TELLING THE STORY OF THE SCENE IN MOMENTS
I ask a director to tell me the story of his scene. He offers to “summarize”, and he goes back to past events and starts telling the whole movie. I insist that he tell this scene moment by moment. Narrate each moment as if it were a silent movie – or in a foreign language. He really is struggling.
I say that if he can tell the scene as a story made up of moments, he can direct the moments and therefore the scene. And if he cannot – then he cannot.
EXERCISE:
Write a précis:
Tell your scene as a series of moments.
Do not explain anything. Do not refer to dialogue or information.
If something happens through dialogue, express the thing that happens in active verbal terms.
Thus:
“Miles tells Jack that Maya is married” would be better expressed as “Miles dismisses Maya as a potential lover.”
Etc.
Try it!
When you are done:
Make A List - Of the Moments you have to make happen.
This is your TO DO LIST