Sunday Picture Post 14 / The Manimal
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: THE MANIMAL
A fun technique that I call the MANimal for building characters is to either 1) attribute animal traits to a human character, or 2) attribute human traits to an animal character.
The manimal technique is usually best used with comedies, but can be done with any genre, mystery, crime, and romance.
You can practice with the above image.
Of what type of dog does the man make you think?
What type of human does the dog summon to mind?
Now make up some new traits for both the dog and the man.
Give the dog some human traits — he clearly likes to ride scooters.
Give the man some dog traits — say, he likes sniffing butts, which gets him into trouble with the authorities.
It’s fun. You try it now.
Let’s see if any of you can come up with a story more interesting than the true story of this guy, which I will add as a comment here next week.
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Comedy
Chi-Chi and his dog, Bear, go to the biggest and busiest Super Wal-Mart in town…a little corner store on the corner of the only intersection in the village.
Chi-Chi wakes up one day noticing that he can only bark like a chihuahua while his dog, Bear, can only speak English. What will happen when he goes to work at the biggest and busiest Super Wal-Mart in town…a little corner store on the corner of the only intersection in the village? Chi-Chi and Bear embark on a journey to discover why their voices have changed and must find a solution before time runs out.
The hilarious comedy, “Who Let The Dogs Out?” barks in theaters on September 25, 2008. (my birthday and a day before Disney’s “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”)
SizzlyP — Laughing here. Good one. I think Bear might be less anxious to switch back to barking, now that he can tell off all the humans, eh?
(We are both September born!)
Woohoo! September is the best month of the year!
Who could top this concept? :-)
(And yet another Sept. birthday here!)
-Buddy Noir
- Jean-Luc and his puppy, Francois, make a pit stop in Roma. They turn their heads to see a sign proclaiming the diner across the street as the home of the “best bowl of angel hair pasta pomodoro with garlic shrimp in all of Italy”. Jean-Luc lights a Clove, rubs his lips and wonders what Francois would think. Francois has his sights set on the beautiful server who is passing the dish out.
- Jean-Luc has been picked on his entire life for his love of fine Italian foods. Francois is a lowly mutt with a passion for fine Italian as great as his hatred for his master. When Jean-Luc comes across Francois, via Italianfoodspace.com, the duo find in themselves something greater than a love for Italian food. They become best of friends and set out on a mission/road trip all through Italy, on Francois’ master’s scooter, to sample all the wonderful goodies Italy has to offer. When they make a pit stop in Roma, Jean-Luc is surprised to find the best dish he’s ever had whilst Francois has come across a femme fatale that wishes to take him in.
Will Francois leave his newfound friend for this woman who only wishes to use him for his incredible smelling capacity, in order to hunt new fresher produce. Or will Jean-Luc find out the femme’s plan and break the spell she has over Francois.
-With Javier Bardem in his Oscar nominated role for immense weight gain. Leo DiCaprio as Francois and Marion Cotillard as the femme fatale.
(Sorry folks, this is a long read but Jaden is gonna help me with being concise! Right?)
Muzz & SizzlyP — We’ll have to have a special September here. If you have any ideas, let me know.
Shaner, Shaner, Shaner — I’m thinking of starting a short fiction section. Whatchya think? ;-)
* Who let these dogs out?
* Lost
* Where is that McDonalds?
* A company in the Bronx promises to make you and your best friend the most violent and feared duo in your neighborhood. You only pay for the course when you have stolen at least $100,000 Tired of being kicked around his whole life, Bob Marley decides to take the course and his lack of friends forces him choose his dog, munchkin, to be his sidekick.
Reel Ninja — That would definitely be a comedy trying to turn those two into violent and feared.