Hazia’s Reflections

A children book publisher made an interesting comment during my writing course last year. She said she saw my stories on the screen rather than in books. Perhaps I should consider writing for TV or film instead.

Having thought about it for a while, I decided to attend a 2-hour talk on film writing just now. The speakers consisted of a scriptwriter and producer, a comic artist and an executive producer for animation series.

The first main message that I caught from the session was ‘write as if you were writing to 1 person only’. Do not identify a group of potential readers or market segment. You wouldn’t know who would appreciate your work until you have the product ready. Only then would you be able to see who would appreciate it.

The second one was ‘write honestly from within’. Do not self - censor or express yourself half way, let it all out. If you start thinking you don’t want ’so and so’ to read this and that, it wouldn’t work.

We were asked the important criteria of a good movie. The answers included originality, strong plot, great acting, good cinematography and amazing sound track. However, when required to name our favourite movies, we realised that many of the things we mentioned were not in them. Hence, it all boiled down to ‘the story’.

Before a film director starts running the show…, before the art director starts creating the set…, before actors start bringing it alive…, yes, the writer has to churn out the story first. That is how important a writer’s role is in a movie.

We were given 2 exercises. First one was to tell a story using 5 visuals and no words, we had 10 minutes to do it. It was like creating a story with only 5 scenes. For non-artist and non-cartoonist, that was pretty tough. We were divided into groups of 6. Each group member would tell what he/she think your story was all about. Then, you shared your own version.

We learned that in films, writers think VISUALLY. Audience see sequence of pictures in their minds. The idea and story should be clear, viewers should understand it the way it was intended to be.

The second exercise included telling a story from 4 listed visuals, we were given 5 minutes to prepare. The visuals listed were a lady in halterneck top, 2 men, a lift and 2 black bras. The stories shared were very diversed, it was inspiring. The characters imagined range from transvestites, magicians and silly dudes to unintended shoplifters and underwear thiefs. LOL!

It turned out that 2 of the speakers experienced this a few days ago. They were in a lift when a lady with halter neck top walked in. They couldn’t help noticing 2 black bra straps, which meant that she was wearing 2 bras at the same time. They couldn’t get it out of their minds and came out with various theories  - suicide bomber, back-up bra in case the first one gave way, shoplifter, fashion statement, etc. LOL!