10 Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Something Wild

8. "God Is In The Details..."

Please forgive the use of the idiom, but this really can't be said enough about any craft, let alone screenwriting. Something Wild, as a narrative, is full of little details that cue the audience into how they should be perceiving certain characters and events. When we first meet Charles Driggs, he's dressed in a dull, slate-colored suit, punching away on a calculator. Contrast this to Lulu, who's dress borrows elements from colorful, world fashions, including bright African jewellery. Her hair is cropped in a bob, reminiscent of 1920's rebellion. The interior of her car is more of the same with bright interior, a pink steering wheel. A green convertible, I hope Tim Burton cut a little of his budget by reusing this as a car for the Joker's henchmen 3 years later. Very early on, these details set up a stark contrast between our two main-characters. The audience is cued in visually to the certain conflicts inherent in their interactions: "I've never done anything like this before," he assures her. "Don't worry, Charlie," she replies. "I have." These sort a details, the semiotics of filmmaking, have been employed throughout the history of film. Revisit the first meeting between Sollozzo and Vito Corleone in the first Godfather: In an earthy and worn suit, Vito is dressed in complete contrast to everyone in the room, most importantly Sollozzo, who wears sharp, dark colors. Behind Vito are old pictures in black and white, while the area behind Sollozzo is decorated with gold and a living plant. Coppola gives us the old school vs. the new school; the future infringing on the past. What's great about watching these details in Something Wild is the way they shift and manipulate throughout the story to echo the twist and turns of the plot. After the first intimate encounter, the couple stops at a thrift store where Charles ditches his starchy suit for a deeper blue and bright yellow tie. The music, bright and worldly during the first half, completely switches to guitar driven rock during the film's second half. The major tonal shift, echoed by the change in music, is cued by an instantaneous lighting change within a single shot that announces the arrival of a new character in the middle of the movie. This leads to a discussion of the mid-point...