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#Post#: 29735--------------------------------------------------
20 screenwriting moves we'd be happy never to see again
By: Mac Date: July 17, 2014, 8:57 am
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I agree with a lot of these. Many of these just make the movie
tiresome.
[glow=red,2,300]20 screenwriting moves we'd be happy never to
see again[/glow]
Pop culture is a never-ending source of wonder and amazement.
We're seeing some really top-notch, innovative writing across
every medium right now. But there's also a lot of tired,
warmed-over stuff, that feels copy-pasted from script to script.
Here are 20 screenwriting moves we'd be happy never to see
again.
1) "He's right behind me, isn't he?"
The whole thing where someone is talking smack about someone,
not realizing that person is right behind them. The movie Jack
The Giant Slayer used this joke two or three times, ostensibly
as a call-back to earlier uses of it, which just made it feel
more tired. See also: someone is talking smack to an adversary
or monster, who runs away because a bigger monster is actually
right behind the smack-talker (e.g. Jake Sully in Avatar.) Also
worth mentioning: "I'm standing right here" and "I can hear
you," from someone who's right there when people are
trash-talking them.
2) Exciting but confusing action scene, followed by "X Hours
Earlier..."
I swear to god, every other episode of a CW show featured this
recently. Also, one of the latest Falling Skies episodes had
this. The whole "in medias res" thing is a time-honored
tradition but if your story is most interesting when you start
in the middle, maybe just don't jump back to the boring setup?
Also, starting the episode with exciting parkour/motorcycle
action before jumping back 24 hours telegraphs that your episode
has a boring first half and you wanted to showcase the only
exciting bit.
3) "He wanted to get caught!"
The next time a villain gets caught on purpose, I want to see
the good guys put him/her in a medically induced coma. Or just
shoot them. Whenever a villain gets caught too easily and then
is put into a see-thru plastic prison, it doesn't end well.
Except for the villain it ends great for the villain.
4) Fractured mirror/pictureframe indicates broken identity
Bonus points if somone breaks the mirror or picture in a fit of
despair, and then stares at it as music swells. Also, bonus
points if we can magically see the person's complete face
reflected in several shards at once, or a fractured, ugly image
of the person's face in all the shards. That way we know this
person is having an identity crisis.
5) "It was just a cat"
Or any kind of jump scare that turns out to be something
harmless the wind, your friend coming back from getting a
drink. In general, jump scares are getting old, and the "just a
cat" thing was a clichι in the 1980s. See also: ominous POV
sneaking up on the main character turns out to be friendly, or
masked figure turns out to be someone who went missing earlier.
6) At the end, someone picks up a pen, and writes the narration
we heard at the start.
Really, any kind of opening voiceover narration indicates a
certain lack of confidence in the story, or in the audience's
perspicacity. But especially if there's any kind of reveal
towards the end the narrator is actually Sleeping Beauty! The
narrator is that weird old guy, who's actually writing this
down! it feels cheap and silly.
7) "A wise person once told me [something you told me an hour
ago]"
The thing where Person A says something to Person B, who then
repeats it back to Person B an hour later, is supposed to show
that Person B has learned an important lesson. It's a cheap form
of shorthand to indicate personal growth. Sometimes Person B
just repeats the words of wisdom to Person C, as if sharing wise
counsel. One variation is where this is done sarcastically:
Person A taunts Person B, who then repeats the taunt back. But
more often, repeated or parroted lines of dialogue are used as a
hand-wavy "people have learned a lesson" indicator.
8) Voiceover describes the plan for the heist, while we see it
play out on screen
This is even more commonly used than "voiceover turns out to be
someone we didn't realize." In fact, it's almost de rigeur
nowadays, any time there's a daring caper to save time, our
mastermind describes what will happen at the same time that we
see the plan being carried out. One variation is that we don't
actually get to hear a crucial part of the plan until
something surprising happens, and then we flash back to the
"planning" scene and realize the mastermind actually planned an
extra plan, on top of the plan that we already knew about.
9) "We only use 10 percent of our brains"
As a general rule, people who think we only use 10 percent of
our brains are only using 10 percent of their brains. I'm really
sad that Lucy, which looks like a fun movie otherwise, is
leaning on this trope so hard I hope it doesn't drag the whole
movie down, since it seems to be the main thing people have
noticed about it. But in general, this is a pernicious bit of
pseudoscience that screenwriters always seem to reach for.
10) "Destiny" is used to explain huge, ridiculous coincidences.
Sure, fate is mysterious and unpredictable, etc. etc. But once
the pieces are being moved around too obviously, it starts to
feel less like the hand of fate and more like the hand of the
writer.
11) Way-too-realistic dream sequences convey crucial plot info
Sure, psychic visions are awesome, and everybody loves a
cryptic/weird dream sequence but when a character needs to
learn crucial plot info in a hurry and they basically have a
ridiculously easy-to-interpret photorealistic dream which lays
everything out, that's kind of a problem. See Twilight: Breaking
Dawn.
12) "I promise I'll explain everything later, but right now you
have to trust me"
Or pretty much any conversation where one person promises to
give another person all the answers at some later date. When
you're older. Once you've proved worthy. When I'm sure it's
safe. Etc. etc. In a larger sense, characters who go out of
their way to speak cryptically in order to keep the plot moving,
instead of just spitting out what they know, are the worst.
13) "You're off the case!"
This one is such a clichι that it's been lampooned in every
cop-movie satire ever. And yet, it still happens in countless
cop movies, superhero movies, TV shows and every other genre.
Obsessed investigators are constantly being taken off the case
but it never takes. Telling someone that she/he is off the case
is pretty much a guarantee that they'll stay on the case. In
fact, maybe it's reverse psychology at this point.
14) Bomb with 1980s clock-radio display and helpfully
color-coded wires
If I ever build a bomb, I'm going to make all the wires the same
color. And is there a store somewhere that sells old
clock-radios and microwaves with big digital readouts, which all
the bomb-makers shop at?
15) Daddy issues
If it wasn't for daddy issues, most mainstream media characters
would be perfectly well-adjusted. It's pretty much the only
thing that motivates most heroes, villains and complicated
anti-heroes to get out of bed in the morning. Daddy is either an
absentee father, an overly demanding tyrant, an abuser or just
kind of a creep. Let's have more mommy issues. Please?
16) "We make a great team"
Or on a related note: people informing each other that they
started out as a team, but now they're a family. Usually this
happens when they've known each other for less than two or three
hours of television, or half a movie. If the characters have to
announce to the audience that they're great together, it's
probably because the writer is worried the audience won't
realize this otherwise.
17) Tracing a call takes forever, but you can see on a map where
the signal is.
If they can see on the map where the trace is going, doesn't
that mean they've already traced the call? Also, why does it
take so long? Plus every villain bounces the signal off
satellites, and when you finally trace the call it's always a
trap/decoy.
18) Zoom and enhance
This one is almost too easy it's been lampooned endlessly. The
fact that you can take a blurry low-res camera image and enhance
it until someone's face is giant in HD is kind of awesome. And
yet, it's still so prevalent, it needs to be called out.
19) Fight scene ends with someone pinned down, groping for a
weapon... until they grab it.
Note to bad guys: If you have someone pinned down, don't let
them grope for a gun, knife or shard of glass for several
minutes. Just head-butt them. Or kick the weapon further away.
Seriously, every fight scene ends with the "person getting
choked/attacked but groping for weapon" thing lately.
20 White person saves all the natives/aliens.
AKA the plot of Avatar, and many, many other movies and TV
shows. The "white guy is the chosen savior" plot is overplayed
enough in general, but it's especially bad when everybody who
needs saving is a poor native or some other species. Just give
it a rest maybe let the natives save the white guy instead,
for once.
Bonus: "I know you hate me right now, but [villain] has [mutual
love interest]!"
#Post#: 29737--------------------------------------------------
Re: 20 screenwriting moves we'd be happy never to see again
By: Chiprocks1 Date: July 17, 2014, 9:43 am
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Awesome list and oh so true! It's actually a list that every
writer should keep handy to cross check with your own stories to
make sure one doesn't fall into the same trap of going where
EVERYONE is going.
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