EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY
by William C. Martell
I was at this party in the Hollywood hills where a guy
overdressed in Armani was surrounded by screenwriters. He said he
was a big shot producer. "Stallone? He looks tall on screen, but
he's just a little guy. I'm developing project with him that's
gonna be huge. I wanted to do it with Travolta, but after you get
done paying him twenty million you have to hire his manager Jon
Krane as a producer for a few million, plus rent Travolta's jet
for the shoot. Who can afford that? I tell you, I won't work with
Eddie Murphy anymore - even his entourage has an entourage!"
Someone asked if he had a business card, and the feeding frenzy
began. I had a question: "What movies have you produced?" The guy
in Armani became vague and evasive. When I looked him up on IMDB
he had no producer credits at all. Welcome to Hollywood.
This "producer" was all talk, no action. Listening to him, you'd
think he was the hottest producer in town, but his actions told a
different story. You can't judge people by what they say - talk
is cheap.
Are the characters in your script all talk?
Alfred Hitchcock said,"Rely on action to tell your story and
resort to dialogue only when it's impossible to do otherwise."
Screenplays are stories told in pictures. Characters on film are
judged more by their actions than their words - just like in real
life. What a character says is usually counter to what they do. A
frightened man will try to fight his fear by claiming he's not
scared. From his dialogue you might think he's the bravest man on
earth.
Dialogue NEEDS to be counter to a character's actions to prevent
redundancy. If a character says "I love dogs" while playing with
a dog, you're giving us the same information twice. If he says "I
love dogs" but is hesitant to get his hand near the dog, we're
getting two pieces of information - that the character doesn't
like dogs but wants the other person in the scene to think he
does. Most of the time, what a character says will NOT be
accurate information. The audience will be judging them on their
actions.
VISUAL CHARACTERIZATION
How do you give the audience information about a character
through actions rather than dialogue? Glen Morgan and James
Wong's sci-fi action film THE ONE was #3 on the Video Charts when it was released - it's not a great film, but it's a fun popcorn action flick. Now we have Jet Li and Jason Statham paired again in WAR... a terrible movie. But back to THE ONE...
The movie opens with a dozen Los
Angeles Police officers gearing up for battle. They don bullet
proof vests and body armor and protective helmets. They grab riot
shields and arm themselves with machine guns, pocketing enough
spare magazines for a small war. Is there a riot? The squad
marches down a hallway, into a high security section of the jail.
Using standard cover formation, they approach a jail cell -
weapons drawn and ready. Inside the cell, Lawless (Jet Li). A
dozen guns are aimed at him as they open the cell door and remain
on him as an officer carefully approaches to handcuff and shackle
him. Once he's cuffed, do they lower their guns? No! They keep
their armor up and guns ready as they escort him out of the cell.
Without a single line of dialogue, what have we learned about
Lawless?
This information comes from the actions and reactions of other
characters. The scene was DESIGNED to show us who Lawless is
without expository dialogue.
On his way out of the jail, Lawless punches the bars of a cell -
bending them! This is a criminal with super human strength. The
concept of THE ONE is that there are over 120 parallel
universes - alternate realities, each one containing an alternate
version of Jet Li (and everyone else). When one version of Jet Li
dies, the others inherit his strength. Before this squad of riot
cops can escort this version of Jet Li to the gas chamber they
are ambushed by the evil Yu Law (also Jet Li). We know how strong
and quick Yu Law is because he manages to kill all of the cops in
riot gear in a fight scene that bests THE MATRIX's "bullet
time" sequences. He kicks a cop into the air, kicks and punches
several more cops, and is still able to kick the first cop again
before he hits the ground.
Yu Law has been jumping from world to world, killing all of the
alternate versions of himself so that he can become super-human.
A pair of inter-dimensional police played by Delroy Lindo and
Jason Statham capture him after he kills Lawless, and he's put on
trial for killing himself 123 times. This information is handled
visually, we are shown photos of the victims: 123 different
versions of Jet Li, from homeless to rock star to nerd. SEEING
all of these different Jet Lis not only SHOWS us the concept in a
way that's easy to understand, it's funny. "Victim 121: Seth Law,
Kosai Universe. Victim 122: Kew Law, Shaolin Universe, Victim
123: Lawless..." THE ONE often uses humor to balance its
relentless pacing.
Before Yu Law can be punished, he escapes into OUR world, hell-bent on killing the last version of himself Gabe Law (Jet Li), a
happily married Los Angeles Police officer who worries that his
new strength may be side effects of a serious disease. We see the
same scene from the opening of the film - Los Angeles Police
officers marching down a hallway into the high security section
of the jail. In our world the police aren't wearing riot gear,
they aren't prepared for war. In the cell - a lone prisoner. We
finally see the lead cop's face - it's Gabe Law. He treats the
prisoner with kindness and respect. By echoing the opening scene
we can compare the difference between Gabe and Yu Law visually -
in the same situation they ACT differently. Another fantastic
action scene that ends with Yu Law aiming a gun at Gabe, "The
good news: You're not crazy. The bad news..." BANG! Actions speak
louder than words.
Gabe drags himself home. His wife T.K. (Carla Gugino) is his soul
mate - the only one for him - their pendants fit together in a
perfect match. "You're shot, you need to be examined." "You can
do it." "Newsflash - I'm a veterinarian. You don't have paws." We
know they love each other because the films SHOWS them in love
with each other - after years of marriage they still hold hands.
Because Yu Law and Gabe are identical, Wong & Morgan have come up
with a visual way to tell them apart: Gabe's wedding ring. Even
when Gabe takes the ring off in the hospital for an MRI, there's
a band of no-tan on his ring finger. This shows us that Gabe
NEVER takes off his wedding ring - his marriage an important part
of who he is. The choice of the wedding ring to differentiate
between Yu Law and Gabe also gives us emotional information
visually - Gabe is identified by his love and devotion. Yu Law
has no ring - no love, no devotion. The most important (and
difficult) part of our job is showing character. If you don't
SHOW it, the audience won't really KNOW it.
Later in the film, Gabe witnesses Yu Law brutally murder a
character he has become close to. How does Gabe feel about this?
The second strongest man in the world becomes too weak to walk,
and falls to knees. Situations of great emotion need to be
expressed through actions because dialogue either seems corny or
falls short. One of the most romantic scenes ever put on film is
the marathon kiss between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Ben
Hecht's *Notorious*. They're connected to each other for almost
five minutes! We SEE that they are in love with each other...
their conversation is about making dinner.
VISUAL CHARACTER ARC
Changes in character are also best when shown through a change in
actions. In Bill Kelly, Earl & Pamela Wallace's WITNESS John
Book begins as a violent Philadelphia cop - he drags a suspect
out of a bar, beats him up, and slams his face against the police
car window so the little boy can make an identification. This
action establishes his character... and sets up his character
arc. In order to show John Book's transformation from violence to
peaceful, we first must SHOW him as violent. If the writers had
opted to have fellow detectives TELL us how violent Book is, we
wouldn't believe it. Hey - that's Harrison Ford. We know he's a
nice guy. In order to make us believe Ford's character is
violent, we NEED to see him do something violent. SEEING is
believing.
After he's shot he goes to live among the Amish while he
recovers. Though he's on his best behavior, he picks a fight or
two - slugging an obnoxious tourist who taunts his Amish friends.
But we can SEE him struggling against his violent nature in these
scenes. We can SEE him changing. Each scene that forces Book to
decide between violence and a peaceful solution to the problem
SHOWS us the subtle changes in Book's character through his
actions.
By the end of the film, the villains invade Amish Country. The
opening scenes use contrast to show how out of place the peaceful
Amish are in violent Philadelphia - Rebecca and Samuel are at
odds with the others in the train station and later the police
station. In those scenes, Book's character matched the world he
lived in. Now contrast is used again - this time showing the
difference between the three killer cops and the peaceful Amish
countryside. Once again, Book's character matches the world he
lives in - he's been transformed from a violent cop to a simple
barn builder. This allows us to contrast Book to the characters
he used to be like, including his mentor Paul.
Contrast is a form of conflict, and conflict always brings
character to the surface.
Though the three cops use "Philadelphia methods" to attack Book,
he resolves this problem without violence - using "Amish
methods". Instead of killing the villain, he and the community
surround the villain and shun him. Book has learned to be part of
the non-violent community. We SEE his character growth through
his actions, he never SAYS it anywhere in the film.
You know where your lead starts out and you know where you want
them to end up. Make a list of the scenes tat SHOW the change in
your lead character through actions. When the tourists taunt the
Amish in *Witness* we can SEE John Book fighting his violent
instincts. The situation was designed to show a step in his
character arc. In *Lethal Weapon* Mel Gibson plays a suicidal cop
and in one scene he's called on to talk a man out of committing
suicide. Both the *Lethal Weapon* scene and the *Witness* scene
show the protagonist's progress by putting them in a scene with a
character similar to who they were at the beginning of their
journey... just like the two versions of the LAPD and prisoner
scenes from *The One*.
DESIGNED TO EXPOSE CHARACTER
If actions really speak louder than words, that means we must
chose our actions carefully. We must find the actions that SHOW
character. In my book *The Secrets Of Action Screenwriting* I use
*Face/Off* as an example of action scenes designed to show
character - we see Sean Archer's transformation from a man so
obsessed with revenge that he ignores his family, to a man who
has come to appreciate his family more than anything else. Each
of the action scenes in the film have a family component; from
risking his life to protect Gina Gershon's son in the middle of a
shoot out to making the choice between rescuing his daughter
before he pursues the villain. You might come up with the
greatest car chase in the history of cinema, but if it doesn't
explore character, it doesn't belong in your script.
In the Wachowski Brothers' sci-fi action script *The Matrix* Neo
Anderson doesn't believe in himself, so the action scenes are
designed to bring this character struggle to the surface. The day
after Trinity tells him that the Matrix is watching him, Agent
Smith and a dozen policemen come to arrest Neo. Though he has a
chance to escape, Neo is afraid to climb out on that ledge. He
doesn't believe he can do it - he doesn't believe in himself.
Later in the film he meets Morpheus, who gives him a choice,
"Take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake up back in your
bed and you believe whatever you want to believe. You take the
red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I'll show you how deep
the rabbit-hole goes." Neo has been given a choice, and we see
his decision through an action - he takes the red pill.
How can we SEE that Neo doesn't believe he is the Chosen One? The
virtual trainer. Morpheus keeps beating Neo in a world where
belief in yourself means everything. When Morpheus jumps off the
roof of the building, he can fly to the next building. When Neo
jumps, he falls like a stone.
At the midpoint of the film Morpheus takes Neo to the one person
who can confirm his fears that he isn't special and that he'd be
a fool to believe in himself - the Oracle. In order to show
character they use contrast between character and environment. In
the Oracle's "waiting room" Neo is surrounded by little kids who
can bend spoons, make blocks float, and read minds. Neo can do
NOTHING that comes close to any of this. By surrounding Neo with
amazing kids, we know that he feels inadequate because they SHOW
him as inadequate.
After the Oracle tells Neo that he's not the one, the team is
ambushed. Believing that Neo IS the one, Morpheus sacrifices
himself so that Neo can escape. This is another action scene
designed to force Neo to deal with his lack of belief through
contrast. Everyone believes in Neo except Neo!
By the end of the film Neo believes he's the Chosen One. How do
we know? He believes that he's faster than a speeding bullet,
more powerful than a subway train, and finally can leap tall
buildings in a single bound. Plus, he can see the computer code
underneath the Matrix. In *Star Wars* Luke Skywalker has a
similar character arc - can he believe in The Force and trust his
instincts? He's trying to lock onto the Death Star exhaust port
with his targeting computer... how do we know he believes in The
Force?
Actions speak louder than words. Can you skip the dialogue in
your screenplay and understand the story from the actions of the
characters? Can you understand the characters by their actions,
reactions, and decisions? Movies are stories told in pictures.
What are your pictures saying about your characters?
FADE OUT
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