Sam Mendes on Creating Visual Style
Director Sam Mendes shares his thoughts on the process of creating visual style in the films Skyfall, Road to Perdition and American Beauty at an AFI Harold Lloyd Master Seminar.Read More
American Beauty
Adding Emotional Depth to a Plot Via a Subplot
One way to add that mysterious quality of emotional layers or ‘depth’ to a plot is to have the hero’s emotional journey echoed in a subplot. Alan Ball, the screenwriter of ‘American Beauty,’ does this masterfully.Read More
Top 7 Off Screen Movie Deaths
It seems in many of todays films they don’t have the courage to leave anything to the imagination. Given the chance the audience can always come up with something in their mind that will be better than anything you can put on the screen. Some the best death scenes may just be implied, or a Read MoreRead More
Why ‘American Beauty’ Works: Focus on the Use of Symbols
by David Freeman There are many ways symbols that can be used in a movie. Today I will examine one of them. Alan Ball, the screenwriter of ‘American Beauty,’ makes riveting use of the color red throughout the film. The first time we see Annette Bening, she’s cutting bright red roses. What does the color Read MoreRead More