Ever since I started to better understand what the writer was trying to accomplish in the scenes--or sequences (when watching a TV series or a Movie), I'm now--without doing it on purpose--LOOKING to spot and decipher the techniques used in the story.
Examples:
- oh, here's where they create the empathy for the main character ... I felt that ...
- Ok, this is backstory ... but it's being done well--bravo ... snuck that right in ...
- that's the second time they said those exact words ... I smell a third-time call-back in the third act climax ...
- oh, they just zoomed in on that ... OK, that's gonna be important later ...
- yep, they just raised the stakes right there--nice tension bump ...
- was that the dramatic question just established there? ... where's the goal? ...
I can't turn it off ... anyone else?
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I turn it off for comedy. I wanna laugh freely.
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That’s why I watch a lot of European stuff. Doesn’t follow a lot of the formulas in other films. At a scene and story level, sometime you can see the writer.
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My wife doesn't like to watch films with me anymore because I'm always analyzing them. I find continuity errors all the time (even in adds).
You are right Craig.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4771896/
Obeyed NONE of the 400 rules; superb movie.
Your neck of the woods, Outrageous Fortune
Mixed genres anytime they pleased. My fave TV series.
Not watching movies with Doug !4 people like this
Yep, it drives my other half crazy. We re-wrote one of the Star Wars movies on the way home in the car...
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As a fellow storyteller I embrace it. Every once in awhile I found I will stay awake, and be pleasently surprised. I enjoy an extremely well written film in which the writer hides the structure by varying the pace, staggering the scene lengths, utilizing subtle set ups instead of the obvious, and if the editor had a great director; they do not need to cut to a silly close up reaction shot for the resolution of each beat. Best of luck.
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@Robert You are not alone (as most mention in thread) and like you I do not even "intentionally" do it. It's a kind of 24/7 auto pilot, I'm even in this mode when not watching a film, EG Today I was in supermarket queue where a row ensued and when I got back home I started writing notes about it for a film idea.
Cheers, Debbie Croysdale .... me too! When I'm ...
- doing laundry
- doing dishes
- cooking
- trying to fall asleep
- reading articles
- vacuuming
- driving
- watching TV
- (especially 70's, 80's and 90's) listening to great music
... ideas, dialogue, scenes: just keeps coming at me. (and I LIKE IT!)
There is a very popular crime TV series where exposition is shameless.
Dialogue explain scenes, villains explain murder.
They could almost narrate "In the previous scene that we had to delete because of time constraints , the villain kidnapped the girl because she reminded him of his girlfriend. Now he will just explain how he was abused and why he killed the girl.
They fill plot holes will exposition. If we had 40 minutes an episode to tell a complete story , we would all take shortcuts.
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Same! My mum used to do it when I was younger too but more toward design etc.
We’d all be on the edge of our seats and she’d chime in “OH I like those cups!”
It used to do my head in but now, its me!
Distract myself with things like “ooh what’s the lighting set up here then?”
I think that inner commentary is necessary when figuring out why we like / dislike stuff.
:-)
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Relatable!
Thanks for all the replies everyone. Appears most of us have that same involuntary urge to understand the underlying framework, choices and INTENT, the writer used to write the script that was used to create what we're watching.
(Although, my replies are no longer showing up in my notifications--since Thursday--for some odd reason?) Anyone else?
PS - Writing is hard work!
My dad used to ask me (see: tease me: when I was goofing around and ignoring what I was supposed to be doing): He'd say:
"Are you TENSION RELEAVING ... or are you GOAL ACHEIVING?"
I'm (seriously--literally) going to put a post-it note on my laptop that says that! Have a great/happy weekend all :)
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I read a great book awhile back. "How to Read a Film: The World of Movies, Media, Multimedia: Language, History, Theory" by James Monaco. Not sure which edition I have, it's stuck in a box somewhere after moving. Goes way beyond any pedestrian level of understanding how movies and TV work. It's not a screenwriting book. It's about how to read a film as its final product, after all of the actors, set design, art department folks and editors have done their job.
TV used to be straight forward because it was meant for mass consumption. Paid cable has changed that with things like Game of Thrones, True Detective, Ray Donovan, etc.
I would go as far to say that it's required reading for anyone serious about film and TV...
I am watching a popular series on Netflix; Mystic Pop-up Bar.
Me: Why are the scenes so long? They already established what the character needs from the scene, stop dragging it out.
Seriously they could lose twenty minutes per episode and still make the show more interesting.
Enter late, leave early ringing in my ears.
Yes I definitely fall prey to doing this lol. I love it when something is SOOOO good I forget to analyze at all and just get lost in it. (doesn't happen much, though)
I love this! Same here. Although sometimes I wish I could turn that off when I want to just watch something for pleasure haha