Perception Compression Theory or How to F**k with Time for Fun & Profit
Monica Blows Minds @ the Speed of Thought
I’ll admit it, maybe I was tripping balls a bit inebriated. Actually, I’m admitting nothing, NOTHING. But, despite the fact that the first movie was superior in every regard, PJ and I were blown away by The Matrix Reloaded. We couldn’t stop talking about the Zion Burning Man Rave scene, the dead heat of Bellucci as Persephone, that sick car chase (come on, you know it), even the stupid babbling architect. What did it mean, how would the series end, what were the philosophical ramifications? It was too much. Then, as we slid down the twinkling streets and I gazed into pulsating clouds (see video at the end of post), it hit me – we had been tricked. Not by Keanu’s “acting” but by what could be most important secret to making movies…whoa.
When (if) you read a book, you are in control. You can linger over a word or blaze through a chapter. You can re-read a sentence that just quite sense doesn't make. You can re-read a sentence that doesn't quite just sense make. You dictate the pace of the narrative experience within the construct of the author. But in a film, time is a controlled variable and running length remains static. This might seem self-evident when watching movies but, as I discovered, it's a key concept to keep in mind when writing them.
It takes a long time to pen a goddamn life-sucking script. In our case make it a long time squared...cubed...whatevered. Assuming you're lucky enough to get it produced and the giant cogs of the heartless Hollywood machine grind into motion, literally hundreds of people are employed to bring the movie to life. Every detail, from fluffing to that CG rasta alien sidekick, is attended to by an expert or ten. Then those thousands of man/woman/fluffer/robot hours and millions of dollars all get crammed into ninety minutes or so. The funny thing is, you can't keep up and you're not meant to.
Parodies - Funny Cause They're True
Here's my thesis, so stay sharp. In a movie, suspension of disbelief and immersion into a story occurs because your fixed processor (slow brain) is overloaded by the density of data (pretty moving pictures). That final speech is heart-wrenching because the writer spent a week figuring it out and that continuous battle shot blows your frickin' mind because the director planned it for a month. So even a "not half as good as the one before but twice as good as the one after" movie like Revolutions can draw you in because the Wachowski Brothers poured their creative lifeblood into it (that and you ate "those" brownies).
For another example, the Sixth Sense is a great script, better than the movie I think. The famous inversion at the end (which seems to have doomed M. Night's legacy) works because the story is reverse-engineered from that conclusion. Re-watch it and the clues are laid on thicker than a Frenchman's pompous accent. However, the reality of the film is only absorbed subconsciously because your mind is moving at a far slower rate than Ghost Bruce and the creepy wide eyed kid.
Understanding the compression of perception that occurs in film is a key tool for screenwriters. The Herculean effort you put into story pays dividends because it transcends the medium when absorbed at warp speed. That's a lame sentence, but think about it. This phenomena also justifies putting the time, care and effort into your work that you know you should fucker. The harder you work and the more layered your writing, the richer the experience when viewed at full speed. Even if the movie is Speed...whoa.
Welcome to the interweb zone's dopest gangsta screenwriting site (whateva that means) - set in Brooklyn, starring me, Silent P and yo mamma. Dig it. <3g
"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to."
ink or lead. are you writing with ink or lead? are you strong in your ideas or are they moldable with life? ...then, there's the part where lead "led" becomes lead "leed." with what you're writing, what you are saying, are you leading? what direction are you taking those who hear it, who follow? ... it's really just about making something out of the art, making it a mission instead of just a word. good luck on your own art!
Also - both of the included videos were fucking classic, I'd never seen either of them.
xo -
Tally