Even as a screenwriter, Kaufman has a writing bottleneck. And this film is semi-autobiographical about the painful process of the screenwriter himself adapting the script.
The entire film's story structure is a multi-layered nested story. The last two main characters Kaufman and Susan Orelan story virtual and reality fused together. This kind of story structure is really eye-catching, even more delicate and complex than Nolan's.
The film begins by giving us a piece of Kaufman's confession. And then very interestingly came the set of being John Malkovich. Lao Ma told everyone about the camera operation seriously. Kaufman became a passer-by on the set. Later, the producers commissioned Kaufman to adapt a book by New Yorker reporter Susan Orelan, The Orchid Thief, into a film. Kaufman took on the task and began the writing process that all screenwriters do.
Interesting thing, Kaufman fictionalized a brother of his own in the film. My younger brother is also a screenwriter, and admires the screenwriter master McKee, and takes Mr. Mai's lectures as the standard. Apply what he has learned to the thriller THREE, and Kaufman scoffs at Mr. Mai's scriptwriting theory. I still write according to my own ideas, but I can't write anymore. After his brother's script was praised by the top executives of the film and television company, Kaufman couldn't stand it any longer and signed up for the class. Tell your teacher about your troubles. As a result, he was criticized by the teacher. After humbly asking for advice, the teacher pointed out the maze. Kaufman got the gist of the writing. That is creating conflict. Following this idea, Kaufman followed Susan Orelan to get first-hand information, and unexpectedly experienced something he had never experienced before.
In fact, this film can be regarded as a personal statement of film writing. Kaufman is somewhat dissatisfied. In his view in the film, McKee's theory writes the same things, just like the mass production of industrial products by an industrial assembly line. This makes Kaufman very contempt. But he kept his own one-third of an acre and took care of it carefully, but he also encountered problems and had to ask the master for advice. The question he asks McKee in class in the film is a provocation to McKee's scriptwriting theory. It's only natural for McKee to get mad. When Kaufman listened to Master Mai's words and hugged the teacher, Kaufman actually agreed with Teacher Mai's theory.
Ironically, it is said that after the screening of the film, Mr. Mai said that he did not object to the script adding a lot of monologues. Kaufman himself also said that the addition of the side should help to promote the development of the plot, but if it is only to describe what is in the picture, it can be removed. The two hug each other. Even the master of screenplays, there are times when they are not well thought out.
In fact, the structure of the story is only a form, and it must be used flexibly in order to tell the story wonderfully without being constrained by the form. Of course, experience and experience are also very useful. But as a noob like me. Still learning from McKee's stuff.
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