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Flashing - everybody does it
Lots of my clients tell me they hate flashback. They say it's lazy, it's boring, it's predictable. Sometimes, I have to agree. "Lost" for example in my opinion would be all the more potent without it - the idea of the survivors having to abandon their previous lives completely and everything they know (or think they know) to forge a new life and society on The Island would, in my view, have been far better as well as negated the need for flashback in this instance.
However I do think it has its uses - and sometimes it looks fab. The Bourne Supremacy for example, The Crow, Memento - all their non-linear narratives would have simply confused an audience had it not been for flashback "filling in the gaps". Also, the highly stylised editing/lighting and so on really lent itself to these narratives - Jason Bourne and Leonard Shelby's fractured memories, Eric Draven's tortured soul. The drama of it really adds to the "feel" of the piece, rather than making it another narrative "aside" - a flashback to an argument is superfluous if the characters are already set up as being at loggerheads, for example (sub text in this instance has far more impact than telling an audience what they already know).
But how do you lay flashback out in a script? I can only reccommend what I've been taught myself but I find it works well, ensuring readers know exactly where the present and past events lie in the scheme of things.
Let's find a scenario first though. ANNA, my heroine, is 26 years old and a secretary for a big credit card company in London. She has a good life - she has a loving boyfriend, plenty of money in her bank balance and lots of friends, including best mate and flat buddy CHARLOTTE, 25. What no one realises - not even Anna - is that as a child she was abused by a family friend, ROBERT, 50. She's blanked this hideous episode out; but, like all traumatic events, this one comes back to haunt her - for Charlotte, in search of a "sugar daddy", brings none other than ROBERT back to their flat as her new boyfriend...
PLEASE NOTE: I'm well aware the dialogue is misaligned; unfortunately there's no "centre" button etc on this blog - or if there is, I don't know where! I will figure it out! ; )
INT. GIRLS' KITCHEN -DAY.
ANNA, in her PJ's, eats toast, hums to the radio, leans against the counter.
Anna's hand brushes against something. She stops, picks it up.
A tie. With Mickey Mouse on.
Anna's toast drops to the floor, the dog rushes across the tiles, snaps it up.
Anna stares at the tie...
INT. ANNA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT.
(FLASHBACK)
...That tie again, loosened by the middle-aged, gnarled hands of an UNSEEN MAN.
MAN: You going to be a good girl for me tonight, Anna?
Anna, aged 12, hides her head under the duvet...
(END OF FLASHBACK)
INT. GIRLS' KITCHEN - DAY.
The door opens, CHARLOTTE appears, her hair ruffled, grins.
Anna puts the tie down on the counter, smiles, stiff.
ANNA: Coffee?
bang2write at 10:43:00 o'clock GMT Blog about this entry |
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