FSBlog 5: The Writing in Children's Movies

When you think of children's movies, what comes to mind? 

- Bright Colors?

- Fun Songs?

- Playful Characters?

- Important Life Lessons?

Well, if you thought of any of these, you'd obviously be right...

HOWEVER, there is one thing you probably didn't think about: Smart Writing. And not smart writing in terms of intelligence; but smart writing in terms of movie studio goals. 

Last week Mary and I went to go see Rio 2 with her family and while watching it I couldn't help but be pulled into the classic storyline about fish out of water (or, more appropriately, birds out of...water). This made me think, "How can movie writers hold the attention of both small children and the adults that take them to see these movies?" The answer, like I've said, is smart writing. I was pleasantly surprised with some of the more "adult jokes" that were carefully designed to fly over children's heads but land successfully with the older crowd. 

You see, the goals of writing children's movies are to entertain kids and pull them into the world of the film without the parents/guardians of these kids wanting to shoot themselves out of boredom. Movie studios need to convince parents that taking their little ones to the movies will be beneficial for both parties. If they don't do enough to please the adults, they'll be less willing to take their kids to the movies at all which will hurt profits as a result. 

Again, this is just something interesting I thought of after watching Rio 2 (it's a great film, by the way). I mean, it might be easier nowadays for movie studios to fill seats because younger parents feel like it's hip to act young (man-children, for instance). But regardless, it's still something to think about and appreciate, especially if you have kids or younger siblings... 

Simple Pictures are Best

As the title says, simple pictures are best.  I have been noticing a lot recently that a huge difficulty with filming consistently and effectively is continuity.  If something is different in one scene than it has been in the other scenes, it can take your audiences attention away from what you are trying to show them.  There have been multiple occasions when I am happily watching a movie, on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next in the plot, when all of a sudden there is a discontinuity in something that was so simple to fix.  My focus gets completely lost, and all I can focus on is how that one thing is now different than it was two cut scenes ago.  It really gets annoying when I notice it, and I tell my friends about it, but I can't rewind and go back to show them.  It's not something that I purposely look for, but something that unconsciously happens (thank you Alex).

This seems like it would be an easy thing to fix to the untrained eye, but once you get behind the camera, you realize that sometimes it is something so small that nobody on set realizes.  Discontinuity is a very complicated thing to keep constant, especially when you have something like a candle in the shot, or something that you are constantly picking up and putting back down for multiple takes.