WC - Showing vs. Telling (Lesson)
Showing Vs. Telling
Introduction
Take a look at the following excerpt, called "Film is a Visual Medium," by Alexander Steele. Consider its implications when writing for the camera.
"Film is a visual medium. That’s the first thing you need to know about writing a movie. In prose, it’s all about the words. In film, the image dominates. When you think of a movie, you see an image in your mind.
A woman swimming by moonlight jerked underwater by an unseen force. (Jaws)
A twister spinning a house high above the Kansas plains. (The Wizard of Oz)
A Greek hero slashing his sword at the many heads of a ferociously writhing hydra. (Jason and the Argonauts)
A grownup son and his father playing catch on a celestially-lit baseball field. (Field of Dreams)
Go ahead, think of a favorite movie, right now. What happens? These images can print themselves deeply on our psyches. A personal example. On a Saturday afternoon, when I was around five-years-old, I gathered around the TV with some older kids to watch a horror movie, The Tingler. (Bad idea.) I only remember one thing about that movie, an image, but it’s an image I will never shake. There was this lady, a deaf-mute, and she was lying in bed and then this evil person entered the room with the intention of harming her in some devious way. Terror overtook the lady’s face and she tried to scream but because of her condition as a deaf-mute she couldn’t get the scream out. Now, nobody considers The Tingler a great horror movie and I might find the whole thing laughable if I watched it today but let me tell you that image chilled me in the deepest place. In my mind’s eye, I couldn’t stop seeing that woman trying to scream! The image gave me nightmares for the better part of a year. Reading prose fiction is largely an internal experience; we slip into the minds of the characters and assimilate our own pictures from the words. In film the reverse is true. We experience a movie from the outside in. We ride along with the visuals and they lead us toward our inner thoughts and sensations and emotions. There is a famous writer’s maxim: show, don’t tell. This applies double—make that triple—to screenwriting."
How to Show, Not Tell
In this presentation, we will look at Showing Vs. Telling, particularly as it relates to writing for the camera. Download the documents below the presentation before pressing play.
Download a presentation guide for "Showing vs. Telling" here. Links to an external site.
Showing Vs. Telling Analysis
Review your understanding of Showing vs. Telling in the activity below.
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