Picture Perfect
The Picture is the Word- The Word is the Picture.
This was one of my favorite lessons & challenges in art school. It seemed so simple, the picture had to represent the word because the word it’s self was the picture; w/out obviously being such. Right? Get what I’m saying?
No?
Neither do most people, be it film or art & its something both have to take into consideration, especially in the Indie Film world. Take for example the picture above. What do you see? Something? Anything? If you tell me you see a face, or shapes or animals guess what?
You just missed the point.
You’re thinking too hard. Step back. Now say out loud EXACTLY what you are looking at. What did you just say? Was it Ink Blot? If it was, you’re starting to get it. Right now you’re probably wondering, ‘but how does that make the word is the picture-the picture is the word’ (yes, I did say that backwards). Take a look below. I removed one side of the design.
What do you see now? The word ‘Ink Blot’ right? And if I rotate it so you can read it, is it clearer now?
So simple, yet so complex.
You think to yourself, ‘how did I miss that’? ‘It was so obvious’ right? You would think so, but the human mind likes complexities & so we tend to go out of our way to miss the obvious & taking something at just face value is not as easy as we like to believe. In the world of art, this is an ingenious play with lettering. In film, it’s something entirely different but just as essential.
Take for instance your favorite horror flick. It was advertised as a zombie movie (like say 28 Days Later) so you thought great, who doesn’t want to see people shambling or running away from the dead trying to eat them? But once you sit back, relax & get into the movie, you realize some key elements are missing or overshadowed by other intricacies within the plot. It feels nothing like what you were lead to believe it was to be. The picture presented to you ended up being nothing like the “word” or in this case “main plot structure” & “delivery” of the film. You are now left feeling disappointed.
So you go back again & say ‘did I miss something’? ‘Was it not so obvious’? Did you? Odds are you didn’t. What happened was the team (not just the writers, directors, actors & distribution company, but everyone involved) that created this film failed to stick to EXACTLY what they claimed to be portraying. If you’re going to write a zombie flick, write a zombie flick; focus on the zombies ,they are your flick. If you’re going to write a flick about a disease that infects people & zombies are only a ‘symptom’ or ‘outcome’ of that disease then you are not writing a zombie flick. You’ve turned your film into a survival or disaster movie because your focus is skewed. You missed the picture & you used the wrong words.
Wording is a necessary in film, even in direction, structure & beyond dialogue. Symptom, outcome; those were the words they saw in association with their zombies & so they portrayed that, putting the ‘disease’ that created them up front. Had they changed their wording & perspective they would have said zombies. <- Period. The disease would have then been a ‘symptom’ suffered by the zombies that could change their ‘outcome’.
Catch my drift?
I have seen, as of late, too many films using ‘misdirection’ as a way to sneak away from having to state the obviousness of their film. They feel if they just say zombie & people just see zombies that some how their story is two dimensional & not worth the viewers time. Or worse, they are unsure what aspect of their plot should dominate all others so they blend them together hoping they will work out, tell an in depth story.
Stop it. Please. (Look, I even asked nicely!)
If you are struggling with your script, your drawing your film or your writing go back to the words you first used to associate your characters, your scenes, plots & locations with. Your first impression, your descriptive terms, is exactly what you want to deliver. Yes, you can intertwine them with others, you can give them obstacles & masks but in the end those descriptors MUST remain the same.
The Picture you deliver must leave your viewers saying or feeling the Word you intended to show them.
Just like emotions have to be displayed w/their basic facial & body distortions for them to be registered by your viewers (anger, hurt, happiness, sadness) so too does your story. Go too far & you leave them feeling disoriented & unsure if they are willing to sit down & re-watch your film just to figure it all out. I’m not asking for you to dummy down your flick, you can tell a great zombie story with far more than just zombies (as Romero often does) but don’t make them a side element.
And this goes to every type of film out there. Deliver EXACTLY the story you intend your viewer to perceive it as, surprised them with added twists & turns but still leave them satisfied that what they paid for is what they got. If it helps, draw up your own ink blot using the word its self & keep it w/all of your work, this way, when you find yourself frustrated or just need clarity, you can pull it out & remind yourself.
The Picture is the Word - The Word is the Picture.
Always.
So,
until my next post,
sit back relax, take this little lesson into consideration & give your people something to scream (in terrifying fashion of course) about!
Good points. Good rant.
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Thank you! Sometimes I forget what I'm ranting about when I type things up, especially if I'm only half awake
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