To conclude our series on Cinematic Storytelling, last week Mystery Man examined the origins of and opinions about close-ups. Today, in the 10th and final episode, we look at 23 visual examples and their dramatic reason. To examine beauty / ugliness: To illuminate a glance we would
Sheila O’Malley’s post on a close-up of Bud White in L.A. Confidential reminded us that characters with dimensions, with varying inner conflicts and emotions – a.k.a. depth - foster the right circumstances for great acting through close-ups. CLOSE-UPS, BABY! Of a moment in which we watch Bud, Sheila writes: “He is
Here’s a scene from a script by our good friend Pat who participated in almost every study on our blog. When I posted Write the Shots, Pat shared a scene from her script and I just loved it. This captures exactly what we mean by writing the shots.
Here’s a scene taken from the completely visual screenplay written by a longtime friend, Bob Thielke. This writer found himself so inspired by Jennifer van Sijll’s book Cinematic Storytelling that he wrote for himself a nearly dialogue-free screenplay. The result is a creative exercise, just to practice the
Here’s a sequence from Robert Towne’s Chinatown, a script that really deserves no introduction. This is my favorite sequence in this script in terms of screenwriting techniques. Reading this for the first time was such a revelation to me. by Mystery Man I love the way Towne
First, the opening scene from Hampton Fancher’s Blade Runner. He never used “we see” or camera angles, but his writing clearly implies with a Secondary Heading “THE EYE” that the scene opens with an extreme CU of an eye, which is essential to the story. His descriptions
Below is yet another example of narrative paintings. This one by Wes Christensen and titled “John’s Dilemma.” As strange as I know this will sound, the painting above brings to mind two films: The Conversation and Raging Bull. THE CONVERSATION Notice all of the straight, rigid lines – the walls,
Two seemingly prosperous young women are seated together in a garden. One is reading a letter. The other just observes and listens. The painting is by Marcus Stone, dates from 1889, and is titled: Her First Love Letter. (Continued from last week) To quote Bordwell: “The girl on
![[Video]: Screenwriters – On Finding an Original Voice](http://thestorydepartment.com/tsd/wp-content/themes/u-design/scripts/timthumb.php?src=http://thestorydepartment.com/tsd/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/video.jpg&w=55&h=55&zc=1&q=100)
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