How can you dramatise your theme on a scene level?

As part of their ongoing exploration of scene-work, Stu and Chas apply their earlier thinking on theme and character worldview to individual scenes. Can examining a scene from a thematic perspective impact the drama, conflict or stakes of the scene? How does your character’s conscious and subconscious world views dramatise the overall theme of the work? How can an individual scene reflect the larger themes of the overall story? Do any of these questions or approaches lead to writing better scenes?

To this end, Stu and Chas examine particular scenes from works that have particularly apparent, strong and consistent themes; namely: FINDING NEMO, EX MACHINA, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA and the Netflix TV series GLOW.

... SPOILERS ABOUND!!

Audio quotations used for educational purposes only. Timestamps indicated below. Chapter markers included in the mp3.

Special thanks to our Patreon supporters. If you would like more Draft Zero episodes more often, click here!

EPISODE LINKS

• DRAFT ZERO Related Episodes
  • DZ-41: Theme and Worldview
  • DZ-31: Tools for Better Dialogue
  • DZ-29: Showdowns & Scene Structure
  • DZ-06: Key Scenes and Unlocking the Story
• INTRODUCTION
  • Nerdwriter: The Epidemic of Passable Movies
  • Every Frame a Painting: Snowpiercer - Left or Right
  • Film Crit Hulk: Ex Machina and the Art of Character Identification
  • Neuromancer: Dixie Flatline
• FINDING NEMO s: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds  [@ 10m 36s]
  • YouTube: Finding Nemo Full Whale Scene
  • Find it on Just Watch
• EX MACHINA [@ 17m 28s ]
  • Script: Ex Machina by Alex Garland
  • YouTube: Ex Machina - Ave Session 5 Avas Test
  • Letterboxd: Stu's Review
  • Find it on Just Watch
• MANCHESTER BY THE SEA [@ 59m 55s ]
  • Script: Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan
  • YouTube: "Can we ever have lunch"? scene
  • Find it on Just Watch
• GLOW Episode 1 [@ 1h 28m 26s ]
  • Script: GLOW by Liv Flahive and Carly Mensch
  • Podcast: The Contrarians — Bonus! Netflix's Glow
  • Watch it on Netflix
• WRAP UP [@ 2h 04m 13s ]
  • Stan Bush - Dare (from Transformers the Movie)
  • "Dare" (Live) - The Cybertronic Spree

Please send feedback to ask at draft-zero.com, via our web form or twitter @draft_zero! We are @chasffisher and @stuwillis on twitter.

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcast! or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners.

Thanks to Khrob and Nick for being patrons. They're good people.