Screenwriting Tips and Ideas - Themes and Film (Thematic Consistency)

READ

This text takes an in-depth take a look at how tales work and what they're fabricated from. It attracts inspiration from evolution, psychology, sociology, and human behavior to work out why some tales talk a lot to so many individuals, from completely different backgrounds, creeds, and cultures, and what makes a universally well-received story or screenplay. Right here we are going to take a look at one thing you won't consider when writing your 'masterpiece' script: consistency.

CONSISTENCY WORKS

There are lots of completely different parts that comprise a screenplay, from characters and their jobs to philosophical concepts to things, props, places, and every part in-between. One thing that always helps when writing your script is conceiving a core precept, an ethos, a motif, or a theme and making use of it to many of the completely different parts of your script, thereby reaching thematic consistency all through your story.

However, why is consistency related, and the way will we apply it to the completely different parts of our screenplay?

THEMATIC CONSISTENCY EXPLAINED

Tales are a wonderful method to talk concepts with folks. Nonetheless, on the first watch of a movie, or on the first read-through of a screenplay, it must be easy sufficient in order that it's complete. Typically the only and most constant of scripts may be essentially the most impacting and efficient.

Consistency helps not solely with folks understanding your story superficially but in addition on a lot deeper emotional, ethical and unconscious stage.

This sounds sophisticated however in essence it signifies that, counter-intuitively, the less complicated and extra constant your script (the extra aligned all the parts), the extra complicated a concept you can convey to folks.

APPLICATION OF CONSISTENCY TO VARIOUS ELEMENTS

The way you apply consistency to the weather of your story shouldn't be one thing that may be taught logically. It must be arrived at through your personal feeling; through your personal injection of your unconscious into your screenplay. Listed here are a couple of concepts for the place to begin.

• 
  
  
  
  • The Job, Speciality, Experience, Place or Position of your Fundamental Character - The day-to-day life, abilities, character, and social standing / social function of your essential character closely influences during which instructions the movie can go, subsequently this is a component that when modified may have a big impression. That is one aspect that undoubtedly ought to be aligned with a general thematic battle.
  
  
  
  

 

• 
  
  
  
  • Construction - the timeline of your story may also signify an underlying theme. Should your character goes insane for instance, it might make extra sense to have a construction that jumps around and overlaps, fairly than a linear, A-to-B timeline (see Memento).
  
  
  
  

 

• 
  
  
  
  • Props / Symbols / Objects - In lots of movies there's an object which all the characters want, good and unhealthy. Symbolic objects like trophies, artifacts, cash, jewels, weapons, and so on. and these objects ought to, the place related, signify the theme on an unconscious stage. The lamp in Aladdin is apparent, boring, and low cost to take a look at, however, when initiated, essentially the most wonderful, magical drive is launched; in step with Aladdin's character: nothing to take a look at on the surface, however on the within are infinite potentialities: "It's not what's exterior, however, what's inside that counts" - a message anti-materialism and pro-personality.
  
  
  
  

 

• 
  
  
  
  • Location - Similar to in goals, the place a scene is ready can have an unconscious effect on the viewers and most of the time assist massively in creating consistency with no matter concepts are being explored. For this reason, each time a personality feeling unhappy, it begins to rain, each time the concept of demise is explored it's at night time, in a cemetery, there's lightning, and so on. Intense themes could be set within the desert, jungle or close to volcanoes, emotional scenes could be close to the ocean (see dream interpretation on 'seashores'), sensible or organized themes are likely to be set in a workplace block, and so on. The way you select to interpret your theme and apply it abstractly to your script parts is all the way down to you - you may know what feels proper!
  
  
  
  

 

• Costume and Bodily Descriptions - What sort of garments your characters put on and how many bodily attributes they're described as having had to be in step with the themes - you possibly can't have them put on one thing or look a sure approach 'only for the hell of it'. If a personality betrays folks and is 'weasley', he ought to be skinny and unattractive. If a personality is grasping we think about him to be fats, and so on.

CONCLUSION

Thematic consistency and a general simplification of the assorted concepts in your movie all pointing in direction of one thematic battle or one objective will penetrate deeper into the souls of your viewers a lot deeper than one thing inconsistent and overly sophisticated. There are maybe two or probably three concepts, themes, or motifs you can discover in a single screenplay, however, to begin with, it helps to have one concept that underpins every part.

EXAMPLES

Pure-self vs Darkish-self (Black Swan)

Age vs. Youth (Cocoon)

Hunter vs. Prey (Jaws)

Wealth vs. Poverty (Aladdin)

Male vs. Feminine (What Girls Need)

Share this post