(I've been slowed down some in finishing these script tips due to teaching a class, work, and working on two screenplays of my own, but will wrap these up soon, finishing with a more personalized example. Stay tuned...)
TONE. What is the tone of your story? Keep it consistent. Tone is one of the trickiest and most undervalued aspects of a script.
Films that don't succeed often don't because they shift tone uneasily.
Tone is the feel of the story -- is it slapstick comedy, black comedy, outrageous comedy vs. gentle comedy? Melancholy with just some flashes of humor, light romantic...
Examples: Mamma Mia: On one level, it could be meant as a kitschy throwback to the ‘70’s, complete with razzle-dazzle costumes and campy shock zooms. On another level, it could be taken as a strange hybrid experiment in combining a classical type of storyline with modern music. Or it could just be a straight film musical.
Snow Angels: Near tragic story based on a dark novel with grim beauty is beset by weird comic elements.
Sex in the City: Which I admittedly didn't see, but a few reviewers pointed out the movie's uneven tone, alternating between boisterous silliness and quiet seriousness. (Though this sort of reflects the show, too.)
Spike Lee's new film Miracle at St. Anna is another example of this (more on that one in a future post).
What are some other examples of movies with wavering tone?
SO: What is the tone? Is it unrelenting? A horror or thriller with no light moments can undermine the tension because the audience will go numb. The same genres can have their tension undermined by having too many light moments. It is common for a drama to start out on the light side, and, as the conflict develops, become more serious, but the transition can be too abrupt. A common problem is a script with an uneven tone that wavers between light and serious from scene to scene to a point where a reader doesn't know what is to be taken seriously, and what is a joke.
give me the importance or reasons why we use a script..pls..
Posted by: jonard | January 07, 2011 at 10:50 PM