Parallel Action Suggestions?

Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
I am developing a scene for a film that has 4 different characters converging to a point of conflict. It is similar in some ways to the way Jodie Foster shows up to the house in Silence of the Lambs. We see the FBI coming in, Foster talking to Gumb and it all converges into a red herring.

Another example of something similar is the climax of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much where Doris Day is singing, the woman with their son hears her, the assassin is aiming for the PM and Jimmy Stewart is looking around for the boy.

The key is that they are all circling the same point of conflict (albeit with different goals), but they are in separate spaces moving towards some sort of convergence.

Anybody have any other suggestions for scenes like that so I can break them down and analyze them? I am looking to build maximum tension.

Thanks in advance.
 
I think this is very simply done in post. As a director you still have to set the pace and the tone, but really this is simply a switcheroo edit. Thats how Silence of the Lambs goes. Tension is built through quick cuts and then the payoff is a nice slow cut in a different location. I can go watch it again if Im wrong but I dont think theres a fundamental difference in the shoot.
 
Thanks Chuklz, and that is true. How it is edited in the end will make a big difference, and even though I think cutting back and forth will be the best way to go, I may change my mind in post. This won't be a switch like in Silence of the Lambs. What I am trying to get a handle on isn't the payoff as much as the build.
 
If I understand you, try "Magnolia".
On a smaller scale Mel Gibson's "Payback" had a scene like that with a bomb--near the end...
 
I JUST rented the Kingdom. In the special bonus section Peter Berg has cut the climax 4 seperate ways focusing on each character during the climax. I think it would be useful to review for you. It appears that the workflow was to cut each character, then intercut the edit like you are talking about, and then they refined the final edit because they use different takes in the final cut.

I highly recommend checking it out.
 
This is done effectively in several movies I've seen.

Jurassic Park - turning on the park power. While the woman turns on power happily "saving" the park, the power turning on threatens to kill a child but she doesn't know that. The separation of knowledge the audience has always been a great interest to me.

Ending of Requiem for a Dream is one of the most powerful examples of parallel action ever put to film converging to every character basically giving up. (Not sure if this quite fits what you're looking for though)

End of American Beauty setting up several characters simultaneously who could potential kill Lester, so when he dies you're not sure who did it.
 
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