Divisions and Precisions

When analysis goes too far...

I finally made it to the movies this afternoon. I saw Seabiscuit, which, aside from the two groups of exceptionally talkative old ladies and the low sound volume, was quite enjoyable. I confess, I cried, but that's getting to be like me saying, "I breathed."

But, while I was busy weeping over a red-haired Tobey Maguire, my brain was busy breaking things down. How was the story put together? Every time I made some sort of leap or realized some bit of information, I'd break down exactly how that information had been conveyed. I noticed there are some pretty sizable stretches of the movie that don't have any sort of dialogue at all (well, either that or the sound really WAS turned down too low). So while part of my brain was caught up in the story, the other part was busy figuring out WHY certain shots and certain images conveyed a particular emotion or thought.

That seems to be my focus lately, particularly when watching movies or TV: how do you show audience information, particularly stuff that will be important later? I think it's helped me figure out how to translate some of those techniques into my writing.

I half-wonder if I shouldn't try my hand at writing a screenplay. Working on The Exile's Daughter is such an intensely visual thing for me at times. I frame scenes in my head, camera angles and all. I think most novelists from our society approach things from a cinematic point of view, just because that's the medium we're most familiar with for long-form storytelling. It's hard not to, at least for me. It's sort of my default voice, I think.

Heh. Who knows? Maybe if I get a good movie idea I'll try it. Never mind that I don't know the first thing about writing a screenplay. Up until I tried it the first time, I didn't know the first thing about writing a novel either. (I think I may have learned the first thing by now. The first thing is that there are about 50,000 other things on the rest of the list...)