
in detail & they often set forth the main theme of the film. But generally speaking, the writer’s
role varies immensely from film to film & from director to director.
b. Many of the greatest directors have written their own scripts.
c. The American studio system tended to encourage multiple authorship of scripts. Often,
writers had a certain specialty such as dialogue, comedy, construction, atmosphere (ie Dune) &
so on. Some have good ideas, but lack in the skill to execute their ideas.
d. In the heyday of the Hollywood studio system (1930-40s), a handful of intellectual writers
enjoyed tremendous prestige because their scripts were filled with fine speeches dealing with
Justice, Brotherhood & Democracy. (Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath) As there was no narrator
in the film, the story was told in the words of the people.
e. To be convincing, eloquent language must be dramatically probably. We must believe that
the words aren’t just the writer’s preachments dressed up as dialogue.
1. Casablanca--Rick Blain (Bogart) . Throughout the film, Rick spoke very little, but at the
end of the film, he broke into an overtly ideological, long speech about the sacrifices that must
be made for a higher cause. This film was released during the darkest days of WWII
2. Some filmmakers are at their best with talky scripts. Woody Allen is widely regarded as the
most gifted writer-director of his generation. Almost all his movies are comedies of virtually
every type--satires, parodies romantic comedies, fantasies & farces. Allen has also written a
number of stage plays & several volumes of humorous essays.
3. Film critic, Andrew Sarris has pointed out how the director’s choice of shot--or the way in
which the action is photographed is the crucial element in most films.
II. THE SCREENPLAY:
a. Screenplays are often modified by the actors who play the characters--especially true in
scripts written for personality stars. Their roles will usually include the qualities that make the
star popular.
b. North By Northwest
1. Ernest Lehman- writer
Alfred Hitchcock-director
This screenplay was very fluid in its writing whereas other screenplays, not intended for
publication, describe the action scenes simply with no literary flourishes. Like many of
Hitchcock’s movies, North by Northwest revolves around the ‘wrong-man’ motif.
Ch. 9 Study Guide
2.
III. FIGURATIVE COMPARISONS:
Even before the sound era, filmmakers hade devised a number of non-verbal figurative
techniques. A figurative technique can be defined as an artistic device that suggests abstract
ideas through comparison, either implied or overt. There are a number of these techniques in
both literature & cinema. The most common are motifs, symbols and metaphors. There is a lot
of overlapping between these terms. All of them are “symbolic” in the sense that an object or
event means something ‘beyond’ its literal significance. The difference between these
techniques is their *degree of obtrusiveness*
a. Motifs represent the least obtrusive extreme, metaphors representing the most conspicuous
Motifs are totally integrated within the realistic texture of a film that we can almost refer to them
as submerged or invisible symbols
(ie: In the film “Shattered”, there are reoccurring images of shattered fragmented things). A
Motif can be a technique, an object, or anything that’s systematically repeated in a movie
yet doesn’t call attention to itself. Even after repeated viewings, a motif is not always
apparent, for its symbolic significance is never permitted to emerge or detach itself from its
context.
b. Symbols can also be real things, but they imply additional meanings that are relatively
apparent to the sensitive observer. The symbolic meanings of these things can shift with the
dramatic context.
(ie: The Seven Samurai - a Samurai & a peasant girl accidentally meet--forbidden for them to be
together because of their class differences. First shown in separate frames, then in same frame
w/fire between them, then the fire grows in intensity, symbolizing their passion for one another,
they go inside the hut, the light from the fire outside emphasizes the eroticism of the scene. As
they begin to make love in a dark corner of the hut, the shadows cast by the fire’s light on the
reeds of the hut seem to streak across their bodies. The girl’s father discovers the lovers & the
billowing flames of the fire suggest his moral outrage. It begins to rain. At the end of the film,
Kurasawa offers a close up of the fire as the rain extinguishes its flames. Realistic films tend to
use symbols less densely than formalist movies & the symbolism is almost always contextually
probably. In The Seven Samurai, in addition to being a symbol, the fire in these scenes is also a
fire.
c. Metaphor A metaphor is usually defined as a comparison of some kind that cannot be
literally true. Editing is frequently a source of metaphors in film. Two shots can be linked
together to produce a third, & symbolic idea. There is usually a sense of shock in metaphorical
comparisons. Two traits are violently joined together often in violation of common sense.
Ch. 9 Study Guide
3.
The two other kinds of figurative techniques in film & literature are allegory & allusions.
d. Allegories are seldom used in movies because it tends toward simplemindedness. This
technique is ‘usually an avoidance of realism’. One of the most famous examples of an allegory
is the character of ‘Death’ in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1956). As the plague sweeps
through Europe, a weary knight convinces “death” to play one game of chess with him. If the
knight wins, he & his wife will be spared. The game leads to a discussion of religion & the
existence of God.
e. An allusion (alluding to something or someone) is a common type of literary analogy. It’s an
implied reference, usually to a well-known event, person or work of art. (ie: the protagonist in
Scarface w/Al Pachino, is modeled after Al Capone) (allusion, not illusion)
f. In the cinema, an overt reference or allusion to another movie, director or memorable shot is
sometimes called an homage. (ie: High Anxiety, dir. Mel Brooks included many references to
several of Hitchcock’s films & his use of camera angles - dutch tilt)
IV. POINT OF VIEW:
In a film like “Shallow Hal”, we are given two points of view at the same time—what ‘we’ see
(objective pov) & ‘what the hypnotized Hal’ sees (subjective).
a. Point of view in fiction generally concerns the narrator, through whose eyes the events of a
story are viewed. The ideas & incidents are sifted through the consciousness & language of the
storyteller. **He or she may or may not be a participant in the action & may or may not be a
reliable guide for the reader/viewer to follow. (ie: Usual Suspects - Verbal Kint) or (What
Dreams May Come - Christy)
b. There are four basic types of point of view in literary fiction:
1) the first person
2) the omniscient
3) the third person
4) the objective.
Cinematic equivalents of the four basic types of narration, fiction films tend to fall naturally into
the ‘omniscient form’. The cinematic equivalent to the “voice” of the literary narrator is the
“eye” of the camera & this difference is an important one. In literature, the difference between
the narrator & reader is clear. It’s as if the reader were listening to a friend tell a story. In film,
the viewer identifies with the lens & tends to fuse with the narrator.
1. In order to produce first-person narration in film, the camera would have to record all the
action through the eyes of the character, which, in effect, would also make the ‘viewer’ the
protagonist. This technique is rarely done, for one thing, the viewer becomes frustrated as we
want to see the protagonist.
Ch. 9 Study Guide
4.
2. Voice-over commentaries are common in the genre known as film noir. Movies of this type
often feature ‘flashback images of the past accompanied by a present tense off screen narrator
who tells us how he managed to get himself in such a desperate crisis’.
3. The omniscient point of view -- Generally, such narrators are not participants in a story but
are all-knowing observers who supply the reader with all the facts he or she needs to know to
appreciate the story. ‘Such narrators can span many locations & time periods & can enter the
consciousness of a number of different characters, telling us what they think & feel’.
Omniscient narrators can be relatively detached from the story or they can take on a
distinct personality of their own. *Omniscient narration is almost inevitable in film.
Each time the director moves the camera--either within a shot or between shots, we are offered a
new point of view form which to evaluate the scene.
4. In the third person, a non participating narrator tells the story from a consciousness of a
single character. Usually third-person narration is found in documentaries where an
anonymous commentator tells us about the background of a central character.
5. The Objective point of view is also ‘a variation of the omniscient’. Objective narration
is the most “detached” of all: It doesn’t enter the consciousness of any character, but
merely reports events from the outside. It presents facts & allows readers to interpret for
themselves. *The cinematic objective point of view is generally used by realistic directors
who keep their camera at long shot & avoid all distortions or “commentary” such as angles
lenses & filters.
V. LITERARY ADAPTATIONS:
a. Many movies are adaptations of literary sources (book/plays).
b. The Birth of a Nation was based on Thomas Dixon’s trashy novel The Klansman, which is
more blatantly racist than the film.
c. The real problem of the adapter is now how to reproduce the content of a literary work (an
impossibility), but how close he or she should remain to the raw data of the subject matter: this
degree of fidelity is what determines the three types of adaptations: the loose, the faithful & the
literal.
1. The loose adaptation is barely that. Generally only an idea, a situation or a character
is taken from a literary source, then developed independently. In Akira Kurasowa’s film
Ran, several plot elements from Shakespeare’s original King Lear are maintained but in the
setting of medieval Japan. Also, Kurasawa’s film Throne of Blood is based on Macbeth.
Ch 9 - Study Guide
5.
2. Faithful adaptations attempt to re-create the literary source in filmic terms, keeping
as close to the spirit of the original as possible. *Virtually ALL of John Huston’s works are
based on novels, plays & short stories. He tried to be as faithful to the original material as he
could. The Harry Potter films are faithful adaptations.
3. Literal adaptations are usually restricted to plays. The major problem with stage
adaptations is the handling of space & time rather than language. Movies can add many
dimensions to a play, especially through the use of close-ups & edited juxtapositions. Because
these techniques aren’t found in the theater, even “literal” adaptations are not strictly literal.
Stage dialogue is often retained in film adaptations, but its effect is different on the audience. In
the movie, time space are fragmented by the individual shots. Because even a literary film is
primarily visual & only secondarily verbal, nearly all the dialogue is modified by the images.
d. A recent trend in the American cinema is the adaptation of comic books (GRAPHIC
NOVELS). Most such films are made into comedies, action films & fantasies— to name a few:
Batman, Cat Woman, League of Extroardinary Gentlemen, The Hulk, X-Men, The Phantom,
Road to Perditio, Superman.