Today, we're going to explore how filmmakers lie.
- Deceive. "- Actress Sharon Tate found dead."
- And mislead the audience
using a device called a red herring.
"- I'm telling you, the dad's a red herring. It's Billy."
- But if you think this only applies to murder mysteries
we've got a twist of our own.
"- Okay but here's the twist."
This is "What is a Red Herring?"
"- The term red herring
dates all the way back to the early 1800s.
In the old days when they trained hounds to hunt foxes
and they wanted to train a dog not to be set off
by any other strange scent at all.
Well, red herring have a very strange scent indeed.
And they would drag one of these fish
back and forth across the fox's trail.
The idea was that the dog had to keep going
following the fox's scent no matter what.
But if it got diverted and followed the fish instead
it was said to be following a red herring
following a false trail
and that's how the phrase is said to have started."
- So, what is a red herring in a story?
"- I don't know."
- Red herrings can be anything from a tiny clue.
To a character.
"- I am Oz.
The great Oz has spoken.
- Oh.
- Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
- And even to the entire plot.
It's a way to intentionally mislead an audience
for the sake of suspense surprise or subversion.
"- I see people.
They don't know they're dead."
- But a good red herring can be difficult to pull off.
If it's too subtle or too obvious
it won't work.
"- Yo, what is that? The tattoo. - Oh, oh this?
It's my old high school team.
The plain view red herrings.
Look at its swim."
- So, let's examine how master filmmakers
craft red herrings.
We will be spoiling the following movies.
You've been warned.
Red herrings are most directly associated
with the mystery and thriller genre.
"- I suspect foul play."
- Which leads us to the most common type of red herring.
The classic whodunit
when the perpetrator is unknown.
And everyone is a suspect.
A good mystery writer will distract the audience
with false clues to lead us away from the truth.
Once the killer is revealed.
All other suspects are revealed as red herrings.
This is what we expect from a whodunit.
But this expectation can also become its own red herring.
Based on a story by the undisputed queen of murder mysteries Agatha Christie
"Murder on the Orient Express" is a whodunit
that presents a whole host of possible suspects.
"- What is going on?"
And audiences familiar with the tropes of the murder mystery genre
are on high alert for red herrings
as they suss out the real killer.
"- It was my plan.
I recruited them.
But the twist is that every single suspect
participated in the murder.
In this unique instance the real red herring
is the expectation of red herrings.
"- There are no killers here.
Only people who deserve a chance to heal."
One way to pull off a red herring
is through an unreliable narrator.
Since we see the story through their perspective
it provides a great opportunity to twist the truth.
"- Oh my God.
What are you doing in here?
You're in the wrong apartment.
Your name's Arthur, right?
You live down the hall?"
We can see this in "The Others".
A haunted house story.
"- They're everywhere. They say this house is theirs."
- In which we eventually find out who is actually doing the haunting.
"- We're not dead. We're not dead.
- What happened?
- They made contact.
- We can't possibly stay in this house any longer.
- It is quite clear that these beings do not want us to live here.
We know the woman went mad
smothered her two children and then shot herself."
- "The Usual Suspects" is a neo-noir thriller
told in a flashback
by a con man named Verbal Kint during an interrogation.
"- Verbal, you're not telling us everything.
I know you know something."
- Verbal tells agent Kujan everything
including how their entire operation
was orchestrated by a mysterious crime lord
named Keyser Söze.
"- Well, I believe in God.
And the only thing that scares me
is Keyser Söze."
- In the end, Verbal is released on bail
just before Agent Kujan discovers the truth.
"- I am Mr. Kobayashi. - Kobayashi. Kobayashi.
- Convince me.
And tell me every list.
- Back when I was in that barbershop "Quartet in Skokie Illinois"
- Where's your head, Agent Kujan?
- Because you're stupid, Verbal.
Because you're crippled.
- What I want to know is who's the..."
- Verbal is Söze.
"- Keyser Söze. - You think I just said this close to getting caught
and sticks his head out.
And his entire interrogation and the entire movie
was one massive red herring
resulting in one of the most surprising and exciting twist endings ever.
"- And like that
he's gone."
- In our next type, let's look at how a red herring
can be used for an emotional effect.
"- Saving Private Ryan" begins with a man grieving in a military cemetery.
And when we flashback to World War II
and see Captain Miller
we are meant to believe they are the same person.
If we believe Captain Miller survived his mission...
"- Go on."
-...perhaps this emotional breakdown means
he failed to save Private Ryan.
"- What, sir?
- James...
Earn this.
Earn it."
- So, what does the audience gain from this sleight of hand?
The assumed failure to save Ryan
suddenly becomes a cathartic victory.
And it allows Ryan to reflect on the sacrifice Captain Miller and his team
made to keep him alive.
"- Every day
I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge.
I've tried to live my life the best I could.
I hope that was enough.
I hope that at least in your eyes
I've earned what all of you have done for me."
- Without the red herring,
we might have hit similar emotional notes
but they become much more powerful with a little misdirection.
Our knowledge of real-life events can also become red herrings.
Tarantino plays on our expectations that Hitler
must live through the events of "Inglorious Basterds".
And that Sharon Tate must die by the end of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".
"- Five persons including actress Sharon Tate
were found dead at the home
of Miss Tate and her husband screen director Roman Polyansky."
- Then he alters history.
"- Oh, I know you.
- I know all three of you.
- God, shoot him, Tex! - Tex."
By doing so, he creates perhaps a more satisfying alternate reality
where the wrongs of the past are righted.
"- Everybody okay?
- Yes, yes, Sharon. Everybody's fine.
Are you okay?
- Yes, I am. Thank you for asking that."
"- Hello. - Hello.
- Yes."
You can use a red herring in the casting and marketing of the film.
"- What's your favorite scary movie?
- I don't know."
- Wes craven pulled a similar bait and switch
with Drew Barrymore in "Scream".
In "Psycho", Hitchcock specifically cast Janet Lee a huge star
as Marion Crane.
Our expectation then
is that we will follow Marion through the entire film.
So when she was killed off halfway through
the shock was immense.
We can also talk about another type of casting misdirection
centered on an actor's persona.
Hitchcock cast young Anthony Perkins
who is known for more wholesome boy next door roles.
"- Well, a boy's best friend is his mother."
- This was designed to repel suspicion away from Norman...
"- We all go a little mad sometimes."
-...and to make the eventual reveal
all the more shocking.
As you plan your next project,
think about how you too can deceive and mislead the audience.
Cast suspicion on an innocent character.
"- Great story gets better every time you tell it."
Use an unreliable narrator.
Create an emotional catharsis.
Use real history to subvert our expectations.
And add red herrings to your casting and marketing decisions.
In the description, you'll get links to StudioBinder's free screenwriting software
to write your next script.
"- These are red herring.
You notice that it's not really red.
It's the same color this smoked herring
as the original fish.
But the eye has gone rather red
and that's where red herring get their name from the redness of the eye.
Well, the phrase red herring means
to set you off on a false trail.
If I say, oh that's a bit of a red hearing,
it means that's off the subject
you're trying to divert my attention from the real pointed issue."