A story told with pictures

Syd Field wrote Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting back in 1979. The book enjoyed enormous success, but became a bit of a target for critics in later years.

Whatever you think of the argument over Three-Act Structure, Syd Field's book is a good read and has many helpful things things to say.

The following excerpt (from Chapter 3, The Creation of Character) illustrates the maxim about using pictures to tell a story.

My favorite film marriage is seen in Citizen Kane. Kane's marriage is revealed in one incredible sequence, which begins with the marriage and honeymoon of Kane and his first wife. In the next cut, we see them at breakfast having an intimate conversation.

There is a swish pan (the camera swishes quickly out of the frame) and we see them in different clothes talking and reading the paper at breakfast. Swish pan and we see them at a slightly larger table having a very heated discussion. Swish pan to them having a more vocal argument about his spending so much time at his newspaper.

Swish pan to them at a much larger table, both silent, both reading the paper, he reading The Inquirer, she reading the Post [actually, the  Chronicle], his primary competitor. She asks him something and he simply grunts in reply.

Swish pan to them at a very long table eating in total silence. A significant period of time covered in about a minute [just over two minutes, actually]. The sequence tells us so much about their relationship, and it's all done in brief shots, using pictures instead of words. A screenplay, remember, is a story told with pictures.

---

The book contains a number of small factual errors, but keep in mind that Syd Field was writing this in 1979, when he didn't have the benefit of DVDs. I assume he wrote his description of the scene from memory. The screenplay for Citizen Kane has none of this. It restricts the elements to two sentences in a single scene.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY

High angle downward - what Bernstein and Miss Townsend see from the window.

Kane is just stepping into an elegant barouch, drawn up at the curb, in which sits Miss Emily Norton. He kisses her full on the lips before he sits down.  She acts a bit taken aback, because of the public nature of the scene, but she isn't really annoyed.  As the barouche starts off, she is looking at him adoringly.  He, however, has turned his head and is looking adoringly at the "Enquirer."  He apparently sees Bernstein and Miss Townsend and waves his hand.

I think Orson Welles improved on the screenplay (which he co-wrote with Herman J. Mankiewicz) in this scene, but I wonder if it was a sudden inspiration at the last minute or a disagreement with Mankiewicz, which Welles, as director, decided in his own favor.

First posted: 5 August 2013

Orson Welles - Mysteries & Scandals

An episode of Mysteries & Scandals, the story of Orson Welles.

Orson Welles - 1938 Radio Broadcast - "War Of The Worlds"

Here it is, in full. The 1938 Radio Broadcast of H.G. Wells's science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds.

The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.

The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a 'sustaining show' (it ran without commercial breaks), thus adding to the program's quality of realism. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated. In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage. The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast, but the episode secured Orson Welles' fame.

A story told with pictures

Syd Field wrote Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting back in 1979. The book enjoyed enormous success, but became a bit of a target for critics in later years.

Whatever you think of the argument over Three-Act Structure, Syd Field's book is a good read and has many helpful things things to say.

The following excerpt (from Chapter 3, The Creation of Character) illustrates the maxim about using pictures to tell a story.

My favorite film marriage is seen in Citizen Kane. Kane's marriage is revealed in one incredible sequence, which begins with the marriage and honeymoon of Kane and his first wife. In the next cut, we see them at breakfast having an intimate conversation.

There is a swish pan (the camera swishes quickly out of the frame) and we see them in different clothes talking and reading the paper at breakfast. Swish pan and we see them at a slightly larger table having a very heated discussion. Swish pan to them having a more vocal argument about his spending so much time at his newspaper.

Swish pan to them at a much larger table, both silent, both reading the paper, he reading The Inquirer, she reading the Post [actually, the  Chronicle], his primary competitor. She asks him something and he simply grunts in reply.

Swish pan to them at a very long table eating in total silence. A significant period of time covered in about a minute [just over two minutes, actually]. The sequence tells us so much about their relationship, and it's all done in brief shots, using pictures instead of words. A screenplay, remember, is a story told with pictures.

________________________________________________________________________

The book contains a number of small factual errors, but keep in mind that Syd Field was writing this in 1979, when he didn't have the benefit of DVDs. I assume he wrote his description of the scene from memory. The screenplay for Citizen Kane has none of this. It restricts the elements to two sentences in a single scene.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY

High angle downward - what Bernstein and Miss Townsend see from the window.

Kane is just stepping into an elegant barouch, drawn up at the curb, in which sits Miss Emily Norton. He kisses her full on the lips before he sits down.  She acts a bit taken aback, because of the public nature of the scene, but she isn't really annoyed.  As the barouche starts off, she is looking at him adoringly.  He, however, has turned his head and is looking adoringly at the "Enquirer."  He apparently sees Bernstein and Miss Townsend and waves his hand.

I think Orson Welles improved on the screenplay (which he co-wrote with Herman J. Mankiewicz) in this scene, but I wonder if it was a sudden inspiration at the last minute or a disagreement with Mankiewicz, which Welles, as director, decided in his own favor.

Orson Welles in 'The Critic'

Orson Welles was one of the most interesting people to ever work in Hollywood. He was born in 1915. His mother was a concert pianist, who died when he was seven. He traveled the world with his father, a well-to-do inventor, who died when he was fifteen. After school, he tried unsuccessfully to enter the London and Broadway stages, traveling some more in Morocco and Spain (where he fought in the bullring).

In 1934, he appeared on radio for the first time. He began working with John Houseman and formed the Mercury Theatre with him in 1937. In 1938, he directed the Mercury Theatre On the Air in a dramatization of War of the Worlds, based on H.G. Wells' novel. Setting the events in then-contemporary locations and dramatizing it in the style of a musical program interrupted by news bulletins, complete with eye-witness accounts, it caused a nationwide panic, with many listeners fully convinced that the Earth was being invaded by Mars. Many lawsuits were filed against both Welles and the CBS radio network, but all were dismissed.

His first film to be seen by the public was Citizen Kane (1941), regarded by many as the best film ever made. Many of his films were commercial failures. He was married three times, to Virginia Nicholson, Rita Hayworth and Paola Mori, and had a child with each. Frank Sinatra was the godfather of he and Rita Hayworth's daughter, Rebecca Welles.

Welles was suggested as a possible suspect by author Mary Pacios, in Elizabeth Short's ("The Black Dahlia") mutilation murder in Los Angeles in 1947. Among other reasons, Pacios suggested Welles as a suspect because Welles' artwork for the surreal fun-house set in The Lady From Shanghai—although prepared three months before the murder—was similar in many ways to the mutilation and bisection of Elizabeth Short. Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia, ordered the footage cut before release because of its disturbing resemblance to the murder.

Orson Welles with the only painting not cut from The Lady From Shanghai.

Welles said of himself that he "started at the top and worked his way down." He ended his career doing TV commercials and voice overs. George Lucas refused to have him as the voice of Darth Vader, because he was too well known.

But some people can't leave well enough alone.

The Critic was an animated TV show that ran for 23 episodes, from 1994-1995. The series was resuscitated on the internet in 2000. Ten 5-minute episodes were broadcast during 2000-2001.

The main character, Jay Sherman—a critic who has to review films he doesn't like for a living—was voiced by Jon Lovitz. The show included skits about prominent people, including Orson Welles. The following is a compilation of those skits into one video.

Yes, Rosebud Frozen Peas
Full of country goodness and green pea-ness.

    The Critic   

Citizen Kane

At the start of August, The British Film Institute (BFI) released the results of its The Greatest Films of All Time 2012 survey in Sight & Sound magazine.

Once every ten years, the BFI asks film critics and filmmakers—taking into account artistic merit and historical influence—to submit their choices for the ten greatest movies of all time, with Sight & Sound publishing shortlists of both Critics and Directors opinions. The poll is considered one of the most influential and respected movie lists there is.

For my part, I don't believe there is any such thing as the "greatest" movie of all time. There are a number of excellent films which every film buff should see. Beyond that, you can argue over relative rankings all you want, but I think you're wasting your time. The value of the lists is that they help keep alive the memory of great films which have gone before.

The most common response to the 2012 poll results was shock that Citizen Kane had been toppled from the #1 perch for the first time since the list began in 1952. That brought to mind the many complaints I've heard over the years from younger people after seeing Citizen Kane for the first time: It's slow, It's dull, It's boring, What was great about that?

Rather than bore you with my opinions, here are a few short video clips which might give you a starting point for deciding the question for yourself.