Behind the Scenes of Films

After experimenting with writing our own screen plays, it made me aware of how difficult it must be to write a completely original screen play, one not based off an existing novel. When watching films, I rarely think about all the work that went into it and all the steps it took to get it started. Recently, I was watching the special features to the movie “Juno,” and I watched the taped stage practices where the actors and actresses had their scripts in hand, and were on an empty stage just miming the motions to each other while they rehearsed the dialogue. I noticed that it was a lot less structured than I thought it would be because the actors and actresses were allowed to add their own little quirks and comments to the script, and there were many takes where they tried out different sayings, gestures and tones of voice until it seemed like it suited the character’s personalities. It somewhat reminded me of what we were doing in class, not necessarily my group since we stuck pretty close to the text, but some of the other groups added lines that weren’t in the novel but definitely seemed like they very well could be. After working on the screen plays in class, and watching the early stages of the film “Juno,” I gained a greater appreciation for all the work that goes into the creation of films.