• Week 3

  Week 3 Day 4 – Visual Reveals — BREAKING BAD

  Posted by cheryl croasmun on June 3, 2024 at 6:38 am

  1. Please watch this scene and provide your insights into what makes this scene great from a writing perspective.

  2. Read the other writers comments and make notes of how you will use reveals in your script.

  3. Rethink or create a Visual Reveal scene for your script using your new insights and rewrite the scene.

  Mary Albanese replied 1 year, 1 month ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Mary Albanese

  Member

  June 9, 2024 at 2:30 pm

  Scene Mastery, Week 3 Day 4 – Visual REVEALS
  BREAKING BAD

  Watch first time for:
  Basic Scene Components, which are:
  Scene Arc – Walter White in his underwear and gas mask drives RV in a panic. Crashes. He comes out. Sirens. SHIT. He goes back in, gets GUN, phone, and wallet. Comes out. Records something for Police.
  Situation – WW drives RV, all kinds of weirdness. It crashes. He comes out, hears sirens. He goes back into the weirdness RV for gun, phone, wallet. Comes out. Records something for Police.
  Conflict – WW’s conflict with the collapsed body, unanswered. WW’s conflict with the police – the chemical drugs? The bodies in the back? WW’s FEAR – he is in some horrible situation. Will he overcome?
  Moving story along – So many questions. Why is he in this situation? How did he get in it and will he get out of it?
  Ent. Value – Rapid fire questions coming at us from virtually every camera shot. Sometimes multiple questions per shot.
  Setups/payoffs. Who belongs to the pants? The van. Who in the van? Underwear man. Why in a gas mask? Why is glass breaking? Sloshing chemicals in the back, a virtual meth lab on wheels. He can’t see through sweaty mask – and crashes into desert. How bad is it? Steep angle, motor shot. He throws mask and puts on glasses – he needs glasses which is why he couldn’t see. Why he throws gas mask? He’s flipping frustrated. SIRENS – for him? Yes! Why he goes back inside? To get GUN. Pushes unconscious man aside – he’s still alive it seems but out. Why push him? To get wallet and phone. Comes out gagging – yes, those sloshing chemicals do have toxic fumes. He records FOR POLICE, his name and address.

  2nd time:
  What makes it great? Each camera blocking brings new questions – all things we haven’t seen before.
  How 9 pieces of info are revealed. 1. Who’s pants? Belong to the van (van drives over them.) 2. Who in van? Underwear man in mask (We see this pantsless man driving). 3. Why is glass breaking? (We SEE glass beakers and loose chemicals in back of the van.) 4. He drives but can’t see. Why? (After he comes out and takes off mask, he puts on his glasses.) 5. Will van drive away? No, we SEE it at a steep angle and HEAR it’s motor clonk out. 6. Sirens. For him? YES, as his panic increases. 7. He puts on shirt and goes back into van. Why? To get gun, wallet, and phone. 8. Is that a dead body in passenger seat? No, he pushes body sort of careful. Body unconscious. 9. Why does he need gun, wallet and phone? To record his message to the police. 10 Who is this idiot? Walter White.
  How EACH REVEAL is DEMANDED. Each of those reveals answers a QUESTION raised. How was it raised? 1. Pants flying in the air. 2. We see the van drive over the pants before we see underwear man driving. This extends the intrigue an extra split second, giving the question double intrigue. Builds the pants question intrigue. 3. We hear glass breaking before we see the busted meth lab in back of van. 4. We know the driver’s view is fuzzy as we see it. Not entirely sure why he can’t see as sweaty gas mask doesn’t appear to be quite enough for a crash that big. But later we see him put on his glasses. 5. Once van crashes we need to know if it will be able to get away or not. That diagonal van into bush shot with motor petering out answers that question. 6. Who are the sirens for? His fear seems to suggest it is him. His message to police nails it. 7. Why need shirt and go back into van? To get gun, phone, and wallet. Okay, but why need shirt? To video message for police. 8. Is body in the passenger seat alive or dead? Seems to be alive as he pushes it carefully. 9. Why need gun, wallet, and phone? Phone to record message to police. Gun and wallet still a question that needs an answer. 10. Who is this fool? Walter White of Albuquerque.
  How some reveals answer questions while others create questions at same time. Sometimes the answers generate even bigger questions. Why go back into van? To get gun, wallet, and phone. Why those things?

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