Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast

DZ-107: Establishing Tone through Character

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Listen if you want to understand how character actions and reactions shape a film's tone

In this episode, Chas and Stu continue their deep dive into how to write tone by examining films with “light” (we use the phrase loosely) tones: LADY BIRD, EMILY THE CRIMINAL, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, and SPONTANEOUS. We also talk a surprising amount about DUNE and CRAZY STUPID LOVE.

We focus on the relationship between character & tone and how the writers of these films use dramatisation to create their unique tones. We talk minimalism vs maximalism, dialogue, character actions & reactions, emotional dynamic range, and rules of the world vs given circumstances.

Stu proposes a new triangle to help us understand the dials we as writers have to affect tone:

  • The given circumstances of the story,
  • How that effects character actions & reactions,
  • How the audience are told about those elements.

    • Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.

    As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

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      • Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Khrob.

      → Read the transcript for this episode.

      ———

      "Emily feels a rush of blood to the head. And the blood, to me, kind of connects it to the feral thing, right? Like it's just got a little bit of an animalistic quality to it in terms of the kind of language system they're using it." — Stu Willis @ 00:42:31

      ———

      CHAPTERS

      • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
      • 00:00:23 – Tone & Character
      • 00:03:21 – › The tone triangle: given circumstances, character reaction, audience feeling
      • 00:09:38 – › Diegetic vs non-diegetic levers and the writer's control over tone
      • 00:15:26 – Ladybird
      • 00:18:43 – › How opening scenes encode a film's emotional range
      • 00:22:37 – › Underplaying drama to teach audiences what to laugh at
      • 00:29:42 – › How dialogue mechanics carry tonal instruction on the page
      • 00:33:20 – EMILY THE CRIMINAL
      • 00:36:22 – › Sparse big print and character-revealing given circumstances
      • 00:44:34 – › How action and reaction encode tone and theme
      • 00:53:25 – › Dialogue styling and emotional proximity to character
      • 00:57:43 – THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
      • 01:02:51 – › How character reaction creates comedic contrast with violence
      • 01:13:32 – › Given circumstances, audience expectation, and world rules
      • 01:17:28 – SPONTANEOUS
      • 01:20:57 – › Action lines as character voice and tonal instruction
      • 01:26:31 – › Humor as audience permission to engage with horror
      • 01:34:03 – › Tonal complexity versus emotional range across films
      • 01:38:11 – › Shared laughter as a device for building connection
      • 01:39:38 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
      • 01:42:38 – › Tonal contrast as emotional contract with audience
      • 01:46:13 – › Character reactions as the root of tonal clarity
      • 01:51:58 – Many thanks to our Patreons

        • FILMS

        • LADY BIRD (2017) — (w) Greta Gerwig
        • EMILY THE CRIMINAL (2022) — (w) John Patton Ford
        • THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (2018) — (w) Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (d) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
        • SPONTANEOUS (2020) — (w) Aaron Starmer, Brian Duffield (d) Brian Duffield

          • SCRIPTS

          • Study the script: LADY BIRD (2017) — Greta Gerwig
          • Study the script: THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (2018) — Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

            • LINKS

            • Read: Tom Vaughan / Story and Plot: Controlling the tone in your screenwriting

              • EPISODES IN THE ESTABLISHING TONE SERIES

              • DZ-105: Establishing Tone through Big Print
              • DZ-107: Establishing Tone through Character

                • RELATED EPISODES

                • DZ-82: Dramatising Given Circumstances in WATCHMEN
                • DZ-105: Establishing Tone through Big Print

                  • ———

                  More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons.

                  If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser.

                  We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.

                  Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2024/dz-107/

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                  Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcastBy Chas Fisher and Stuart Willis
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