Reading Screenplays by Lucy Scher

Author:Lucy Scher [Scher, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781842435137
Publisher: Oldcastle Books
Published: 2011-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

When the audience discovers something at the same time as the character it is incredibly powerful and films that do this the best become classics e.g. The Sixth Sense, The Crying Game, The Usual Suspects.

This convention can be played with, and a good example is Shaun of the Dead. The audience and Shaun have the same point of view in becoming aware of the ever–increasing number of zombies in London, but Shaun’s failure to interpret this information correctly generates the tension and humour of the second point of view available – dramatic irony.

So using dramatic irony, where the audience knows more than the character, is an important way in which the writer is able to generate tension. The source of the tension can be fear, humour, anxiety, sympathy, pathos – all effective in getting an audience engaged. It is a very powerful tool and shows that the writer is aware of the importance of the principle who knows what and when? In this way the screenwriter is managing the relationships between the screen and the audience effectively.

The decision to give the characters more information than the audience is a tough one. If you are reading a script that feels boring, this may be a contributory factor. In your report, find a way to repeat the point that the audience always wants to know why a character wants or needs something, and that keeping things secret or keeping information back is not always the way to get an audience involved in a story.

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