tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post9217014510383555707..comments2024-03-19T01:35:16.890-04:00Comments on Cockeyed Caravan: How to Manage Expectations, Step 7: Put A Frame On ItMatt Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-42279428835570940162012-12-17T17:57:14.921-05:002012-12-17T17:57:14.921-05:00Good point, J.S. I sort of cover that type of ton...Good point, J.S. I sort of cover that type of tone-setting in the next two pieces (today is specifically about effects that look to the future), but I don't put it as clearly as you just did. Matt Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-34109484173028588332012-12-17T14:13:49.009-05:002012-12-17T14:13:49.009-05:00There's another kind of framing scene that doe...There's another kind of framing scene that doesn't necessarily even involve the main characters or the use of voice-over or a flash-forward but is still crucial to setting up expectations. Call it the "this is the way the world works" prologue, as in a film like THE HURT LOCKER where we see Guy Pearce get blown up by a roadside bomb just so we know that this is the kind of life-and-death edge all of the characters will walk for every minute of the film.j.s.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-15941923288081754312012-12-17T11:00:37.167-05:002012-12-17T11:00:37.167-05:00This post helped me twig onto why the voice-over i...This post helped me twig onto why the voice-over in the first version of <i>Blade Runner</i> was so famously unsuitable. Besides being cheesy and overly redundant. <br /><br />But considered as a sympathy mechanic, the v.o.'s also in competition with the main structural aim of the movie: to get the audience to identify with the Replicants even as we lose sympathy for Deckard's actions, until Roy Batty's dying gesture of mercy inspires Deckard to become the helper, instead of the user, of a Replicant. <br /><br />The v.o.'s constant sympathy drip-feed (as well its ceaseless assurances that Deckard finds all this stuff as sordid and repugnant as we do, honest!) violates this structure; in consequence, Deckard's actions can come off even worse than intended.Seannoreply@blogger.com