I'm 8 drafts into a 7-minute short that relies heavily on imagery, music, and sparse dialogue to tell the story, in the vein of The Tree of Life, but not quite that surreal, haha! Does anyone have tips on how to do a more tonal film like that?
Screenwriting : How to Create a Tonal Film A La Terrance Malick? by Errol Teichert
How to Create a Tonal Film A La Terrance Malick?
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I am not sure if I could tell you, but probably I would start by just reading his scripts and see if the way that he writes his scripts could explain at all.
Yes. Pick a topic such as, ‘Tree of Life.’ Then sit quietly with a pen and paper in hand (perhaps you’ll be inspired to put on music... if so do so.) Sitting in nature is ideal. Then write down whatever imagery, words, thoughts, memories come to you. Everything will be on topic because you have set your intention. Key is to trust what comes. Then you’re good to go write it out and make it! Goodluck, Bec
You may want to start shooting it than writing it - when it comes to heavy imagery and music, those are often details you figure out during pre-production or production. That is to say - instead of trying to conceive it and then write it, why not experiment with a camera and include just enough information about what works into your script. You'd be surprised how much is NOT written that gets filmed.