Story Tip: Squeeze and Stretch
Here’s a screenwriting tip we discovered recently while brainstorming our next script. If you want a fresh take on your idea, why not try squeezing or stretching the time frame?
What would happen if you had your story take place over one day (like Die Hard)? What would your story look like if you had it take place over one year or several years (Lord of the Rings)?
We’ve found this approach to be very helpful to figure out just what our story should be. In the case of the thriller we are writing, if the story takes place over a day, the conflict has to heighten VERY quickly. But if it were to take place over one year, the suspense and tension would make for a long slow burn – too slow in the case of our current project. We landed somewhere in the middle.
Let’s have some fun. I recently wrote a post on Ben-Hur so let’s use that as an example. It already takes place over several years. So, let’s squish it down to take place in a day. What if Judah were to get sentenced to the galley and get revenge all in the same day? He’d have to escape before they shipped him off and break into the Roman garrison so he can find Messala and kill him. It could be done but we’d miss out on so many great elements of that movie.
How about Die Hard? Let’s expand the story to take place over a couple of weeks. That instantly changes the story a good bit. The terrorists/robbers would have to figure out a bunch of little problems – mostly of how to survive for a few weeks. For some reason I can’t shake the idea of what they are going to eat. Will they feed the hostages? If they don’t, they aren’t much good as hostages. You see, this is already a bad idea and we haven’t even gotten to Bruce Willis. Why would it take him 2 weeks to save the day? He wouldn’t be such a bad ass if it took him that long.
I suppose this tool could also be used to create a brand new movie. I picture some slick Hollywood exec using this: “It’s Die Hard, but instead of taking place over a night, it takes place over 4 years. Like Cast Away set in a building.” Ugh.
The point is, this is a very useful tool when your story is in that fluid stage, like a kid in High School, still trying to find himself. Playing this game helps to lock in on a direction.
What helps you figure out your stories? Can you think of any amusing squished or stretched films?
I don’t know if this the input that you were looking for…but what if you even threw out time altogether. Say like Memento or any of Tarantino’s first two films (you can tell that I came to Christ after college and I still have a hard time letting go of these types of movies). You can take your linear story, tare it up into pieces, throw them in the air and see where they fall. How does that change the story?
Braveheart would be really interesting in two or so days. I just went and looked at my movies and had the classic Gremlins that would take place over several months. Or how intense would The Dark Knight be in 24hrs.
I fully agree that each of these filmmakers of course picked the right time frame for each movie, but it is very interested to play with this idea in the creation and conceptualizing process. Great post and idea!
Great insights Beau. Thanks for adding. The Tarantino/Memento comment is great – throw out the time line! We hadn’t thought about that with our script. We’ll take a look and see if that helps.
As for those movies, even as a Christian, I don’t see why we should discount those films. Tarrantino obviously doesn’t hold to our beliefs but he still has a wonderfully creative mind and has added to the development of film as an art from. But yes, I don’t like a lot of the content he puts in his movies and I’m careful as to what I put in my brain – sounds like you are too. Cool.
I agree, Gremlins would be very interesting if it took place over a longer period of time. Like what if Billy’s dad sold mogwai’s to the whole county or State and THEN they ate after midnight.