Sergei Eisenstein. Source.

Claudia Sternberg in Written for the Screen: The American Motion-Picture Screenplay as Text raises some interesting ideas regarding to the role and function of screenplays that I had not encountered previously. In this post, I’ll be talking specifically in regard to the ideas discussed in chapter 8: The Stylistic Paradigm. As the title of the chapter suggests, it focuses on style, and opens with a quote from Sergei Eisenstein, the famous Soviet filmmaker and film theorist:

“And so the scriptwriter is right to present it [the script] in his own language. Because the more fully his intention his expressed, the more complete will be the semantic designation.” –  (quoted in Sternberg, p.80)

I think is quote very adequately expresses the thoughts I’ve raised about screenplay style in previous posts. In an earlier post, I questioned why it was that screenplays were written the way they were, what it was that dictated the dominant screenplay style – the Typewriter font, scene headings, etc. Why it was that some people, like McKee would say don’t use cinematic language like cut to, pan in on, and others would advocate it as a useful tool?

Therefore I like Eisenstein’s stance. He appears to be advocating that the writer use the tools that suit him best, or as he puts it, their ‘own language.’ Because, he suggests, that thereby they will be able to better express their intention and thus the adaptation of the film will be more complete, more accurate.

Maybe I just like this approach because I don’t like rules. Or maybe because there appears to be so much debate on the proper conventions and formats of screenplays that it seems nobody really agrees, so therefore someone who basically says, do whatever you want, appears to be a sorely needed voice of reason. This doesn’t mean that I plan to throw all the rules out of the window in my future practice, however. But it is something good to keep in mind, what tools are there available to use, and should they be used at all? Maybe a sledgehammer is the best tool for the job, sometimes.