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Mark Allen
导演, 编剧, 作曲家
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Screenwriting: Flanking Your Story

Tarantino is one of those writers who brings a definite personality to his work.  A lot of what he does, though, is very specific to his own genre and when people "use" it - it feels like an imitation.  Even when they are really just being inspired by the same types of films he was inspired by - it feels imitative.

However, there is one thing he does well which I think can be used by any writer in any genre.

Whenever his stories reach a point where the audience can play the rest out in their minds - or even the next four or five steps - he throws a totally unexpected twist.  It's almost as if he put something in the film to surprise himself give himself a problem to solve.  It works because he continues to develop his story and reveal his character's character as they overcome the unexpected situation.

If you want to see an example of this - think of the thing that happens in Pulp Fiction which causes the introduction of Quentin's own character.

William Goldman discusses this technique in his book "Adventures in the Screentrade" at great length (and I guarantee you that Quentin read this  book).  Essentially it is the ability to play with the audience expectations.

In a practical sense, try this:  Whenever the next few things you're writing feel like "tasks" - challenge yourself.  Throw something in that surprises YOU and see if you can write yourself out of it.  The fact that you have to think about it for a while means your audience, who is watching in real time, will actually be curious how you're going to solve this problem.  Audience curiosity is key to holding their attention.  It also makes your characters and your scrīpt seem smart. 

I like to think of this as "flanking" your characters.  To Flank is to come in from the side - unexpectedly.  It's not something you have to do all the time, but whenever you feel your story has reached a predictable point - it's a good technique.

What to avoid though is belaboring your story by just throwing in a whole bunch of obstacles without ever allowing any flow to arise.  You can't break expectatioins without first establishing them.

16 年多 前 0 赞s  14 评论s  0 shares
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Sin City was mostly directed by Robert Rodriguez who I probably won't ever mention in a blog. Check out Pulp Fiction. It's a great movie. Resevoir Dogs is also a great film. Both films are a bit violent... but if you liked Sin City - it won't bother you.
16 年多 ago
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Alove... are you relaxing because I'm donig all the seriousness for you? Yulien - I have a project with Grindhouse star Zoe Bell and I actually saw the movie at the premiere with the cast and such and so my view of it is probably pretty distorted. People are amp'd at those events. That said, neither film is really my cup of tea. In particular I've never been a big fan of the camp violence genre (Planet Terror... I think that was the name of the first half). Cokie - yes - I think 300 is in that mythical sort of realm of violence where it can almost get away with anything. I have some mixed feelings on that subject though I must admit. Taxi Drive (a GREAT film) is very violent and it's not mythical at all, but I think it's completely acceptible because it's exploring that realm of the psyche. The violence I hate with a passion is the kind where people are blowing away rows of people with machines guns or whatever with no consequence - never seeing the result of it. Devoid of emotion. It bothers me on a writing perspective just because all actions should have weight no matter how big or small. Big things happening with no weight is just a waste of production money. It bothers me on an ethical level in that big actions should have consequence of some kind - some weight.
16 年多 ago
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butter - I think he'd tell you so himself without blinking. I know he is a huge fan of Asian cinema, that's why he has a distribution deal which exclusively brings Asian films to the US. Perhaps he's trying to payback? I get your point. You know, he's the same way with a lot of genre's. He likes genre films. Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown are very "blackspoitation"-ish. Cokie - I think horror films can go either way just like all films. There is a big difference between the Shining and Friday the 13th part whatever.
16 年多 ago
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butter - and don't get me wrong, I am not defending him - that's not my job - I'm just staying on target with what the post is about. I could definitely have used another writer and made the same point.
16 年多 ago

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语言
english
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Los Angeles, United States
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male
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April 13, 2007