{"id":796,"date":"2012-01-04T11:09:22","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T19:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=796"},"modified":"2019-04-27T09:46:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T16:46:30","slug":"storytelling-in-the-artist-and-the-descendants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/storytelling-in-the-artist-and-the-descendants\/","title":{"rendered":"Storytelling In THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I started off the new year by seeing THE ARTIST<\/a>, superbly directed and written by\u00a0Michel Hazanavicius<\/a>. It\u2019s a curious film, since it\u2019s mostly silent\u2014except for the musical score and a few bits of dialogue at the end. It\u2019s also shot in black and white. A brave endeavor indeed in this time of 3D and other special effects. And yet, its storytelling resonates with many. The Artist\u00a0 has been getting rave reviews and various nominations, including six from the Golden Globes<\/a>. It has already won the New York Film Critics Circle Award\u00a0<\/a> for best film and best director of 2011. I wouldn’t be surprised if it picked up a number of The Oscars<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the silence of the film, THE ARTIST, is appreciated in our world of noise, where everything is so hyped today. News is delivered in quick sound bites. Music videos bombard you with enticing images in rapid succession. And action films ramp up the volume to artificially create excitement.<\/p>\n

When I left the cinema, I was struck by how there wasn\u2019t a false note in THE ARTIST’s story, a simple one about a star of silent cinema who resists the advent of talkies. It was amazing to see how compelling the images were without dialogue. I could see the star think. There was humor, sadness, and surprise. And using advances in cinematography, art direction, music, sound and editing, the director made the whole experience novel. The Artist isn\u2019t just another silent film, it\u2019s a clever commentary on those times. \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another Oscar worthy film is THE DESCENDANTS<\/a> , a four hankie movie, starring George Clooney<\/a>. I was interested in seeing it, because it was directed by Alexander Payne<\/a>, who\u2019d also directed the wonderful movie, SIDEWAYS<\/a>.\u00a0 THE DESCENDANTS didn\u2019t disappoint. Although there was nothing innovative in the way it was shot, Payne told a good story\u2014which he\u2019d also written\u2014very well.\u00a0 I forgot for much of the time that I was watching a movie star play a character, challenged both internally and externally by forces beyond his control.<\/p>\n

On my bookshelf, sits the screenwriting bible, STORY by Robert McKee. His book illustrates how attention to\u00a0 “substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting” produces award-winning movies.\u00a0 It’s obvious that both screenwriters, Michel Haznavicius and Alexander Payne, learned these lessons well.<\/p>\n

Although entirely different from one another, both films, THE ARTIST, and THE DESCENDANTS, highlight the importance of story and hold great promise for the future of filmmaking. \u00a0As mentioned earlier, there were no special effects in either movie. Neither were there any graphic depictions of man\u2019s violence upon man or any near pornographic sexual scenes. Perhaps, now that we\u2019ve gone as far as we can (bordering on the edge of pornography), we can now return to trusting ourselves to tell stories without resorting to sensationalism for fear we will bore the audience. It all boils down to a good story told well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I started off the new year by seeing THE ARTIST, superbly directed and written by\u00a0Michel Hazanavicius. It\u2019s a curious film, since it\u2019s mostly silent\u2014except for the musical score and a… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,4],"tags":[245,78,34,240,246,244,83,137,135,32,7,243,241,242,247],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-2","category-writing","tag-alexander-payne","tag-diana-stevan","tag-film","tag-filmmaking","tag-golden-globes","tag-michel-hazanivicius","tag-movie","tag-robert-mckee","tag-screenwriter","tag-screenwriting","tag-story","tag-storytelling","tag-the-artist","tag-the-descendants","tag-the-oscars"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-cQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1572,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2014\/film-2\/philip-seymour-hoffman-a-brilliant-but-tortured-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":0},"title":"Philip Seymour Hoffman – A Brilliant but Tortured Artist","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"7 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I was relaxing in a hotel room in Miami a few mornings ago, when my husband, Rob, looked up from his newspaper to say, \u201cYou won\u2019t believe who just died. One of the great actors.\u201d Hearing Philip Seymour Hoffman had overdosed on heroin was a shock even though we knew\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Philip Seymour Hoffman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Philip-Seymour-Hoffman-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4056,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/truth-in-political-art-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":1},"title":"Truth in Political Art & Fiction","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"27 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"With so many attacks on the news media today, political art and fiction can do what news can't. Both can turn news on its head, shake up disbelievers, and open up thought and discourse. Since viewers and readers are questioning truth like never before, there\u2019s an urgent need to present\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"political artist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":823,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/what-is-it-about-the-troubled-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":2},"title":"What Is It About The Troubled Artist?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago, I went to see the play, RED, written by John Logan. A winner of six Tony awards in 2010, RED tells the story of Mark Rothko, abstract expressionist painter and contemporary of Jackson Pollock, during the time he got a commission to do a group of\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Mark-Rothko.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/escape-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":3},"title":"Escape Artist","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The book launch for Escape, an anthology, published by a new group, Peregrin Publishing. took place at the Maritime Heritage Centre in Campbell River, on Nov. 10. We had a great crowd. There was music, a slide presentation of the printing process and readings. I'm one of 28 writers who've\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Escape.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6263,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2023\/writing\/finding-your-voice\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":4},"title":"Finding Your Voice","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"13 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Finding your voice is what our granddaughter Chloe Matamoros underlines in her one-woman show, VOICE: SONG and SCREAM for the Toronto Fringe Festival. Yesterday, she had a standing ovation. I\u2019ve done some acting in my time, but Chloe is something else. She sings selections from operas, a musical, and folk\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Theatre"","block_context":{"text":"Theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/theatre-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Finding Your Voice","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_607932622.jpg?fit=539%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_607932622.jpg?fit=539%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_607932622.jpg?fit=539%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1405,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/the-art-in-good-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":5},"title":"The Art in Good Writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Who\u2019d have thought I\u2019d learn what it takes to write well at a Painters' Weekend?\u00a0 It\u2019s one attended by many of the best artists in British Columbia. They come annually to Painters Lodge in Campbell River to demonstrate their technique, show slide presentations and participate in panel discussions. What I\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Painters' Lodge, Campbell River","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/P1030254-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}