#3 - Closing The Loop
Edition #3 of the Lighthouse miniLetter!
You'll always get:
Three examples of great screenwriting
Two quotes about storytelling
One thing to think about
Plus some fun links at the bottom.
Three examples of great screenwriting
Women Talking
Screenplay by Sarah Polley
A few things that some writers would consider “no no’s” like directly calling the shot (ON AARON’S FACE), addressing the reader (He looks at us) and drawing attention to the artifice of the camera (a SPRAY CAN comes into frame). Oscar-winning screenplay. Do what works.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Written by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Not explicitly talking to us, but the parentheses call attention to the authors ensuring that this is noticed and taken in by the reader. It assures the reader that what they read is actually, visually happening, but it also underscores and gives space to the emotional weight of this moment. Another Oscar-winning screenplay “breaking the rules.”
Always Blue (Pilot)
Written by Taylor Coriell
I just love the way Tully’s trip is described here. Such an economical way to not only show the action, but the character’s emotional reaction simultaneously.
Two quotes about screenwriting
“Stop doing four screenplays at once. And do one at a time and address the problem.”
“Nobody knows what you know like you know what you know.”
One thing to think about
Does this scene close the loop?
I will often think of scene transitions as loops, examining the way in which they connect (or don’t connect) to each other. I think of open and closed loops.
Some scenes end with tension resolved, and some scenes end with tension unresolved.
Some scenes end with a question, and some scenes end with an answer to a question.
In Jurassic Park, John Hammond invites Dr. Grant and Dr. Satler to the island, and after some deliberation they say yes, and clink glasses. The answer (”Yes” and the celebratory cheers) closes the loop. This provides a nice little button on the opening sequence, as it cuts to Nedry and his subplot.
An alternate ordering of this sequence could’ve had the scene end on the question (”Will you come to my island?”) leaving the loop open, and cut right to the helicopter, with the answer.
Imagine a scene of a teenager getting a haircut, one of their parents watching along. The teenager is spun around in the chair, and the parent gasps but we don’t see the teenager, because the scene ends there and cuts right to the teenager posing during picture day at the school. The open loop leads right into the next scene.
Open loops don’t have to necessarily be “CUT TO:s” as they can also be used to build suspense or tension. Imagine a villain smiling, as the camera rack focuses to a test tube of something that looks a lot like poison. It doesn’t have to CUT TO: A drink being served (though it could.) Just keeping the loop open with the poison is enough to keep us in suspense.
Keeping the loop open can help when building pace, stringing together multiple scenes in a lengthy sequence, or heightening suspense or tension.
Closing the loop can help separate sequences and acts from each other. They create a feeling of reaching a point of significance and a new part of the journey is about to begin.
So examine the way in which you might want scenes to flow from one to the next at any given moment, and ask yourself:
Does this scene close the loop?
Have a great draft,
David Wappel