The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

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  • #16
    Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

    Originally posted by ShaneBlackFan View Post
    There is a ticking clock in SEVEN, to stop the villain from completing his mission. It kicks in when they realise what the the villain is trying to achieve. I consider that a ticking clock -- when everything is converging to the end game.
    I don't.

    It's like the difference between baseball and basketball.

    There is no game clock in baseball. We know the game will end after the 9th (provided there is no tie), but there is no clock ticking down to the end. The players are not constrained by a clock.

    In Basketball there is a ticking clock. The game will end when the time runs out.

    There's no rigid time frame in SE7EN. They can catch him after the first murder. Or after the 6th or 7th. There is no clock that is ticking down to the end. We know it would probably end after murder 7, but there is no time reference. It could go on for years and years.

    THE BOURNE IDENTITY also doesn't have ticking clock.

    A ticking clock is a rigid time issue. There is no time issue in SE7EN or THE BOURNE IDENTITY. We know the circumstances that will lead to the end (Just like the 9 innings of a baseball game), but the characters are not facing a game clock that is ticking down.

    In ALIEN there is a clock ticking down. If she doesn't get out of there before the buzzer sounds... she's dead.
    Last edited by prescribe22; 10-13-2008, 08:18 AM.

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    • #17
      Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

      On the one hand, I don't think a ticking clock is as necessary or common in romantic comedy as it is in, say, thrillers. Sure, some (maybe many) romantic comedies have them, but by no means all. A lot of romantic comedies resolve via an epiphany rather than a timeline. As Harry says -- in one of my favorite lines from any romantic comedy, by the way -- "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

      And that's it in a nutshell. Sure, Harry could go the next day. Sure, Richard Gere's character in PRETTY WOMAN could track down Julia Roberts later instead of riding up to her apartment in that limo. (Yeah, she's about to leave town. But he's got more money than God. He could find her.) The point is that in that sort of romantic comedy, it's about the character realizing that this person is The One, that none of the other obstacles matter, that nothing is more valuable than that. And once the character realizes that, then he abolutely must go and find that person right away.

      On the other hand, there's always the ticking clock in a RC, because there's always the chance (just as there is in life) that that perfect person will slip away or find someone else or give up on you completely before you get your sh!t together. As artificial a construct as RCs have, they still speak to a fairly universal human truth that most people get: love can be hard to find and easy to lose. Everyone watching an RC knows that there is some point at which it will be too late, and the protag will have lost his/her last chance at love. In fact, that's when the epiphany usually happens -- after the clock has theoretically run out. It's ostensibly too late. The protag has missed his or her chance, or screwed up one too many times, and the realization of the loss is what triggers that big cinematic revelation and the subsequent last-ditch effort to get the love interest back.

      So maybe the clock is there, it's just more abstract in nature. It's not "by Tuesday." It's just "when all the second chances have run out." Because, again, the notion that you could use up all your chances with the person you love is pretty fundamental for most people to grasp. So maybe it doesn't have to have a date attached. You just know that the chances for redemption are finite in number and your hero better get his butt in gear as soon as possible.
      The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. - Mark Twain

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      • #18
        Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

        Well said, jillybob. The ticking clock is the possibility of Sally meeting someone else and falling in love. She's not going to wait around forever. She's going to be forty! When? Someday!

        The New Year's Eve thing is a third act a-ha! moment when the plan comes together. There's no way she can resist if he shows up moments before midnight and declares his love.

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        • #19
          Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

          For all the Star Trek fans.

          I seem to recall it was in one of the movies instead of the TV series where Kirk comments (maybe to Scotty?) that all their adventures end with a "ticking clock".

          So I'm thinking this one will end differently, but it doesn't.

          It was probably the writers and actors just having a bit of fun. It might be interesting to read that sequence of dialogue, but I can't remember which movie it was in.
          "I am the story itself; its source, its voice, its music."
          - Clive Barker, Galilee

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          • #20
            "Tick" Talk

            Originally posted by wilsoneads View Post
            And does this mean that we put too much value on the ticking time bomb technique in general?
            Yes. A "ticking time bomb- should be used to create tension and suspense, (as Hitchcock does so well in SABOTAGE), whereas the technique that you describe is known as "building to a climax.-
            JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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            • #21
              Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

              Originally posted by wilsoneads View Post
              Favored in many screenwriting books is the "ticking time bomb" technique. This, of course, doesn't mean literally using a"ticking time bomb", but rather using some sort of deadline by which things have to happen to sort of up the stakes of your movie.

              For instance. If aliens have come down to earth and you want your hero to defeat them, it ramps up the stakes when you have him find out that the aliens plan to destroy the planet by *this* time. If the aliens weren't planning on destroying the earth, then it doesn't really matter when the hell our hero defeats them. What's the urgency? Well, that's the idea anyway.

              The reason I bring this up is because, while almost every screenwriting teacher encourages their use, one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time (if not the greatest), "When Harry Met Sally" DOES NOT USE the ticking time bomb technique. This becomes even more amazing when you consider that nearly every other romantic comedy in history DOES use this technique (somebody's leaving somewhere at the end and the other person has to go get them before they leave).

              In "When Harry Met Sally", they use the countdown of New Year's Eve as a sort of artificial "ticking time bomb", but if he doesn't go get her that night, it's not like he won't have another chance tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that. There's no necessary reason that he has to go and get her *that night*. You see what I mean?

              And yet it's my favorite romantic comedy of all time. So why does it work? Why do we excuse this? And does this mean that we put too much value on the ticking time bomb technique in general?
              Incredibly important, just be sure not to use any sort off chronometer, it's very passe'.

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              • #22
                Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

                There isn't a ticking time bomb gimmick in The Terminator series. Those movies are at breakneck pace and yet they don't have to be.

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                • #23
                  Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

                  Originally posted by ;472678
                  There isn't a ticking time bomb gimmick in The Terminator series. Those movies are at breakneck pace and yet they don't have to be.
                  Great example.

                  It all comes down to how you ratchet up the drama in the 2nd act.

                  There are many ways to do it. The ticking clock is a great tool. But it doesn't always work, nor is it a requirement.

                  It's a tool that is available.

                  In TERMINATOR the story ratchets up the stakes in a cat and mouse type manner. Sarah simply has to survive. There is no clock. She has to do it until she can have her kid who she hasn't even conceived until whenever the sex scene occurs.

                  Sarah is the mouse. She tries to stay one step ahead of the Terminator (the cat) and get away. But the Terminator successfully manages to hunt her down leaving her no choice but to finally face him in the end. Alone.

                  It's a great example of how to drive up the drama in the 2nd act by pulling away escape options.

                  JAWS does this, too. There's no clock.

                  It too is really a cat and mouse game. As the story progresses, Brody is forced to take an increasingly more active role in killing the shark. At first he just wants to close the beaches. Then he hires others to kill it. Then his son is nearly killed (midpoint), and it becomes personal. That's when he goes after it.

                  Even then, he's content to let Hooper and Quint do the dirty work. Until ultimately at the end he must face it.

                  At no point, though, is he facing a clock. He's not going lose the slipper at midnight. The ship isn't going to blow up when the clock strikes zero.

                  In those stories, the tension mounts as the cat gets closer to the mouse. And the mouse is forced into a corner where he/she has no other option but to fight back.
                  Last edited by prescribe22; 10-14-2008, 08:30 AM.

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                  • #24
                    Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

                    Good point. If your main character is being chased, a clock basically isn't needed. We're too involved with whether they're going to get away.
                    Script Reviews - 5 a week! http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/

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                    • #25
                      Re: The "ticking time bomb" technique - how important is it?

                      I think this has been touched on, but I'm going to add my two cents:

                      There is no need for a traditional ticking time bomb in Se7en because the whole idea is to stop a serial killer who is using the seven deadly sins to send a message to society. The detectives discover this and realize there will be seven victims if he is not stopped. The suspense this creates makes a traditional ticking time bomb irrelevant.

                      In When Harry Met Sally it's irrelevant for a different reason. The film's premise is, "Can a man and woman be friends without falling in love or having sex?" This is something that has to be explored over time. How do you put a time limit on a friendship? The New Year's Eve party isn't so much a ticking time bomb as it is an epiphany, a characer revelation. The revelation is that he loves her and he always has, but if Harry does not act on this then he never will. It's his last chance not because midnight is approaching, but because putting it off now, when he realizes the truth, would mean he'd put it off tomorrow...and the next day. It's his last chance to change.

                      The ticking time bomb is a great tool, but it's not necessary for every story. Many stories need them because we need to justify the character's need to change now or be flawed forever. The Godfather doesn't use it because it's the story of family, a patriarch passing his legacy to his son, and again, how do you put a time limit on that? Do you put an expiration date on the father and a time limit for the son to achieve his father's status? I guess you could, but then you'd have a different movie.
                      "All of us trying to be the camera behind the camera behind the camera. The last story in line. The Truth" Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted

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