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Every story has a finish line. That finish line is either a desire to retrieve, stop, win or escape. However, the driver of that race to the end isn’t the plot but the emotions that drive characters in the story. Those emotions are grounded in the premise or theme that the story is built around
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As a marketer having the ability to tell stories effectively is very important. Understanding character, plot, setting and themes are only the foundation of the process. Stories are well sell ideas and they are what communicate messages effectively. For this reason I’m committing myself to reading 40 screenplays for the next 40 days.
Below are my reflections from having read my first script, Memento by Jonathan Nolan.
Here’s the tweet that introduced me to this challenge:
#ff @GoIntoTheStory and @nate_winslow for deets on #40Dos: Read a script a day for 40 days challenge: http://bit.ly/9pUDsy #scriptchat
Mina Zaher
DreamsGrafter
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Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes
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Mean Streets (1973) is an early Martin Scorsese film starring Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro.It tells the story of low level gangsters and the life they live. Charlie (Harvey Keitel) collects debts for his uncle who is a mob boss.
Charlie is trying to progress in the local mob, but is held back by his feelings toward his childish and destructive friend Johnny (Robert Den Niro), and his love for Teresa who has epilepsy. There is much internal conflict in Charlie about his Catholicism and his involvement in the mob. |
Before I give my analysis, there are a few things to know about Martin Scorsese. He is what you call a “Modernist” Filmmaker. Part of the generation of New American Cinema. If you read back into my post on “New Hollywood” you will see that Mr. Scorsese:
You know that Mean Streets has a modernist sense because:
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The Player (1992) is a movie that tells the story of Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), a Hollywood studio executive who believes he is being blackmailed by a screenwriter whose script he once rejected. |
Robert Altman, a Hollywood filmmaker is someone who has a provocative and risky demeanor. He has had Hollywood successes and failures. Considered himself an artist, and thinking of himself as making art film for Americans with American themes.
The movies he makes are personal, innovative, and darkly comical about American culture. One thing to notice about his works is that he has a particular style:
He is very much like Orson Wells in his works. His images are very complex in nature Exact opposite of Hitchcock who was simple in his imagery. Orson Wells was known to use a zoom lens as opposed to cutting to point out some details. Martin Scorsese and Fredrick Wiseman are known to follow this style. Not like Alfred Hitchcock who was very keen on editing. People who followed suit with Hitchcock were Leni Riefenstahl, Bruce Conner and Woody Allen.
The Player
You will notice as American cinema progress through time, sexual content and violence increases. This movie is a satire about the Hollywood movie industry. In the film the main character is asked why he doesn’t make movies that are realistic or have a certain moral standard. He replied back saying that it doesn’t contain the elements to market the film successfully. The “elements” that he says need to be to make a successful film are:
This movie in itself contrasts with Italian Neorealism, in the fact that everything that movie had, The Player is opposite in nature.
Few things you will notice about this film is:
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My Comments
Its amazing how certian elements of society and character that people normally see as repulsive, can be made to look as something attractive. Media, television, and cinema has done that in the past, and continues to do it today. They can take trash and make it look like treasure. The question that comes to my mind, “When will we rise up and take the treasure that we have and have it look better than the trash out there?“
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The 60s and 70s was a change for Hollywood cinema. They called it “New Hollywood“. It was a change in form and content of films, change in the audience, nontraditional themes, society and institutions were perceived as corrupt, and a lot of new directors came about. Directors such as:
These unique thing about these new young directors was that they were not raised in the studio system. They learned film in school. They learned the mechanics, aesthetics, and history of films, giving them encyclopedic knowledge of cinema.
It is said that the films that came out in this time period were modernist reworkings of the classic genres. The message that new Hollywood cinema gave out to the people was different from what classic Hollywood cinema would give.
These films have conventional narrative and American subculture. Financing methods also changed. Directors had more say in what was to happen. Instead of a certain studio providing the finances, it would be a wide array of sources.
Zelig (1983)
This film is a “mockumentary” by Woody Allen, that claims documentary status. The film itself touches upon the social issue of social conformity. If you watch this film without knowing anything about it, you will believe that it is a real documentary. It has the stereotypical documentary look and style. Has the predictable pattern, news reels, interviews, sounds, etc.
Film is a medium so powerful that you can make people believe something is real when it isn’t. Film itself can be a “chameleon” (watch the movie to understand this point).
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What makes documentary films different from the live-action fictional films? Is it the narrator, aka “voice of God” (corny, I know)? Is it the film stock they use? Is it the testimonials? Is it the recreations they have in between?
What is a documentary film? Ross McElwee in his 1997 documentary “Six O’Clock News” states, “Documentaries, which are more or less films about reality, are actually not considered by most people to be real films, but Hollywood films, which usually have an extremely high fantasy quotient, are considered to be real.”
Documentaries (sometimes referred to as non-fiction films) and Narratives (fictional films) both use the same techniques. Its just that a documentary can be defined as a “creative interpretation of reality.” Documentaries are made for many reasons, but the four frequent ones are:
One thing to keep in mind is that documentaries are always meant to entertain. Filmmakers know that if they want to hold their viewer’s attention they will need to entertain.
Another question comes to mind. Are documentaries biased?
Olympia (1938)
A documentary film by Leni Riefenstahl about the 1936 Summer Olympics. Leni was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to document they Olympics so that they may promote Nazi philosophy. Only problem they had was that the all American Jesse Owens was beating them all.
This documentary was ground breaking in that is was able to capture footage, and movement of people like never before. Something that is evident throughout the film is the use of montage editing. The film was captured in such a way that the different contenders seemed almost superhuman.
High School (1968)
During this time period, technological improvements in film equipment helped push the industry further. Development of lightweight camera equipment allowed the filmmakers to throw themselves into an experience. Direct Cinema came about. There was no manipulation or structuring during filming like that of traditional documentaries.
Frederick Wiseman made a documentary about Northeast High School titled “High School”. In this film he used no narration or music like you would expect in a regular documentary.
After having seen this documentary immediately Iraq in Fragments by James Longly came to mind. It was done in the same style. Without specific narration or music, and was put together with what was caught on camera.
Are documentaries biased? Of course they are. They are reflecting the viewpoint of the filmmaker. Can they still inform, entertain, criticize, and/or celebrate something, someone, or an idea? For sure!
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Leechon, Inc. is a marketing company focusing on marketing and branding strategy with a concentration on social media and online marketing. We see video as an essential tool in marketing. We've produced promotional videos, commercials, trailers and social media content for clients. We also have independent projects of our own. If you want to learn more about what we do, see the about page. |
