As part of their ongoing exploration of scene-work, Stu and Chas apply their earlier thinking on theme and character worldview to individual scenes. Can examining a scene from a thematic perspective impact the drama, conflict or stakes of the scene? How does your character’s conscious and subconscious world views dramatise the overall theme of the work? How can an individual scene reflect the larger themes of the overall story? Do any of these questions or approaches lead to writing better scenes?
To this end, Stu and Chas examine particular scenes from works that have particularly apparent, strong and consistent themes; namely: FINDING NEMO, EX MACHINA, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA and the Netflix TV series GLOW.
… SPOILERS ABOUND!!
Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicated below. Chapter markers included in the mp3.
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EPISODE LINKS YouTube: Nerdwriter: The Epidemic of Passable Movies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukk5TJL27pE YouTube: Every Frame a Painting: Snowpiercer - Left or Right - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X05TDsoSg2Y Read: Film Crit Hulk: Ex Machina and the Art of Character Identification - http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/05/11/film-crit-hulk-smash-ex-machina-and-the-art-of-character-identification Read: Neuromancer: Dixie Flatline - https://www.shmoop.com/neuromancer/freedom-confinement-quotes-2.html YouTube: Finding Nemo Full Whale Scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVVYr0kEBIg Read: Find it on Just Watch - https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/finding-nemo Read: Script: Ex Machina by Alex Garland - https://www.slguardian.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ex-Machina.pdf YouTube: Ex Machina - Ave Session 5 Avas Test - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkgvzc1pvJw Read: Letterboxd: Stu’s Review - https://letterboxd.com/stuwillis/film/ex-machina-2014/ Read: Find it on Just Watch - https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/ex-machina Read: Script: Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7KOogudEi7ub2ZpR2docWlacDA/view YouTube: “Can we ever have lunch”? scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOBOwVRhvLA Read: Find it on Just Watch - https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/manchester-by-the-sea Read: Podcast: The Contrarians — Bonus! Netflix’s Glow - http://www.wearethecontrarians.com/episodes/2017/9/20/bonus-netflixs-glow2017 YouTube: Stan Bush - Dare (from Transformers the Movie) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrKfQ9Ss7w YouTube: “Dare” (Live) - The Cybertronic Spree - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpY4na_ofxs