2013 OSCARS: Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - How I Knew Pat & Tiffany Were "Meant to Be"

[Quick Summary: Recently released from a psychiatric hospital, Pat recoups with an unlikely ally.]

There is one line that made see that Pat and Tiffany should be together.

First, let me set the scene:

At the diner, Pat eats cereal. Tiffany has tea. 

Pat is prohibited from contacting his ex-wife Nikki. Tiffany offers to deliver a note to her for him.

Pat is about to bolt out the door to write the letter... and Tiffany stops him with, "Can I at least finish my tea?"  He then remembers his manners.

After that one line, I knew that Tiffany was good for Pat.

She did what no one else was able to do - she got him outside his self-absorbed box.

She got him to socialize again in a healthy way.

That's a subtle, but definite "meant to be" in my book.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I like it when characters fit together well.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
by David O. Russell
Based on the novel by Matthew Quick

2013 OSCARS: Lincoln (2012) - Moments of Humor

[Quick Summary: President pulls out all the stops for the last 20 votes to pass the 13th Amendment.]

Lincoln reads like a Very Big and Important film.

I did not like the big speeches.

I did like the small touches of humor.  Each incident made Lincoln more real.

ex. Lincoln tells a joke no one gets.
ex. Two soldiers are star struck in front of Lincoln.
ex. Lincoln and Mary have a nasty drag-up-old-wounds argument.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Moments of humor can really round out a "bigger than life" character.

Lincoln (2012)
by Tony Kushner

2013 OSCARS: Life of Pi (2012) - Adapting the Intangible

[Quick Summary: A 16 yr. old Indian boy is shipwrecked in the Atlantic with a wild tiger.]

First, a tip of the hat to screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927-2013), who passed today.

For 40 years, she collaborated with the Merchant-Ivory team, including the Oscar winning adaptions of Howards End, and Room With a View. 

I wonder how she approached adapting books.

Is there a method to crafting a narrative for film?

I pondered that question as I read today's script, Life of Pi.

It is a sprawling 356 page discussion of faith. How do you show intangible concepts?

Here, the writer did a smart thing.

He avoided talking heads about beliefs and kept the narrative on Pi.

ex. Pi weathers a storm in the Atlantic.
ex. Pi tries to catch fish to eat.

Pi's conflicts with the antagonist and setting naturally bring up the intangible questions.

ex. Do you care for an inherently dangerous beast? (antagonist)
ex. How do you react when the ocean takes your supplies? (setting)

Suddenly, what is unseen in the book is seen on the screen.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: "If you can’t see it or hear it, don’t write it"

Life of Pi (2012)
by David Magee
Based on the original novel by Yann Martel

2013 OSCARS: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) - Good/Bad Voice Over

[Quick Summary: In the Cajun shanty district, six year old Hushpuppy and her father Wink face floods after a hurricane.]

Voice over (V.O.) is a cheat.

Rule #1: Don't use it.
Rule #2: If you have to use it, hide it.
Rule #3: If you can't hide it, see Rule #1.

In Beasts of the Southern Wild, the writers use V.O. often for Hushpuppy.

(Perhaps it was the only way to explain how this six year old thinks?)

I thought the V.O. was effective when it was hid exposition (rule #2):

ex. "If Daddy don't get home soon, it's gonna be time for me to start eating my pets."   
- The V.O. focuses us on Hushpuppy's hunger.  It sinks in later that Wink is not home yet. 

I did not like it as much when V.O. was used as commentary.  

ex.  "It [refugee camp] didn't look like a prison, it looked like a fish tank with no water.
-  This V.O. explains Hushpuppy's first impressions of a building. 
-  I like this, but feel like it's "telling, not showing" me.

ex. Post-flood, Hushpuppy watches a weak Wink hammer nails.
 "It didn't matter that the water was gone. Sometimes, you can break something so bad, that it can't get put back together."
- This V.O. tells us that she is aware of pain, i.e., she is maturing. 
-  Again, it's telling me she's becoming wiser.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  Less voice over is always more in my book.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
by Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
Based on the stage play "Juicy and Delicious" by Lucy Alibar

2013 OSCARS: Argo (2012) - How to Introduce Action Characters

[Quick Summary:  CIA operative to get Americans out of Tehran, Iran in 1980.]

Action scripts need to mooooooooove.

Unfortunately, many scripts have a slow pace and rhythm, beginning with the initial character introductions.

ex. JOE, 25, a mild mannered mechanic with nunchucks in his back pocket, washes windows.

Do we really need to know Joe has a weapon? Can you see "mild mannered"?  

But Argo shows a new trend on how to keep the pace up:

- The character's initial introduction is at a bare minimum.
- The character is then fleshed out later by his/her actions.
 
ex. TONY MENDEZ, 40, asleep in his clothes from the day before.

ex.  JOHN CHAMBERS, Hollywood's first Oscar winner for makeup, walks onto set carrying a fishing tackle box of supplies.

ex. TOM AHERN, 48, the CIA station chief here.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I like this trend because it gets the reader to the action faster.

Argo (2012)
by Chris Terrio