Movies can be a great way for writers to study the craft. You can learn about goals, motivation and conflict. You can learn about plot points, black moments and resolution-which are all necessary when writing a synopsis.
There was a movie I resisted watching for years ‘The Holiday’ starring Jack Black and Jude Law. For some reason, I just wasn’t interested even though I became a fan of Jude Law’s work after seeing him in the movie Music From Another Room.
So what did I learn from watching Jude Law? In the movie, The Holiday, he portrays a man who steps out of his ordinary and takes a chance when he meets Amanda Woods (played by Cameron Diaz). He finds out the risk was worth it in the end.
So if there’s a writing move you’ve been considering, step out and take the chance.
I actually happen to LOVE that movie. Heck they both took a chance with one another. I also loved the concept of house-swapping. I, too, am a major movie connoisseur and agree that writing stories and scripts for movies are very similar 🙂
I recently saw Seven Pounds with Will Smith that was pretty good and I also saw Revolutionary Road which featured such tragically dysfunctional characters.
I keep trying, Sonia! I’m taking more chances now with my writing. I hadn’t thought about studying movies to study writing. Thanks for the tip.
I haven’t seen that movie either. I’ll have to check it out. I watch movies to get ideas of turning points, and I watch television series to see how the writers engage viewers to keep coming back. I’ve done this ever since I went to a writing workshop put on by the writers of a soap opera. They talked about how to keep the story going, tension, and bringing characters back into viewers good graces after they’ve committed horrible crimes. (Think Luke in General Hospital.) Anyway, that’s when I realized how valuable movie and tv can be for writers. Thankfully, my daughter owns hundreds of DVDs. I have my own private lending library!
The Holiday was a great movie. I loved the way it handled both of the couples’ love story. It also showed great character development in one of the heroines but I don’t want to give anything away since you haven’t seen it.
That’s such a chick flick. Give me Die Hard or Rocky or anything with Clint Eastwood.
I liked Die Hard too but never saw Rocky. I did see a few Clint Eastwood movies but saw one that was so violent I haven’t watched one of his movies since. The Gauntlet was the title I think.