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Petticoats and Spaceships: Why Writing a Science Fiction Script is Like Writing a Period Piece By Steven Payne
The capricious desires of Hollywood are as hard to follow as weather patterns in the Midwest. Trying to write to genre has to take into consideration the axiom that by the time you see it on the big screen, the fad has already lapsed in Hollywood.
Some staples, however, are evergreen: comedies, action, romance. These are the broad categories. Subgenres are a portmanteau of two or more elemental text. Science fiction (or sci-fi-- a gratingly annoying term to true science fiction fans) films are often considered a subgenre of the action film. Blockbusters extend the life of a subgenre, and with the towering success of science fiction films like Revenge of the Sith, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the predicted success of War of the Worlds, science fiction films have been given an indefinite stay of execution, making them viable targets for ambitious screenwriters.
The modern, frenetic, physics-bending science fiction action films got under way about 35 years ago with films like 2001, Star Wars, and Alien. Black holes and supernovas spawned eponymous films, but once used, could not be used as simply again.
To write competent science fiction in this increasingly competitive subgenre, a working knowledge of science is important. The adage “truth is stranger than fiction” can be applied in the inverse, with scientific truths leading to challenging film premises. There are a wealth of science magazines such as Scientific American and Discovery that make the complex, if not something easily understood, at the very least more comprehensible to the layman.
But what I want to hammer down is, as with any script, your film should be about people. Think of a science fiction film as writing a period piece. To make your characters in a futuristic tale people an audience can readily identify with, they must move through their world with grace and élan. You have to understand and flesh out your characters’ world-- give them rules and laws, and have your characters stay faithful to them. The power of Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence is that his characters are so trapped by the rules of their society that they betray their own feelings. And though their customs are alien to us, their adherence to them makes them real to the viewer. You couldn’t write Gone with the Wind without learning and having your characters obey the mannerisms and customs of the old South (as well as, unfortunately, its racial hatreds). You do the same with science fiction only the customs and society are of your own invention.
Don’t just add things like teleportation and faster-than-light ships without thinking about what a culture with instantaneous modes of transportation would be like. How would that effect crime, when you can alibi yourself as somewhere else at practically the same time. Think, how did the introduction of the auto affect a world that had moved at the more leisurely rhythm of the horse-drawn carriage? Look at how profoundly world history was altered by the Europeans’ first interaction with Native Americans, with Africans. And with that understanding, extrapolate how we would be culturally affected if we encountered races from other worlds. How would an alien race affect our views on religion? The film Alien Nation was an excellent example of how two cultures can clash for the good and the bad.
And then comes the time to focus on the technical side. Science fiction is a specialized field, given general treatment in most films. As audiences become increasingly inured to the appearance of mammoth space ships gliding into orbit and vanishing into the drain of wormholes and warp space, the requirements on wowing an audience increase exponentially.
Start with the credibility factor, which is easiest to see in a medical show. Watch and imagine NBC’s “ER” without its highly technical and ballpark-accurate medical jargon. The jargon of science adds a verisimilitude of authenticity.
If you have a dramatic moment where the doctor in a trauma room realizes the injuries sustained by a patient are beyond the patchwork that can be handled in the triage you could have him say:
DOCTOR The cuts she has on her knee are way too deep. She’s going to need surgery.
Effective at expressing your point but hardly convincing of the characters authenticity as a doctor. Better is:
DOCTOR We’ve put pressure distal to the wound but with a meniscal tear of this severity, she’ll need an arthroscopic surgeon,
The presence and competent usage of medical terminology gives a script an irrefutable sense of place, one of the ABC’s of creating a scene in any script. Anyone reading a spec script is going to expect a completed work. Don’t count on a scientific advisor to gussy up your piece.
The same applies in science fiction.
PILOT The ship is going faster than light.
Versus:
PILOT The ship generates an Alcubierre wave, which contracts the space ahead of the ship along the ship's axis, and expands the space behind it, letting the ship ride the wave in between inside a region of flat space.
A pretty good interpretation of physicist Miguel Alcubierre’s hypothetical theories on faster than light space travel. It sounds better, and I’d trust the second pilot over the first.
Steven Alan Payne has written and directed two plays in Chicago and is readying a new work. A Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, he's had three scripts optioned up the yin yang. He's written several articles, including a slew for e-zines. Currently he's trying to clear his plate so he can dedicate the time to finishing his first novel. |
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