Realism

[Meltdown]

What lengths do you go to add realism to your scripts?

I'm a bit of stickler for realism, even in a story that is considered surreal.

Give you an example - fight scenes - a buddy and I actaully go out and ran through them. Learned real quick that getting fancy gets you in big trouble.

One script has a truck coming off a forestry burm - so we went out and jumped my buddy's 4-runner (things you do when you're in the north and posses half a brain)

Damn near broke the springs (we'd jumped the sucker before, but not at the speed we hit it at)and ripped the driver's mirror off on atelephone pole (Kirk turns to me - wanna do that again?)

I think I've fired all the weapons in my scripts save the automatics - so I now how they kick, hit, range limitations etc.

Mental note - make sure to have a firm grib when quick shooting a 12 guage loaded with 3" magnum shell. I wore the barrel one my forehead. The duck was laughing his can off I'm sure.


How about you?

[TinaRM]

I like to write Romantic/Comedy - so it's a little easier for me to test out the realism - i.e., kiss hubby - have a throw down in the floor, etc. etc. (LOL!)

But - in my screenplay - I had to deal with the supernatural and so I had a little more difficulty making things not seem so far out there - not so much the impossible that the viewer's intellegence is insulted. Again tho, I couldn't try any of these things out - I just had to imagine them and go with what I would find to be believable.

As for you, well, I just hope you live to see your screenplay out there. At the rate your going (shot gun barrell to the head - high jump in the SUV, telephone pole close encounter, etc.) it's going to be difficult.

If Walker, Texas Ranger, can single handedly kick the butts of about 10 people (ouch - who can get back up after receiving a boot to the face?) - then you can feel pretty sure that an actor can make most anything look realistic.

And keep in mind all the stunts in The Dukes of Hazard - now really, can that car (what was it's name?) really do all that stuff? NO! I don't think so - tho I think that Daisy Duke was impressed.

I was kind of thinking that unless it's important to the story, not every detail of a fight has to be put in the script...I wouldn't think so anyway - someone more experienced might be able to tell you this. If that is the case, then I guess you might want to get out in the yard and punch your friend - stop - write down "right hook to the jaw" - allow your friend to put you in a head lock - stop - write it down, etc. LOL!

There must be an easier way!

Best of luck!

Tina

[Hangfire 2]

You don't need to personally experience everything you write about to make it real. You just have to understand your characters and how they woud naturally react to any given situation. Andrew Kevin Walker didn't go out and perform grisly crimes to write Se7en, and that's about as real as it gets. Similarly, Dan O'Bannon didn't go out into space and get hunted by an alien with acid for blood to write Alien.

But they knew their characters, and they wrote them so well we knew them, too. They put us in there with them (with respect to Ridley Scott and David Fincher) and so it was perfectly okay that they were way the hell out in space fighting an alien or tracking a seemingly brilliant serial killer with a Bible bent.

Want to write a great fight scene? It's enough to know that getting hit in the face hurts. A lot. It's how your characters react to the punch and the pain that either adds or takes away from the realism.

[steeves]

dagnabbit - i thought his death had value!

bsf, what i've read regarding fight scenes is a lot simpler, kinda like:
______________________
EXT Paring Lot
Larry and Larry fight up a storm while Darryl watches.
---

okay you can do better than that, but if you start choreographing a fight you are asking for trouble and bored readers... maybe the odd little bit of description that is salient but none of the blow by blow stuff should be there... they'll actually film it differently anyway... so delegate it in advance to the on-set folk

my opinion - free for the taking

[Meltdown]

No I don't feel that I need to experince everything in a script - but it sure does help in some ways with my writing.

One example - a person shooting gun mutiple times while indoors, If you had done this in real life - 1) you'd know just how deafening it is and 2)You'd be amazed at the amount of smoke hanging in the ( bad enough it can affect how well you can see your target).

These were two details that really seemed to impress a producer for whatever reason.

As for the fight scenes - I get the essence down. In the book version they're bone crunching detail - in the script it is detailed ony enough to make it clear the character is brutally efficient, but not flashy.


My fight scenes are a couple slugs at most. Think the best one ( from a bar brawl) I used in a script was one guy slamming another guy's head into the side of a pick-up truck ( dented the quaterpanel pretty good) and then flipping him into the box.


More wondering if you feel some of your real world experiences helped you anchor details in your writing.

[Steve]

I hope you're not planning on writing anything like "Deliverance", Melt.

[Bill Marquardt]

Sooo - eee!

[hang em high]

meltdown and they say, i'm touched? a GUY gets beaten to death with a soup ladle, a very big soup ladle after he mixes a pot of sauce, did I real whack the guy with a ladle, or did I have to see it done.

Jeez I hope not.

DR.

[PteranoDon]

In "Goldeneye", Bond escapes by riding a motorcycle off a cliff and power diving until he catches up with an airplane (a Pilatus P6 Turbo Porter) that had previously gone over the same cliff. He gets into the airplane, gets it out of the dive, and flies it to safety.

Now, it's improbable, but not impossible that he could catch the airplane, get in, and fly away. But the choice of the airplane, Pilatus , is critical because it is one of a very few aircraft (perhaps the only utility aircraft) that could pull off a stunt like that.

I know that most people in the audience don't know one airplane form another or one gun from another, but everyone in the audience is an expert at something. If you have 60 scenes and each scene has some little realism error in it, scene by scene you'll lose your audience as your story touches on each person's area of expertise.

I was in a theatre once and the movie was about submarines. The sub was under the artic ice cap, and the ice cap was breaking up (I don't remember why). The sub was dodging big chunks of ice that were falling from above. It made for a really tense situation until someone in the audience shouted "Hey! Ice floats!" Yep, it sure does. And the movie instantly lost all credibility and became a parody of itself.

[hang em high]

Hangfire, beautiful post, I'm glad there are people out there who are able to answer questions, without the foolish behavior, of some. The few spoil it for the many.

Hangfire, you are engaging, delightful and full of good things to say, that I have to sit down for a moment.

Here's my number call me, so I can give you more compliments. You are truly a gentleman - you are carvel ice cream, coffee cake warmed in a brisker for twenty minutes, a rainbow on a damp day. Kiss me you fool I am starved for attention and connections and good ideas.

lilybet

[Hangfire 2]

Now I'm afraid of you.

[Meltdown]

Someone been smoking the upholsty again...

[Couchguy]

I am currently researching my next screenplay "Banging Salma Hayek", wherein a would-be screenwriter discovers a portal to...well, I don't want to give too much away before I've closed the deal.

Your pal,
Couchguy

[Hangfire 2]

You just made my day. Very nice touch.

[hang em high]

To my relaxed friend over there, I'd like you to elaborate more on what your idea consists of - sounds like something I'd be willing to do extensive research on, with, near.

all of my personalities thank you - but only when she's thin, she has a tendency to pork out sometimes.

[TinaRM]

Last night my husband read to me the logline from a movie on cable. It said something to the effect of, "Screenwriter takes on the role of the serial killer in his script"

I laughed and said, "Must be Meltdown's movie!"

Tina

[Couchguy]

Hang em,

If you're one of those guys who thinks that Salma Hayek looks perfect at 121 but porky at 127, then you can't share my portal. The next thing you'll be telling me is that Bernadette Peters needs to drop a few. (Years maybe, I give you that.)

Your pal,
Couchguy

P.S. I'm thinking of Jennifer Tilly to play Salma Hayek in the movie...too much of a stretch?

[lilybet]

Boys, Selma asked me to inform you that she only considers Grade A Prime from head to toe. So, check it out in the mirror and if you can't pass muster, your portal will be walled off. Now, that's realism.

lilybet

[ksk2]

The fact that Sophia Loren during her '50's/at her "healthiest", or Suzanne Pleshette in Support Your Local Gunwhatever, could completely "out-woman", "out-entice", "out-flirt" and (acting-wise) "out-do" Salma (or any other "modern") is a true statement of reality.

Then again, I still remember wishing that the Frazetta girl was "real", and lived nearby, so I could give her a Valentine's Day Card. (Not just to piss Boris Vallejo off, either).

Wonder if anyone under 30 will get that last ref...

All hails and cheers to the "hourglasses" and Big Brains! (dare I mention Anna Magnani?), kosk

[hang em high]

couch, no 127 hayek is fine, heck 135 is fine but she was pushing 150 in the movie with matthew Perry.

She was in sweatpants the entire movie and she looked larger than the ten pounds the camera tacks on.

And lily, I'm good like that, nobodies 100 percent the real deal, but god shined on me. . . so if I ever sell a couple scripts I'd toss the mexican bombshell around a couple times and hand her in for a new model.

yes, it is true, I may think to highly of myself, but only when I sniff airplane glue.

D.R.

[Couchguy]

Lily,
Some parts Grade A Prime, some parts Grade B Choice, but the parts that are Grade A make up for the parts that are Grade B. And I recently trimmed 10 pounds for my tryout for the next version of Survivor. However, I discovered today that I will not be going to the Outback, so it's time to put those 10 pounds back on.

Your pal, and Salma's (at any movie weight, even 'Fools Rush In'),
Couchguy

[hang em high]

Only a 'fool would rush in to that portal', when she's got the spareribs in one hand and the cheesecake in the other.

I like em' long, thin and breasty and smart with no teeth.

hillbilly hang em'

[Daughter of Lir]

mmmMMMMMmmmm, realism, riiiiiight. This is why all the darlings of the telly world are skinny waifs with big eyes and "pretty" faces, and the only "big" girls are losers. Hunh. Someday the media will catch up with the fact that the average lady these days is a curvy Marilyn Monroe/Sophia-type girl... Marilyn had back. Yum! Though Sophia is my fave...

Okay, backing off the "body" bits, realism is sadly lacking in too many areas, esPECially costuming and medieval weapons/armour. That'll turn me off a good movie reeeeal fast, especially when it truly does NOT take a whole lotta effort to reseach either of those things. A damn good example of realism is the Fox version of "Robin Hood". Accurate clothing, weapons, class portrayals: everyone looked pretty grungy and they all only had one change of clothes each. Welcome to the real middle ages ;) Yeah, so, I'm a stickler for costumes and weapons, I'll admit I don't know bubkes about modern weaponry and would be put to the test if I had to write in some guns. When this happens, I'll RESEARCH, promise! I hate looking the fool in such things, so I'll look through books for hours...

[Daughter of Lir]

and adding to the realism bits: I'm currently off to the Bay to check out boats/ships, seals/seal lions, houses, and soak up the general ocean-y atmosphere. Also, I gotta find out where to research shipping lines in the 1800's, particularly San Franscisco during the Gold Rush... Have NO idea where to start with shipping lanes/routes, but I'm sure I'll find some info... <grin>