Mamet: “When the film is correctly designed, ... we need to hear what happens next. ... If we don’t care what happens next, if the film is not correctly designed, we may, unconsciously, create our own story ... but we are no longer interested in the story that we’re being told. ... That’s when it stops being interesting. So that’s where the bad author ... has to take up the slack by making each subsequent event more diverting than the last; to trick the audience into paying attention. The end of this is obscenity. Let’s really see their genitals, let’s really endanger the actor through stunts, let’s really set the building on fire. Over the course of a movie, it forces the filmmaker to get more and more bizarre. Over the course of a career, it forces a filmmaker to get more and more eccentric; over the course of a culture, it forces the culture to degenerate into depravity, which is what we have now.” (pp. 62-3).
Search The Internet Movie Database Enter the name of a movie, TV show, or person and then
click "Go" to get more information about it/them from
imdb.com.
READ Chapter 2: Parallel Film Editing (Creating Screen Event)
TERMS: Parallel Editing -- the interaction of two narrative lines.
Sequence (123 composition a must)
Visual Punctuations:
1. Straight cut
2. An optical (fade out and etc.)
[ Connect the subject with Aristotle (script analysis, action = plot). And "action" in acting. Camera as actor, performer, writer. See The BOOK of SPECATOR. ]
Aristotle (Poetics) equales plot with action, the most fundamental element of drama. Everything about film is about ACTION (that's why we have the name "Motion Pictures").
"To handle a camera, only an efficient crew is need. Far more important to a filmmaker is the ability to handle ideas and concepts." Daniel Arijon, Grammar of the Film Language
Yes, yes, the ideas that rule the action!
In my acting classes I say that ACTION is REACTION. What do I mean? I mean that once you established the situation and the character, all you have to do is to reACT, to follow your own story ...
Well, you have to UNDERSTAND your own ideas, of course. Only by understanding the drama, we can select the PEAK MOMENTS (the only segments we are about to film). You have to know WHAT you want to say -- and give some thought about HOW to do it.
Film is based on polyphonic principle; every film is told by interaction of many stories (subplots) or POVs. This is the dynamic of Action and Reaction; that is the way to the story using film language. Eisenstain points out that this main law of cinema is based on what he calls Montage (also known as Kuleshov Effect).
Think how the sense of suspence (and story continuety) is acheaved: the characters involved in both narraive lines are unaware of what the other group is doing, and only the audience has all the facts. In short, only the public pouts it all together. The final cut is the the spectator's mind only!
Or the information given in both narratives is incomplete, so that the characters have all the facts, but the audience is kept in the dark (to stimulate its interest).
Between the two (parallel) lies the art of film storytelling!
[ image ]
Again, the (Kuleshov Effect) formula: 1 + 1 > 2
... Aristotle? I too place "action" (plot) as the first element of STRUCTURE. Film theory proofs me right -- "action movies" sheilves in video stores! Not character (hero), not message (thought), not the 3 TEXTURE elements (except for the last -- SPECTACLE).
The secret of action: the importance of parallel film editing (textbook, p.6): "an editing priciple: the alternation of twoo or more centers of interest"... Should be said "dranatic centers of interest"! Drama is always in between!
I am posting some fragments from the movies I mention in class.
they are different in style. I personally like Bergman's writing -- see "Wild Strawberries" -- here is the openning from the Pulp Fiction by Tarantino. Explain why did he decide to start the story with this episode?
In acting classes I teach that before action we must have "aim" stage (biomechanics cycles); here we have this "aim"!
How does this episode correlate to the title "Pulp Fiction"?
How does this episode work within the entire movie?
Why do we need the waitress in this episode?
What themes are introduced?
How the style of the movie is established?
What elements of exposition you can name?
How can we justify the location? Time of the day? The choice of the characters?
....
1. INT. COFFEE SHOP - MORNING 1.
A normal Denny's, Spires-like coffee shop in Los Angeles.
It's about 9:00 in the morning. While the place isn't jammed,
there's a healthy number of people drinking coffee, munching
on bacon and eating eggs.
Two of these people are a YOUNG MAN and a YOUNG WOMAN. The
Young Man has a slight working-class English accent and, like
his fellow countryman, smokes cigarettes like they're going
out of style.
It is impossible to tell where the Young Woman is from or how
old she is; everything she does contradicts something she did.
The boy and girl sit in a booth. Their dialogue is to be said
in a rapid-pace "HIS GIRL FRIDAY" fashion.
YOUNG MAN
No, forget it, it's too risky. I'm
through doin' that shit.
YOUNG WOMAN
You always say that, the same thing
every time: never again, I'm
through, too dangerous.
YOUNG MAN
I know that's what I always say.
I'm always right too, but --
YOUNG WOMAN
-- but you forget about it in a day
or two --
YOUNG MAN
-- yeah, well, the days of me
forgittin' are over, and the days
of me rememberin' have just begun.
YOUNG WOMAN
When you go on like this, you know
what you sound like?
YOUNG MAN
I sound like a sensible fucking
man, is what I sound like.
YOUNG WOMAN
You sound like a duck.
(imitates a duck)
Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack,
quack, quack...
YOUNG MAN
Well take heart, 'cause you're
never gonna hafta hear it again.
Because since I'm never gonna do it
again, you're never gonna hafta
hear me quack about how I'm never
gonna do it again.
YOUNG WOMAN
After tonight.
The boy and girl laugh, their laughter putting a pause in
there, back and forth.
YOUNG MAN
(with a smile)
Correct. I got all tonight to
quack.
A WAITRESS comes by with a pot of coffee.
WAITRESS
Can I get anybody anymore coffee?
YOUNG WOMAN
Oh yes, thank you.
The Waitress pours the Young Woman's coffee. The Young Man
lights up another cigarette.
YOUNG MAN
I'm doin' fine.
The Waitress leaves. The Young Man takes a drag off of his
smoke. The Young Woman pours a ton of cream and sugar into
her coffee.
The Young Man goes right back into it.
YOUNG MAN
I mean the way it is now, you're
takin' the same fuckin' risk as
when you rob a bank. You take more
of a risk. Banks are easier!
Federal banks aren't supposed to
stop you anyway, during a robbery.
They're insured, why should they
care? You don't even need a gun in
a federal bank.
I heard about this guy, walked into
a federal bank with a portable
phone, handed the phone to the
teller, the guy on the other end of
the phone said: "We got this guy's
little girl, and if you don't give
him all your money, we're gonna
kill 'er."
YOUNG WOMAN
Did it work?
YOUNG MAN
Fuckin' A it worked, that's what
I'm talkin' about! Knucklehead
walks in a bank with a telephone,
not a pistol, not a shotgun, but a
fuckin' phone, cleans the place
out, and they don't lift a fuckin'
finger.
YOUNG WOMAN
Did they hurt the little girl?
YOUNG MAN
I don't know. There probably never
was a little girl -- the point of
the story isn't the little girl.
The point of the story is they
robbed the bank with a telephone.
YOUNG WOMAN
You wanna rob banks?
YOUNG MAN
I'm not sayin' I wanna rob banks,
I'm just illustrating that if we
did, it would be easier than what
we been doin'.
YOUNG WOMAN
So you don't want to be a bank
robber?
YOUNG MAN
Naw, all those guys are goin' down
the same road, either dead or
servin' twenty.
YOUNG WOMAN
And no more liquor stores?
YOUNG MAN
What have we been talking about?
Yeah, no-more-liquor-stores.
Besides, it ain't the giggle it
usta be. Too many foreigners own
liquor stores. Vietnamese,
Koreans, they can't fuckin' speak
English. You tell 'em: "Empty out
the register," and they don't know
what it fuckin' means. They make
it too personal. We keep on, one
of those gook motherfuckers' gonna
make us kill 'em.
YOUNG WOMAN
I'm not gonna kill anybody.
YOUNG MAN
I don't wanna kill anybody either.
But they'll probably put us in a
situation where it's us of them.
And if it's not the gooks, it these
old Jews who've owned the store for
fifteen fuckin' generations. Ya
got Grandpa Irving sittin' behind
the counter with a fuckin' Magnum.
Try walkin' into one of those
stores with nothin' but a
telephone, see how far it gets you.
Fuck it, forget it, we're out of
it.
YOUNG WOMAN
Well, what else is there, day jobs?
YOUNG MAN
(laughing)
Not this life.
YOUNG WOMAN
Well what then?
He calls to the Waitress.
YOUNG MAN
Garcon! Coffee!
Then looks to his girl.
YOUNG MAN
This place.
The Waitress comes by, pouring him some more.
WAITRESS
(snotty)
"Garcon" means boy.
She splits.
YOUNG WOMAN
Here? It's a coffee shop.
YOUNG MAN
What's wrong with that? People
never rob restaurants, why not?
Bars, liquor stores, gas stations,
you get your head blown off
stickin' up one of them.
Restaurants, on the other hand, you
catch with their pants down.
They're not expecting to get
robbed, or not as expecting.
YOUNG WOMAN
(taking to idea)
I bet in places like this you could
cut down on the hero factor.
YOUNG MAN
Correct. Just like banks, these
places are insured. The managers
don't give a fuck, they're just
tryin' to get ya out the door
before you start pluggin' diners.
Waitresses, forget it, they ain't
takin' a bullet for the register.
Busboys, some wetback gettin' paid
a dollar fifty a hour gonna really
give a fuck you're stealin' from
the owner. Customers are sittin'
there with food in their mouths,
they don't know what's goin' on.
One minute they're havin' a Denver
omelette, next minute somebody's
stickin' a gun in their face.
The Young Woman visibly takes in the idea. The Young Man
continues in a low voice.
YOUNG MAN
See, I got the idea last liquor
store we stuck up. 'Member all
those customers kept comin' in?
YOUNG WOMAN
Yeah.
YOUNG MAN
They you got the idea to take
everybody's wallet.
YOUNG WOMAN
Uh-huh.
YOUNG MAN
That was a good idea.
YOUNG WOMAN
Thank you.
YOUNG MAN
We made more from the wallets then
we did the register.
YOUNG WOMAN
Yes we did.
YOUNG MAN
A lot of people go to restaurants.
YOUNG WOMAN
A lot of wallets.
YOUNG MAN
Pretty smart, huh?
The Young Woman scans the restaurant with this new
information. She sees all the PATRONS eating, lost in
conversations. The tires WAITRESS, taking orders. The
BUSBOYS going through the motions, collecting dishes. The
MANAGER complaining to the COOK about something. A smiles
breaks out on the Young Woman's face.
YOUNG WOMAN
Pretty smart.
(into it)
I'm ready, let's go, right here,
right now.
YOUNG MAN
Remember, same as before, you're
crowd control, I handle the
employees.
YOUNG WOMAN
Got it.
They both take out their .32-caliber pistols and lay them on
the table. He looks at her and she back at him.
YOUNG WOMAN
I love you, Pumpkin.
YOUNG MAN
I love you, Honey Bunny.
And with that, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny grab their weapons,
stand up and rob the restaurant. Pumpkin's robbery persona is
that of the in-control professional. Honey Bunny's is that of
the psychopathic, hair-triggered, loose cannon.
PUMPKIN
(yelling to all)
Everybody be cool this is a
robbery!
HONEY BUNNY
Any of you fuckin' pricks move and
I'll execute every one of you
motherfuckers! Got that?
CUT TO:
CREDIT SEQUENCE:
PULP FICTION
[ movie-page.com ]
PS
For the filmmaker the action-reaction pattern dictates all the formulas for camera placement and sequence construction and the needs of editing.
Beats of action on the screen (screen event). Compare with the stage even.
Anatoly, what do you call "ideas"? The choices!
Form = Message!
Homework
Translate scenes from script to picture we must control two things:
1. The distance from which we record the event.
2. The motion of the subjects performing that event.
How the two are related? The SHOT and movement.
NB
TYPES OF EDITING:
1. A master shot registers the whole scene (several techniques for editing "within the film, frame or 'in camera'.")
2. A master shot is inter-cut with other shorter takes (to provide emphasis on key passages of the scene).
3. Two or more master shots are blended together in parallel.
In class I simply break it into: Exposition -- Climax -- Resolution
