Embodying Character

375 Pages·2013·2.48 MB·English

Embodying Character: Psychological and Bodily Performance and the Cinematic Construction
of the Character in Goal-Driven Narrative Cinema
Sebastian Byrne 15974381
February, 2011
University of Western Sydney
'A creative doctorate submitted to the University of Western Sydney as partial fulfilment for the
degree of Doctor of Creative Arts (DCA)'.

Kung Fu Dunk (2008), Dir. Yen-Ping, C. Shanghai Film Group.
Sebastian Byrne15974381 Embodying Character

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
'This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the
best of my knowledge and belief, the creative doctorate contains no material previously
published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the creative
research itself.'

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Sebastian Byrne15974381 Embodying Character

ABSTRACT

This exegesis looks at how the character in goal-driven narrative cinema is cinematically
constructed through the unfolding of events within the plot. While screenwriting manuals often
separate plot from character, by collapsing action into a focus on the character's psychology, I
argue that it is the psychology of the character and the bodily performance of the actor that
motivate plot development. A closer analysis of how the character operates within the plot
could be of particular relevance to film criticism when discussing the spectacle sequences
contained in sports and action films, in which the body of the actor is more heavily
foregrounded than in conventional narrative scenes. Through an analytical case study of the
sports film Wimbledon, the exegesis demonstrates how the film privileges a focus on the
psychology of the main protagonist, and the narrative, at the expense of a closer investigation
into the ways in which their body operates within the tennis sequences. Furthermore, this
bodily incongruity can be traced back to the film's production methods, in which there is a
disjunction between the tennis training of the actor and their cinematic construction. I look to
address this disjunction through a short rehearsal video which represents an alternative form of
scripting, known as scripting with the body, and serves as an accompaniment to the creative
component of this Doctorate of Creative Arts, which is a written screenplay, entitled Game, Set
and Murder, in the genre of the psychological sports romance. The video carefully
choreographs the movements of the actor as tennis player, training them to move in
accordance with the camera. As a result of this previsualisation method, the actor's bodily
technique is foregrounded, culminating in the cinematic construction of the heightened sports
performance and the delineation of the corporeal, tactile and sensory nature of the character.
On another level, scripting with the body provides the screenwriter with a more dynamic role in
the filmmaking process, facilitating a more corporeal collaboration between screenwriter,
actor, cinematographer and director that could ultimately translate into an embodied,
multisensory viewing experience.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A special thank you to my supervisors David Rowe and Anne Rutherford. Thank you David for all
your supervision throughout the three years, especially in the area of sport. Your experience
and critical feedback has helped me immensely with academic writing.
Thank you Anne for your advice and guidance throughout the period of candidature. Your
detailed understanding of embodied spectatorship was of great benefit when exploring the role
of bodies in the sports film. Your editorial comments also encouraged me to improve my
standard of academic thinking and writing in subsequent drafts.
Thank you Jack Feldstein for your assistance on a regular weekly basis in the development of
the screenplay. Through your mentoring I was able to gain valuable insight into how to
establish a sound method for researching characters and writing a screenplay. Onwards and
upwards ...
Thanks CCR/ICS for fostering an engaging postgrad environment and for lending me equipment.
Thanks Shane for your keen interest in my research project. Thanks for your advice on the early
drafts of the screenplay, and for your creative input in the rehearsal video and my other film
projects.
Thanks JP. Only you could move like Rafa! Thanks also to Alex and Bruno for your efforts in the
rehearsal video.
Thank you to family and friends for your continual support.
Finally, a special thank you to filmmaker Michael Bay. Although Bay will most likely never read
the creative doctorate, his spectacle-driven Hollywood blockbusters inspired me to coin the
term (cid:858)Spectacle Bayby(cid:859) (the name of my future production company?), which refers to a more
modest mode of low-budget filmmaking that nevertheless specialises in spectacle. It(cid:859)s (cid:374)ot a Bay
spectacle, it's a Bayby spectacle.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Statement of Originality ................................................................................................................... i
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ iv
Document One: Exegesis ................................................................................................................ iv
List of Illustrations ......................................................................................................................... viii
Document Two: Original Creative Work .......................................................................................... x
DOCUMENT ONE: EXEGESIS
Chapter One: Thinking about Performance through Bodily Action, Interaction and Movement
......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Bodily Movement and Plot Development over Bodily Display and Stasis ...................................... 4
Creative Doctorate Outline ............................................................................................................. 8
Chapter Two: Character Psychology, Bodily Performance and the Cinematic Construction of
Character ...................................................................................................................................... 13
The Construction of Character in Goal-Driven Cinema ................................................................ 15
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Privileging Character Psychology and Subtext over the Construction of Character Through
Events in the Plot .......................................................................................................................... 18
Character Psychology Motivates the Unfolding of Events within the Plot .................................. 26
Psychological Character Causality and Narrative Linearity Versus Apsychological, Nonnarrative
Spectacle ....................................................................................................................................... 36
The Relationship between Narrative, Spectacle and the Viewer ................................................. 41
Obstacles, Action and Bodily Movement in Spectacle: King Kong ............................................... 46
Conclusion: Thinking More about the Cinematic Construction of Character .............................. 53
Chapter Three: Actors Who Can't Play in the Sports Film: Exploring the Cinematic
Construction of Sports Performance .......................................................................................... 56
Defining the Sports Film ................................................................................................................ 60
Realism Versus Spectacle in the Cinematic Construction of Sports Performance: Actors Who
Can't Play, Players Who Can't Act ................................................................................................. 63
Privileging a Focus on the Interiority of the Character and the Plot over Bodily Performance
through Action in the Plot............................................................................................................. 69
Continuity of the Character's Interiority, Narrative Comprehension and Bodily Incongruity in
Wimbledon .................................................................................................................................... 77
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Hong Kong Action Cinema and the 'Body as Spectacle' ............................................................... 90
Rethinking Psychological and Bodily Character: Towards a 'Movement-Narrative' .................... 94
The Actor's Physical Sports Performance, Cinematic Techniques and the Development of a
Heightened Sports Character ........................................................................................................ 98
Heightened Realism in Contemporary Cinema .......................................................................... 107
Disney Pixar's The Incredibles and the Foregrounding of the Body and Form ........................... 109
Rethinking the Relationship between the Actor and the Formal Elements in the Sports Spectacle
..................................................................................................................................................... 116
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 119
Chapter Four: Rethinking the Relationship between the Physical Sports Performance of the
Actor and Their Cinematic Construction through Scripting with the Body ............................. 123
Rethinking the Role of the Screenwriter (and Scriptwriting) in the Filmmaking Process through
Scripting with the Body ............................................................................................................... 124
The Disjunction between the Actor's Physical Tennis Training and Their Cinematic Construction
in Wimbledon .............................................................................................................................. 131
Establishing an Embodied Connection between Screenwriter and Actor: Oral Narration ........ 136
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Rehearsing a Movement Narrative and a Heightened Sports Performance through Scripting with
the Body ...................................................................................................................................... 143
Game, Set and Murder: Synopsis ................................................................................................ 154
Principal Players .......................................................................................................................... 155
Stage One: The Screenwriter's Demonstration of the Characters' Movements ........................ 156
Stage Two: Mapping out the Movements of the Actors ............................................................ 159
Stage Three: Integrating the Actors' Bodies with the Camera ................................................... 165
Heightened Sports Performance and Its Relationship to Character Interiority, and the Narrative
..................................................................................................................................................... 176
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 181
Chapter Five: Critical Reflections on the Screenwriter's Journey and the Practices of
Screenwriting, Research and Theory ......................................................................................... 185
Early Methodological Approaches to Writing the Screenplay.................................................... 187
A Screenwriter's Journey in the Preliminary Stage of Writing the Screenplay: Research
Motivated by the Characters, Outer Journey and Narrative Structure ...................................... 192
The Connection between Character-Driven Research and the Exegesis ................................... 205
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Conclusion: Rethinking the Relationship between Research, Theory and Practice in the Writing
of a Screenplay ............................................................................................................................ 207
Chapter Six: Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 209
Enhancing the Actor(cid:859)s Physical Perfor(cid:373)a(cid:374)ce through Digital Modes of “cripti(cid:374)g ..................... 216
Research Limitations and Potential Future Directions ............................................................... 220
References .................................................................................................................................. 225
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 233
Filmography ................................................................................................................................ 244
List of Additional Sports Films ................................................................................................... 245
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1. "Oneness with the Wave" in Step Into Liquid .................................................................. 7
Figure 2. Ann Comes Face-To-Face with a Dangerous Lizard ....................................................... 47
Figure 3. A Large Insect Slithers Alo(cid:374)g A(cid:374)(cid:374)(cid:859)s Neck. ...................................................................... 48
Figure 4. Ann runs away from Kong ............................................................................................. 51
Figure 5. Kong versus the Dinosaur. ............................................................................................. 52
Figure 6. Beast and Girl Unite. ...................................................................................................... 52
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Figure 7. Close-Up of Peter Preparing to Serve ............................................................................ 79
Figure 8. Reaction Shots of Peter and Lizzie ................................................................................. 82
Figure 9. Nichols Lunges for a Wide Volley .................................................................................. 85
Figure 10. Peter Stretches for a Wide Stroke and Reaction Shots of Friends .............................. 89
Figure 11. Merging of Bodies and Digital Technology ................................................................ 100
Figure 12. Jake La Motta Deli(cid:448)ers a K(cid:374)ockout Pu(cid:374)ch………………………………………………………………105
Figure 13. La Motta ‘ecei(cid:448)es a “erious Blo(cid:449)………………………………………………………………………….105
Figure 14. Dash Escapes and Elastagirl Boards a Vehicle at Full Speed ...................................... 111
Figure 15. Neo in Full-Flight ........................................................................................................ 116
Figure 16. Peter Dives for a Wide Volley ................................................................................... 134
Figure (cid:1005)7. Ni(cid:374)a(cid:859)s “(cid:449)oo(cid:374)i(cid:374)g Motio(cid:374)s .......................................................................................... 146
Figure 18. Storyboards for Baseball Sequence ........................................................................... 148
Figure 19. Jamie Reaches for the Low Ball.................................................................................. 160
Figure 20. Jamie Extends on His Backhand ................................................................................. 162
Figure 21. Establishing Shot of Jamie Preparing to Serve........................................................... 165
Figure (cid:1006)(cid:1006). Lo(cid:449) A(cid:374)gle of Bertra(cid:373)(cid:859)s Mo(cid:448)e(cid:373)e(cid:374)t ........................................................................... 166
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