by Ginger Earle

Created on: October 05, 2009   Last Updated: October 06, 2009

As a screenwriter, it's important that you watch movies as often as possible. You can learn things from good, bad, and mediocre films, as long as you watch them critically and pay attention.

If you have the time, ideally you should watch a movie twice. The first time should be watching it like any other viewer - purely for the entertainment value. Don't look at it analytically, just watch, be moved, or not. Experience it as your future audiences will, pay attention to how it makes you feel. Did you laugh, cry, get bored or fidgety? Jot down notes on your emotional reaction only after you've watched the entire film once.

The second viewing will be the one where you analyze. If you're watching from home, keep a remote nearby so you can pause as needed to write notes. I keep a stopwatch near me so that when turning points occur, I can jot down at what time in the movie they happen. This helps me analyze the plot structure, and generally the successful films have their plot points at 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75%.

In addition to writing down these major turning points and when they occur, I write down notes about the characters. How are they introduced? What do we know about them? Does the hero garner sympathy? If not, what do they do that makes us like them, or do we dislike them? What genre is this film? Is the tone consistent and appropriate for this genre? Are the other characters believable? Does the hero face opposition that creates conflict? If so, is this conflict, and therefore suspense, sustained throughout the movie? If not, when does it falter and why?

If you were bored and restless in the initial viewing, what moments made the film boring? What could the screenwriter have done to improve these scenes? Does the dialogue sound realistic or artificial? Why? Are there holes in the story? Is the problem solved in a realistic way, given the parameters of the world of the story? Are you happy for the hero when they accomplish their goal (or sad for them if they don't), or do you not care? If you don't care, is it because the hero was unsympathetic and you couldn't relate to him or her, or is it because they got what they wanted too easily, so you didn't empathize with their struggle and feel they earned it.

The answers to those questions will tell you a lot about what makes a film successful or not. You can examine the films that are successful - both the ones you like, and the ones that are successful at the box office, and you will see a pattern of the best films having certain things in common. Equally important is analyzing why the films that don't work and don't resonate with you are unsuccessful. Keep a notebook or file of your movie reviews, and refer back to it often, your writing will improve greatly if you can learn to distinguish why you liked a particular film and how the writer made it good.

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