Stories and how we tell them – A deep dive into the storytelling of The Last of Us Part II, and one game that did it better.

in , ,

One game is a gritty, interactive zombie movie, while the other is an over-the-top action-adventure with anime characters dramatically grunting and screaming while fighting giant robots in knock-off Gundam suits. Yet at their core, these games have an uncanny similarity. So uncanny, in fact, that I’d be willing to bet Druckman was inspired by NieR while working on TLOUII. So, if we strip the games of the elements that quite clearly set them apart, and focus on what they have in common, we are left with a pretty clear image of what of The Last of Us Part II works, and what doesn’t. And so much of that lays in one specific element of storytelling: execution.

Read More

Beating a Dead Lion – The advancement of technology and the death of ideas

in , , ,

Hamlet with lions. An emotional, deeply metaphorical tale about life, death, duty, honour and our place in the world, with singing meerkats and dancing giraffes. Now brought to you with photo-realistic CGI animals that can barely emote, sing, or dance, with a more straightforward plot that turns the vaguer aspects of the story in reasonable plot points. Also, the photo-realistic animals have no genitals, because PG-13.

Read More

The Rise of Skywalker makes me sad and I wanna talk about it

in , ,

What came out of that unimaginably difficult situation is a chaotic, manipulative and reactionary nostalgia-fest that desperately tries to tie everything together through a plot that is incredibly thin and exceptionally bloated all at the same time. Thin because the core of the second act action consists of a series of interconnected fetch quests with the goal of reaching a planet: not the most compelling narrative for the concluding chapter in a trilogy. Bloated because, after two movies that basically argue with one another on what this series is about, TROS has to work twice as hard to create a story with clear stakes.

Read More

Annihilation – Beauty in Desolation

in , ,

We need to learn how to cope with our inability to explain everything we see and experience. We need to accept that stories are not just stories. They are windows into other worlds, concepts and themes. Annihilation asks many questions and lets us find the answers. Will humanity ever learn how to overcome its own self-destructive tendencies? Are we destined to repeat the cycle? To keep hurting each other and ourselves? To slowly kill the world around us, like a tumour does with its host?

Read More

In Bruges - Waiting for Judgment

The rich symbolism and complex ideas of the film are brought to the forefront through the dialogues between the two protagonists, Ken and Ray. In the story, they represent two clashing ideologies and their interactions bring forth everything the film is about. The actors do a fantastic job at making these characters feel like fully fleshed-out human beings: they are constantly questioning their actions, bickering with one another and changing their minds. Their views differ on everything, from the most worldly matters to their view on life and death, but these do not prevent them from developing a connection so deep that, when their Boss order him to kill the "boy" (as Ray is referred to), Ken simply cannot carry out the task. We understand Ken couldn’t stop himself from caring deeply for Ray, a young man he feels responsible for, someone he developed a fatherly love for. Or maybe, just plain love.

Read More

“Like a chimp with a machine gun.” - Exploring the genius of Better call Saul, and the relationship with its Big Brother →

Derivative art is basically a contradiction. For every Frasier that succeeds in changing the formula, there is a Joey that fails spectacularly. These are all examples of what the industry is after: popular, recognizable worlds that audiences are eager to return to. Better Call Saul is no exception, of course, but while many of these new iterations fail because too tied to their predecessors, it is in branching off and pursuing something different that this show succeeded in finding its own identity.

Read More

Screenwriting and the one story that makes them all – a dive into the language of creative writing for Film

A good, functioning story always has recognizable characteristics. We always move from a place of stasis, to one of change, just like real life. Life is all about remarkable people venturing into the unknown and coming back with something new: new knowledge, an invention, anything that will help our society advance. Stories are about this dichotomy between the known world, where we feel safe, and the unknown world, with perils and trials we need to overcome. Order and Chaos, Life and Death, Consciousness and Unconsciousness: these are the elements that dictate the journey a character goes on, diving and then re-emerging.

Read More