Advice — david freeman

Our reader F.X. Snyder from Garden Grove, asks: My villain is a bit too one-dimensional. Any tips for fleshing out a character who's not the protagonist? David Freeman responds: Sure, I know a lot about villains, although not from personal experience mind you. That bank robbery thing was a big mistake, and the reporter got it all wrong! 1. You can have the villain occasionally do something good -- but just make it something SMALL or we'll like him too much and be upset when he dies (unless you want us to be upset). 2. He can have reasons for...

Our reader Singh from Toronto, asks: My dialogue sounds flat and indistinguishable between characters. How can I work on writing more engaging dialogue? David Freeman responds: Dialogue has long been a problem for writers. The problem is that dialogue needs to serve a variety of functions: (1) make the characters sound different from one another, (2) capture the rhythms and sound of spoken speech, (3) employ "subtext" so that what the characters are saying isn't always what they mean, and (4) reveal all sorts of things about the characters and sometimes their time and place. When you talk about "indistinguishable...

In The Simpsons, Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Shrek we see film and television which can be enjoyed equally by kids and adults.There are a number of ways to create this kind of cross-demographic appeal. Here I will discuss a few of the techniques the writers of Shrek used to achieve such a complex feat.First, let's give credit where credit is due. The writers, basing the script on a book by William Steig, were Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S.H. Schulman, from a story by Ken Harsha, and with additional dialogue contributions from Cody Cameron,...

One way to add that mysterious quality of emotional layers or 'depth' to a plot is to have the hero's emotional journey echoed in a subplot. Alan Ball, the screenwriter of 'American Beauty,' does this masterfully. This can be seen in how Wes Bently's (the intense young man in the film) plotline echoes Kevin Spacey's (and sometimes, vice versa). First, there are some obvious parallels between the two men: 1. Both Bently and Spacey get fired by telling off their bosses. 2. Spacey and Bently are out of communication with those around them. Spacey lives in a sexual fantasy; Bently...

There are many ways symbols that can be used in a movie. Today I will examine one of them.Alan Ball, the screenwriter of 'American Beauty,' makes riveting use of the color red throughout the film. The first time we see Annette Bening, she's cutting bright red roses.What does the color red mean in this movie?The way Ball uses it, it refers to a concept: the life force, which, by nature, tries to defy the suppressiveness of suburban life. That's why, the first time we meet Annette Bening, she's cutting red roses. She's cutting the life force. Shortly thereafter, we see...