Have you ever heard of the six-word short story?
It's attributed to Ernest Hemingway.
Allegedly...
He was out with a group of writers at restaurant and he wagered he could write the shortest
short story ever made.
The other writers were a bit incredulous, but they humored him.
He then wrote down on a napkin the following six words:
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
He won the bet.
It's interesting how such a limited amount of words manages to create context...add a
character and successfully evoke an emotion.
Six words that surprisingly bear important elements that any effective story should have
and even leaves us with a haunting sting.
Sometimes we see stories struggle to do the same while having an unlimited amount of words.
The same can be said about movies.
We all know that having unlimited resources, the best locations, a gamut of talented actors
or the shiniest VFX won't guarantee a good movie.
The ability of doing everything can blind us and get us nowhere.
The distracting excess fills our view and we are left unfocused to what's truly important.
The story.
So, what can be done so we won't lose sight of what matters?
A way to anchor us from the tempting unnecessary?
In today's video I want to take a look at three films that have been able to do something
very unconventional.
Just like the six-word short story they succeed in saying more with less.
They willingly build a movie around an unusual restriction.
A creative limit that succeeds in emboldening the storytelling.
-Can I ask who is calling?
-It's Iven Locke
-Can I say what's it regarding?
-Uhm yes concrete...Can you Uhm...
Can you tell him it's urgent?Can you tell him to call me back?
The best movies know how to use a location purposely.
It's not a random place but an extension of the story and it should affect the actions
of the characters in it.
In the movie Locke we limit the action to only one location.
A car.
For 80 minutes we witness a man driving while his world is slowly falling apart.
There are no other actors on screen, we only hear them through phone calls.
He never gets out.
The camera just stays on him, the road and the car.
It's a long scene that never transitions away.
We are not given any context other than what we can see and hear in the confined space.
And yet it's extremely gripping because it forms a mystery for us.
We are left to deduce where he's going and why it's so urgent with every interaction
he has.
So, we latch on to every bit of information that's being presented, and we take notice
of how he chooses his words and the explanations he's willing to divulge
-I have something...something to say...
-What...can it wait till you get home?
-I won't be home
Since we are restricted to the vehicle, everything happening inside of it carries an added weight
of importance.
The contacts on his dashboard, his conversations, the imaginary back passenger and his hesitation
to pick up a phone call are all there to help us understand what's going on and who this
character is.
The most telling and significant decision taken by the character is actually done at
the beginning, and it's very simple.
When he's at a crossroad, he's about to turn left but he stops... he stays still even after
the light has gone green...and in a heavy gesture...he decides to turn right...
The whole movie is based on this small seemingly insignificant decision and as the film slowly
unravels, we learn why it was so important to his life.
The car serves to isolate him on this lonely journey along with the consequences of his
actions.
-Just over two hours ago...I had a wife...a job... and now I have none of those things...I
have none of those things left.
I just have myself and the car that I'm in.
The location is used as a pressure cooker to reveal his character...
-FUCK!!!
[Honking the horn loudly]
[keyboard tapping]
-911 what's your emergency?
-Hi im calling about a possible--Im--Im calling to report a missing person...
Searching is a movie about a father trying to find his missing daughter told from the
point of view of screens.
With the advancement of technology there are more ways to show a story but just because
you can shoot on a GoPro or an iPhone it won't make your film special.
There must be meaning as to why you're presenting things differently.
Searching does a good job at limiting itself while displaying our growing relationship
with technology.
This is an extremely restrictive endeavour because all the action must happen in front
of a camera from a phone or a desktop, which is not always possible.
You would have to depend on a different way of filming or editing.
But the movie's creators use this to their advantage with the way they reveal information.
A great example is the beautiful 5-minute intro of the main character creating an account
for his young daughter and we see her growing up... along with the internet's evolution
...but it also shows us how the family starts getting into hard times by the simple introduction
of a google search.
A calendar being pushed back shows the ailment progressing...
Until we see the calendar event finally being taken off...
signaling the character is too far-gone.
There is a careful amount of detail that helps the audience follow what's going on.
[Keyboard tapping]
-David are you with us?
-Yeah sorry
The computer is shown as an extension of the main character.
We can see his state of mind by simply following the cursor or his digital behaviours.
The way he writes a message and doesn't send it can show indecision, hesitation or doubt.
The way he erases a video of his daughter or takes out a clip of his wife from his search
results shows him coping with grief in a more original and effective way than seeing him
shed a tear.
Something as ordinary as a desktop background change is significant.
And it's all done without saying a word.
We are a witness to the character's intimate actions in a more direct manner than a person
being filmed conventionally...like with an over the shoulder shot or with a close-up...
Because the whole movie is already a close-up.
The mystery is formed like a digital scavenger hunt that works hand in hand with the thriller
aspect of the movie and keeps us moving along with the main character.
We feel like we are solving the mystery with him.
This limit reminds us that cinema is a visual medium that still has several unconventional
methods to be explored.
Sometimes movies can excel by showing a world that has lost something.
In A Quiet Place the limit is removing an important story element...sound.
Not all sound just enough so most of the movie is played like a whisper...and just like a
whisper we sit up and pay close attention.
Taking away this element is very consequential to the story because it's what shapes the
world the characters live in.
So, if there is no sound, then it affects how characters communicate with each other
and how the movie can communicate to the audience.
It's silent but not empty.
Context and stakes are given by images.
We understand something terrible has happened by looking at the aftermath of a street and
newspaper clippings.
An explanation is only hinted...and the movie is better off without one.
Character relations can be established by looks.
We can gather that despite the world changing event, this is also a family dealing with
unaddressed grief.
We are subtly introduced to the rules the characters live by.
The limit affects the way they walk, eat and survive.
It even adds dramatic tension by making something as ordinary as a pregnancy into something
that we know will be a problem later because it goes against the rule of the world.
It's like an odd Chekhov's gun.
We know it's going to go off in the third act.
[screaming]
[Explosion]
The silence keeps us in suspense and makes the moments where there is sound effective,
and the dialogue powerful.
There is a beauty to this silence.
It forces us to take notice and digest a movie differently
The three movies could have easily ended up as gimmicks but there is a very intimate quality
to the way the foreground is taken up by something that might have been left in the background
of another movies.
A limit can help you see something from a unique angle, so you can say something differently
that hasn't been said often.
It can guide the audience to look, listen and feel in a way they're not used to.
Remember cinema has only existed for over 100 years, sound in film even less, and it
hasn't been that long that digital has been taken seriously...it's something that keeps
evolving...
The cinema we know today is a just a momentary iteration...there is so much more it can be...but
the one thing that doesn't change is the need for storytelling.
Things like technology, settings, story elements are just variable components that are built
around the constant core of a story and what it's trying to say.
A creative limit is meant to remind you of this.
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