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Outline your favorite movie…

Okay, so I’m in Scottsdale, Arizona for the last couple of days in meetings… Still here, leaving tomorrow morning. The day I arrived, it was 118 degrees…

The motel I’m staying at has an outdoor swimming pool open 24-7 for those of us that are volcanically (is that a word?) challenged.

Only problem is that I go outside, jump in the friggin’ pool and it’s like jumping in the fucking bathtub! A bathtub full of hot water.

You gots to love it…

So I got bored last night er uh… early this morning… and hungry.

I got in the car and drove around looking for something to eat… For Phoenix being such a large area, you’d think more places would be open at 3:00 in the morning… I drive around listening to talk radio… I hear a story about a couple of Phoenix serial killers… One is called the Baseline Serial Killer and guess what? I just happen to notice I’m driving on Baseline Road in Gilbert, Arizona… LOL.

Not a problem however because underneath my seat is my .45 automatic. I’m the kind of guy that gets into mischief without really trying. Some of the shit I’ve inadvertantly gotten myself into would make your head spin… Hence, the weapon.

Don’t worry… I’m licensed. In fact, I hope to never have to pull it but I have no problem doing so.

Back to the driving… I end up on Gilbert Road in Gilbert, Arizona… Nothing open until I happen on a little Mexican Food drive-thru. I drive up and yeah, Baby… It’s open! I stop at the menu board and holy shit… I’m like a kid in a candy store but because it’s so late and I’m so hungry, I just order a Carne Asada Burrito for $3.60 and don’t expect much.

I pay… Open up the bag… This thing is a friggin’ MONSTER! Not only that, but it is unbelievably good and that’s not just because I was hungry… In fact, I could only eat half and since my room has a little fridge, I ate the other half this morning.

What’s this got to do with screenwriting?

Not a fucking thing.

Except… While I was out, I remembered how I tend to make notes on index cards while I watch a DVD or videotape and it occurred to me that when I get back home, I need to pull several movies worth of cards out for a quick run-through to help me on my rewrite because of similar situations.

Then it hit me… The blog.

Just like copying someone’s screenplay can do wonders for taking you inside the brain of the screenwriter who wrote it, creating scene by scene index cards of movies can help you learn to outline your own screenplay ideas.

In a nutshell…

1) Have about a hundred blank index cards handy and a pen or pencil that’s in good shape and something to write on.

2) Play your DVD and have your remote handy.

3) Now just watch ONE SCENE AT A TIME and press the PAUSE button.

4) At the top right hand corner of your first index card, write a “1″ and circle it.

5) Now, at the top of the card, in as few words as possible, and in ONE SENTENCE, write down what happened in JUST THAT SCENE.

6) On the bottom line or two of the card, write down the CONFLICT of the scene… i.e., which character wants what and which character is keeping the other character from getting it and who WINS. Remember, this is simply for the context of that particular scene and not the story.

7) Do this for the rest of the scenes in your movie and finish.

Once you’ve done this exercise a couple of times; on average, it’s going to take you about an hour longer than the actual movie runs… Don’t get rid of these cards, file them away for future use.

The more you do this exercise, the easier outlining your own screenplay idea is going to be. You’ll absorb a certain sense of structure. You’ll inherently start to know when certain things need to happen. You’ll know what scene cards you’ve just created depict certain structural elements/devices in those films.

If you’re like me and really love movies, you’ll HOPEFULLY find it as fun as I do but as a learning tool, you should definitely give it a try.

Start out with your favorite films and or ones that you are really familiar with; eventually moving on to some classic films that you should know as much as possible about to build your foundation of screenwriting knowledge.

Unk




Monday: 24 July 2006|2205|Under Uncategorized

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Comments

9 Responses to “Outline your favorite movie…”

  1. wcdixon on Monday: 24 July 2006|2242

    I’ve done that often with episodes of tv show’s that I’m considering specing or pitch to or have been hired to write for.

    But as far as movies go, taking your fav films is a way to go, but I’d suggest taking it one step further and finding one or two that are similar to something you are presently working on. Not so much in terms of style (though that wouldn’t hurt), but in terms of structure.

    Ironically, I just went through the very exercise you describe with P. Jackson’s ‘The Frighteners’ because of some of the structural similarities to something I’m mapping out.

    Good advice.

    p.s. note to self…get ready to duck if Unk reaches under the seat

  2. Unknown Screenwriter on Tuesday: 25 July 2006|0100

    My suggestion of outlining favorite movies is simply a starting point to get you in a comfortable atmosphere if you’ve never done this before.

    Trying to outline a movie that you hate EVEN if it’s similar to your own, might end up as an incomplete exercise for this very reason.

    Which is why I suggest starting out on a movie that you like and are familiar with… Starting out in YOUR territory, so to speak. Makes learning just a bit easier and eventually, the transition into other movies a piece of cake…

    Unk

  3. Poke on Tuesday: 25 July 2006|0638

    I’ve done this before with a voice recorder, but never with index cards. I didn’t retain the knowledge when simply speaking into the device, writing it out would help with that retention.

    Poke

  4. The Moviequill on Tuesday: 25 July 2006|1002

    I have re-written/copied screenplays to get a feel but haven’t tried this yet. Thanks for the idea, it sure can’t hurt…

  5. victoriaellis0380@yahoo.com on Wednesday: 26 July 2006|0619

    Genius idea. I’ve always just taken the lazy way out and bought the screenplay to read along with the movie and take note of how what was written down on page got on the screen visually.

    Great excercise, I’ll definitely try it out.

  6. Jonathan on Thursday: 27 July 2006|0736

    I do this all the time.

    Every time I start a script, I identify several films in the genre, outline them while watching, and study the structure.

    For every genre, there are different structural elements and tropes that are used, so I think it’s an essential tool to study the successful films that are out there, not just generally, but in the genre you’re writing in.

  7. Piers on Wednesday: 27 September 2006|1005

    I’ve done this several times for TV shows. It’s one of the best ways to find out how to write I know of.

    Haven’t tried it for movies. Must give that a shot, now that I’m speccing features. Thanks for the reminder!

  8. The Moviequill on Thursday: 30 November 2006|1207

    Revisiting this from your archives as I just cracked open a fresh set of colored index cards and about to dive into a new script. One card per scene so I should roughly have 60+? I once read that George Lucas says a perfect film is 60 two minute scenes…

  9. bodnotbod on Thursday: 6 December 2007|1450

    Good idea. I’m going to try this. Except I don’t want to spend out on index cards, so I’ll plug the information into the index cards of Celtx on screen.

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