When asked of theory, one thinks of a person’s thought. That is a system that is meant to make one comprehend and elaborate things in a specific point of view. Others can say it is what leads one to come up with ideas that are developed through a sequence of debate within an individual’s mind. Therefore, in this context, we will use film theories to discuss the theoretical ideas that contributed to the script writing and theoretical issues that develop when one is coming up with a script as a project.
Firstly, we will deal with the issue of theoretical ideas. Theoretical ideas refer to the form of scientific thinking that does not have or involve any experience or practice (Google Books, 2019). Some of the theories that contributed to the coming up of the script,Jack Is Back, include aesthetics & films, amateur cinema, application of rhetorical theory, auteur theory, body horror, and film genre. In aesthetic & films, aesthetic brings out the definition of the scene with what is left of it by painting (Badley, 1995). As a film writer, one should manage to come up with a good piece of art that will attract more audience.
An example is the case of the script on Jack Is Back. One of the aspects that is quite notable is parts where there is music. It illustrates characters dancing at the pace of the beat. This was due to the fact that people watching the film would want to see these characters performing the actual dance. Another thing is that music depends on the mood of the scene (Batty and McAulay, 2016, 5).
A good example is a scene where Jack was scratching Ana with a knife. The music in the background is sorrowful to put the audience in that mood. This also illustrates that the music that is to be placed in a particular scene must resemble the instances or the actions in it. You do not expect a scene to be full of sorrow while the music in the background illustrates joy.
When it comes to the amateur cinema, it is what the majority of the people in the 30s and 70s used. This was mainly created to result in the creation of films that are attractive. One can say that it mainly uses the same technique of making films with the aim of revealing what the audience needs. This is only to aid in understanding that the connections between the films are not complex. This can be illustrated using the script on Jack Is Back where we have the scene in which Jack slaps Ana and another one where he scratches her with a knife. People can relate between the scenes and still have a flow of what is going on.
Moreover, this enables the audience to proceed with the script until the end and understand what happens to Ana. Apart from that, there is the way the information is passed from one scene to the other. This allows the audience not to lose the grip of what was happening earlier (Decherney, 2005).
Apart from what we have looked at, there is the case of application of rhetorical theory. When one talks of rhetoric, it is something that an individual does not expect an answer from. Therefore, film making rhetorical theory can be defined as the act of trying to come up with a logical argument that all agree to, but cannot be practiced. Its main aim is to make or create a proverbial mirror within the audience. This generates an emotional attachment amongst the audience and the film (Hendrix & Wood, 1973, 110;Etherington-Wright & Doughty, 2011). It is used in Jack Is Back where Jack is seen saying he loves Ana. You don’t expect a person to slap the ones they love, especially when acting. This bit is rhetorical. Another case is where the same Jack goes ahead and scratches Ana using a knife. These are the things you don’t expect a person to do to a person who he or she loves. The purpose of this part in the script is to help create an emotion within the audience. This makes them desire to understand why Jack behaved that way (Selbo, 2014).
On the other hand, there is the auteur theory. This theory illustrated that the director was the creator of the film or the play. It mainly emphasizes that if the director creates a film, it becomes creative and unique (Kattell, 2003, 245; Hendrix & Wood, 1973, 109). Apart from that, a good film director can make a bad film and vice versa. This is because a good film depends on the ability of the director to believe that he or she can make it. Therefore, in the case of Jack Is Back, there is that aspect of a good director. It is elaborated by the fact that in the script, we see the style of a movie within a movie. Apart from that, there is a flow of the story from the beginning to the end. This allows the audience to get the whole picture of what is happening in the film. Moreover, it illustrates a sign of a person believing in him or herself(Chun et al., 2008, 440). This meansthat people willlove play.
Body horror, on the other end, is where the human physical appearance in the film seems to be distorted, hence creating a scene that is fearful. A good example is the case of Frankenstein which was the first body horror film. It involved a monster that is made up of parts of a corpse (Badley, 1995, p.48; Koumi, 1991, 140). Other movies that followed include the Dracula and werewolf. Its creation was intended tomake the audience remain in terror and be curious of what will happen after that while viewing the play. Like in the case of the script Jack Is Back, the point where the whole face of Ana is covered with blood and crawling on the floor crying is horrific. Theaudience remains glued in the scene as they tried to figure out what Ana is feeling. This enables the audience to get the feeling of what the scriptwriter was trying to pass to them.
Film genre is another theoretical idea that helped in coming up with the project. One can easily refer to the film genre as a type of aesthetic framework (Film Theory, 2019). In short, it brings out the idea of attraction and the desires that people want to have and feel in a particular movie. The film genre is what determines whether an individual will watch the movie or not. It mainly comprises of lighting, sound core, actors and many more. In the case of Jack Is Back,there is a set of lighting when the play begins followed by the music where one sees Jack and Ana dancing. Jack and Ana, in this case, are some of the actors who are needed to make the film. This is what the audience expects of a film. This can also help them recall the scene by the use of the soundtrack that was being played. The part in which they are used is also well selected to match what the audience anticipates (Lee et al. 2016, 90).
The last one is the discussion on the theoretical issues that came up during the development of the project. Therefore, theoretical issues can be defined as what individuals think of society. This is what leads to the method that a person wants to use when coming up with a film (Lessons, 2019; Doughty &Etherington-Wright, 2017). There are various forms of theoretical issues that include the validity, representatives, a perspective of the methodology, and reliability. One of the issues that came up was based on validity. This is the method that individuals use to allow them to know what something looks like. This is where there is the use of qualitative methods like the case of observation, hence enabling one to make conclusions on what he or she has seen. It simply means that through firsthand information that one acquires aid them in creating something that is almost true. For instance, for one to come up with the script of Jack Is Back, he or she had to view various films and first get to feel what people want. Apart from that, one was supposed to compare various films and come up with a different story with some of the things that were not in the other films (Blacker, 1986; Horton, 2000).
Another issue was on reliability. It was to allow people to understand that the methodused by one of the researchers can be used by another and come up with similar results or even a better one. In other ways, we can define it as being able to replicate what the other researcher had already done. Using the script on Jack Is Back, various sources are involved in making the play appear as a whole. When we talk of the sources, they are ideas that one has borrowed from others. For instance, we have talked of the horror scene where Ana is covered by blood on her face from the scratches of a knife and crawling on the floor. This is the idea that is borrowed from other horrors as we have seen in the film, Frankenstein. As we have seen, the main aim is to keep the audience in terror and wholly focused on the film.
In conclusion, one can say that screenwriting involves a lot of activities to come up with something that people will want to watch. The context helps us get the right idea and knowledge of how to go about in screenwriting.
References
Badley, L., 1995. Film, horror, and the body fantastic (No. 48). Greenwood Publishing Group.
Batty, C. and McAulay, A., 2016. The academic screenplay: Approaching screenwriting as a research practice. Writing in Practice: The Journal of Creative Writing Research, 2, pp.1-13.
Blacker, I.R., 1986. The elements of screenwriting: a guide for film and television writers. New York: Macmillan.
Chun, Z.H.A.N.G., Jing-Ning, W.A.N.G., Ping, C.H.E.N., Ji-ci, W.A.N.G. and Bin, L.U., 2008. The impact of local creative milieu and space on cultural and creative activities in cities: The case of Nanluoguxiang in Beijing. 地理研究, 27(2), pp.439-448.
Decherney, P., 2005. Hollywood and the culture elite: How the movies became American. Columbia University Press.
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Horton, A., 2000. Writing the character-centered screenplay.Univ of California Press.
Kattella, A.D., 2003. The amateur cinema league and its films. Film History, 15(2), pp.238-251
Koumi, J., 1991. Narrative screenwriting for educational television: A framework. Journal of Educational Media, 17(3), pp.131-148.
Lee, S.J.S., Lomdahl, A.M., Sawtell, L., Sculley, S. and Taylor, S., 2016. Screenwriting and the higher degree by research: writing a screenplay for a creative practice PhD. New Writing, 13(1), pp.85-97.
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