Script Analysis Guides (Part 1): Zootopia (2016) / 500 Days of Summer (2009) / The Incredibles (2004)
In my journey of becoming a better storyteller, I've been in the process of doing exercises that thoroughly flex my writing muscles.
Photo by Caroline Paulus
One resource is the series of posts from 'The Blacklist', where they feature a script and fellow writers go through the various elements. The challenge when coming across these posts, is that the links are sometimes incomplete (for example if you go on the 'plot analysis' post for 'Zootopia' there is only one link).
So instead of searching for the links every time, I'll be pulling them together for easy reference. Suffice to say, that I will be focusing on the films that I specifically enjoyed.
1.) Zootopia
If you're looking for a good clip:
(It's one of the biggest laughs I've had when I saw the film)
Additional References:
- Scene-By-Scene Breakdown (None - Instead: General Discussion)
- Plot (None - Instead: Structure)
- Characters (here's a tweet) (parallel to another film)
- Themes (What it could really be about) (I'm pretty sure there is a line in that addresses this directly...ah yes....this)
- Dialogue (another tweet)
- Takeaways
I have yet to find a clip from the studio...meanwhile here's an additional reference (Script to Screen):
To get as much of the tweets, look up the #500daze hashtag. The downside is you have to dig pretty deep to find the tweets related to the analysis for each section. Alternately you can refer to the transcripts.
After a quick scan...I've found:
- Take a chance
- If all seasons were done...does it repeat?
- Same old?
- Post production to-do list
- Action...and...
- Un-filmables?
- The road to your best self
- When it crumbles
3.) The Incredibles
Here's a clip.
Additional References:
- Table of contents
- Blu-Ray DVD Commentary (A birthday gift to a friend...which means you get to borrow it....because it contains gems like this)
Of course the finished films are sometimes quite different from the screenplay. So I highly recommend referring to the screenplay rather than dissecting the film. That said, you can also dissect the film because a screenplay is only one version of it (the other two being: during shooting & editing).
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Search Terms: Disney / Animation / Byron Howard / Rich Moore / Jared Bush / Jim Reardon / Josie Trinidad / Phil Johnston / Jennifer Lee / Ginnifer Goodwin / Judy Hopps / Jason Bateman / Nick Wilde / Idris Elba / Chief Bogo / J.K. Simmons / Alan Tudyk / Murder Mystery / Relationships / Family / Parenting / Teens / Marc Webb / Scott Neustadter / Michael H. Weber / Joseph Gordon-Levitt/ Zooey Deschanel / Geoffrey Arend / Minka Kelly / Superhero / Undercover / Brad Bird / Craig T Nelson / Bob Parr / Mr Incredible / Holly Hunter / Elastigirl / Samuel Jackson / Lucius Best / Frozone / Jason Lee / Buddy Pine / Syndrome / Jack Jack Parr / Spencer Fox / Dashiell Parr / Dash Parr / Sarah Vowell / Violet Parr