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This
week's answer:
Good
ol' Screenplay
I really appreciate your question,
C.C. For me, the most important aspect (or thing,
as you wrote) that makes a screenplay good is its
ability to involve the reader. When all the basic
story elements, premise, plot, dialogue, characters,
tone, pace, etc., are working together, the result
is a usually a screenplay that engages the reader. And
this concoction made from all these story elements will
produce some type of conflict, an overall conflict of
the protagonist. And the action of the protagonist
to overcome the conflict, which is, in scientific terms,
two opposing forces meeting, creates the fundamental
element that is requisite in a screenplay:
attractive women. No, not really. That
element
is....................................................
.............................................................................
tension. (See? Just by making you wait for
the answer created tension. A subtle tension, to
be sure, but a tension, nonetheless.) But you
can't be tense all the time as you watch a movie.
You need to relax, to feel free to check your cell-phone
and find out if you have any text messages or e-mails or
new stock reports. So, what releases the tension
in a screenplay? The hero (or sometimes another
character) attains something; things look better for him
or her; what was a problem is no longer a problem
(although, unless it's the end or close to the end of
the movie, there's most likely another problem on its
way or is already there).
But tension and release a good
screenplay does not necessarily make. (I think
Shakespeare said that.) The screenwriter needs us
to care about the protagonist and relate to his or her
difficult situation. Basically, we need to like
the adventure we've been sent on, enjoying the scenery
and the characters (even the villains in some way) we
meet along the way. Dorothy would back me up on
that one.
And so would Toto, too.
DcH
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