{"id":109,"date":"2008-01-14T06:52:25","date_gmt":"2008-01-13T18:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/2008\/01\/14\/ive-got-something-to-tell-you\/"},"modified":"2012-09-23T15:54:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T03:54:28","slug":"ive-got-something-to-tell-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/ive-got-something-to-tell-you\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve Got Something To Tell You"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know the point in the movie where the AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER, already keeping the peace between PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER and MUTE-UNTIL-NECESSARY CHARACTER, realises that Mute~ has crucial information that will affect the outcome of the film<\/i> and so does the obvious thing:<\/p>\n

\n

AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

(to Plot-Advancing Character)<\/p>\n

I need to tell you something –<\/p>\n

PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER<\/p>\n

I don’t have time for this –<\/p>\n

AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

But it’s important!<\/p>\n

PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER<\/p>\n

(claps hands over ears)<\/p>\n

LALALALALALALALALA!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Moments like these are vital for there to be suspense, victory and\/or tragedy down the line. But it’s about as tired and welcome as the telephone call from someone with vital information who won’t spill it over the damned ‘phone<\/i>.<\/p>\n

If I was watching an okay to great movie or T.V. ep and one of these exchanges turned up, the whole thing was spoiled for me. (Nowadays I’m a little more forgiving.) Then a couple of movies seemed to turn the tide. I watched them so many times that, whether I wanted to or not, I’d studied<\/i> them. Two things I learned from James Cameron<\/a>‘s The Terminator<\/a> and Aliens<\/a>:<\/p>\n

One:<\/b>  if there’s potential film-ends-right-now information to be exchanged, introduce an external interruption –<\/p>\n

\n

AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

I need to tell you something –<\/p>\n

PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER<\/p>\n

I’m all ears.<\/p>\n

A passing .50 CALIBRE SNIPER ROUND vaporizes Plot~’s head.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Two:<\/b>  even better, make the external interruption the pay-off of a much earlier character set-up –<\/p>\n

\n

PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER<\/p>\n

(sotto)<\/p>\n

I was thirsty so I got a drink from the fridge... nope. Then I rinsed the glass and set it on the shelf... not there either.<\/p>\n

Audience~ enters, flustered:<\/p>\n

AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

I need to tell you something.<\/p>\n

PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER<\/p>\n

Hm?<\/p>\n

Plot~ continues retracing their steps.<\/p>\n

AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

Mute~ said something. I can’t make sense of it but it’s something important<\/u>.<\/p>\n

PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

(sotto)<\/p>\n

Then I sat down to watch the telly...<\/p>\n

AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

Mute~ said, “Beep. Beep. Beeeeep.”<\/p>\n

Plot~, already half-way to the LOUNGE, freezes mid-step.<\/p>\n

AUDIENCE SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER<\/p>\n

Does that mean anything to you?<\/p>\n

TIGHT ON PLOT~ as he turns – and REAL-TIME SLOOOWS DOOOWN –<\/p>\n

ANGLE ON MICROWAVE as it counts down – 0:03, 0:02, –<\/p>\n

SLO-MO as Plot~ shoves Audience~ aside –<\/p>\n

SUPER-TIGHT ON MICROWAVE L.E.D. as it reads 0:01 –<\/p>\n

WIDE ON Plot~ in mid-flight, headed straight for the microwave –<\/p>\n

SUPER-DUPER-TIGHT ON LAST L.E.D. DIGIT as it switches from 1 to 0 –<\/p>\n

MICROWAVE<\/p>\n

Beep. Beep. Beeeeep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One could argue that the external interruption is a mere variation on the knock on the door or ringing telephone that cuts in on an escalating conversation. I agree: there is that about the first device.<\/p>\n

But the second device takes it a step further: by removing the deus ex machina<\/i>, it makes the characters more responsible for their own – and others’ – destinies. It gives a story that circular\/holistic\/karmic\/we’re-all-in-this-together touch.<\/p>\n

Y’know, like in real life. But with more guns and car chases and stuff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know the point in the movie where the AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER, already keeping the peace between PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER and MUTE-UNTIL-NECESSARY CHARACTER, realises that Mute~ has crucial information that will affect the outcome of the film and so does the obvious thing: AUDIENCE-SYMPATHETIC CHARACTER (to Plot-Advancing Character) I need to tell you something – PLOT-ADVANCING CHARACTER … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “I’ve Got Something To Tell You”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[205,90,98,668,667,669],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-scriptwriting","tag-aliens","tag-james-cameron","tag-plot-device","tag-suspense","tag-tension","tag-the-terminator"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3074,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/3074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}