[Quick Summary: Jacob brings his wife (Monica) and kids (David, Anne) to the South to chase his dream of building a vegetable farm.]
It's taken me awhile to understand:
1) Screenplays are limited by their form.
2) You either like it and lean into it, or you find a different form.
ex. A novel is not limited by time and space. It can be stream of consciousness.
However, a script is limited by time and space. This form is written, for the purpose of shooting pictures visually. This is not a natural way to write.
You have to learn to convey what you mean visually but only by using words.
This script demonstrates one helpful tool: the match cut.
In the scene below, notice the flow of how it works:
- David (7-8 yrs. old) pulls out a heavy drawer --> then match cut to Jacob (the dad) is carrying a chicken crate.
- These are essentially two wooden boxes in two different locations.
- These are two sequential parallel images that result in unspoken meaning to the audience: Both son and father are similar, both dealing with failures.
DAVID'S BEDROOM - DAY
David removes the DRESSER DRAWER slowly. It's too far...
It FALLS! Match this to:
INT. HATCHERY - DAY
A crate of chickens FALLS to the floor.
Jacob has dropped it. Monica hurries to help him pick it up.
MONICA (to Jacob): [Your arms are that sore again?]
MRS. OH: Put the box there; if any are injured, we have to throw them away.
Jacob notices that Mr. H eyes him from the back. Monica notices this too.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I think the match cut here was well thought out, i.e., WHAT are we going from, WHAT are we going to, and WHY.
Minari (2020)
by Lee Isaac Chung
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