My thoughts on Alexander Mackendrick's Writer's Cards

 

In one of our earlier Fiction Storytellers seminar, I was introduced to Alexander Mackendrick's Writer's Cards. These cards express his thoughts on filmmaking, story, directing and more. Below are some of the ones that stood out to me the most (in no particular order):

"Props: are the director's key to the design of incidental business': unspoken suggestions for behaviour that can prevent 'theatricality'."

I feel this sums up why I enjoy mise-en-scene so much and shows where the settings is as much a character as anything else. It's a way to provide depth without exposition.

"If it can be cut out, then cut it out. Everything non-essential that you can eliminate strengthens what's left."

This I find is something that comes with experience. When I think back to past films I've done, I could quite easily re-cut the footage to be half the run time. Perhaps this is due to time, and being more distanced to the project so it is easier to think objectively instead of all the effort that has gone into getting something. 

"Ambiguity does not mean lack of clarity. Ambiguity may be intriguing when it consists of alternative meanings, each of them clear."

This explains in words a feeling I've had for a while. I enjoy programs that are like a puzzle where you're meant to piece things together, but some things are left unanswered. 

" If you've got a Beginning, but you don't yet have an end, then you're mistaken. You don't yet have the right Beginning."

I think this is a good phrase to think about during story development, I always find it hard to figure out when an ending should be, as I like an ongoing story, but I should rethink the idea at that point instead, what would be the most satisfying ending for that plotline, story, or character?

"The role of the ANTAGONIST may have more to do with the structure of the plot than the character of the PROTAGONIST. When you are stuck for a third act, think through your situations from the point of view of whatever characters OPPOSE the protagonist's will."

I've thought about this before but having it communicated clearly has made me think about the truth of it. I've always been interested in how perspective is a big part of a story; each side thinks they're the hero. So thinking through a scene from an opposing perspective I think helps break down morality or whats happening away from that character or context. 

" What happens just before the END of your story defines the CENTRAL THEME, the SPINE of the plot, the POINT OF VIEW and the best POINT OF ATTACK."

This goes hand in hand with the above quote about having an ending. This also explains why increasingly, the penultimate episode of shows are more impactful to me personally as they bring everything together to allow the story to come to its end.

"What happens at the end may often be both a surprise to the audience and the author, and at the same time, in retrospect, absolutely inevitable."

This goes along with the idea of ambiguity to me. I like the story making more sense the more you think about it retrospectively, this makes me want to live in the world for longer or revisit it with rewatches or looking online. It also makes me want to be more instinctive with my storytelling, going with what the story needs and how it tells and shapes itself.

"Drama is expectation mingled with uncertainty."

Once again, similarly to above, this just sums up the aspects of storytelling that I enjoy the most, and also why I and many others have been disappointed with the endings of shows such as Game of Thrones, as the writers went for shock value, instead of delivering the expectation they had been building over many hours and seasons. The audience piecing things together and figuring out where the story's going means that you've told the right story and done your job right, not that you've been predictable and should throw out all that development and build-up for surprise instead. You want the story to have satisfying sections when things are revealed or pieced together.

"TWO ELEMENTS OF SUSPENSE are half as suspenseful as one. Aristotle's principle of unity means that one dramatic tension should dominate. All others are subordinate to it."

I hadn't thought of this that way before, but it makes so much sense. Overloading elements on a story is something I feel students lean towards, as we think it will add depth and make the story better, but instead, it's just clouding what should really be focused upon. Focusing on one element at a time gives that element its time to shine and add to the story, without having to fight with another for the attention of the audience.

"Never cast for physical attributes."

When casting last year for an animatic where we needed voiceovers, we inadvertently took this approach, looking for the attribute we were looking for rather than having a rather superficial list of criteria. Physical attributes don't define a character, sure they can add to it, but the thing that really needs to come across is their personality and expression. I definitely am going to consider this for future projects, however, I feel this will be hard to do within a short amount of time as online casting tools function by filtering by physical attributes, and removing that restriction widens the pool of applications quite dramatically, which may be overwhelming without the proper time to weed through them.

"What you leave out is as important as what you leave in."

This makes me want to reflect upon any scripts and think further about whether that scene or information needs to be included, or would the story be served better without it. Sometimes you don't want to reveal the answers to every little detail, leaving some room for speculation makes the show feel more natural and lets you focus on the pieces that matter the most.

Ultimately, I will continue to think and reflect upon Mackendrick's cards as I have done since my introduction a month or so ago, and hope to use them to help shape my development as a storyteller.