We're living in a golden age of TV and movies, with more channels and more quality stories than we can ever watch, many of them based on adaptations of books – both fiction and non-fiction.
But many writers feel guilty about watching film and TV, because shouldn't you be doing something more useful towards your writing life?
In fact, watching TV and movies can HELP your writing career as you learn how to construct a narrative arc that keeps readers hooked. In today's article, Diana Wink explains how.
The boom of movies and TV Shows due to Netflix and Amazon can be both curse and blessing for creatives. It depends on the way you use it.
Like nuclear energy, everything powerful can be mistreated or used to our advantage. You can waste hours on TV shows, cursing their addictive effect while you plan on binge watching the next season of Game of Thrones. You can go to the cinema to be entertained as part of the audience, regretting that you ate so much popcorn yet again.
Or, you can develop an eye for movie elements, styles of certain directors and screenwriters, take mental notes, avoid mistakes and transfer great ideas into your writing to make it richer.
As a filmmaker and author, I never consume a movie for entertainment only. Instead, I got into the habit of always wearing my metaphorical “creator glasses” that allow me to get the most out of movies and TV shows.
When watching, filter your emotions through the “creator lens”.
Ask yourself: How did they achieve this? Why did something work, and why did it not?
Always make mental notes. If something impressed you, come home and write it down.
I even sit down to rewatch and analyze certain movies or scenes. This prevents me from binge watching amazing TV shows – because I want to learn something from them, I need time to process and transfer.
According to James Patterson, we have to write “with a movie projector in our heads”. The better you become in understanding movie language and thinking visually, the better your inner “movie projector” works.
Let me give you 7 elements to look out for when you watch movies and TV shows as a creative, and how you can apply them to your writing.
Once you understand those, your “creative eye” will never be the same. But watch out: You can never go back to being a regular consumer anymore!
Ready?
1. Location
Both in film and in fiction, location can make or break your scene. Location can enhance the experience, make the plot richer if it's fueled with meaning, or provide a space for interaction with the character.
Pay close attention to where a particular scene in the movie is located. And ask yourself: Why did the director choose it?
Incorporate real locations or let yourself be inspired by them, but don't be afraid to invent fictitious places, like Christopher Nolan did in “The Dark Knight Rises”. The underground prison called “The Pit” is a location that has been built from scratch with a powerful purpose. It plays a central role in Bruce Wayne overcoming his demons.
Have a look at the last scene of “Starwars: Episode 7”. Watch out for the place in was shot in, which makes this scene unique and epic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3XZiJyePEI
The visuality of the location plays a central part. How does it look like, how does it smell, how does it feel? This leads us to element two, which is tightly intertwined with the location.
2. The light
In film, light is everything. It plays a central role in conveying a mood, a feeling, and evoking emotion. A location can look completely different once the light is changed.
Press the “pause” button and carefully study the light in a scene you like.
- What time of day is it?
- How many lights can you see, and where do they come from?
- How do they make the scene feel?
You need to develop an eye for light to understand how scenes are lit, and what atmosphere the light conveys. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, they say, but do you need a thousand words? Learn how to describe atmosphere with precise, on-point, extraordinary ways that will paint an instant picture through light.
Here are some examples from my short films.
Notice how here, nighttime is central for the scenes, and single light sources create the mood: a red signal light serving as a backdrop for hectic shapes in a fight scene, fires burning around a couple that runs into each other’s arms.
In the last picture, the deep sun and the location set the atmosphere. This scene would have looked so different if it was set on a rainy afternoon.
3. Camera work
The camera is the eye of the film, and regardless of all technical details like lenses, aperture, shutter speed, it serves to lead the audience's attention. What the camera shows is as important as what it doesn't.
Consider camera as the POV of writing, and let's see what we can learn from it.
In the beginning of episode one of BBC's Sherlock, we see a detailed shot of a small bottle opened and a pill taken out. A man looks scared, close-up on his eyes staring in horror, his mouth swallowing the pill. The next shot pulls back, we see the man collapse at a window from the outside, mere observers.
What the camera does not show now is that the man is not alone in the room and that there is another bottle of pills. We are misled into thinking that this is a suicide, for now.
Transferring it into writing, this could look something like this:
- The victim's POV, describing the situation while leaving out the bits that reveal the presence of someone else in the room, being ambiguous about his motives, centering on the terror and fear before this dreadful moment of death.
- Switch to the POV of an outsider, maybe the police officer or newscaster, describing the situation from a more objective point of view, stating the facts of the incident.
The takeaway here is: pay attention to what the camera does in the movies. What does it show? How close to we get? Is there movement, and if so, why?
Another example: the scene in 12 Years a Slave, where we see Solomon hanging from a tree, tiptoeing to avoid the pain and keep himself alive.
The director could have chosen close-ups: the skin on his neck tied by the rope, the sweat on his forehead, his struggle to breathe. But this would have a completely different effect. Instead, for 1.5 minutes, we just observe the terrible scene from far away.
What does it do to us? Our hands are tied while we watch the other slaves ignore Solomon's pain out of fear. We want to scream at them, want to jump from our seats and free him from the rope. Instead, we are forced to watch the cruel scene unfold for three minutes, powerless.
This is such a strong effect that prompts to think about POV and challenges to make choices that are not obvious but rather provoking and have the strongest impact.
4. Costume & Casting
Paying close attention to the actors chosen for each role and their costumes can fuel writers with endless character ideas.
Pause and look at the characters in a movie as a whole. Notice how their hair and makeup is done, with how many details the costume is created. Look at tattoos, hair decoration, and even scars.
Costume change usually goes along with character transformation. Try to pay attention to how what the character wears changes over the course of the movie. It can also serve to contrast the character to his surrounding, underline the time period or sci-fi elements.
Here’s a great look at how costume attributes to world-building in film.
Aren't you already fueled with ideas? We often overlook the costumes, the makeup and hair, and the little details that contribute to what makes the characters who they are.
5. Dialogue & Acting
Over decades, screenwriters have been perfecting their dialogue writing skills. There is as much bad dialogue in movies as there is excellent, and we can learn from both.
Let's have a look at a great example from “Vikings”.
This is one of my favorite dialogues in movie history. There is one main underlying theme to it, which is ‘life after death', and it flows organically and emotionally to a climax – Ragnar's death sentence. The words are so plain yet so subtle.
Notice also the setting, the movements, the pauses in the dialogue, even the light. How the two of them are divided by their beliefs, yet united by their doubts and love to Athelstan, a great friend who was better than both of them.
They constantly challenge each other, and the words are fueled by rivalry, conflict, and friendship. This is such a great scene!
Sometimes, dialogue and words are unnecessary. There is a moment in Braveheart that is outstanding, yet no word is spoken.
This is extraordinary acting. No words needed.
The screenwriter could have included dialogue: ‘How could you have done this? Why did you betray me? I believed in you!'
But words would have weakened this moment. Instead, everything is written on William Wallace’s face.
As writers, we can use this lesson to not always write those words out, be it dialogue or even interior monologue.
Instead, learn to show rather than tell. Try to describe the expression in metaphors, strong comparisons, and action.
6. Music
While music is a powerful tool for movies, it seems fairly useless to writing at first glance.
But do not be mislead. It can serve you in two ways: inspiration and your scene's atmosphere.
I love movies soundtracks, and I instantly make a mental notice if the music stuck with me. Soundtracks continue to inspire me to new plot twists, emotional scenes, themes, characters.
There is great power in music, and I was made aware of it when tears ran down my face during a Hans Zimmer concert. No words were needed. Just pure notes. When I left the concert, I felt like writing and creating, like my writing could move mountains.
On the other hand, try to play music in the background when writing and editing a scene to determine the feel or the atmosphere of it. This can help you determine your atmosphere. It also works vice versa, when you want your scene to feel like a certain way, but do not seem to find the mark – soundtrack can help you.
7. Editing
Editing is all about pace, and we can learn a lot from it if we start to carefully pay attention.
Have a look at this scene from “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”.
Now that's a way to tell the backstory in 1:14 minutes!
There is also a scene in this movie, edited in a similar way, where they make a plan, and while they do, the execution is shown quickly edited bits. This speeds up the story and makes it compelling.
In writing, we can use this technique to jump right into the story and flash back and forth between past and present to explain the situation, thus avoiding big backstory chunks.
We can also condense backstory moments into very short bits.
“Mad Max: Fury Road” won the Oscar for Editing. The famous trick here is a very fast cutting between pictures while the eye is carefully directed in order not to loose focus, mostly keeping the main object of the frame right in the center.
While this is very editing-specific, it teaches us that in fast-paced scenes where a lot of action is involved, we need to write with a tight focus. We need to direct the reader’s attention carefully from one point to the other and make it easy to follow suit.
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There is no need to become a film-guru and study filmmaking in depth to profit from watching movies.
But once you adapt several techniques and start looking out for lessons to learn as an author, you will have massive fun analyzing the films for your writing's benefit!
The little small voice inside of you that accused you of having yet again wasted your time on movies will finally be silenced, and replaced by a childlike excitement to watch the newest film and adapt the innovative techniques.
Of course, this cannot be your ultimate excuse to watch movies all the time. As long as the techniques are not put into practice in writing, they stay useless.
Make it your aim to develop your “inner movie projector” by always wearing your metaphorical creator glasses when you watch movies. You'll see how this will change your approach as a moviegoer and make your writing much more powerful and visual.
How have TV and movies helped your writing life? Please join the conversation by adding a comment below.
Diana Wink is an author & film director, gym freak & creative entrepreneur, currently based in Germany. She loves stories with all her heart because they have the power to transform and touch the very core of our being. Her passion is to empower people to live a fulfilling life by becoming a creative storyteller on the Story Artist website & blog. Diana is currently writing the “Prometheus” dystopian novel series, with a free book available on http://dwink-author.com. Download 7 exercises to train your “inner movie projector”.
John 'Grumps' Hamshare says
Thank you for pointing out the benefits a writer can absorb whilst viewing Movies and/or TV. I appreciate anything which will assist me in becoming a better writer. This article will influence my future viewing in a similar way that, as a trained musician, I could never listen to any type of music without analyzing its structural elements in some way. I previously thought that put me at a disadvantage as a listener–however, you’ve changed my way of thinking and shown the extra pleasure gained by closer observation and immersion when using any of the five senses.
Diana Wink says
Thanks for the comment, John!
I also used to see it as a disadvantage while unconsciously bringing in elements of films into my writing. But it wasn’t until I embraced the conscious approach that I began to reap all the benefits and actively look for ideas that would influence and improve me 🙂
Terry Tyler says
This is so right. I’m currently writing a post apocalyptic series, and much of my research has taken place by watching films/TV series of that genre, not least of all The Walking Dead. For instance, how ‘baddies’ do not suddenly appear, but are best introduced gradually, maybe even seem like ‘goodies’ at first. And how it’s a good idea to start subtly weaving in the next ‘baddie’ before the current one is disposed of.
A few years ago, I noticed how the best plot and most expensive production can fall flat if the show/film does not have characters that the writer cares about. All stories of death and disaster are best told from the point of view of just a few people, hence the short story type build up in disaster movies. I’ve also noticed the importance of a good ratio of action/dramatic events, and human stuff.
With a series, I’ve learned that it’s best not to have every character reach resolution in each book. There have to be loose ends to carry through to the next book, or the reader will not think, ‘so what happens to Bob and Joe?’ I could go on… but I won’t, or this will be the size of a blog post in itself 😉
Diana says
When watching an extraordinary movie, you see that it is due to extraordinary writing, and the same goes for bad movies.
Because of the length of a movie or a series episode, it’s fairly easy to learn a lot in the limited amount of time. But there are also Tv series that have a great and extensive story arc through many episodes, which again, helps us learn from them (like “The Walking Dead”).
Thanks so much for your comment 🙂
Bryan Fagan says
Your article speaks volumes when it comes to my movie watching. Ever since I dove into this writing gig I started asking myself why some moves work and some don’t. I have been doing what you suggested for a while now and it works. It’s like a classroom where the teacher is the screen in front of us.
Writers need to take advantage of all the things available to us. The world is wide open to listen, process and apply. If we want to tell a great story all we have to do is watch and learn the rest is up to us.
Excellent article. Thank you.
Diana Wink says
Thank you for the great commen, Bryan.
You are so right! The whole world can indeed be a classroom if we are willing to listen, take notes and learn. And isn’t life an adventure if you see it this way? It’s much more exciting with the “creator lenses” on 😉
Dharma Kelleher says
On my current novel, I was struggling to create a snarky, sarcastic, even rude female protagonist that was also somehow likeable.
So I watched shows like JESSICA JONES and IN PLAIN SIGHT to see what the creators did to make characters like Jessica Jones and Mary Shannon likeable.
Turns out humor is key.
Diana says
Characters are so great to learn from in TV series! There is finally enough screen time for the writers to create deep and three-dimensional characters and character arcs. I also study TV series characters all the time for my books 😉
Joanna Penn says
I love Jessica Jones!
Colin says
Thanks for the ideas around watching movies. Scene change is critical to moving a story forward. Films have the immediate pictorial effect, which is a knack you need to develop when portraying a sense of movement and progress in your story. Unwittingly when you write, memory from film action, dialogue and image build can be brought into your writing
Diana Wink says
Thank you for the comment, Colin! Scene change is definitely different on a visual medium like film, maybe even easier. But there are tricks we can learn or at least get inspired by to transfer them to our writing 😉
Kate Findley says
Great points! I was thinking this just the other day, in fact, when I saw a movie in the theater for the first time in months. I don’t go more often because it feels a bit indulgent, but once I do go, I always learn a lot–and it’s definitely time better spent than spending hours on social media! I really enjoyed the last movie I saw, but I thought the last act dragged a little because it had several redundant scenes/moments. This was a great learning experience because the novel I’m currently working on has the same issue. I was already aware of this issue, but seeing it mirrored back to me made it more clear and gave me ideas for how to fix it.
Diana Wink says
It’s a good point, because even if we watch a movie that was bad, we can still learn from the mistakes and ask ourselves why it failed to work. This way, we are saving ourselves from wasting time 😉 Though it’s still better to watch more excellent movies than the other way round 😉
Thank you for the comment, Kate!
Jahanzeb Kadir says
Proves that you can learn while you play even as an adult, you just have to keep an open mind.
Ever since I took up the practice, I’m not limiting myself to my preferred genre of movies.
Healthy procrastination if you please!~
deana says
Proves that you can learn while you play even as an adult, you just have to keep an open mind.
Ever since I took up the practice, I’m not limiting myself to my preferred genre of movies.
Healthy procrastination if you please!~
Ashen says
Maybe in addition to watching movies with close attention, in the way suggested in this lovely article, some impressive thoughts by Robert Bresson may further inspire the writer of stories.
I share Bresson’s ‘Notes on the Cinematographer’ in this in a blog post I wrote in 2015:
https://courseofmirrors.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/what-writers-can-glean-from-cinematographers/