Another Question: Betwix and Between?

What happens when you ask a painful question?


The one that's close to your Heart?  And the answer is neither here nor there, but somewhere between and betwixt?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes

Between as:

Taking together the combined effect of

Betwixt as:

In a midway position : neither one thing nor the other

And this is a difficult place to be.  When learning to write my first movie script I did several things in tandem:

1) I learned a software program based on tabs instead of returns - It's harder than it sounds
2) I read books about how NOT to write a movie script - always the best way
3) I watched movies in order to understand and see WHAT the books were telling me
4) and I wrote the script itself while verifying the historical points

None of this was easy, but it was all worthwhile.

So recently, I asked if I could learn a specific language.  And the teacher's answer was,  "Before you learn that language you have to learn this one."  Sigh. 

This is not my favorite response.  Now understand I love yes/no answers.  Do you like ice cream? Yes, but really I LOVE sherbet.  You see my point?  However, there is a certain kind of inherent wisdom in this deeper answer.  If, for example, you want to learn Italian, you can do it and do it well.  It won't be the same as if you were in the country learning it.  Nor will you ever be fluent in it because you have no one to converse with.  However, if you learn Latin and Italian in tandem with having someone to talk to, pen pal with, or watch Italian movies and listen to the music, then you will probably learn the language with some degree of accuracy and fluency.  Many a linguist has told me the secret to absorbing a language lays in hearing the music and singing the songs.  Music is based on mathematics and thus a universal language - just like Bob Marley said.

For example: When I learned Vietnamese, I did not learn to speak it.  I literally sat in prayer and read it as everyone else spoke it.  Many were surprised that I could read it so well.  But the knowledge of what I was reading wasn't there.  Given another 6 months, I'm certain I would have easily understood the meanings behind the words.  And that is why being immersed in your endeavor is so important.  Troi Ong is a word that means August Heaven.  This phrase is SO important to the understanding of all of their culture.  It is at once an ideal, as it is a creation story, as it is a love story, as it is a belief system, as it is a future hope.  It is what separates them from the Chinese forever.  It is what brings all Vietnamese together no matter where they are on the planet and what generation they are born into; even to the point of bringing the Catholic and the Zen together.

When you are immersed in writing a movie script, you are creating scenes that exist like a waterfall, dripping down a mountain side.  Many tributaries meet and join and others separate and are absorbed into the rock and still others evaporate into the atmosphere.  While it is based in culture, language, art and expression, it is created specifically for visualization and auditory acceptance.  See your scenes visually and they will be easier to write.  One of the benefits of "seeing" them is simply that you will automatically know when they are out of order.  Rarely does a French Kiss happen before the lean in.  If you are visualizing it, then you will automatically get them in the right order.  Of course, the upsidedown kiss in "Spiderman" was a lovely way to break the rules - but trust me, someone visualized that before they wrote it!  When you are immersed, then that creative spark of inspiration will naturally flow out of your fingers and onto the page.

And as you begin that creative endeavor you must find your immersion point.  What is the point where all things converge?  What is the Point Horizon?  What is the Point Perspective?  This larger theme is at once where everything begins and where everything disappears.  This theme is your larger picture and yet, well crafted, it is so intrinsic that it can be unseen.  Think again of water.  Water is clear and can not truly be seen.  It is at once a liquid and a gas.  It is at once hexagonal and bent.  Air literally lifts it's bent atoms.  Yet, as clear as it is, it reflects EVERY color on the planet and the cosmos.  It even reflects starlight and the appropriate color spectrum of the planets.  Your immersion point is truly amazing.

This is why Every GREAT movie begins with a question.  A question from the Heart.  Think of the Green Mile - actually a collection of short stories.  But the movie focuses in on the Question from the Heart of the scriptwriter.

Now, I don't know if this concept applies to horror film writers.  "Invasion of the Giant Tomatoes" (sorry, I couldn't find the actual title), "The Blob" and many others I think come from Fear, "What if", and "How much can we Freak the audience out" and not from the Heart at all, but that is just a guess.  :-}

But when The Bard and other scriptwriters chose/choose the place Betwixt and Between; when they go for the place where everything converges and disappears all at once, then something magical happens.

I think a prime example of this is the gorgeous movie with Anthony Quinn, "The Message".  You never see the main character.  And it is this Betwixt and Between state that creates the enjoyment of the movie.  Now from a scriptwriters point of view, this probably took a lot of focus and attention to detail.

But it is when we, as scriptwriters, take a second look at the deeper answer that we say, "Wow, here is an opportunity to be creative beyond our own ability."  It may not be our favorite place to be, but it is the one that stretches us the most and lifts our work out of the gutter and into the ethereal.

Joy is found in the creative endeavor, when it is embraced, immersed in, and joyfully focused on!

And yes, breaking the rules is fun too!!!!