Engaging Films

What makes us engage with a film?

ENGAGED!!!!

In class, we discussed what made us engage with a film. Here is what we decided:

- Characters that we care about
- Story: a plot that is logical and makes sense
- True to the world it is created/set in
- Is surprising and avoids predictability, tropes/cliches
- Universal themes (or issues that resonate with the audience)

We spoke about the TPPA - Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and how not many people in New Zealand know what it is or that it even exists. The TPPA can potentially wreck life as we know it, here in New Zealand if it is finalised. Unfortunately, more people in New Zealand care about the bullying of a contestant on X-Factor New Zealand, by two judges Natalia Kills and Willy Moon. The reason that more people care about something as silly as X-Factor and not something that could wreck our whole country and way of living is because the TPPA has no face but X-Factor does. Everybody cared about the poor contestant that was bullied because they could identify with him as he is a real person like them.

We decided that the most important thing to keep an audience engaged was the character. What makes an engaging character?

- Wants/needs
- Relationships with others
- Conflict, character through action (dialogue can add nuances)

A character that is robust and follows these basic guidelines, can make a film with a terrible plot interesting and engaging because the audience ends up caring about them.

As screenwriters, we should always AVOID deux machina, which is Latin for machine of God. These are plot cheats or convenient cheats that save your character. We should always AVOID using these as they do not make up a very good or engaging story. We can however, dump misfortune on our characters to place them into trickier predicaments as long as the characters use their own resources to get themselves out of these predicaments.

Hmmmm..... script ideas, anyone???!!!

This week coming, I need to get my beat sheet green lit from my tutor, so that I can start working on my first screenwriting assignment which is a non-dialogue script. My idea is based around a bratty kid at a funeral that has his ipod stolen by a rat and the chaos that ensues. Bring on my script idea!!!!!