Pitching A Boy’s Life, I would begin by saying, “A Boy’s Life is a science fiction film about a boy who develops a strong relationship with a stranded alien and sacrifices everything to take him home.” Then, I would proceed with introducing Eliot and speaking about his background. At the conclusion of this introduction, I would start telling the story from when E.T. is stranded on Earth to the part where Eliot is playing Dungeons and Dragons in the last scene. Throughout the pitch, I would emphasize certain details like the man with the keys. I would provide a detailed description of the redwood forest and E.T.’s appearance. I would vary my voice in order to keep the studio executives interested, speaking faster during the house raid and slower during Eliot‘s touching scene with the dead E.T. My main objective would be to convey my idea in the most interesting way possible. If I failed to keep the executives interested, then I failed completely.
-Fernando Rosas
Discussion Questions:
1. When you read a script, do you focus on the subtext or on the literal sense of a line? Why is that?
2. Do you think films should be classified into genres? Does it help or hurt a filmmaker’s intuition?
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3 comments:
Choosing just one genre for a film is a hard task. I believe that all films whether they may be classified as comedy, drama, horror etc...all have a mixture of different genres within them. Audiences also have different emotions; so the way one film is presented might relate to an individual differently.
In response to the question posed about how this might help or hurt a filmmaker, I would say that filmmakers might be associated with a certain type of genre and may hurt their ability to experiment in other genres.
It seems as though that good films are placed in genres after recognition, rather than made in hopes of fitting into them.
I don’t know if I’m not as smart as some, but I need to read the whole script before I can start to delve into the subtext. I know I’m not as good a reader as most so I make up for it by reading a script multiple times. The first pass I read it for the plot and the stories events. The second time I read it more for the character. The third time is really when I start to think about what else is going on, like themes and subtlety.
I use the same process when I write, the first draft is usually just a rough guide about what should go where, leaving myself open to just figure stuff out. The second draft I focus on the character while rewriting the plot. By the third draft I’ve mostly understood what the thematic things I was trying to say in the first place are so I look to make them clearer. Every draft after that is just trimming the fat, what can be here so it doesn’t need to be there sort of a thing.
My way to understand screenplays, is mostly the same as how I construct them. Its my process, as slow as it may be.
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