Consider some of the best
meals you've ever had: They are a collection of different flavors
that you enjoy. If you had something that is all of the same flavor,
even if it's spicy, is going to get really boring really quick. As
such most cooks endeavor to have as many different flavors in their
meals as possible. Writers seem to forget this, and so their stories
can get boring relatively quickly. They need to learn some better
pacing in order to make their stories more interesting.
Most people get a lot of
things about pacing right, but there is one thing that they seem to
be unaware of that would make things a little more dramatic: Taking
advantage of emotional weight. Everyone is aware of the three-act
structure and how it can keep a script on track; it can also help
with scenes, as each scene should be its own three-act play. However,
by taking into account the emotional weight of a scene and using that
to better fit it into the script you can help eliminate a lot of
problems with the script and produce a far better story.
One of the more common
problems with a script is that it is possible to be string together a
number of scenes that, in concert, becomes sort of boring. Consider
what happens if you string together a number of scenes where nothing
but good happens or where the character is hit by a string of
disasters; it's likely that this will be extremely boring for the
readers. You need to change things up in order to keep the reader
interested.
This means that you need to
look at the emotional weight of the scene. Every scene carries a
certain amount of emotional weight, and that weight should be seen in
terms of overall positive or negative emotion. Some are pretty
obvious: Ones with love, teaming up, and epiphanies are usually
positive while those filled with hanger, hate, or characters being
damaged are negative. However, some scenes can feel one way and end
up another; a scene where a character gets beat may seem like it's
negative but not so much if the character gets catharsis through it,
just as a character can be in trouble if he wins a million dollars.
That emotional weight needs to be noted.
At that point it is just a
matter of making sure that you don't have more than a scene or two of
the same emotional weight in a row. This is sort of why you outline
your script; it allows you get a feel for which scenes are positive
and negative. For some this is a problem; after all, an act needs to
go a certain direction and this may not work for that. For example, a
second act traditionally goes in a generally negative direction; some
feel that it shouldn't have positive scenes. You can have positive
scenes even though the act as a whole goes down. As long as the act
as a whole goes downhill you should be fine.
By paying attention to the
emotional weight of the scene and how it works with other scenes your
scripts can become a lot stronger. It is just a matter of paying
attention and taking a lesson from the great cooks: Vary your flavors
a bit and you'll be a better writer.
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