Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902
The script documentation leaves a lot more room for creativity in costume and scenery. From watching the film, I can see why the earlier writers in Auteur theory were all of the opinion that the director was the author. This scene document is much more like a blueprint that other crew members can impart their creativity on. I wonder if the producer from back then was the main influencer, pulling together costume, actors and set designers or if that was part of the director’s decision too.
The silent movie aspect means the acting and directing becomes more about choreography and formation of actors in each scene. More about acting with the body than facial expressions, it reminded me of a theatre production or opera but without the words. I’m hoping to do further research into the history of script documentation.
Production practices first shifted when they started combining film with audio, this was always going to affect the writing of a screenplay and make it a more important aspect and I’m glad they did, to me scriptwriting is the difference between a gif and a short film.
Faces, 1968
My first thought when reading about the different types of film formats, was how other countries independent screenplays are formulated. I wonder if say french films, or Bollywood fit into the given examples.
The prominent examples of ‘American Independent’ films are many of my favourites but knowing them all well I thought it more interesting to watch Cassavettes work: ‘Faces’.
It was mentioned a few times as being so diverged from the script it was more of an improvisation. You can tell that Cassavetes encouraged his actors to freely interpret the emotions suggested in his script, because the acting feels very spontaneous. It’s also very intense, considering nothing much happens, the dialogue still manages to take the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions, you never know when someone’s going to snap. They laugh a lot, the strange acting and rough camera techniques all serve to make the audience feel uncomfortable.
I wish I could see his original screenplay to see how much was the blueprint and how much was improvisation, as some of the dialogue is extremely poignant and clever and the shaky camerawork added to the gritty realism of the subject. Apparently It took 8 months to shoot (in sequence) and 2 years to edit.
