Totenkindly
@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
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- Apr 19, 2007
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Great article from Den of Geek reviewing some older movies and comparing to the modern crop's tendency to over-explain:
The importance - and apparent decline - of mystery in movies | Den of Geek
This is also something that impacts novels as well, just not as much because by their nature they tend to explain more background + you only get words to relay the story, whereas in movies you have the visual image that can convey a ton of data without actually stating it directly.
I'm not sure how Scott took such missteps with Prometheus and it leaves me concerned about his future entries in the franchise that he helped start. (The movie had other notable problems as well, including an over-aggressive editing job that massacred the narrative even while trimming time off the movie.)
I'll vouch for Midnight Special, it's one of the best recent scifi pics I've seen (aside from the ending, which visually was a bit of a let-down since they had no way to really match the rest of the film and on their budget) -- the core of the story was the relationships, not the scifi elements per se, the acting was just really really good, and like the article writer noted, there is no overexplanation going on... instead, you're watching the characters interact, and you can piece the story and relationships together as the plot unfolds. This is active engagement of the viewing audience, versus pulling a James Cameron in "Avatar" and over-explaining everything.
The tendency to overexplain results in movies that we don't really need... and highlights how they are primarily about drawing revenue and milking a franchise for every penny.
The importance - and apparent decline - of mystery in movies | Den of Geek
This is also something that impacts novels as well, just not as much because by their nature they tend to explain more background + you only get words to relay the story, whereas in movies you have the visual image that can convey a ton of data without actually stating it directly.
I'm not sure how Scott took such missteps with Prometheus and it leaves me concerned about his future entries in the franchise that he helped start. (The movie had other notable problems as well, including an over-aggressive editing job that massacred the narrative even while trimming time off the movie.)
I'll vouch for Midnight Special, it's one of the best recent scifi pics I've seen (aside from the ending, which visually was a bit of a let-down since they had no way to really match the rest of the film and on their budget) -- the core of the story was the relationships, not the scifi elements per se, the acting was just really really good, and like the article writer noted, there is no overexplanation going on... instead, you're watching the characters interact, and you can piece the story and relationships together as the plot unfolds. This is active engagement of the viewing audience, versus pulling a James Cameron in "Avatar" and over-explaining everything.
The tendency to overexplain results in movies that we don't really need... and highlights how they are primarily about drawing revenue and milking a franchise for every penny.
