1.0 Introduction
Audiences’ appetite for stories is more a reflection of very basic human needs. In other words, screenwriting should not be perceived as a kind of professional skill but also a depiction of personal and emotional experiences[1]. Screenwriting or script writing is the art of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, video games, TV productions, etc. To a certain extent, screenwriting is a form of art as it is often interpreted upon an artist or script writer’s own performance and unique experiences. Screenwriting, thus, is not a finished product for audiences’ enjoyment or entertainment. There are some common misconception about screenwriting. For instance, many people believe that scrip writing should be relatable to audiences[2]. They tend to misunderstand the art of screenwriting. Audiences desperately hope the movies can mirror their friends’, relatives or their own experiences so that they can have more connection with others. When the scripts can fulfill such mentality, they will comment them as relatable. Larson [3] points out that “the Newlywed Game” is praised for providing relatable and comprehensible humor to audiences as it tells a story that happens in every household. Script writers may claim that their works are emotionally resonating with audiences. Relatability may be a good indicator to measure to which degree audiences are connected with same feelings or experiences in regards to the film scripts. But scrip writers themselves should be cautious about such relatability as the works produced may make compromise to mainstream taste. In this research paper, various artistic characteristics of screenwriting including structure, characterization, crisis, climax and resolution will be discussed in details.
2.0 Structure
2.1 Structure of a story
Structure is a selection of events or activities from main characters’ life stories which are further composed into a strategic sequence to arouse empathy and emotions among audiences or express a particular view of life[1, 4]. The story event illustrated in the structure of a script can create very meaningful changes in the life situation of a character which are expressed in terms of values or moral reasoning. The characters’ value system is not necessary to be positive or negative. It may shift from positive to negative, or negative to positive[6]. It also depends on the design of the structure and genre. In film Noir, for instance, protagonists are not always exhibiting morally correct behaviors. The changes in values are often achieved through conflicts. Godfather, for instance, is a story about a very powerful Italian-American family, Don Vito Corleone. When the Don’s youngest son, Michael reluctantly joins the Mafia, he gets involved in the cycle of violence and betrayal[5]. The value system of the Godfather is not necessarily positive. The story revolves around how the Mafia empire was constructed. There are a lot of crime scenes appeared in the script such as murder, assassination, gangsters, etc. However, through arranging various acts of the story, it is possible for audiences to realize how the changes are taken place from the major conflicts within characters. Michael Corleone initially is seriously against the idea of joining a gangster. He demonstrates his loyalty to the country during WWII but he also notices how corruptions become rampant. When his father and brother are attacked by other gangsters, he finally decides to do his family business and join the Mafia. The change is not occurring in a positive direction but the empathy among audiences are effectively aroused. It is because audiences can understand that Michael, as the protagonist, has to protect his family members and the country has very severe problem of corruptions.
2.2 Structure and Setting
A story’s setting is usually four-dimensional. It includes the period, duration, location and level of conflict[1, 7]. Period is mainly referring to a broad time-setting of a story. The Godfather narrates a story in the 1950s just after WWII. Duration, on the other hand, is a story’s length through time[5]. As the aforementioned, the script of Godfather I, mainly tells a story about how Michael finally becomes a member of Mafia. The duration is thus covering Michael’s experience within this duration. Location is about a story’s place in physical space. For instance, the story of Godfather takes place in the U.S and Italy. However, as compared with the other three dimensions, the level of conflict is always the major part of the story in a script[7]. It reflects the story’s position on the hierarchy of human struggles. In the film, Chinatown (1974), the major conflict is that Evelyn Mulwray is struggling whether she should tell Jake, a private detective about an astonishing truth, that is, she had his father’s child[8]. McKee [9] in his book, “Story”, explains the level of conflict of Evelyn in details. McKee states that a script writer can easily write that Jake, as a private detective, could know about the dirty truth not from the mouth of Evelyn. Many people including the butler of her father actually knows the secret. But only through high level of conflict, audiences will be as shocked as Jake when hearing that Mrs Mulwray’s daughter is also her sister[8]. The art of script design should carefully follow a unique structure and setting which arouse audiences’ feeling and empathy about main characters.
2.3 Structure and Characters
The function of a structure is to provide a progressively building pressures that allure or force main characters into more and more difficult situation[1, 7]. So to speak, characters have to make risk-taking decisions or actions that ultimately reveal their true natures or even the unconscious self. The function of characters, on the other hand, facilitates the characterization process such that audiences can predict or understand characters’ actions based on their qualities and personality traits. Santino “Sonny” Corleone is brave but also rash person in the script of Godfather[5]. He can fight directly with his enemies without fear and even punish his younger sister’s husband for his wrongdoings but his rash and impatient qualities ultimately lead to his death. Even without finishing the film, audiences can predict that Sonny’s ending. Characters can be young or old, educated or ignorant, brave or timid, generous or selfish. Different personalities will lead to different actions, mental activities and decision-making of characters in a script.
3.0 Protagonist and Antagonist
3.1 The design of Protagonist
The protagonist of a script is often designed in a way that he or she has the will and capacity to pursue the object of his conscious or unconscious desire to the limit of human limit established by the story setting and structure[1,7]. The ending with respect to a protagonist should not be easily predictable. Script writer should focus on building to a final action beyond audience’s imagination. In the film “Inception”, audiences have to guess very hard about whether the protagonist is in a real world or still trapped in a virtual dreamland as the top is spinning on and on[10]. Very similarly, Michael Corleone, in the film Godfather I, fled to Italy but many audiences might assume that he was going to succeed his father’s business smoothly[5].
3.2 The principles of antagonism
Antagonists, on the other hand, serve as a direct contrast to make the protagonists more adorable, intellectually fascinating or emotionally compelling[1, 7]. For instance, in the screenplay of the Chinatown (1974), Mrs Mulwray’s father has to be sufficiently evil. He violently raped his daughter. The contrast shows that Mrs Mulwray is a helpless female who is sacrificed for the compulsory heterosexuality. According to the script of Chinatown, “She [Mrs Mulwray] kept the man’s name to herself throughout her labor and dying: she did not accuse him that he be punished with her”[8]. The script writer intends to deliver a message to audiences without telling. Audiences can realize that women were at a very inferior social position as compared with their male counterparts at that time. When Mrs Mulwray committed suicide, the tragic ending further arouses audiences empathy about women. Audiences are expected to develop some further thinking such as the power of men to force male sexuality upon women.
4.0 Crisis, Climax and Resolution
Crisis is referring to the dilemma which confronts protagonist with the most powerful antagonism in his or her life. The protagonist must make a critical and difficult decision to take actions in order to achieve his purpose and desire[7]. Michael Corleone initially was strongly against the idea of joining the Mafia family business, even though his father was the Godfather. Don Vito Corleone did not reach an agree with drug baron vigil “The Turk” Sollozzo as he personally believed that drug-dealing was highly immoral even though it generated a huge profit[5]. Sollozzo, backed by the Tattaglia family thus was plotting against Vito Corleone. The Godfather was severely injured by the Tattaglia members but he ultimately survived. When Vito Corleone was receiving treatment in a hospital, Michael realized that local police was bribed by Sollozzo and Tattaglia. All the body-guards at the hospital were removed by the police. Then Michael was in a crisis. His bottom-line was to protect his family members. Therefore, he had to make a very difficult decision whether he should join the Mafia.
In addition, climax is a stage or revolution in a script that values are changed either from positive to negative or negative to positive[11]. The change itself will significantly move the target audiences. The script, “Catch me if you can”, shows that the protagonist finally realizes that it was wrong to be a swindler[12]. He decides to help the police and local government to fight against false checks with his knowledge and skill. In the climax, audiences can resonate with the value changes within the protagonist’s mind. Audiences will feel happy for the protagonist as he is now moving toward a right direction in his life.
Furthermore, in the resolution part, as the aforementioned, script writers should craft an ending that is beyond audiences’ imagination. It is also applicable for them to dramatize flashbacks in order to create a turning point of a story. However, script writers should be very careful for using flashbacks. They should not bring audiences in a flashback if the desire for doing so is not being created[9]. For instance, in the script of Godfather, audiences are strongly interested what makes Don Vito Corleone become such a great person. Audiences can read about Vito’s behaviors and values at the very early stages. For instance, Amerigo Bonasera, a fictional character, though he is a not very important figure in this screenplay, chose to keep away from Mafia[5]. He came back to beg Vito Corleone for helping him punish his daughter’s boyfriend who brutally beat her. Albeit Vito criticized him for not treasuring their friend ship. He still chose to help Amerigo as Vito’s wife was the Godmother of his daughter. Through telling a lot of Vito’s stories, the script writer is successfully create a desire that audiences expect to learn more about Vito’s past. Then he starts to use a flashback and tell the past story of Vito in Italy and how he managed to create his mafia empire in the U.S.
5.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, the art of script writing is not just limited to fulfill the taste of audiences especially in terms of relatability. In other words, script writing is not necessarily mirroring audiences’ daily activities or experiences. It should be designed with artistic characteristics including structures, setting, characters, protagonists and antagonists, crisis, climax and resolution. And also, even though not being mentioned in this research paper, literature tools such as metaphors, symbolism, personification, etc, can also be introduced to facilitate the characterization process in script writing. As such, empathy will be aroused among audiences so that they will be emotionally resonated with the ongoing story and protagonist’s feeling in the screenplay.
Reference
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[3] J, D., Larson. Why Do We Obsess Over What’s ‘Relatable’? Jan 8th, 2019. [Online] Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/magazine/the-scourge-of-relatable-in-art-and
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[4] K, Dancyger and R, Jeff.. Alternative scriptwriting: successfully breaking the rules. Taylor & Francis, 2007.
[5] M, Puzo. The godfather. Penguin, 2005.
[6] A, Horton. Writing the character-centered screenplay. Univ of California Press, 2000.
[7] F, Murtagh, G, Adam, and M, Stewart. "The structure of narrative: the case of film scripts." Pattern Recognition 42.2 (2009): pp. 302-312.
[8] J, G., Cawelti. "Chinatown and generic transformation in recent American films." Film genre reader 3 (2003): pp. 243-261.
[9] R, McKee. Story. Dixit, 2001.
[10] C, Nolan and N, Jonah. Inception: The shooting script. Insight Editions, 2010.
[11] C, Batty. Movies that move us: screenwriting and the power of the protagonist's journey. Springer, 2011.
[12] A, Mullins. The plot against character: Towards a character-centred model of screenwriting. Diss. Queensland University of Technology, 2004.