Order Jennifer's book from Michael Wiese Productions here. Read my review of Jennifer's book here.
Dave Watson: This book appears to tie things together. How did it come about?
Jennifer Van Sijll: I had been teaching screenwriting for some 10 years. Movies are sound and picture. So I was looking for a book that I could give my students that talked about visual storytelling. There were a lot of great books on story structure, but the topic no one had really covered was how to harness visuals to tell a story. So I wrote Cinematic Storytelling to fill the gap. When it came out it was embraced by industry practitioners, so that was good, but it also inspired questions.
Screenwriting students had heard the adage, “don’t direct-the-director.” Some figured it meant leave the entire visual landscape to others. So one job I set for myself was to expand the view most writers had of what a screenwriter does which is do more than just write dialog. The other audience I focused on was directors and cinematographers. I wanted to share what I had learned about visual storytelling.
So following the code of the book “show not tell” I collected 100 examples of visual storytelling where visuals truly advanced the story or character. Some of my inclusions like screen direction are not intended for screenwriters, but the bulk of the examples are directed at all three audiences.
DW: Can you give me an example of how a writer might use cinematic storytelling without directing-the director?
JVS: Sure, the first thing I’d recommend is read a ton of scripts from master screenwriters. Use of visual storytelling is all over the place. One memorable example is from the Chinatown script. Screenwriter Robert Towne wrote, “the view shifts to include.” So what Towne’s gives to the reader is a suspenseful reveal; however, what he’s saying to the director reading the script is this could be a pan, maybe a tracking shot. He doesn’t specify how to render the reveal technically; he leaves it up to the director. What’s important to note is that Towne, and many great writers before and after him, wrote in shots.
DW: Is there any kind of ideal ratio of visuals to dialogue?
JVS: Not at all. Filmmakers like Woody Allen and Richard Linklater are essentially delivering modern day “talkies.” So on one hand their work harkens back to earlier time, and yet Boyhood, Linklater’s recent film, was one of the most innovative and moving films of the last 50 years.
I’d say that certain genres invite the use of visuals more than others like thrillers and action films, but there’s no rule. If you look at the work of the Coen Brothers you’ll see a massive investment in cinematic storytelling regardless of genre. In a sense they reinvented the modern comedy when they did Raising Arizona. The opening is wall-to-wall cinematic storytelling.
Filmmakers naturally use what they do best, and what their film needs. Linklater is more of a wordsmith. When you look at the work of the Coen Brothers you see both the picturesmith and the wordsmith.
DW: Stanley Kubrick once said that editing was the chief separator between film and other art forms. Would you agree?
JVS: Yes, film is all about editing and what image comes next. Editing gives us what to focus on, what to compare, how long to see …it’s everything. With a little work you can “edit” on the stage with lighting, but with film it’s just inherent to the medium. I remember reading somewhere that when asked, “What’s the difference between the stage and the screen,” Hitchcock replied, “the chase scene.” This supports Kubrick’s observation because a chase scene is all about editing and exploiting the elasticity of the medium.
DW: I was glad your book included Francis Coppola’s film The Conversation with Harry Caul played by Gene Hackman.
JVS: What a great character. Caul’s introversion adds a great tension and dynamic to the film. The audience wants to know him, but he won’t let anyone in. One of the amazing things in that film is how Coppola used lines and circles to externalize Caul’s need for logic and order, against the circles of lies he gets sucked into.
DW: What's the most important part of a film?
JVS: Story. It’s always number one. There are a lot of film with celebrated actors, cinematographers, directors and stunning visuals that don’t find an audience. If you don’t have a great story, with a solid advancing act two, there’s no way to save the film. Once you have a great story, tools like cinematic storytelling come into play in terms of how successfully you render it, but story is number one.
DW: What’s your favorite comedic cinematic moment?
JVS: The opening segment of Raising Arizona.
Clip: Raising Arizona
Dave Watson is a writer and educator. He lives in Madison, WI.
Dave Watson: This book appears to tie things together. How did it come about?
Jennifer Van Sijll: I had been teaching screenwriting for some 10 years. Movies are sound and picture. So I was looking for a book that I could give my students that talked about visual storytelling. There were a lot of great books on story structure, but the topic no one had really covered was how to harness visuals to tell a story. So I wrote Cinematic Storytelling to fill the gap. When it came out it was embraced by industry practitioners, so that was good, but it also inspired questions.
Screenwriting students had heard the adage, “don’t direct-the-director.” Some figured it meant leave the entire visual landscape to others. So one job I set for myself was to expand the view most writers had of what a screenwriter does which is do more than just write dialog. The other audience I focused on was directors and cinematographers. I wanted to share what I had learned about visual storytelling.
So following the code of the book “show not tell” I collected 100 examples of visual storytelling where visuals truly advanced the story or character. Some of my inclusions like screen direction are not intended for screenwriters, but the bulk of the examples are directed at all three audiences.
DW: Can you give me an example of how a writer might use cinematic storytelling without directing-the director?
JVS: Sure, the first thing I’d recommend is read a ton of scripts from master screenwriters. Use of visual storytelling is all over the place. One memorable example is from the Chinatown script. Screenwriter Robert Towne wrote, “the view shifts to include.” So what Towne’s gives to the reader is a suspenseful reveal; however, what he’s saying to the director reading the script is this could be a pan, maybe a tracking shot. He doesn’t specify how to render the reveal technically; he leaves it up to the director. What’s important to note is that Towne, and many great writers before and after him, wrote in shots.
DW: Is there any kind of ideal ratio of visuals to dialogue?
JVS: Not at all. Filmmakers like Woody Allen and Richard Linklater are essentially delivering modern day “talkies.” So on one hand their work harkens back to earlier time, and yet Boyhood, Linklater’s recent film, was one of the most innovative and moving films of the last 50 years.
I’d say that certain genres invite the use of visuals more than others like thrillers and action films, but there’s no rule. If you look at the work of the Coen Brothers you’ll see a massive investment in cinematic storytelling regardless of genre. In a sense they reinvented the modern comedy when they did Raising Arizona. The opening is wall-to-wall cinematic storytelling.
Filmmakers naturally use what they do best, and what their film needs. Linklater is more of a wordsmith. When you look at the work of the Coen Brothers you see both the picturesmith and the wordsmith.
DW: Stanley Kubrick once said that editing was the chief separator between film and other art forms. Would you agree?
JVS: Yes, film is all about editing and what image comes next. Editing gives us what to focus on, what to compare, how long to see …it’s everything. With a little work you can “edit” on the stage with lighting, but with film it’s just inherent to the medium. I remember reading somewhere that when asked, “What’s the difference between the stage and the screen,” Hitchcock replied, “the chase scene.” This supports Kubrick’s observation because a chase scene is all about editing and exploiting the elasticity of the medium.
DW: I was glad your book included Francis Coppola’s film The Conversation with Harry Caul played by Gene Hackman.
JVS: What a great character. Caul’s introversion adds a great tension and dynamic to the film. The audience wants to know him, but he won’t let anyone in. One of the amazing things in that film is how Coppola used lines and circles to externalize Caul’s need for logic and order, against the circles of lies he gets sucked into.
DW: What's the most important part of a film?
JVS: Story. It’s always number one. There are a lot of film with celebrated actors, cinematographers, directors and stunning visuals that don’t find an audience. If you don’t have a great story, with a solid advancing act two, there’s no way to save the film. Once you have a great story, tools like cinematic storytelling come into play in terms of how successfully you render it, but story is number one.
DW: What’s your favorite comedic cinematic moment?
JVS: The opening segment of Raising Arizona.
Clip: Raising Arizona
Dave Watson is a writer and educator. He lives in Madison, WI.
