Not plot, not character, not explosions or CGI whatsits, but story
When in doubt, blow it up. Not sure how to link one scene to the next? I find a slow motion shot of a helicopter against a sunset usually does the trick. You see my friends I get alot of slagging about being Hollywood Boy. How I will always favour an explosion over a conversation. I understand the origin of the joke. I'm a sucker for visual effects! I love a good stunt. Check out my DVD colection and you'll find among others, Con Air, Terminators 1-3, The Rock, Lethal Weapon 2, The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded, which I bought only for the fight sequence between Keanu Reeves and the Merovingian's henchmen that leads to that phenomenol car chase. 21 minutes of enjoyable material in a 2 1/2 hour film. Where did it all go wrong boys? But I submit that this reputation does me a disservice.
The key for me is story. What is this film about? Who is doing what and why should I give a shit? Never mind giving £12.50 (Damn you Leicester Square and your inflated prices) and two hours of my life. The joy of watching a good plot confidentally reveal itself is a rare treat. Usual Suspects, Narc, LA Confidential, Memento, cinematic highlights for this reason. Great stories, populated by interesting characters. Often times people differentiate between plot driven films and character driven films and this is certainly true if you differentiate "plot" from "story". The story is what your film is about, the plot, the mechanics holding it together, making it work. It might be easier to differentiate plot driven films from their character driven counterparts but it's impossible in my opinion to seperate character from story. Venture further along my DVD shelf and you'll come to Remains of the Day (dir James Ivory, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro). A character driven film more than a plot driven film certainly. But the most important thing for me is that it's a great story. And for any story to be great, it needs a great plot and great characters. Interesting people doing interesting things in an interesting setting.
And that is what I'm about. It's what I want to achieve across a range of genres. Will some of those stories require CGI and a pyrotecnics team to make them work? Fuck yeah! Some won't, it just depends on the story. But to state in one sentence what it is I want to do, I want to create great stories for the cinema. Everything else is dressing.
Of course it doesn't go unnoticed that the majority of films in my collection and that I watch at the cinema hail from our star spangled banner singing friends across the Atlantic. I accept without protest that this does nothing to help my cause. I think though this is because I'm drawn to films that move. I'm not, repeat not, talking about action. Car chases, gun fights, battles...though I do love a good battle...no Garreth! Stop it! That's three viewings of Derek Jarman's Blue as penance! Review the films listed above, the list that begins with Usual Suspects that is, not the one that begins with Con Air. Each of them moves in some way. People are doing, going, solving, and character is being explored in the context of a story that's moving. And this is why alot of European cinema doesn't appeal to me, speaking in the most ludicrous of generalisations of course. A recent example is Hidden, or Cache to give it its French title (dir/writer Michael Haneke). Critically acclaimed, the friend I was with (another aspiring writer and cinephile whose knowledge of cinema is actually terrifying) loved it. Me? Well, there was definately alot I admired, an interesting story, some great scenes, one or two shocking moments, good performances, yet somehow I wasn't engaged. It's as if the overall point was "hidden."
That's not to say if a film is slow I switch off. Remains of the Day as I've mentioned, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Son's Room, Take My Eyes, slow, slow films but gripping. I recently rewatched Chinatown and had forgotten how slow that film is in a sense. But again, it absolutely pulls you in and you're hooked. Why? Because they move. They go somewhere. They don't stand around dressed head to toe in black, puffing on a filtered mint cigarette, sipping a decaf, soy latte, procrastinating on the meaning of life.
Of course I'm being facietious. But only slightly...
Great stories that do something and go somewhere. That's what I want from a film and what I want from my writing.
Though I did use the phrase "the fight sequence between Keanu Reeves and the Merovingian's henchmen that leads to that phenomenol car chase" worryingly casually. Perhaps I protest too much...
The key for me is story. What is this film about? Who is doing what and why should I give a shit? Never mind giving £12.50 (Damn you Leicester Square and your inflated prices) and two hours of my life. The joy of watching a good plot confidentally reveal itself is a rare treat. Usual Suspects, Narc, LA Confidential, Memento, cinematic highlights for this reason. Great stories, populated by interesting characters. Often times people differentiate between plot driven films and character driven films and this is certainly true if you differentiate "plot" from "story". The story is what your film is about, the plot, the mechanics holding it together, making it work. It might be easier to differentiate plot driven films from their character driven counterparts but it's impossible in my opinion to seperate character from story. Venture further along my DVD shelf and you'll come to Remains of the Day (dir James Ivory, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro). A character driven film more than a plot driven film certainly. But the most important thing for me is that it's a great story. And for any story to be great, it needs a great plot and great characters. Interesting people doing interesting things in an interesting setting.
And that is what I'm about. It's what I want to achieve across a range of genres. Will some of those stories require CGI and a pyrotecnics team to make them work? Fuck yeah! Some won't, it just depends on the story. But to state in one sentence what it is I want to do, I want to create great stories for the cinema. Everything else is dressing.
Of course it doesn't go unnoticed that the majority of films in my collection and that I watch at the cinema hail from our star spangled banner singing friends across the Atlantic. I accept without protest that this does nothing to help my cause. I think though this is because I'm drawn to films that move. I'm not, repeat not, talking about action. Car chases, gun fights, battles...though I do love a good battle...no Garreth! Stop it! That's three viewings of Derek Jarman's Blue as penance! Review the films listed above, the list that begins with Usual Suspects that is, not the one that begins with Con Air. Each of them moves in some way. People are doing, going, solving, and character is being explored in the context of a story that's moving. And this is why alot of European cinema doesn't appeal to me, speaking in the most ludicrous of generalisations of course. A recent example is Hidden, or Cache to give it its French title (dir/writer Michael Haneke). Critically acclaimed, the friend I was with (another aspiring writer and cinephile whose knowledge of cinema is actually terrifying) loved it. Me? Well, there was definately alot I admired, an interesting story, some great scenes, one or two shocking moments, good performances, yet somehow I wasn't engaged. It's as if the overall point was "hidden."
That's not to say if a film is slow I switch off. Remains of the Day as I've mentioned, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Son's Room, Take My Eyes, slow, slow films but gripping. I recently rewatched Chinatown and had forgotten how slow that film is in a sense. But again, it absolutely pulls you in and you're hooked. Why? Because they move. They go somewhere. They don't stand around dressed head to toe in black, puffing on a filtered mint cigarette, sipping a decaf, soy latte, procrastinating on the meaning of life.
Of course I'm being facietious. But only slightly...
Great stories that do something and go somewhere. That's what I want from a film and what I want from my writing.
Though I did use the phrase "the fight sequence between Keanu Reeves and the Merovingian's henchmen that leads to that phenomenol car chase" worryingly casually. Perhaps I protest too much...
posted by Garreth at 11:30 am
1 Comments:
Great blog Gaz. I think having a place to work through your thoughts on writing will help you to reach your goal. I hope it provides you with inspiration, I look forward to reading your future posts.
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