DZ-21: Scene Transitions and the Hook

How can scene transitions do more than just move from one location to another?

Stu and Chas look at one of the basic building blocks of a script: scene transitions. Transitions don’t just move you from one scene to another in a slick way, they can help you compress time, enhance thematic connections, unify different story threads, orient (or disorient) your reader… and just make your script feel more like a movie.

To help us see how scenes connect & collide in interesting ways, we take a close look at scripts of films with great transitions to see how much of the work was done by the writer (as opposed to the director or editor): SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, HIGHLANDER, AMERICAN SPLENDOR and BOYHOOD.

And then, in backmatter we take a self-reflective look at TIME MANAGEMENT (and naps).

Oh, we are also holding a LIVE EPISODE of Draft Zero at the 2015 St Kilda Film Festival. May 25, 8pm. More details shortly!

EPISODE LINKS

• David Bordwell: http://www.davidbordwell.net
  • The Hook: Scene Transitions in Classical Cinema
  • There Will Be Blood – Hands and Faces Across the Table
  • Watching You Watch There Will Be Blood
  • Vimeo: There Will Be Blood with gaze locations of 11 viewers
• Scriptnotes: Ep89 – Writing effective transitions
  
• The Writer’s Binder: 8 Ways to Hook The Reader by Karl Iglesias
• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY by Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clarke
  • YouTube: 2001 -From Bone to Satellite (1968) HD 
• SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall
  • YouTube: Scott Pilgrim Transitions
  • Every Frame a Painting: Edgar Wright – How to do Visual Comedy
• HIGHLANDER Screenplay by Peter Bellwood & Larry Ferguson and Gregory Widen, Story by Gregory Widen
  • YouTube: Highlander (1986) – Trailer
• AMERICAN SPLENDOR by Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman
  • YouTube: American Splendor – What’s In A Name
  • YouTube: American Splendor – Supermark
• BOYHOOD by RICHARD LINKLATER
  • Kevin B. Lee : Who Deserves the 2015 Oscar for Best Director?
• Zak Forsman: Are You Thinking About Your Transitions?
• Screenwriting.io: What is a pre-lap?

BACKMATTER LINKS

• The Next Web: The Secret To Insane Productivity? Will Power
• Go Into the Story: Twitter Rant: Eric Heisserer on Procrastination, Precrastination and Productivity in Writing
• The Write Practice: 23 Essential Quotes from Ernest Hemingway About Writing
• Brain Pickings: The Daily Routines of Great Writers
• The Guardian: Rise and shine: the daily routines of history’s most creative minds
• Paul Graham: How To Do What You Love
• Fast Company: How To Be Prolific: Guidelines for Getting it Done by Joss Whedon
  • Have Desert First – Joss Whedon
• iView: Redesign my Brain with Todd Sampson
• YouTube: Redesign my Brain – Series Trailer
• Denvog: Index Card for iPhone and Index Card for iPad
• Short of the Week: Deeper than Yesterday
• Pozible: Real Lust, Inc
• Phil Lemon: One Little Goat
• St Kilda Film Festival – Forums Throughout the Week

Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero  We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter.

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