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I had posted before somewhere where I try to follow this goal: TTP. Turn the page. Try to write so that the reader always has a reason to turn the page.
Another way of looking at it is pretend a feature is like a tv show, with a commercial every 10 minutes. A good tv show always has something right before the commercial that keeps you from changing the channel.
None of these things really have much to do with the thread topic. Write something interesting? Well, yeah, but that's about as helpful as saying "write something good". I just don't learn anything at all from that, no offence to anybody.
Hugh, I see you are working on a sci feature. Sci fi can be very complicated, involve a sophisticated plot. I think for that can kind of project it can be very helpful to force yourself to answer the question what's it all about, and see if you can establish that in some way early on. Doesn't have to be first scene, but it should be clear by the end of act one, or the end of the intro.
I think Steve's example is perfect. There's a lot of ways Goodfellas could have started, but nothing establishes what that story is about better than that.
I think with Alien you see right out of the gate that the movie is going to be a debate about whether to do the right thing or to do what it takes to survive; about whether to look out for others or watch out for yourself. The debate never ends. The film could have been done differently, with a theme of sticking together to survive, but it wasn't, as far as I can remember.
Hugh, I was in no way even thinking about rules. Just about what works. In the great rules debates, I am always on the other side of the rules people. What I have been referring to is the idea that it's good story telling to frame the story early on if possible. That gives focus and power to the things that follow. For example, from the opening of Godfather, we know this is not about the family "winning". It's about Michael getting sucked into the family business out of a sense of responsibility. And it shows how that kind of thing perpetuates. That was all framed in the opening scenes. Nothing was random about the way that was done.
I think a small part of what may account for this being pulled off well in some films, too, is that the writers/filmmakers are just extremely good at establishing style, tone, etc. I mentioned Mimic earlier, which, again, is not even a good film, but the opening sequences firmly establish a tone and style that suggest and support the main ideas of the film.
An example of this for me is, "A Knight's Tale". Not one line of dialogue by a principle character during the credits. And I know EXACTLY what kind of movie I'm in for.
I'm still pretty steep on the learning curve of screenwriting, and something that has really become more and more clear to me over recent months is the need to make sure a reader/viewer can quickly, and in one or two sentences, explain what your story is about. Veterans, I am sure, are very well aware of this, so this discussion is for newer writers, unless a vet wants to kick in and help me out.
I'm going to hit on two quick examples: The King's Speech(recently discussed in another thread) and The Godfather.
You have to assume the viewer comes into the movie without having seen a description, that the viewing expereince is pure. All he has is the title, which you see at the beginning. Ideally you can connect this title with early scenes so that the viewer(or reader) from a very early point can answer the question, "what's it about?".
At the beginning of The King's Speech, we see the prince giving a speech to his nation, addressing a gravely important topic(the Depression), and botching it because of a severe speech impediment. Connecting this to the title, we know what the movie is about. We know he will be king, will have to give a critical speech, and will have to overcome his impediment to succeed. Simple enough. If anyone left the theater at that moment they could still tell friends what the film was about.
One of my favorite films is The Godfather. I've never read a review or discussion about it, and haven't seen it for a while, so forgive me if I get something wrong. But let's take quick look at it.
As far as I know, up until The Godfather, ganngster movies were always about power. Pursuing it, maintaining it. There were movie gangsters that struggled with moral questions and issues like loyalty, but these films were generally about power.
What about The Godfather?
The film begins at a wedding. So we know it's about family. And it starts with the Godfather in his office receiving requests, since we are told it is Sicilian tradition that no father can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day. So it is about tradition, but more importantly, it is about responsability. And now we know this is not like any other gangster film that's been seen, is not what we expected coming into the theater.
What about our protag? Where is he? Isn't he supposed to be introduced right away? For the protag is not the Godfather. As everyone knows(now), Michael is the protag, but how does the movie reveal this? For one thing, everyone important is asking for him. So we know of him before we even see him. The first son we meet is Sonny. How do we know he is not the protag?(mostly through hindsight!) I don't think we know for sure actually until we meet Michael. Sonny is the stereotype we expect: hot headed, hyper-sexual, full of swagger.
Then Michael enters. We've been expecting him, so the spotlight is on him when he arrives. And then when he does, he stands so completely out, we know he's the protag. Unlike the other characters, he's in military uniform, clean cut, the all-American boy. We find out through his expostion about the family business, but through that we also find out about Michael. He is determined not to be in the business, but he does still have a pride in what they do.
By now we know what the movie is about. Anyone who was thinking about it probably knew by now that Sonny would die. It's inevitable from the perspective of telling the story, because Sonny is the oldest, and we need Michael to be in the position of having to decide whether to take the crown, to take on the family business. Not for the sake of power. But for the sake of responsability, as established in the opening scenes. Responsability to his family first, but also to his community, those that depend on the Godfather for protection.
There's even the powerful symbolic moment of the family photo, when Michael drags Kay into the picture. Kay is an outside influence who tries to pull Michael away from the family business, and he perhaps instinctively latches on to her for that reason. But the power of the family pulling them all in is much, much greater.
I thought about these things in the context of some of my own work, when I tried to answer the question of "what's it all about?" And I want to point out that this is not at all the same as theme, though theme can help with this situation. I'm not sure what the theme is for The King's Speech, I can think of several possibilities, but none answer the basic question of what's it about. Theme can help tie things together and keep the story clean and clear, but it doesn't answer the question.
Nor is this necessarily the same as a logline, though that can be very close.
The key thing, I think, is that a viewer should be able to understand what the movie's about just from the title and scenes that come relatively early in the story, the earlier the better. If this seems obvious to people, well, you're smarter than me. It took me a while to know this, I mean really know it. I've seen films where this is not achieved, where you kind of need the whole film to really know what it was about. That's a big handicap for a movie, and a huge handicap, I expect, for a spec script. Probably an insurmountable one.
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