Heart, Mind and Gut: Visceral Storytelling (Part 2)
"Great films do not get by on the visceral alone." Michael Welles Schock concludes his two-part article on Visceral Storytelling.
By Michael Welles Schock. In my previous article Gut Reaction: Visceral Storytelling Part I, I established the cinematic audience’s three levels of psychological need: The Intellectual The Emotional The Visceral Though storytellers can create audience satisfaction by appealing to any one of these needs, the most exciting of stories rely heavily on the visceral. This […]
Gut Reaction: Visceral Storytelling (Part I)
How dramatic films appeal to the primal instincts within us.
By Michael Welles Schock. I know of writers who like to pen very intelligent scripts. These scripts can be clever and witty. They often contain skillful wordplay and philosophical premises. But often, no matter how well-written, these scripts fail draw in the reader. They are like museum pieces. They have aesthetic value, yet can only […]
The Humility Arc
How fairy tale morality leads to a near-universal rule of screenwriting.
“I can’t beat him… I’ve been out there walking around, thinking. I mean, who am I kidding? I’m not even in the guy’s league.” – Rocky “I don’t want to know who I am anymore. I don’t care. Everything I’ve found out I want to forget.” – The Bourne Identity “I killed her, Red. I […]
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints: Poor grammar, rich emotion.
With sympathetic characters and a dramatic premise, David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints packs a lot of heartbreak into a simple plot.
by Michael Welles Schock There is no better way to express an ideal than to contrast it with its harshest opposite. We can best know joy by first knowing anguish. We can fully understand compassion only when it stands side-by-side with cruelty. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, the second feature film of writer/director David Lowery and […]
Scriptmonk on You’re Next
I'm afraid to laugh. With tonal elements going in two opposite directions, You’re Next is a splatter flick with identity issues
by Michael Welles Schock You’re Next baffled me. It wasn’t because I could not follow the plot. It wasn’t because its story did not make sense. I was baffled because, even as the end credits rolled, I was still completely unsure whether I was supposed to find the film terrifying or hilarious. If it is […]
