Anybody down for analyzing a movie ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
Would a few writers here by up/down for doing a story/character/plot analysis of a popular well written movie (screenplay)? I was thinking it could be a good learning experience. Pick a popular movie several of us could agree on as having an interest in analyzing, then start a new topic thread to discuss the story (components, theme, hero's goal, characters, character arcs, Hero and Antagonist's need/want/goals, use of story world, seasons/time, etc). Anybody interested?

Suggestions for films to analyze? My short list of possible stories to discuss/analyze (open to others though, these are just ideas):
House of Sand and Fog
The Cave
North by Northwest
Gladiator
 
only if we are going to sweded and make it better, i will be interested in that.
tear it apart and reconstruct a better one. but it would have to be something that we can get copyrights, or license or something without any copyrights.
 
I was not really thinking of that, I am more interested in a group discussion of the story (screenplay) theme, hero's (and antagonist's) need and want, plot points, etc. Not a rewrite.

amrrahmy said:
only if we are going to sweded and make it better, i will be interested in that.
tear it apart and reconstruct a better one. but it would have to be something that we can get copyrights, or license or something without any copyrights.
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yeah i can see that, but if you had a goal of doing something better, you will try to understand better the strengths and weaknesses of the story, plot, idea behind it or dialogue or whatever.

and you need to understand that the story, can be better, every time you rewrite it, not take it for granted that the story is as good as it gets, and cant be rewritten any better.

looking at something from the surface, wont tell you how it works or what makes it kick, you have to dive deeper and explore it, by trying to make something better, you can tell what makes the current version good and will open your eyes to the possibilities of making it better.
 
Good idea, how about the 1st 25% of Gladiator. Do you have the screenplay to put up here? Freely available at script sites.
 
I think any proposition should have an argumentation. The script should have some problem to be fixed. So, what’s your problem?
 
I do have the screenplay to Gladiator, in printed form, that I purchased from scriptfly.com Maybe we could find it in digital form to post and analyze (but we would want the actual screenplay, not a transcript written by someone from just watching the movie)? I have not used a flatbed scanner in ages, that could always be a route of last resort to get some pages in digital form. I have over 30 such printed screenplays I purchased from scriptfly, quite a few titles.

10s said:
Good idea, how about the 1st 25% of Gladiator. Do you have the screenplay to put up here? Freely available at script sites.
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Maybe we could start a new topic/thread on Gladiator, and also another one for Fight Club, see what happens?

Gladiator 1st Draft:
http://www.angelfire.com/movies/ridleyscott/script/Gladiator_FirstDraft.txt
Gladiator 2nd Draft:
http://www.angelfire.com/movies/ridleyscott/script/gladiator_seconddraft.txt

Randall_Oelerich said:
I do have the screenplay to Gladiator, in printed form, that I purchased from scriptfly.com Maybe we could find it in digital form to post and analyze (but we would want the actual screenplay, not a transcript written by someone from just watching the movie)? I have not used a flatbed scanner in ages, that could always be a route of last resort to get some pages in digital form. I have over 30 such printed screenplays I purchased from scriptfly, quite a few titles.
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I am going to back out of my original proposition, just not going the way I had envisioned (I really had meant/wanted to do an analysis of an screenplay/film's story, if even just from watching the film associated with the screenplay). Sorry for the inconvenience all. I guess it is my excitement at reading Truby's book on story, was hoping to get into a discussion of the 'anatomy of story' for a specific story. Oh well.

10s said:
either one works for me
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Will do. I did like Kitchen from what little I have heard from him (DVD seminar, I do not recall the topic of the DVD as I have about 20 of the DVD seminars from various writers/gurus).

Well if even one person (10s?) is up for a story analysis of Gladiator I would still be greatly interested in that. I do not mean necessarilly dissecting a written screenplay line by line, I mean just analysis of the story (of course built off the screenplay), and anybody could join in either from a read of the screenplay or renting the movie. Talk about Truby type stuff-- hero's need, want, same for antag., mythic journey, role of story world, time, etc.

10s said:
That was my intent as well, oh well! ;)

enjoy the Truby book, after that read Kitchen's book. They both have much to offer.
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