© Copyright 1991, 1999 Blake Harris. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Chapter Two
The Screenplay
On reading a few very successful screenplays
for the first time, one will usually notice how sparse
they seem to be. Descriptions are brief and to the
point. Often a character's emotional tone is not
spelled out in so many words. Actors and the director
work it out from the nature of the situation, the
dialogue and the character's actions.
One will also notice how frugal and
economical good screenwriters are with dialogue. If
something can be expressed in three words, and still
sound natural and appropriate, it is expressed in three
words. Not six or ten or thirty. If one line of
dialogue will communicate all that needs to be revealed
at that point, the good writer doesn't use three or ten
lines of dialogue. Characters don't speak just to fill
up screen time.
The role of dialogue in a film is not the
same as in a stage play. And this illuminates one
major difference between film and other forms of drama.
In theater, the actor depends heavily upon
his dialogue to project his character. He is but a
small figure to the audience and even the most
exaggerated facial expressions and movements will have
little impact on those who sit some distance away. So
stage plays are, relatively speaking, dialogue heavy--
this being the primary means to convey character and
situations.
In cinema, the choice of shots and the way
these are cut together controls exactly what the
audience sees. The smallest detail can be captured and
made significant.
Showing something always has more impact than
telling. The gruesome television images of war, for
instance, have far more emotional impact than volumes
of talk or verbal descriptions.
Also in cinema it is possible to show the
audience so much more than you ever could in a stage
play. Quite literally, all the world becomes a
possible stage.
It is interesting that during the days of
silent pictures, it was thought that adding sound would
be superfluous.
Why you might ask?
Because stories could be told with far more
impact by showing rather than telling. For the few
bits of vital information that could not be conveyed
clearly by actions and expressions, title cards were
used.
But the ideal silent film was said to be one
where no title cards at all were actually necessary for
the audience to fully understand what was happening.
In fact, a photoplay (as screenplays were
then called) was defined as "a filmed story to be told
in action instead of words."
When the "talkies" came in, the studios and
producers brought in a wave of new writers--novelists
and stage writers experienced in writing dialogue. The
sudden trend was to rely heavily upon dialogue to
convey the bulk of the story. And this produced a
flood of pictures that are today, to put it bluntly,
boring and almost painful to watch.
The new writers who came to Hollywood had to
learn much of what the old scenario writers of silent
pictures had already worked out.
Sound added a new dimension, and spoken
dialogue made possible subtleties of meaning and
character. But the essential ingredients of a
successful film actually did not change all that much.
Even with dialogue, it was discovered through
experience that films still worked better when most of
the important information was conveyed visually.
Because showing is more powerful than
telling. And in cinema, you can show almost anything
in film--any situation, any relationship, any action.
This is actually also true in theater. I had
a good teacher in university, Professor Lawrence, who
spent many years studying the theater of many different
cultures, both primitive and modern. He sought a
definition for theater that would embrace all theater
from religious ceremonial rites and Japanese No drama
to Shakespeare and Ibsen. His final conclusion was
simple and yet powerful. "Theater is showing, not
telling," he said. Even in European stage plays,
dialogue is usually most powerful when it reveals
rather than states.
So in a good screenplay, dialogue tends to be
used frugally. Too much dialogue clutters up and slows
down the impact of the film, especially when it slows
down or reduces visually showing the audience what is
happening.
Modern screenwriters are often told to write
visually. But they are not always told to do this with
the roots of the art form in mind. They forget that
millions of people packed into theaters week after week
to watch silent films. The Hollywood feature film was
born and glamorous tinsel-town became a mecca for those
seeking fame and fortune. This was not simply because
of the novelty of motion pictures. That wore off
rapidly.
No, a new dynamic art form had been created,
one that moved people and touched their lives.
Flickering images of light, playing across a flat
screen, gave people an experience that they could
identify with and which had value and meaning.
That power came from the fact that dramatic
stories could be told in a visual way.
And this is the modern screenwriter's
heritage--the roots of his art form. As soon as he
relies on dialogue to tell his story, rather than
showing it visually, he is moving away from the
essential power of his art. And the result is weaker.
So one of the most important lessons a
screenwriter can learn is to show rather than tell.
Dialogue is only used to add subtlety to characters and
action and to provide additional information that will
help the audience better understand what is going on
and why.
Film Examples Of Showing Rather Than Telling:
An Officer And A Gentleman
In the closing scene, when Zack comes into the factory
to take _______ away, not one word is spoken between
them.
Witness
The boy stands in front of the awards case and
recognizes a photograph of the police officer he saw
commit a murder.
Casablanca
The earlier relationship is shown in a flashback,
especially the fact that Ilsa is leaving Rick after she
discovers her husband is alive in Paris. She loves
Rick but still is leaving him.
The Graduate
When Benjamin first takes Mrs. Robinson to a hotel
room, his sexual inexperience is utterly clear although
he is trying to pretend otherwise.
Chinatown
The connection between Hollis Mulwray and Evelyn's
daughter is shown through Jake's snooping and
photographing the meeting. That Jake immediately
misconstrues the relationship is shown visually.
Rocky
Mickey comes to Rocky to ask to be his manager now that
the big fight is set. Rocky tells him he doesn't need
a manager now, he needed him 10 years ago. After
Mickey leaves, Rocky lies down on his bed for a few
seconds, springs up and races out the door. We cut to
a street scene where Rocky runs to Mickey hunched
beneath a street lamp and places his arm around his
shoulder.
Saturday Night Fever
When Tony and Stephanie dance in the competition, they
win first prize. But Tony is enraged because it is
obvious that a Puerto Rican couple were better dancers
and deserved to win. He walks over and gives them the
trophy.
The
Elements Of The Screenplay
In the art of the screenplay:
First we are telling a story in the form
of DRAMA.
In presenting our story on the screen
through the medium of photographed
action we have SCREEN DRAMA.
The story is about people, giving us
characters. The portrayal of these
characters gives us CHARACTERIZATION.
The characters, being human, have
desires. These desires cause them to do
certain things--and the causes are
called MOTIVE.
Motive finds its outlet in deeds, which
are the effects of the causes, giving us
ACTION.
The various motives, clashing, give us
CONFLICT and STRUGGLE.
Waiting for the outcome of the conflict
gives us SUSPENSE.
To be interesting the characters must be
dissimilar, giving us CONTRAST.
The various minor happenings throughout
are INCIDENTS.
Incident by incident the conflict grows
into SITUATIONS.
Each situation builds up to a CRISIS.
There must be several situations and
crises, following one after another,
giving us SEQUENCE.
The sequence of situations builds to the
final situation and the greatest crisis
in the story, which culminates in the
CLIMAX.
After which we gather the various
threads of the story together and reach
the ENDING.
DIALOGUE is used throughout to add
subtlety and to convey information that
fleshes out what is being communicated
visually.
In addition to these components, there are
other fundamentals which are important:
The OBJECT of conflict must be of
sufficient importance to possess
SIGNIFICANCE.
The story usually involves a single
general SUBJECT known as THEME.
The PERIOD OF TIME involved in a drama
must be reasonably limited by the UNITY
OF TIME.
The story must not cover more TERRITORY
than is permitted by the UNITY OF PLACE.
Characters, incidents and situations
must be woven into the story so as not
to violate the UNITY OF ACTION.
To make the whole story appear REAL to
the audience we must create the ILLUSION
OF REALITY.
In order to accomplish this our story
must possess PROBABILITY.
Occasionally happenings result in
COINCIDENCE.
To justify this we must carefully LEAD
UP to it with incidents in the form of
PREPARATION.
In order to arouse the fundamental
emotions of mixed audiences we must have
HUMAN INTEREST and HEART INTEREST.
To arouse the increased interest of an
audience, we OFTEN have LOVE INTEREST.
To relieve the intense seriousness of
dramatic conflict we can utilize COMEDY
or HUMOR.
To arouse admiration and identification
with the leading character of a story,
we must have HEROIC VALUES.
As a screenplay will eventually be shown
in "motion pictures" we must have
PICTURE VALUES.
To appeal to a sophisticated audience we
must have NOVELTY.
All must be arranged in the form of a
PLOT.
The pervading influence or conditions
surrounding our characters; the
"enveloping mood" of our story; the
background, animate or inanimate; the
"local color" gives us ATMOSPHERE AND
SETTING.
To cause sudden emotional agitation in
our audience, to stir them with terror,
horror or fear, we SOMETIMES make use of
the element of SHOCK.
To strike the audience with wonder,
astonishment or confusion we SOMETIMES
introduce an incident, event or
condition that is unexpected, sudden or
remarkable, thus arousing the element of
SURPRISE.
In arousing and maintaining the interest
of the audience we SOMETIMES keep them
in ignorance and expectation, thus using
the element of MYSTERY.
In order to arouse the emotions of fear
and apprehension in our audience we
SOMETIMES use the element of MENACE.
To satisfy the audience in punishing
wrong and rewarding right and virtue, we
usually give heed to the element of
JUSTICE.
In arousing the emotions of the audience
through depicting violent physical
actions we SOMETIMES strive for PHYSICAL
"PUNCH."
In arousing the emotions of the audience
through the use of quiet, restrained,
though tense action we SOMETIMES make
use of MENTAL "PUNCH."
To keep our stories logical we must give
heed to CAUSE AND EFFECT.
To build drama we must have RESEARCH or
MATERIAL.
These points provide a vocabulary of dramatic
storytelling. Many of them have been described in
other ways with different words. But whatever the
terminology used, this list covers most of the
elements--the tools--of the screenwriter's craft. Most
books on screenwriting cover some of these in one way
or another, but not necessarily in a satisfactorily
comprehensive fashion.
It is almost impossible to consider one of
these elements in isolation. However, by focusing on
one and then another, a complete picture starts to
emerge of how all these elements fit together to make
screenplays work.
The Foundation Of The Screenplay--Drama
The heart and soul of the screenplay is
drama.
And the foundation of all drama is struggle
or conflict.
Someone or several someones want something.
They try to get it. Some others or something resists
their efforts to obtain it.
The continuation of those efforts, now
succeeding temporarily, now failing, here changing in
plan, there surprising the antagonist, is the action of
drama.
In comedy, the struggle is surrounded by
amusing and unexpected circumstances. But the
foundation of a comedy film is the same.
Talking about conflict in drama does not
necessarily mean physical violence. Conflict consists
of effort and counter-effort, effort and resistance,
effort and the frustration of effort, temporary or
otherwise.
With cleverly conceived and developed
conflict of purpose, a screenplay can have more
suspense and a more effective result than is often the
case with drama based on physical force.
Every man and women has something to fight
for, something to strive for, some goal to reach, some
objective to attain. One might struggle for riches,
another for love. One may possess vast wealth and yet
struggle for glory and happiness.
Everyone of us has something to strive for.
There are always obstacles to be overcome and
opposition to contend with. The result is conflict.
The greater the obstacle, the greater the
conflict. And the greater and more evenly balanced the
conflict, the greater the drama.
Drama is the portrayal of human characters in
emotional, objective conflict, resulting from
contradicting motives and desires.
Emotion Verses Intellect
Each individual is a separate and distinct
person. Each is guided to a greater or lesser degree
by his intellect.
Under the surface, however, people share in
common the same fundamental emotions. Hence an
audience, as a broad range of individuals, will tend to
respond more to emotion than intellect.
Conflict and struggle caters to emotion more
than intellect. Hence the need for conflict in any
drama.
What Is A Theme
Sometimes people have the impression that
theme means a brief statement of the plot. This is not
what is meant by theme. It is not a single-sentence
statement of the principle plot points.
A theme is sometimes also called the premise
of the story. The word premise, however, also can be
used to describe the starting point of the story or the
one-sentence plot description. So theme is the
traditional word for what is being described here.
What is a theme?
Clayton Hamilton many years ago said: "By
theme is meant some eternal principle or truth of human
life--such a truth as might be stated by a man of
philosophic mind in an abstract and general
proposition--which the dramatist contrives to convey to
his audience concretely by embodying it in the
particular details of his play. These details must be
so selected as to represent at every point some phase
of the central truth and no incidents or characters
must be shown which are not directly or indirectly
representative of the one thing which in that
particular theme the author has portrayed. The great
plays of the world have all grown from a single central
thread; or to vary that figure they have been spun like
spider webs--filament after filament out of a central
living source."
This is equally true in film. The theme of a
script serves to unify all its parts into a cohesive
dramatic whole. It is the heart of the conflict and
every scene in some way should, through action, reflect
or comment upon that theme.
The purpose of a screenplay is its theme. It
is what it is saying in general about people or life.
If a screenplay has no purpose, if it makes
no comment on life and does not in any way illuminate
the human condition, it has no theme.
A purposeless individual with no incentive,
no aim in life, is not likely to accomplish much. He
is blown about by every little breeze of suggestion or
mishap and tends to drift aimlessly.
Likewise, a screenplay without a theme will
drift and meander aimlessly and will lack overall
impact.
Conflict and action without a basic theme are
superficial and mean little to an audience. In drama,
as in life, there must be a theme, a purpose.
Drama--a story--is the account of the
struggle of one or more men or women who seek to attain
some purpose. Theme is not the skeleton of a plot. It
is the idea behind the skeleton--the essential
struggle.
The inception or initial starting point in
writing a screenplay may not be a theme. A script
might start with an idea for a character or a setting.
The inspiration for a good story can spring from many
different sources.
But the central core of a screenplay has to
be found sooner or later--its purpose or theme--and
this then finally determines what incidents and
characters are included and the way the conflict
unfolds to its end resolution.
Some examples of themes might be:
If you try to practice deception you will be found
out.
Absolute power corrupts.
Selfishly ambitious people, by their disregard for
others, provide the means through which their own
purposes are defeated.
Money can't buy true happiness.
A thousand different scripts could be written
with the above themes. And there are an almost endless
number of themes that could drive a screenplay.
A story without a theme isn't much of a
story.