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I’d like to talk a little about how to watch a film as a film student. This is in part due to a comment on my “Writing the Dark Night” post that genuinely asked if I ever just relax and soak a film in, and in part because of comments from some non-film-student friends about how I sometimes pay too much attention to the details of a film.
Let me set something straight: I do just soak in film sometimes. I am a zombie movie fanatic, I rent B-movies (especially action flicks) by the dozens, and dedicated an entire year of Thursday nights to following Grey’s Anatomy before I discovered “The Office” and all of its wonders.
But yes, when I particularly enjoy or dislike a film, as a student I can’t help but ask myself “Why?” And that’s when I start to study the cinematography, take note of performances, and – most importantly – dissect the story.
Taking an interest in something I liked has always gotten me into trouble socially. When I was in middle school and college people called it “geeky” and when I got to college people called it “pretentious.” Apparently liking computers, books (even if they were – dare I say it? - written before 1960), and films from all countries and genres is unforgivable. I can’t tell if people think I judge them for not sharing my tastes (I don’t… rock on, Hilary Duff fans!) or if maybe I really am as lame as I was in sixth grade.
I’ve never seen a sports fanatic be called pretentious for knowing plays in last night’s game or the stats of their favorite baseball player. What makes me any different from them? Just like my baseball-addicted family all make a judgement on who botched up every game because they fervently watched every replay of an out on ESPN, I know that such-and-such film seemed too slow because such-and-such a scene seemed like a second-act turning point but actually turned into an ordinary obstacle, disappointing the viewer. And just like my brother used to watch pro game after game when preparing for a little league tournament, I will watch a film like “The Dark Knight” for its flaws and its good qualities in order to prepare for my next student film.
I’m not sorry if doing something I love comes off as pretentious or uptight just because somebody else doesn’t love it as much. And yes, I understand the frustration. I hate watching baseball with my family sometimes because they get too involved. But after a while, even if everyone else is examining plays I don’t understand and rambling off statistics I won’t remember, I find I can sit back on my own and enjoy the game on my own terms.
It makes me sad that not everyone can do that, but I’m sure at some point they will figure it out.
Like any self-respecting 21-year-old film student, I packed into a theater full of fanboys to watch the much-anticipated midnight screening of The Dark Knight. While I thought the film was extremely well-acted and well directed (except for a few flawed actions scenes which I chalked up to Nolan being more of an actor’s director than a 10-year-old who loves special effect), there definitely were some story issues I thought could have been polished.
I could gush for hours about the beautiful performances by Caine, Ledger, and Oldman and the incredible ways in which terror and humor collided to make the audience feel both violated and entertained, but I decided for he sake of “learning to be a better writer” I would go over some points in the movie that just didn’t seem to work. Needless to say, SPOILERS ARE AFTER THE JUMP so don’t read unless you’ve seen the flick or don’t care:
So, being jobless while I wait to start school again in the summer, I’ve been working on a few spec scripts in the comedy/dramedy categories so that when I graduate next May I’m not moving out to LA with nothing but some journal entries from the 8th grade. Unless WMA wants the juice on what a bitch my best friend was to me at lunch that day? Dude, I need an agent.
Anyway, as everyone knows TV shows are pretty traditional in structure, some even bordering on formulaic. However, it seems that the number of acts in each show (not Aristotelian acts, but the formal kind used by Networks to chop the story into bite-sized breaks in between their far more entertaining commercials) is on the rise. It used to be four acts to a one-hour drama, yet shows like “Pushing Daisies” are going into six acts to allow for more commercial breaks.
So, to get a feel for this teensy acts and how to make them flow as smoothly as “Pushing Daisies” did, I sat down with a script and video of the episode “Dummy” and plotted out its basic structure and timing. I’ve pasted the messy, un-spellchecked results of this study below the jump. Some things of note before that, though:
- It seems that the first act is always longer than the others by about five minutes (I’ve checked with other episodes of “Pushing Daisies” and this is fairly consistent)
- There always seems to be one shorter act of only 5 minutes
- Action scene play out longer than dialogue, which tends to eat up pages.
Anyway… I promise to be neater/more wordpress friendly next time, but so far here’s what I have:
