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From an email I received from Netflix this morning:
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Oct. 10th, 2011
Good Wife and Vamp Diaries...
Oct. 10th, 2011 12:01 pm1. The Good Wife - really good and twisty episode last night, in which it was once again all about the interpersonal politics and how people play each other. Also a great inside joke on the casting - for anyone who has seen the Wire. The last line delivered by the actor who played the ultimate "player" on The Wire (a corrupt Senator who conned everyone), on the Good Wife he plays an honest mediator, he tells Alicia: "You won because of how you played the opposing side and me."
Alicia: "That's not fair. The facts were on our side." Mediator: "No, it is fair, it's not polite, but it is fair. And yes the facts may have supported you, that's not why you won - you won because of how you played it. You're client is lucky to have you. If I were in trouble, I'd hire you as my lawyer." The case itself rarely matters in this show and often you aren't even sure what it is about, it's the power plays between the characters. How they bluff. And play the game. This bit is funny, if you know that the actor stating the mediator's line was the ultimate con man in another show. The Good Wife has a lot of fun with casting.
( spoilers for the Good Wife )
2. Vamp Diaries
Like The Good Wife, they are also building up the story. Laying in the ground-work. Ryan Murphy should watch and take notes. That's my difficulty with Ryan Murphy by the way - he wants to skip all the hard story-building work and skip to the chase, thinking this is innovative and new. His tales lack pacing - they feel like sprints. And from my perspective? It's just bad writing. For example: I'm horrible at repeating jokes that I've heard, because I often forget how to tell the set-up and just remember the punch line, I don't recreate the pacing and often jokes are all about the pacing, the set-up, the build. Often in a story it is all about the foundation, the build or in other words "the pacing" of the story...and it isn't easy to do it well - move too fast or skip to the chase, no one cares, take too long, meander, anti-climatic. This is particularly true in horror stories and comedies - where the emotional reaction is based not so much on a sight gag, but on the anticipation of the sight gag or fright. If you aren't anticipating it, it won't matter.
Two examples of how not to build a story by people who should know better: 1)Joss Whedon - Buffy S8 Comics - drew it out far too long - to the point in which the audience was either bored or really confused, they lost track of the story and interest in it, it became anti-climatic. To the point that many people either bailed before it was finished or directly after, not sticking around for S9. 2) Ryan Murphy - American Horror Story and to a degree last season's Glee - skipped to the chase and didn't build it at all. So when you see the sight gag, there's a sort of so what reflex. Or why should I care? (I want to make Murphy watch Robert Wise's minimalist masterpiece The Haunting about twenty times.)
Say what you will about Vamp Diaries, but they are very good at pacing their stories. As is, for that matter, The Good Wife. I care about pacing, not everyone does (obviously), but as a writer - I worry about it. I've been critiqued on pacing.
( spoilers for this week's episode )
Alicia: "That's not fair. The facts were on our side." Mediator: "No, it is fair, it's not polite, but it is fair. And yes the facts may have supported you, that's not why you won - you won because of how you played it. You're client is lucky to have you. If I were in trouble, I'd hire you as my lawyer." The case itself rarely matters in this show and often you aren't even sure what it is about, it's the power plays between the characters. How they bluff. And play the game. This bit is funny, if you know that the actor stating the mediator's line was the ultimate con man in another show. The Good Wife has a lot of fun with casting.
( spoilers for the Good Wife )
2. Vamp Diaries
Like The Good Wife, they are also building up the story. Laying in the ground-work. Ryan Murphy should watch and take notes. That's my difficulty with Ryan Murphy by the way - he wants to skip all the hard story-building work and skip to the chase, thinking this is innovative and new. His tales lack pacing - they feel like sprints. And from my perspective? It's just bad writing. For example: I'm horrible at repeating jokes that I've heard, because I often forget how to tell the set-up and just remember the punch line, I don't recreate the pacing and often jokes are all about the pacing, the set-up, the build. Often in a story it is all about the foundation, the build or in other words "the pacing" of the story...and it isn't easy to do it well - move too fast or skip to the chase, no one cares, take too long, meander, anti-climatic. This is particularly true in horror stories and comedies - where the emotional reaction is based not so much on a sight gag, but on the anticipation of the sight gag or fright. If you aren't anticipating it, it won't matter.
Two examples of how not to build a story by people who should know better: 1)Joss Whedon - Buffy S8 Comics - drew it out far too long - to the point in which the audience was either bored or really confused, they lost track of the story and interest in it, it became anti-climatic. To the point that many people either bailed before it was finished or directly after, not sticking around for S9. 2) Ryan Murphy - American Horror Story and to a degree last season's Glee - skipped to the chase and didn't build it at all. So when you see the sight gag, there's a sort of so what reflex. Or why should I care? (I want to make Murphy watch Robert Wise's minimalist masterpiece The Haunting about twenty times.)
Say what you will about Vamp Diaries, but they are very good at pacing their stories. As is, for that matter, The Good Wife. I care about pacing, not everyone does (obviously), but as a writer - I worry about it. I've been critiqued on pacing.
( spoilers for this week's episode )
(no subject)
Oct. 10th, 2011 09:19 pmDistracted myself with Fringe S2 this evening - which doesn't scare me for some reason, any more than Contagion did. I think because it's just basically the monster disease of the week. Vamp Diaries, True Blood, and Secret Circle don't bother me either, nor does Supernatural (most of the time, it does on occasion). While American Horror Story, oddly and somewhat ironically did bug me and left me with images I couldn't get out of my head late at night. Writing the review did not help. So does Criminal Minds, and most Serial Killer series. I think it is because I live alone and go to and from work on my own. Psychological horror and "serial killer" style horror bothers me. Gothic or teen angst style, not so much. Doctor Who doesn't scare me at all. Nor did Torchwood. But, I'm avoiding Bedlam. It really doesn't matter how well the story is written, The Ring (American version) was a pretty bad movie, as was the Grudge - but both bugged me and I couldn't get them out of my head. As did Nightmare on Elm Street.
While I like horror, I am watching far too much of it, and the stuff that plays with my head late at night? Best to avoid. It's odd that X-Files always bugged me more than Fringe. It was scarier. Fringe isn't as scarey.
While I like horror, I am watching far too much of it, and the stuff that plays with my head late at night? Best to avoid. It's odd that X-Files always bugged me more than Fringe. It was scarier. Fringe isn't as scarey.