Lecture 13:
How do I Embed Themes
Into My Story?
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
Written by Ernesto Foronda & Justin Lin & Fabian Marquez
Professor Michael Green
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Previous Lesson
•
The Function of
Dialogue
•
The Characteristics
of Good Dialogue
•
Techniques and Tips
•
Writing Exercise # 11
The Sound of Music (1965)
Written by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse (book)
and Ernest Lehman (screenplay)
This Lesson
•
The Role of Subtext
•
The Emotion
Beneath the Lines
•
Revealing the
Subtext
•
Writing Exercise #12
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Written by Michael Arndt
The Role of Subtext
A History of Violence (2005)
Written by John Wagner and Vince Locke (graphic novel) and Josh Olsen (screenplay)
Lesson 13: Part I
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What is Subtext?
• Scene subtext is one of the most difficult
aspects of screenwriting to grasp.
• Subtext is what is going on beneath the
surface, the undercurrent of emotions and
thoughts that truly motivates the characters
to behave as they do.
• Most of the time subtext connects to the
character’s needs. It can sometimes relate
to what character’s consciously know and
want but can’t reveal.
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What is Subtext (Continued)?
• A story’s subtext answers the question why
characters act and say what they do, before
and after plot requirements are considered.
• Certain actions and dialogue must unfold for
the plot to work, but the layer of meaning
beneath the plot mechanics goes to the heart
of who your characters really are, and why
they find themselves in a particular story.
Writing for the Filmmakers
• Directors and actors bring a scene to life by
determining the feelings, thoughts and
motives that lie beneath the actual words
and actions of the characters.
• Screenplays missing subtext will be missing
purpose and power. Action will be on the
surface, frustrating the director and actors’
task of realizing the scenes from the
subtextual clues in the script.
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Example
• Subtext isn’t what you write; it’s what you
write around. It’s the deeper level of story
that can’t be told so much in words but must
be shown in actions.
• Pause the lecture now and go back and
watch the Lesson 12 clip from Casablanca.
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Example
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Subtext and Life
• In real life, people rarely say exactly what
they are feeling, especially if those feelings
are difficult to deal with.
• More often, people try to hide what bothers
them, their personal weaknesses and minor
transgressions. They may also lie to protect
loved ones or try to gain power or status.
• When this happens and problems arise, it
often leads to conflict, as people try to get
each other to meet their needs without being
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up front about them.
Drama vs. Life
• In drama, where art imitates life, we aim to
show a version of this; the ultimate goal,
however, is not to be obscure, but to be
understood and to create meaning.
• To this end, the screenwriter must know his
characters better than they know themselves.
• The writer demonstrates this knowledge of
characters through the subtext by letting the
audience see what the characters really need
beyond what they say they want.
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Subtext and Need
• Subtext is used to reveal what can’t be easily
told in words; therefore, it has everything to
do with need, or unconscious motivation.
• If a character’s unconscious need contradicts
his stated goal, the scene will play differently
than if conscious and unconscious minds are
in total agreement.
• Need comes from a deep part of the
character’s psyche of which he or she may
well be ignorant.
Subtext and Need (Continued)
• The character’s need may be the real
motivation behind everything else he does in
the story. But to grasp this fact the audience
must be shown it in a credible fashion.
• A way to understand this elusive concept of
subtext is to see it as how the characters,
moving according to their desires in a story,
end up with what they needed all along.
– Casablanca
– Midnight Run
– Juno
Subtext and Exposition
• To understand a story, certain exposition
must be overtly presented to the audience,
and other pieces can be implied.
• Subtext compliments exposition, conveying
feelings, thoughts and motivations which
are too complex to tell in words, but which
are crucial to understanding a story.
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Revealing the Right Amount
• The screenwriter walks a thin line between
telling too much and telling too little.
• Tell too much and you lost the audience’s
interest. Tell too little and the audience
won’t understand the story.
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The Emotion Beneath the Lines
The Matador (2006)
Written by Richard Shepard
Lesson 13: Part II
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Feelings, Thoughts and Motives
• At times, the true motives and emotions of a
character are the whole point of a film.
• If this information is clumsily handled or just
dumped in the audience’s lap, viewer’s will
doubt it’s veracity the same way you might
be skeptical of a person who too easily tells
you his life story.
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Feelings, Thoughts and Motives
(Continued)
• A character’s motivation carries more weight
if it’s closely guarded. Through subtext, the
screenwriter allows the audience glimpses or
hints of the protagonist’s and other
character’s true natures.
• In this way, the audience is more involved in
the story and has a richer experience.
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Subtext and Theme
• Subtext should carry a direct relationship to
the film’s theme. It becomes the vessel for
getting the main ideas across when it
wouldn’t be realistic to do so in dialogue.
• When a story is successful, audiences feel
satisfied. When we feel satisfied, usually
something is working on a deeper level.
Even if we can’t completely articulate what
the story is about, it has touched us in some
accountable way, and it feels true.
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Emotion and Dialogue
• Dialogue is the most obvious way to express
emotion, yet it is rarely the best way, unless it
is forced out into open conversation.
• In a scene the emotion carrying the lines
may:
1. Support the dialogue
2. Contradict the dialogue
3. Have little relationship to the dialogue
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Emotion Supporting Dialogue
• When emotion supports the dialogue, the
lines reflect what the characters feel. When
someone is happy, it is hard to suppress.
Happiness affects attitude, actions and
easily filters into conversation.
• Fury is hard to control and ultimately inflects
what is said as well.
• Some emotional states find expression in
dialogue, but there still must be a
progression of emotions within the scene.
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Emotion Contradicting Dialogue
• When emotion
contradicts dialogue, it
forces the character to
take action contrary to
what she says. A
character might feel
fear and want to hide it
or might be angry and
be unable to show it.
Office Space (1999)
Written by Mike Judge
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Emotion with Little
Relationship to Dialogue
• Sometimes the whole point of a scene is the
emotion it contains. It’s purpose is to move
the audience one way or another, to get them
to identify with or oppose a character.
• Often the dialogue in such a scene may have
nothing to do with the emotion, which may be
revealed through action, expression, or the
visual approach to the scene.
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Example
CRAWFORD
I need a six-way linkup! Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, St.
Louis, Atlanta, and Dallas... What?... Can you hear me...?
He looks around, frustrated by the noisy circus atmosphere.
CLARICE is pulling on a pair of surgical gloves. She raises
her voice, turning up her natural accent by several notches.
CLARICE
Gentlemen. You officers and gentlemen!
Listen
here a minute, please. There's things I need to do for her...
WIDER ANGLE as we see that the small room is very crowded with deputies
and troopers. They gradually fall silent, looking at her.
CLARICE (contd., O.S.)
Y'all brought her this far, and I know her folks would thank
you if they could. Now please - go on out and let me take
care of her... Go on, now.
The men look at one another, a little bashfully, then begin to
file out, whispering among themselves.
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Revealing the Subtext
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Written by Doug Atchison
Lesson 13: Part III
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Externalization
• In scenes, emotions motivate characters to
act as they do. In most scenes, someone is
in the grip of powerful emotion, positive or
negative, and this emotion influences the
scene, how he behaves, and how others
react to him.
• Because the audience needs to become
aware of the emotions and thoughts
affecting the story, the screenwriter must
find ways to reveal or externalize them.
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Dialogue
• Asking a few questions about the
characters and the emotion in a scene can
help insure the dialogue strengthens the
subtext.
1. What must be said in the scene?
2. What can be implied?
3. What doesn’t need to be said at all?
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More Questions
4. What is the key emotion motivating the
characters in this scene?
5. How would their respective emotions
specifically affect the characters?
6. Would the character have a conscious or
unconscious strategy for dealing with
emotion? (For example, would he use
understatement or directly contradict his
emotions with words?)
7. What is the source of the conflict or tension?
More Questions (Continued)
• Any or all of these questions should help
clarify what is going on beneath the surface
of the characters.
• Once the questions have been answered,
you should have a better idea of the subtext
and how a character might react to it.
• Dialogue might be the perfect way to bring
the subtext out into the open. You might
also use physical attitude, business and
atmosphere.
Physical Attitude
• Physical attitude refers to a character’s
outward disposition or mood representing his
inner emotional state.
• Body language, facial expressions, clothes
and gestures fall under this heading and all
provide hints to a character’s state of mind.
• Unlike a novel, screenwriter’s can’t rely on
narrative to explain complex personalities,
emotions and attitudes. They must clue
audiences in through external action that can
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be seen and heard.
Writing Physical Attitude
• The screenwriter must describe the
characteristics of what the audience sees and
hears in the action and the parenthetical
directions.
• Most of the description is of an external state.
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Example
CRAWFORD
You see, the one we want most refuses to cooperate. I
want you to go after him again today, in the asylum.
CLARICE
Who's the subject?
CRAWFORD
The psychiatrist - Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Clarice stops walking, goes very still. A beat.
CLARICE
(Worried)
The cannibal...
Crawford doesn't respond, except to study her face.
CLARICE (contd.)
Yes, well... Okay, right. I'm glad for the chance, sir,
but - why me?
CRAWFORD
You're qualified and available. And frankly, I can't
spare a real agent right now.
He walks on again, at a faster clip. She hurries to keep
up.
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Business
• Business helps establish a sense of reality
and makes a scene more visually interesting.
Characters are also further defined by what
they do in the scene.
• The business of doing relates strongly to
subtext. If every action a character takes
represents a true portrait of who she is, her
actions speaks more truth about her than her
dialogue or the dialogue of other characters.
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Atmosphere
• Atmosphere also helps to reveal the
character’s inner state by reinforcing them.
Weather, time of day, nature, etc. can all
contribute to creating a mood that reflects the
interior world of the characters.
• Using the external world to mirror the inner
emotions felt by the characters helps the
audience share the character’s experience.
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Assignments
Se7en (1995)
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
Lesson 13: Part IV
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E-Board Post #1
• Watch the short film Black Rider and
analyze the subtext. What is made clear
even as it is not being spoken in
dialogue? What theme is the subtext
communicating?
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E-Board Post #2
• Watch the clip from Pulp Fiction in lesson
12. The dialogue is fairly overt as the two
men express their feelings and opinions.
Despite this, is there subtext in the scene?
What’s going on beneath the words?
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Writing Exercise #12
• Pick out a scene from your script that is
dialogue heavy and rewrite it using a
minimum of dialogue to demonstrate the
character’s inner states. Use such tools
as visual and sound effects, atmosphere,
business and physical attitude in rewriting
the scene. Turn in both the new scene
and the old scene for comparison.
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End of Lecture 13
Next Lecture: How do I Make my Script Better?