Script Writing: Themes of Conflict. Because we talked about making the story interesting for the viewer I wanted to bring up some literary resources. There are certain constructs to building more conflict. Remember that a story is a journey. Story A has a character walking along the sidewalk. Story B has a character walking down a sidewalk, finding a 20 dollar bill, then someone saying that 20 was theirs which story line would be more interesting? Thus I wanted to bring up Themes of Conflict. A theme is something that drives conflict forward. A writer can use any of them in combination or all of them at once if they like. The first theme is man vs man. In the example above is an example of man vs man. There is a conflict between the two because they are arguing over the 20 dollar bill. In And Then There Was One, the entire storyline is based on the concept of man vs man. Each of the characters have a secret that they don’t want to let out but then all ties them together. In The Song, Cala and Ligeria have a conflict between each other because Cala had killed Ligeria’s puppet. The key here is the conflict with another character. The second theme is man vs self. This is characterized as an internal struggle with one’s identity or situation. Do they or don’t they. A great example is Hamlet. Learning of his father’s murder, does he or doesn’t he pursue justice. The famous soliloquy “To be or not to be” talks specifically about this inner turmoil. In Neglectful Thoughts I used this literary device to explain one possible explanation about why someone would commit suicide by blowing themselves up. The inner turmoil of John Smith about being invisible and wanting to be recognized by the world around him drove him to a drastic act. The third theme is Man vs Nature. Here we have man having to overcome his natural surroundings in order to survive. Think about Twister. In this movie there are two scientists trying to overcome severe thunderstorms to bring a safer world to the Midwest by creating better detection of tornadoes. This is a conflict with nature. The Heart of Darkness is a novel that represents this type of conflict as the main character journeys further into the jungle on his ivory trade. Moby Dick is an example of Man vs Nature that deals with animals. The fourth theme is Man vs Society (Organization). This type of conflict deals with a person having a conflict with the entire organization as it is set now. This type of conflict is depicted in the movie Resident Evil. In this movie, the main character is fighting against the Umbrella Corporation which has made a lot of zombies. Another example of this is the Hunger Games that has Katness fighting against the government. The society or organization can be as large as a whole country or a small business. The last one that I would suggest, but is not recognized by literary constructs that I have found, is Man vs Machine. Classic films like War Games and Terminator find men fighting against the rise of machines that are trying to take over the world. This could be as large as global war… Or it could be as simple as a man trying to get his engine to start. In And Then There Was One, toward the end of the script there is this type of conflict when they are trying to escape certain death in a car. Using these literary themes of conflict allows you to increase the tension in your scenes. Continuously increasing the tension will draw an audience in to the story line and hook them into listening to what a writer has to say. What is your favorite literacy theme of conflict? #AndThenThereWasOne #BlackCloudMotionPictures #Filmmaking #ScriptWriting https://youtube/watch?v=6Z4FK05w9-U&list=UUoFU448Myk-MZPOuHPrITqQ
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 17:52:56 +0000