Tyler Mowery Hey Tyler, I found this video interesting in that I connected a few dots from when I was attending film school I’m a new way- I know you used the example of Whiplash representing greatness, and whether it’s worth sacrificing for or not, but can you give other specific examples, or better yet a list of central ideas that have driven stories?
it took me a while to really understand that my first scripts won't be perfect, and me being the perfectionist I am, never finished a script cause of the fear of it being terrible. Your videos have helped me to not hate my ideas and trying to finish a story once :). thanks
Amazing advice. I feel like we spend too much time looking at genius filmmakers and everything they're able to accomplish and in the end of the day we feel like if we're not able to achieve that level of greatness in our first tries then we're failures, but that's not true at all.
The genius of Inception is that it obscures its simple theme with details. Inception, at its core, is a story about the narratives we construct to deal with grief. The entire story-universe is built to externalize this theme. Cobb cannot deal with the death of his wife, and he can’t deal with it because he feels he caused it. He implanted the narrative in her subconscious that led her to kill herself. The need to stop constructing narratives and to accept reality is the fundamental fixture of the entire story. It’s where we end the film. And the ambiguity of the spinning top is to ask us whether or not he’s succeeded. Has he lied to himself and fallen deep into a delusion? Or has he truly achieved catharsis and found a way to move on? If this fundamental narrative question wasn’t present in the story, the whole film would be a meaningless exercise. Inception is not about a heist. They aren’t going there to take something, they’re trying to leave something behind-make a businessman accept the lie that his deceased father was proud of him. By the end, the businessman has accepted this false narrative and it’s going to screw him over. What we’re meant to ask is whether Cobb has met a similar fate.
Just realised that this was the problem with JK Rowing’s Fantastic Beasts script- there were way too many concepts and ideas going on in that film! It makes sense because Rowling put loads of stuff into her books and it worked but i in a movie u hav to be more focused. Fantastic video!
A film I see a lot of my screenwriting friends tackle in complexity is ‘Inception’ (first film to come to mind even before you mentioned it) and I’ve found that more harmful than beneficial to their works. People seemingly understand ‘Inception’ with having multiple central ideas, but at the same time Nolan spent a decade working on the story/script. A film I personally faltered with when I got into screenwriting was ‘The Tree of Life’ and ever since I’ve spent close to a decade having to reteach myself about the balance between literalism and allegory.
Yeah, exactly, as soon as I saw your comment, first thing I thought was “yeah, but he spent ten years getting it ready and analyzing it, he didn’t do it in a week and went to shoot it.
ok unpopular opinion but honestly inception's writing is shit, the dialogue is almost always exposition, nolan likes telling over showing, and it feels really clunky. same thing with memento too, the characters are all exposition. obviously the plot is complex and confusing but nolan really goes overboard. if i were to watch it chronologically i would probably just walk out of the theater, lol
aah I found inception to be extremely easy to understand but the reason for all the exposition is because Christopher Nolan said in an interview that he was worried that if he use subtext and rely on visuals, the audience won’t understand his movies since his movies are made for the everyday general audience.
aah His Executive don’t think that. I mean when the Matrix was made the executive didn’t have no idea what the movie is about even though it’s easy to understand.
Hi Tyler. Just wanna say I'm glad I found your channel. Your advice has an unapologetic tone to it, just something I don't get very often in film school. I'm not naming any names but certain mentors have this "I'm right, you're wrong, shut up" attitude I find irritating. I don't feel that way with you. Please keep doing what you do.
Maybe you can do a video how these complicated, multi-themed scripts do it in a clear and artistic way, such that it feels right. Because I'm sure there are many scripts out there with multiple themes with several central ideas as well
even I'm not a scriptwriter or something I'm just a simple writer who wants to write my first book but your videos really resonates with me thank you so much love it !
Gues then The hero might assume something and make plans according to his beleifs that World/Life is easy but at last he fails and someone or himself makes him realize your moral.
Never before have my thoughts on arthouse films been summed up so neatly. If your film is vaguely artistic but confusing, it's not deep - that's just bad storytelling. I think movies that get complex ideas across while still engaging and entertaining the audience are far superior
Gui Caldo Are there any arthouse films that succeed at being entertaining? When I first heard that phrase I thought “oh god those movies are probably boring and pretentious”
@@dally1398 There are three that I can think of: Joker, Pan's Labyrinth and Snowpiercer. The former is more controversial, but I've met very few people that didn't adore Snowpiercer. It's a Korean action film that succeeds at being a simple, dumb action movie with a strong protagonist, a clear goal, forward momentum, and tight pacing. But beneath all of that there's so much more to unpack. Not only is the protagonist an excellent character with a strong emotional journey and a powerful choice at the end, the film also makes an in-depth commentary about class. At surface level it seems to be saying "rich bad, poor good", but if you dive further in there are more and more layers to unpack. Pan's Labyrinth is slower-paced, but talks about the nature of escapism and gives a fascinating insight into the mind of a child while going through real world traumas it doesn't comprehend. Basically, these movies take their messages and deep themes and tie them into the story and characters. So they're essentially normal, compelling movies but where every single tiny element contributes towards the message they're getting across. Tl;dr: There are incredibly entertaining and engaging arthouse movies out there, they're just few and far between.
I'm an inexperienced writer but writing a story allows me to create new world where anything is a possibility. It allows me to reflect on my inner most thoughts that I wasn't aware. I wish to continue this journey and someday earn a living through writing. Thank you so much for all the value you provide in this community and hope for more success to come.
"When a story comes out and nobody understands it and finds it confusing and weird, a lot of people try to assign meaning to it that it doesn't have to make it seem interesting. They say it did these seven things that was so intelligent, but in reality it just wasn't." That's exactly how I felt about BvS, The Last Jedi, and Cloud Atlas.
As a musician, I don’t actually consider Whiplash a good movie - and despite not being a Jazz musician myself, I agree with Jazz musician Adam Neely on most of his points against the accuracy of the depiction of events here. Whiplash could have been about an aspiring olympic athlete, and it would have been the same story. It takes music as a setting, and then turns the personal vanity that’s already rampant in shows like Glee and takes it to 11. I know why I love music, but I never really understood why the protagonist of Whiplash (forgot his name already) likes music. It only seems to be a tool for him to improve his personal status - but in whose eyes? Pretty much only in those of his tyrannical teacher. He doesn’t make music to impress girls or something, like in most other “teenage band” movies. That is actually something I like, the acknowledgement that passionate musicians make music for the sake of it, not as a form of courting behaviour. However, the movie utterly fails to depict the reason for the protagonists passion for music. It’s like a cynical, twisted version of Albert Hammond’s song “The Free Electric Band”, where the singer happily dumps his girlfriend to keep *enjoying* life with this band. And in contrast to a music student, like in Whiplash, he actually drops out of college for that, too.
I 100% agree Tyler, I recently experience this with my latest script, its a Outback Aussie Thriller with one theme: Mans obsession with money and the need for financial security. It was the more basic story I’ve done so far but yet this script is the best feedback I’ve ever gotten from multiple script coverage service and this video has just nailed that point home for me. Thanks bro.✌️
THANK YOU for saying this. I can't tell you how long it has taken me to learn that complex (confusing) scripts don't equal 'good' scripts. And then once having written something confusing getting film friends (who most certainly didn't understand what they read) say they think it's doing something deep and profound, as opposed to when a script I write is clearly saying something specific getting criticized by the same person for reasons of them just not personally agreeing with what was being said. Getting out of that nebulous mindset and understanding the difference between useful and harmful feedback, AND learning to be bold enough to take a stance on the philosophical premise has been 90% of my own writing journey.
Great video. I think I understand now what Werner Herzog meant in his masterclass, when he recommended this book, the peregrine and said it was great because it could focus so deeply on one thing.
That's the topic i needed to see right now. I started outlining a script that surrounds only one idea(actually is two ideas that work in the same way to fill all the philosophy of the story) and i'm struggling with not adding too much because the dialogue gets too exposed often. It's really good to see a video like that, that motivates me to work and explore more all this brainstorm that i'm having. Thanks a lot Tyler.
When I started writing screenplays, I was too focused on the excitement rather than the actual story structure. I learned from the experience, and now I have 3 other scripts that Ibam working on.
I strongly agree. Three months into outlining my story I drove myself absolutely bonkers not having a clear idea what the message of my fondly written story might be. Then I tried to lay them out in writing, going through each of my character arcs and I ended up with something very similar to one of your slides with all sorts of arbitrary states of minds like, Ambition, Arrogance, Expectations, Disappointment, Depression, Contemplation, Atonement, Humility, and the list went on and on. After condensing everything down to one simple subject, in my instance, Societal Norms - What could be sustained & what could be done without, I not only found the THEME of my story but it came with it an Ambiguity that I have always wanted to incorporate in my story.
Im glad you made a video about this topic. I think I was falling into the trap of trying to make sure my story has all theses themes that people will discover when that shouldn't be the point. I love watching video essays on RUclips they give motivation to think about my stories. It good to see my people pick out different topics from movies and break them down. However I started realizing that most of these video are toxic to beginners like me because they try to influence us to make stories that cover all sort of complex situations. I don't think Jordan Peele, Ari Aster or Bong Joon- Ho knew about all these ideas when they made their movies.They all focused on the main theme of the story and used symbols to support it. I don't think they are concerned about all theses other deep theories and themes, that just comes as a accomplishment when your story connects with an audience like you stated in 6:51- 7:23 Thank you for the video
your channel appeared in my feed and I must say you are very well spoken for someone so young. I am maybe halfway through absorbing the content from film courage while honing my craft and as I continue to watch your channel, I suspect that you are going to throw out some valuable bones that the speakers on film courage can't or won't. thank you for helping all us noob writers. now ima go camp some QBD and stock up on some dragon bones.
Budding filmmaker here. Still in high school, currently working on my first ever film. It is one day my dream to work with you, you are a huge inspiration to me, thank you for doing what you're doing!
Outstanding, my young friend! It's exactly like that MASH episode where they told Radar to respond to that nurse who was supposedly an "intellectual" with, "Ahhhhh, Bach." to which she rightfully responded, "What exactly do you mean, 'Ahhhh, Bach'?" Thanks so much for driving home the important point that a muddled mess does not equal a good story. I also love your point that a movie is much more a short story than a novel. I'm working on a screenplay right now whose central question is, "Is it even possible to achieve a fear-free life, and should one even try, or does fear actually help us be better and even happier human beings?" That's it! This one story is going to tackle that one idea. Now, I hope I will tackle it deeply and meaningfully, but, hey, I'm new at this, so I'm going to strive for finishing the damn thing and being proud of that. Thanks again. Great video essay.
Inception is actually simple because its core idea is in the title. Its about the literal inception of ideas and the good or bad they create as a result. And this is built into the narrative by having Cobb incept a Good Family Revelation into a person to get his kids back, but also has to overcome the Bad Family Revelation as to why he lost his kids in the first place. And all other characters are the storytelling studio there to help or hinder this. (Though this is a very good video, i should make that clear.)
Nice videos. Just discovered your channel last month, and as a creative writing teacher, it has helped me a lot. There isn't this much material and critical apparatus in spanish, so it is a most welcome addition to my toolset.
I am not a new writer considering I have written four/five scripts this year but didn't attend film school. I hope to later but I have confidence in my writing considering all I have learnt online for some time now and from screenwritingU. Regardless, I keep learning which is why I wish Tyler gave a clearer picture of his explanation. I have written three to four ideas on one script and I know how to bring my points together at the close or at any given act. Having my audience thoughts in mind, I deliver very clearly. Tyler saying... don't do that, I wish he depicted his explanation with practical examples for proper assimilation.
Really liked this video and the message. Was a bit of a deviation from your usual vids, but was refreshing in that it felt like I was listening to a friend in a living room getting passionate about a perspective
Tyler your videos are being a great help for me. I'm in my way from visual arts and video art to film and screenwriting. This specially is one of those problems that I have, complexity of the story. As I came from visual arts I use to think on image before thinking on story or conflict. So I had this problem many times. I am learning how to simplify with out affecting the ideas I want to express. This has been a hard work till now, but i keep strugling. Thanks for your time and your ideas...
Some great insights here, Tyler. Simplicity is often frowned upon but I've seen countless stories that fell flat simply because they strived to be too complex. A lot of films that are produced in my country are open-ended and everyone acts as if that makes them complex. But the reality is that they just don't know how to finish it. I have theories on why that is but that's for another topic. I'm a fiction (book) writer but many have told me I have a very screenwriter style and should try writing screenplays. It's a possiblity but not right now. When I was younger, I used to talk to other amateur writers, trying to get them to talk about the story's structure. Didn't get a lot of response from that and had to learn a lot of things by myself. You distill it very nicely what took me a long time to figure out. Now I'm 35+ and young writers come to me for advice. I usually tell them: ask yourself who your characters are, what they're after and alway finish your story. You can't absorb the experience of writing a story unless you finish it.
DOUBT is another great example of a simple theme/idea in a feature-length film. While it does explore Catholicism in a Northeastern American town in the mid-twentieth century, motherhood, sexuality, and abuse--multiple and specific ideas--the main question each character faces is doubt. Meryl Streep's last line always gets me. And the theme is in the title!
My first script was this terrible short that tried to be about power, religion, the human experience, and so much more. It was 14 minutes. This video helped a lot in narrowing down a script, and putting my complex one on a shelf.
The movie I’m currently writing explores a massive, cosmic story, bouncing between parallel universes. BUT I’m using that massive, cosmic world be the backdrop to the actual story, which is nothing more than a mystery. Hopefully I won’t over complicate the story in the vein of fleshing out the world.
Tyler, you are a brilliant young mind, and your channel has helped me come out of my rut with my own creativity with my stories. You have a knack for saying things that I have felt were off, but have never found the right words to say. You earned a Sub and a fan. Great work!
So true... Finally catching up with your channel... Hopefully you'll get a little or a lot deeper in your advanced writing programs - looking into the psychology behind story.
Never try to convey your idea to the audience - it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life, and they’ll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it. - Andrei Tarkovsky
What an awesome video. I’m using your videos about script writing and applying them to solve my personal life problems and it’s really helping. Keep up the great work! :)
I would agree for the most part, but I feel that you are able to have stories that can be interpreted in multiple ways. I feel like having the idea always been set and fixed to tell an audience a story would negate the idea of leaving things ambiguously, (which is completely optional) but for regular movies with set ideas, I would agree.
To be honest, I still enjoy some art-house films, even if sometimes they tend to get a little bit confusing. IMO they try to challenge the medium, not only by putting all their eggs in one basket - but also stretching the limits in visual, sound, etc. I'd admit that I'd prefer a "normal" film over art at anytime, but sometimes I want that crazy, weird, experimental stuff. In a sense... it helps me focus :) But I don't write scripts so I don't count.
I'm writing my script lately and I'm in Sequence 50 now going full blown writers blocked. I didn't thought this video would pop up directly in recommendations. Thank you very much!
One of my favorite videos, way to go Tyler! I find it absurd when no one talk about this when they talk about screenwriting. To me, this is, actually, one of the most important things, even before you start writing. It took me a loooot of time to figure out that you CAN´T start a screenplay if you don´t know the central theme or idea. To me, that´s the first question you should ask yourself before sit and wander around pages for months: What's this story about? Which one is the main theme? Let´s take a look on some other examples: Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri isn´t about a mother trying to deal with police and justice, is a story about RAGE and how to handle it, even all characters move around that idea. Onward is about BROTHERHOOD, not about magicians and fantasy. Her is about LONELINESS not about the future of the OS. Jumanji (2017) is about GROWING UP, and Jumanji (2019) is about FRIENDSHIP, they´re not about a bunch of guys running on a jungle. Once you know your main theme, it will be easier to start writing, but if you´ve been writing for months and don´t know where the problem is, usually you´ll find it on the lack of main theme or lack of premise. Source: A loooot of workshops I´ve been attending for several years and a loooot of writers struggling with this problem (myself included for a loooot of time)... Once again, congratulations on your video and your channel! Greetings from México!
Essentially, if you deeply explore one idea thoroughly, it has a magic way of invoking everything. In other words, in order to achieve the universal, aim for the specific.
I needed this video! I agree with what you are saying! However, I believe that it is fine to use different ideas as long as they pertain to the main message. But I do agree that new writers need to stay simple, it makes it more enjoyable and you learn more. The more you learn the rules and how stories work, the more you can experiment. But learn the RULES!
that same trend happens in many philosopher's books or articles. There is even an app that produces ridiculous paragraphs that mimic this type of writing. Altough I don't think Im ambiguous, I have deep problems on simpliflying.
hi tyler, you're so great in what you're doing and you've been very helpful to me when i wrote my first scripts for school projects (i'm in 12th grade and been using your videos for like two years by now) and sure i'll keep watching you for a while (there's not much of good cinema classes in Israeli high schools) i was wondering if you could help us out and give a good example of a movie with a bunch of concepts and ideas, especially like an overrated film or so that got praises for the big ammount of those ideas. it would really help to compare that with whiplash or something else. thanks and please don't stop uploading these great videos! (i'm subscribed to a big list of cinema and movie production channels but non of them talk enough script and story like you do so you're really one of a kind)
People see what they want to see, and some are easily distracted by their own opinion of what’s happening that they miss what is actually happening. I think you can have more than one theme in a story, with side plots, but they must compliment the main story and theme. That’s the meat and potatoes, the rest is gravy.
Thanks for this. It was very interesting. I have often wanted to simplify, but didn't know how. Now that I have watched several of your videos, I am very optimistic about it.
good video. the only story i know to juggle a bunch of themes really well is watchmen, but even then, the core is still clearly putting the idea of superheroes in the real world. and also, that was written by a very experienced writer. beginners should slow down, learn and practice first before they try things like this
Working with advertisement, I have dealt with concepts that wanted to put everything and the kitchen sink within 30-45 SECONDS. In those cases, I always ask for the core element - like the main, the most important thing. In good cases, people understand that the audience doesn't know even where to begin with the concept. And if not, I wish them good luck with someone who thinks they can pull it off.
I usually just wrote something else. My story is going to be complex, but the idea I had was to stretch it out and present each topic with in 3 chapters. The third in that trilogy would be where the ideas are tackled, then I move on to the next three and do the same thing.
Inception is one of my favourite movies, and I agree you shouldn’t try to write something like this as a first story. However, not because it’s too complex - but because it’s a plot-driven story, rather than a character-driven one. It took a long time until I even got the protagonist’s name correctly. It’s much harder to write a “Heist” type of story and make it interesting, because that entirely rests on how interesting the plot itself is. Even the Inception writers themselves couldn’t quite replicate it with “Tenet”. If anyone doubts that the focus is not on characters here, just remember that in Tenet, the protagonist is actually indeed just named “protagonist” ;) .
"If I've ever had a theme in mind thats just the worst, then you feel yourself writing and there's nothing worse than that feeling like your chasing after a theme. That's writing at its worst for me. The best things kind of become something and your happy it's there." ---- Paul Thomas Anderson “Never try to convey your idea to the audience - it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life, and they’ll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it.” ― Andrei Tarkovsky these perspectives seem to be more helpful, as in film makers are kinda incapable of conveying meaning in film but an audience is equally incapable of veiwing a film without some lens of meaningfullness.
Not gonna lie Tyler you do this weird thing where if I’m stuck somewhere with a story you make a video about the exact reason why I’m stuck and somehow know exactly what’s wrong
Hello Tyler, I love your videos, thank you very much for clarifying the ideas. George Lucas said "it's about good and evil, what makes a hero, friendship, what is the idea of sacrificing oneself for something greater?" I think I got confused there
A fantastic and insightful piece on a fundamental aspect of the writer's craft. OK... this is going to be a looong comment. Tl; dr: Using screenwriting techniques is a powerful springboard in learning the writing craft. And if you're willing to add a toolbox of marketing skills you can earn a delightful lifestyle self publishing novels. OK, here we go... In late April of 2012, at the age of 54 I decided that I was going to 'Write that book'. I was driving a taxi in a mid-size city of about 100K pop. I had written a couple of unpublished short stories, and one newspaper article. In 60 days I vomited out 90K words of puke. To me, it was by far the greatest novel ever written. When I looked into what the process was of getting published I was crushed. By clicking a link, I learned that there was this thing called 'Self-Publishing' and that the Amazon co had a venue for it. And I went for it. My wife also got on board, and together we started writing a series of really, really terrible books. But we kept at it, and over the course of about 5 years learned enough of the craft and enough of marketing that we started making decent starvation wage $. (About 30K/year US) But with each new skill we developed, it built on the previous set. I'm talking the range from (no kidding) proper punctuation and typing of dialogue all the way to story arc, character journey, etc etc. Today we have a comfortable lifestyle. Not great guns, but about $80-100K/year and we really don't work all that hard at it. Maybe 3/4 hrs a day. Please excuse the humble brag, but I'm trying to illustrate the point that even if you don't know jack shit about what Tyler's discussing, you can learn it. Constant application over time builds up. Looking back from where we are today to where we were 8 years ago... whoa. So if you're overwhelmed by Tyler's teaching a newbie to simplify and write, don't be. Keeping it simple is how I started to enjoy the small success I have (there are hundreds of ppl doing what I do that think my $$ is small change... seriously...) My point is that Tyler, you know your shit, and this is an excellent video. Out of 118K subscribers, you only have 1% who have watched this. You gotta put in the work, but it will pay off. If a potato head like me can make money at this gig... anyone can; if they're willing to do the work. I completely agree w/ Tyler on the need to kill darlings. That applies to themes as well as characters/ scenes/ chapters etc. It's super important. When I start a new book, I usually don't even know what the theme is at the beginning. It's not until I'm about 5-10% in that I sit back and figure that out. And yeah, I land on ONE. All my sub-plots, supporting characters, narrative observations serve to support that theme. Again, an excellent piece, Tyler. You're an awesome teacher.
There are so many complex films that make great movies though, arrival for example is extremely complex and deals with a lot of ideas but it all works together really well, inception is another, fight club another, in not sure if the argument of simplicity and complexity really applies when really it comes down to how talented you are at taking many things and laying them out in a way the audience can absorb easily. But some movies are designed to require multiple viewings, and others not. It depends on a lot of things....
I think this is a video that I needed to hear because I have many mini ideas that try to connect to one theme. Basically my story is about the coming of age of two kids growing up in the 60s and I wanted to showcase how that era changed the world. I wanted to divide it in three chapters and focus on what the boy is seeing from his POV like racism and then what the girl is seeing from her POV like sexism. The main idea I wanted to focus on is how one person can make a difference in this world, so how do I fix my jumbled up script and choose what points are worth focusing on?
light shooting through a prism. it is ONE beam of light, one idea split up into all of its parts. each part might SEEM like it is unique or a different idea, but really it is just a part of the main idea. if you want to have a more wide spectrum of ideas in a script, they should just be different ways to express the same idea, a conversation from multiple standpoints. if it doesnt relate back to the central idea then you are making two movies and neither one will be good.... probably...
Whiplash also deals with abuse, which is guess can be considered a sub-theme, supposed to give support to the main theme. Ideas only work when they are connected, and work together to serve the same purpose. That is what a lot of writers are struggling with, not limiting their ideas, but making sure all these ideas are used to achieve the same goal.
Love all your vids as they're very informative and helpful! Very simple and easy to understand but still complex. I think it would be really cool if you made a vid about how to write superhero fight scenes. Or like you can use examples of previous fight scenes from the Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy or something like that.
I always found it quite hard to nail down what the main theme for game of thrones is? for a while I thought it might’ve been something like “countries and races etc. that are divided in conflict will be too distracted to face bigger global threats” because I thought the white walkers were a good allegory for climate change and all the inner conflict going on in Westeros were kind of distracting the major families from uniting, I just feel like the later seasons struggled to land a climax to this theme so I’m not too sure if it actually was about that.
Get Practical Tools to Write Your Great Screenplay: www.practicalscreenwriting.com
Thanks
i really enjoyed this video! i also think that by honing in on one idea, you are already able to subliminally add other ideas to it with perspective.
Tyler Mowery Hey Tyler, I found this video interesting in that I connected a few dots from when I was attending film school I’m a new way- I know you used the example of Whiplash representing greatness, and whether it’s worth sacrificing for or not, but can you give other specific examples, or better yet a list of central ideas that have driven stories?
Thank you
tyler mowery am a new writer i use to study in ur video and have help me to be more competitive in script write thanks
it took me a while to really understand that my first scripts won't be perfect, and me being the perfectionist I am, never finished a script cause of the fear of it being terrible. Your videos have helped me to not hate my ideas and trying to finish a story once :). thanks
That’s awesome to hear!
Word! Tyler's course is a real gem. 💎
Ana Paula Tirado wish you all the very best.
Same problem here man.
@@valhatan3907 Same
Simplicity is beautiful.
Amazing advice. I feel like we spend too much time looking at genius filmmakers and everything they're able to accomplish and in the end of the day we feel like if we're not able to achieve that level of greatness in our first tries then we're failures, but that's not true at all.
The genius of Inception is that it obscures its simple theme with details. Inception, at its core, is a story about the narratives we construct to deal with grief. The entire story-universe is built to externalize this theme. Cobb cannot deal with the death of his wife, and he can’t deal with it because he feels he caused it. He implanted the narrative in her subconscious that led her to kill herself. The need to stop constructing narratives and to accept reality is the fundamental fixture of the entire story. It’s where we end the film. And the ambiguity of the spinning top is to ask us whether or not he’s succeeded. Has he lied to himself and fallen deep into a delusion? Or has he truly achieved catharsis and found a way to move on? If this fundamental narrative question wasn’t present in the story, the whole film would be a meaningless exercise.
Inception is not about a heist. They aren’t going there to take something, they’re trying to leave something behind-make a businessman accept the lie that his deceased father was proud of him. By the end, the businessman has accepted this false narrative and it’s going to screw him over. What we’re meant to ask is whether Cobb has met a similar fate.
The heist is the external problem and Cob’s guilt is the internal problem
Yes yes yes! Exactly
inception suck, barely mediocre movie. only original think would be incepting dreams, but it actually is not, cause they stole it from Paprika.
@@McGradyKalcho What is your favourite Anime?
Bro. Talk about perfect timing, this is exactly what I need while writing a script for a play at school
Glad to hear it!
I always get hyped whenever a new Tyler Mowery video pops up
Glad to hear it!
Same.
Just realised that this was the problem with JK Rowing’s Fantastic Beasts script- there were way too many concepts and ideas going on in that film! It makes sense because Rowling put loads of stuff into her books and it worked but i in a movie u hav to be more focused. Fantastic video!
Tyler gives all the gems unfiltered and learned more in one video than I did in 4 years in film school...
Thanks for your kind words!
A film I see a lot of my screenwriting friends tackle in complexity is ‘Inception’ (first film to come to mind even before you mentioned it) and I’ve found that more harmful than beneficial to their works. People seemingly understand ‘Inception’ with having multiple central ideas, but at the same time Nolan spent a decade working on the story/script. A film I personally faltered with when I got into screenwriting was ‘The Tree of Life’ and ever since I’ve spent close to a decade having to reteach myself about the balance between literalism and allegory.
Yeah, exactly, as soon as I saw your comment, first thing I thought was “yeah, but he spent ten years getting it ready and analyzing it, he didn’t do it in a week and went to shoot it.
ok unpopular opinion but honestly inception's writing is shit, the dialogue is almost always exposition, nolan likes telling over showing, and it feels really clunky. same thing with memento too, the characters are all exposition. obviously the plot is complex and confusing but nolan really goes overboard. if i were to watch it chronologically i would probably just walk out of the theater, lol
aah I found inception to be extremely easy to understand but the reason for all the exposition is because Christopher Nolan said in an interview that he was worried that if he use subtext and rely on visuals, the audience won’t understand his movies since his movies are made for the everyday general audience.
@@YoBaMo1 i think nolan should have more faith in the intelligence of his everyday general audience
aah His Executive don’t think that. I mean when the Matrix was made the executive didn’t have no idea what the movie is about even though it’s easy to understand.
Hi Tyler.
Just wanna say I'm glad I found your channel. Your advice has an unapologetic tone to it, just something I don't get very often in film school. I'm not naming any names but certain mentors have this "I'm right, you're wrong, shut up" attitude I find irritating. I don't feel that way with you.
Please keep doing what you do.
Thanks for your kind words!
He is a smart young guy in love with movies and writing. You are inspiring.
Maybe you can do a video how these complicated, multi-themed scripts do it in a clear and artistic way, such that it feels right. Because I'm sure there are many scripts out there with multiple themes with several central ideas as well
It's an easier conversation if you can give us as an example of a great script with multiple themes.
even I'm not a scriptwriter or something I'm just a simple writer who wants to write my first book but your videos really resonates with me thank you so much love it !
I love the authenticity in your videos. No jump cuts or hyper editing. This is what you have to say unfiltered. Keep it up man
Ah crap! What if my moral is "Things are always more complicated than we expect them to be!" ?
Guess the writing process was more complex than you expected ;p
Gues then The hero might assume something and make plans according to his beleifs that World/Life is easy but at last he fails and someone or himself makes him realize your moral.
Then you make sure your story focuses on that idea and not 5 other ideas. That’s still one central idea.
Stories can still tackle different angles of a complex idea. I love doing that in my screenplays. But it's still just one idea being tackled
@@TylerMowery I was kidding with that question but yeh I still need to cut the many edges in my story's themes.
Never before have my thoughts on arthouse films been summed up so neatly. If your film is vaguely artistic but confusing, it's not deep - that's just bad storytelling.
I think movies that get complex ideas across while still engaging and entertaining the audience are far superior
Definitely agree
Gui Caldo Are there any arthouse films that succeed at being entertaining? When I first heard that phrase I thought “oh god those movies are probably boring and pretentious”
@@dally1398 There are three that I can think of: Joker, Pan's Labyrinth and Snowpiercer. The former is more controversial, but I've met very few people that didn't adore Snowpiercer.
It's a Korean action film that succeeds at being a simple, dumb action movie with a strong protagonist, a clear goal, forward momentum, and tight pacing. But beneath all of that there's so much more to unpack. Not only is the protagonist an excellent character with a strong emotional journey and a powerful choice at the end, the film also makes an in-depth commentary about class. At surface level it seems to be saying "rich bad, poor good", but if you dive further in there are more and more layers to unpack.
Pan's Labyrinth is slower-paced, but talks about the nature of escapism and gives a fascinating insight into the mind of a child while going through real world traumas it doesn't comprehend.
Basically, these movies take their messages and deep themes and tie them into the story and characters. So they're essentially normal, compelling movies but where every single tiny element contributes towards the message they're getting across.
Tl;dr: There are incredibly entertaining and engaging arthouse movies out there, they're just few and far between.
This video is the biggest IKR, that’s what annoys me most about video essay culture hands down.
I'm an inexperienced writer but writing a story allows me to create new world where anything is a possibility. It allows me to reflect on my inner most thoughts that I wasn't aware. I wish to continue this journey and someday earn a living through writing. Thank you so much for all the value you provide in this community and hope for more success to come.
"When a story comes out and nobody understands it and finds it confusing and weird,
a lot of people try to assign meaning to it that it doesn't have to make it seem interesting.
They say it did these seven things that was so intelligent, but in reality it just wasn't."
That's exactly how I felt about BvS, The Last Jedi, and Cloud Atlas.
As a musician, I don’t actually consider Whiplash a good movie - and despite not being a Jazz musician myself, I agree with Jazz musician Adam Neely on most of his points against the accuracy of the depiction of events here. Whiplash could have been about an aspiring olympic athlete, and it would have been the same story. It takes music as a setting, and then turns the personal vanity that’s already rampant in shows like Glee and takes it to 11. I know why I love music, but I never really understood why the protagonist of Whiplash (forgot his name already) likes music. It only seems to be a tool for him to improve his personal status - but in whose eyes? Pretty much only in those of his tyrannical teacher.
He doesn’t make music to impress girls or something, like in most other “teenage band” movies. That is actually something I like, the acknowledgement that passionate musicians make music for the sake of it, not as a form of courting behaviour. However, the movie utterly fails to depict the reason for the protagonists passion for music. It’s like a cynical, twisted version of Albert Hammond’s song “The Free Electric Band”, where the singer happily dumps his girlfriend to keep *enjoying* life with this band. And in contrast to a music student, like in Whiplash, he actually drops out of college for that, too.
I 100% agree Tyler, I recently experience this with my latest script, its a Outback Aussie Thriller with one theme: Mans obsession with money and the need for financial security. It was the more basic story I’ve done so far but yet this script is the best feedback I’ve ever gotten from multiple script coverage service and this video has just nailed that point home for me. Thanks bro.✌️
THANK YOU for saying this. I can't tell you how long it has taken me to learn that complex (confusing) scripts don't equal 'good' scripts. And then once having written something confusing getting film friends (who most certainly didn't understand what they read) say they think it's doing something deep and profound, as opposed to when a script I write is clearly saying something specific getting criticized by the same person for reasons of them just not personally agreeing with what was being said. Getting out of that nebulous mindset and understanding the difference between useful and harmful feedback, AND learning to be bold enough to take a stance on the philosophical premise has been 90% of my own writing journey.
Great video. I think I understand now what Werner Herzog meant in his masterclass, when he recommended this book, the peregrine and said it was great because it could focus so deeply on one thing.
That's the topic i needed to see right now. I started outlining a script that surrounds only one idea(actually is two ideas that work in the same way to fill all the philosophy of the story) and i'm struggling with not adding too much because the dialogue gets too exposed often. It's really good to see a video like that, that motivates me to work and explore more all this brainstorm that i'm having. Thanks a lot Tyler.
Glad it was helpful!
When I started writing screenplays, I was too focused on the excitement rather than the actual story structure. I learned from the experience, and now I have 3 other scripts that Ibam working on.
I strongly agree. Three months into outlining my story I drove myself absolutely bonkers not having a clear idea what the message of my fondly written story might be. Then I tried to lay them out in writing, going through each of my character arcs and I ended up with something very similar to one of your slides with all sorts of arbitrary states of minds like, Ambition, Arrogance, Expectations, Disappointment, Depression, Contemplation, Atonement, Humility, and the list went on and on. After condensing everything down to one simple subject, in my instance, Societal Norms - What could be sustained & what could be done without, I not only found the THEME of my story but it came with it an Ambiguity that I have always wanted to incorporate in my story.
Im glad you made a video about this topic.
I think I was falling into the trap of trying to make sure my story has all theses themes that people will discover when that shouldn't be the point. I love watching video essays on RUclips they give motivation to think about my stories. It good to see my people pick out different topics from movies and break them down. However I started realizing that most of these video are toxic to beginners like me because they try to influence us to make stories that cover all sort of complex situations. I don't think Jordan Peele, Ari Aster or Bong Joon- Ho knew about all these ideas when they made their movies.They all focused on the main theme of the story and used symbols to support it. I don't think they are concerned about all theses other deep theories and themes, that just comes as a accomplishment when your story connects with an audience like you stated in 6:51- 7:23
Thank you for the video
so true. I finally managed to simplify my story and I've found having a straight backbone it frees the whole flow.
your channel appeared in my feed and I must say you are very well spoken for someone so young. I am maybe halfway through absorbing the content from film courage while honing my craft and as I continue to watch your channel, I suspect that you are going to throw out some valuable bones that the speakers on film courage can't or won't. thank you for helping all us noob writers. now ima go camp some QBD and stock up on some dragon bones.
Budding filmmaker here. Still in high school, currently working on my first ever film. It is one day my dream to work with you, you are a huge inspiration to me, thank you for doing what you're doing!
i am an upcoming filmmaker , learnt alot from this channel already.
Outstanding, my young friend! It's exactly like that MASH episode where they told Radar to respond to that nurse who was supposedly an "intellectual" with, "Ahhhhh, Bach." to which she rightfully responded, "What exactly do you mean, 'Ahhhh, Bach'?" Thanks so much for driving home the important point that a muddled mess does not equal a good story. I also love your point that a movie is much more a short story than a novel. I'm working on a screenplay right now whose central question is, "Is it even possible to achieve a fear-free life, and should one even try, or does fear actually help us be better and even happier human beings?" That's it! This one story is going to tackle that one idea. Now, I hope I will tackle it deeply and meaningfully, but, hey, I'm new at this, so I'm going to strive for finishing the damn thing and being proud of that. Thanks again. Great video essay.
This video and it deserves wayyy more attention. This might as well be a MasterClass lol
Inception is actually simple because its core idea is in the title. Its about the literal inception of ideas and the good or bad they create as a result. And this is built into the narrative by having Cobb incept a Good Family Revelation into a person to get his kids back, but also has to overcome the Bad Family Revelation as to why he lost his kids in the first place. And all other characters are the storytelling studio there to help or hinder this.
(Though this is a very good video, i should make that clear.)
Nice videos. Just discovered your channel last month, and as a creative writing teacher, it has helped me a lot. There isn't this much material and critical apparatus in spanish, so it is a most welcome addition to my toolset.
Glad you enjoy the videos!
I am not a new writer considering I have written four/five scripts this year but didn't attend film school. I hope to later but I have confidence in my writing considering all I have learnt online for some time now and from screenwritingU. Regardless, I keep learning which is why I wish Tyler gave a clearer picture of his explanation.
I have written three to four ideas on one script and I know how to bring my points together at the close or at any given act. Having my audience thoughts in mind, I deliver very clearly. Tyler saying... don't do that, I wish he depicted his explanation with practical examples for proper assimilation.
I'm currently writing a concept album using script writing techniques and this helped me to finally find the one thing that it's about. Thanks!
Really liked this video and the message. Was a bit of a deviation from your usual vids, but was refreshing in that it felt like I was listening to a friend in a living room getting passionate about a perspective
Tyler your videos are being a great help for me. I'm in my way from visual arts and video art to film and screenwriting. This specially is one of those problems that I have, complexity of the story. As I came from visual arts I use to think on image before thinking on story or conflict. So I had this problem many times. I am learning how to simplify with out affecting the ideas I want to express. This has been a hard work till now, but i keep strugling. Thanks for your time and your ideas...
Some great insights here, Tyler. Simplicity is often frowned upon but I've seen countless stories that fell flat simply because they strived to be too complex. A lot of films that are produced in my country are open-ended and everyone acts as if that makes them complex. But the reality is that they just don't know how to finish it. I have theories on why that is but that's for another topic.
I'm a fiction (book) writer but many have told me I have a very screenwriter style and should try writing screenplays. It's a possiblity but not right now.
When I was younger, I used to talk to other amateur writers, trying to get them to talk about the story's structure. Didn't get a lot of response from that and had to learn a lot of things by myself. You distill it very nicely what took me a long time to figure out. Now I'm 35+ and young writers come to me for advice. I usually tell them: ask yourself who your characters are, what they're after and alway finish your story. You can't absorb the experience of writing a story unless you finish it.
Hi! Great insights. Can you please give me some examples of stories that have fallen apart because they strive to be too complex?
DOUBT is another great example of a simple theme/idea in a feature-length film. While it does explore Catholicism in a Northeastern American town in the mid-twentieth century, motherhood, sexuality, and abuse--multiple and specific ideas--the main question each character faces is doubt. Meryl Streep's last line always gets me. And the theme is in the title!
My first script was this terrible short that tried to be about power, religion, the human experience, and so much more. It was 14 minutes. This video helped a lot in narrowing down a script, and putting my complex one on a shelf.
The movie I’m currently writing explores a massive, cosmic story, bouncing between parallel universes. BUT I’m using that massive, cosmic world be the backdrop to the actual story, which is nothing more than a mystery. Hopefully I won’t over complicate the story in the vein of fleshing out the world.
Tyler, you are a brilliant young mind, and your channel has helped me come out of my rut with my own creativity with my stories. You have a knack for saying things that I have felt were off, but have never found the right words to say. You earned a Sub and a fan. Great work!
So true... Finally catching up with your channel... Hopefully you'll get a little or a lot deeper in your advanced writing programs - looking into the psychology behind story.
This is so true. I had this problem. I think simplicity is the goal.
Literally the thing I'm dealing with right now.
Thank you, Tyler. :)
Never try to convey your idea to the audience - it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life, and they’ll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it.
- Andrei Tarkovsky
Huh... Maybe so...
What an awesome video. I’m using your videos about script writing and applying them to solve my personal life problems and it’s really helping. Keep up the great work! :)
The best channel for learning about screenwriting.
Thanks for making these videos! it helps me a lot. I make a script for my short film: "On the way to nothing". So really thank you!
I would agree for the most part, but I feel that you are able to have stories that can be interpreted in multiple ways. I feel like having the idea always been set and fixed to tell an audience a story would negate the idea of leaving things ambiguously, (which is completely optional) but for regular movies with set ideas, I would agree.
Very smart. Simplicity of focus. Thank you for clarifying.
To be honest, I still enjoy some art-house films, even if sometimes they tend to get a little bit confusing. IMO they try to challenge the medium, not only by putting all their eggs in one basket - but also stretching the limits in visual, sound, etc. I'd admit that I'd prefer a "normal" film over art at anytime, but sometimes I want that crazy, weird, experimental stuff. In a sense... it helps me focus :)
But I don't write scripts so I don't count.
I'm writing my script lately and I'm in Sequence 50 now going full blown writers blocked. I didn't thought this video would pop up directly in recommendations. Thank you very much!
I'm planning to write a suspense thriller. Any suggestions?
One of my favorite videos, way to go Tyler! I find it absurd when no one talk about this when they talk about screenwriting. To me, this is, actually, one of the most important things, even before you start writing. It took me a loooot of time to figure out that you CAN´T start a screenplay if you don´t know the central theme or idea. To me, that´s the first question you should ask yourself before sit and wander around pages for months: What's this story about? Which one is the main theme? Let´s take a look on some other examples: Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri isn´t about a mother trying to deal with police and justice, is a story about RAGE and how to handle it, even all characters move around that idea. Onward is about BROTHERHOOD, not about magicians and fantasy. Her is about LONELINESS not about the future of the OS. Jumanji (2017) is about GROWING UP, and Jumanji (2019) is about FRIENDSHIP, they´re not about a bunch of guys running on a jungle. Once you know your main theme, it will be easier to start writing, but if you´ve been writing for months and don´t know where the problem is, usually you´ll find it on the lack of main theme or lack of premise. Source: A loooot of workshops I´ve been attending for several years and a loooot of writers struggling with this problem (myself included for a loooot of time)... Once again, congratulations on your video and your channel! Greetings from México!
Honestly though, that book idea sounds like something I would write
Could be fun! Dive in and let me know how you bring it together
Essentially, if you deeply explore one idea thoroughly, it has a magic way of invoking everything. In other words, in order to achieve the universal, aim for the specific.
As soon as you started talking about this I was like "Inception", and then I saw you put it up. 😂 Great info!
I needed this video! I agree with what you are saying! However, I believe that it is fine to use different ideas as long as they pertain to the main message. But I do agree that new writers need to stay simple, it makes it more enjoyable and you learn more. The more you learn the rules and how stories work, the more you can experiment. But learn the RULES!
This is just the video I happened to need with the short film I'm working on right now.
that same trend happens in many philosopher's books or articles. There is even an app that produces ridiculous paragraphs that mimic this type of writing.
Altough I don't think Im ambiguous, I have deep problems on simpliflying.
I'd agree to this, I noticed it myself , but then the next question is how do we prioritise the ideas and decide which idea we have to first work on.
hi tyler, you're so great in what you're doing and you've been very helpful to me when i wrote my first scripts for school projects (i'm in 12th grade and been using your videos for like two years by now) and sure i'll keep watching you for a while (there's not much of good cinema classes in Israeli high schools)
i was wondering if you could help us out and give a good example of a movie with a bunch of concepts and ideas, especially like an overrated film or so that got praises for the big ammount of those ideas. it would really help to compare that with whiplash or something else.
thanks and please don't stop uploading these great videos! (i'm subscribed to a big list of cinema and movie production channels but non of them talk enough script and story like you do so you're really one of a kind)
People see what they want to see, and some are easily distracted by their own opinion of what’s happening that they miss what is actually happening. I think you can have more than one theme in a story, with side plots, but they must compliment the main story and theme. That’s the meat and potatoes, the rest is gravy.
Thanks for this. It was very interesting.
I have often wanted to simplify, but didn't know how. Now that I have watched several of your videos, I am very optimistic about it.
The back wall (where the books are) would look super good in gray just to give it some depth
This is such a life changing video for me. Thank you so much!
Incredible! You actually put that into words.
I am always simple and consice.
Love your videos, tyler. They both keep me grounded and tell me to get my crap together. 😂
good video. the only story i know to juggle a bunch of themes really well is watchmen, but even then, the core is still clearly putting the idea of superheroes in the real world. and also, that was written by a very experienced writer. beginners should slow down, learn and practice first before they try things like this
Thanks a lot Tyler, you touched upon a few important points here that I had to hear.
lmao why is Tyler always so vague yet somehow super specific in everything he talks about
I think this is a great piece of advice, that works very well for short stories as well. :)
Working with advertisement, I have dealt with concepts that wanted to put everything and the kitchen sink within 30-45 SECONDS. In those cases, I always ask for the core element - like the main, the most important thing. In good cases, people understand that the audience doesn't know even where to begin with the concept. And if not, I wish them good luck with someone who thinks they can pull it off.
As I am writing this, there are no views! How interesting. 🤔
I usually just wrote something else. My story is going to be complex, but the idea I had was to stretch it out and present each topic with in 3 chapters. The third in that trilogy would be where the ideas are tackled, then I move on to the next three and do the same thing.
Inception is one of my favourite movies, and I agree you shouldn’t try to write something like this as a first story. However, not because it’s too complex - but because it’s a plot-driven story, rather than a character-driven one. It took a long time until I even got the protagonist’s name correctly. It’s much harder to write a “Heist” type of story and make it interesting, because that entirely rests on how interesting the plot itself is. Even the Inception writers themselves couldn’t quite replicate it with “Tenet”. If anyone doubts that the focus is not on characters here, just remember that in Tenet, the protagonist is actually indeed just named “protagonist” ;) .
Thank you once again. I was just thinking about this.
I wish somebody told me that writing is not just "emotion and feelings in the moment" 20 years ago.
In marketing it's exactly the same. You must always ask yourself what is the ONE thing you want to say to the consumer.
"If I've ever had a theme in mind thats just the worst, then you feel yourself writing and there's nothing worse than that feeling like your chasing after a theme. That's writing at its worst for me. The best things kind of become something and your happy it's there."
---- Paul Thomas Anderson
“Never try to convey your idea to the audience - it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life, and they’ll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it.”
― Andrei Tarkovsky
these perspectives seem to be more helpful, as in film makers are kinda incapable of conveying meaning in film but an audience is equally incapable of veiwing a film without some lens of meaningfullness.
Could you make a video on the rewriting process for short films/ feature films ?
Not gonna lie Tyler you do this weird thing where if I’m stuck somewhere with a story you make a video about the exact reason why I’m stuck and somehow know exactly what’s wrong
Hello Tyler, I love your videos, thank you very much for clarifying the ideas. George Lucas said "it's about good and evil, what makes a hero, friendship, what is the idea of sacrificing oneself for something greater?" I think I got confused there
Bro Is literaly the goat
A fantastic and insightful piece on a fundamental aspect of the writer's craft.
OK... this is going to be a looong comment. Tl; dr: Using screenwriting techniques is a powerful springboard in learning the writing craft. And if you're willing to add a toolbox of marketing skills you can earn a delightful lifestyle self publishing novels.
OK, here we go... In late April of 2012, at the age of 54 I decided that I was going to 'Write that book'. I was driving a taxi in a mid-size city of about 100K pop. I had written a couple of unpublished short stories, and one newspaper article. In 60 days I vomited out 90K words of puke. To me, it was by far the greatest novel ever written. When I looked into what the process was of getting published I was crushed. By clicking a link, I learned that there was this thing called 'Self-Publishing' and that the Amazon co had a venue for it. And I went for it.
My wife also got on board, and together we started writing a series of really, really terrible books. But we kept at it, and over the course of about 5 years learned enough of the craft and enough of marketing that we started making decent starvation wage $. (About 30K/year US) But with each new skill we developed, it built on the previous set. I'm talking the range from (no kidding) proper punctuation and typing of dialogue all the way to story arc, character journey, etc etc.
Today we have a comfortable lifestyle. Not great guns, but about $80-100K/year and we really don't work all that hard at it. Maybe 3/4 hrs a day.
Please excuse the humble brag, but I'm trying to illustrate the point that even if you don't know jack shit about what Tyler's discussing, you can learn it. Constant application over time builds up. Looking back from where we are today to where we were 8 years ago... whoa. So if you're overwhelmed by Tyler's teaching a newbie to simplify and write, don't be. Keeping it simple is how I started to enjoy the small success I have (there are hundreds of ppl doing what I do that think my $$ is small change... seriously...)
My point is that Tyler, you know your shit, and this is an excellent video. Out of 118K subscribers, you only have 1% who have watched this. You gotta put in the work, but it will pay off. If a potato head like me can make money at this gig... anyone can; if they're willing to do the work.
I completely agree w/ Tyler on the need to kill darlings. That applies to themes as well as characters/ scenes/ chapters etc. It's super important.
When I start a new book, I usually don't even know what the theme is at the beginning. It's not until I'm about 5-10% in that I sit back and figure that out. And yeah, I land on ONE. All my sub-plots, supporting characters, narrative observations serve to support that theme.
Again, an excellent piece, Tyler. You're an awesome teacher.
In the words of the great jazz pianist Thelonious Monk:
“Simple ain’t easy!”
I see a lot of what you talking on the tv show "Dark" and the movie "Joker", when things don't make sense, so "wow, that must be smart"
There are so many complex films that make great movies though, arrival for example is extremely complex and deals with a lot of ideas but it all works together really well, inception is another, fight club another, in not sure if the argument of simplicity and complexity really applies when really it comes down to how talented you are at taking many things and laying them out in a way the audience can absorb easily. But some movies are designed to require multiple viewings, and others not. It depends on a lot of things....
I think this is a video that I needed to hear because I have many mini ideas that try to connect to one theme. Basically my story is about the coming of age of two kids growing up in the 60s and I wanted to showcase how that era changed the world. I wanted to divide it in three chapters and focus on what the boy is seeing from his POV like racism and then what the girl is seeing from her POV like sexism. The main idea I wanted to focus on is how one person can make a difference in this world, so how do I fix my jumbled up script and choose what points are worth focusing on?
4:30 someone plz write this book
And send me a copy!
It practically writes itself
That's just a book about culture, right?
At first, I thought he started with "poverty" and went straight to cooking, so it was even funnier!
A simple story in retrospect can take on several different meanings.
light shooting through a prism. it is ONE beam of light, one idea split up into all of its parts. each part might SEEM like it is unique or a different idea, but really it is just a part of the main idea. if you want to have a more wide spectrum of ideas in a script, they should just be different ways to express the same idea, a conversation from multiple standpoints. if it doesnt relate back to the central idea then you are making two movies and neither one will be good.... probably...
Yesssss great opinion. Been irked about this for awhile.
Whiplash also deals with abuse, which is guess can be considered a sub-theme, supposed to give support to the main theme.
Ideas only work when they are connected, and work together to serve the same purpose. That is what a lot of writers are struggling with, not limiting their ideas, but making sure all these ideas are used to achieve the same goal.
Love all your vids as they're very informative and helpful! Very simple and easy to understand but still complex. I think it would be really cool if you made a vid about how to write superhero fight scenes. Or like you can use examples of previous fight scenes from the Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy or something like that.
That part was funny, when the reader don't understand the new writer's script and gives wrong feedback, and eventually they both learns nothing 😂😂
2:20 you say Whiplash explores 1 central idea, then right away you name 4 ideas of Whiplash.
Great philosophy, very helpful!
I always found it quite hard to nail down what the main theme for game of thrones is? for a while I thought it might’ve been something like “countries and races etc. that are divided in conflict will be too distracted to face bigger global threats” because I thought the white walkers were a good allegory for climate change and all the inner conflict going on in Westeros were kind of distracting the major families from uniting, I just feel like the later seasons struggled to land a climax to this theme so I’m not too sure if it actually was about that.