Reader Question: How to set the mood or mindset for a scene? - Film Crush Collective at 2013-12-06 18:22:01:

[…] That’s not all. I encourage writers to think of their Narrative Voice as the attitude …read more […]

Adam Scott Thompson at 2013-12-06 18:26:01:

Two things leap to mind: 1. First, ask yourself what kind of state you want your reader to be in by the closing of the scene. Intrigued? Anxious? Frustrated? Afraid? Optimistic? Jubilant? In the same way that everything before a 3rd Act climax is preparing them for just that moment, so should each scene set up the reader for an emotional "pop" at its end followed by a thrust into the next scene or sequence. 2. Like Scott said, genre is important. Drama scripts read like abridged novels. Action scripts read like AP newswires. A horror script reads like a campfire tale. An epic reads like an audiobook narrated by James Earl Jones. A comedy reads like your silly-ass friend. Look for genres and narrative voices in real life. I have a deadpan sense of humor, so my conversational voice is different from someone who's a walking tragedy. I'm also not slapstick, but I know someone who is; he greets people not with a word but with animal noises.

Adam Scott Thompson at 2013-12-06 21:05:40:

The film has been a source of inspiration in the hip-hop music genre which often serves as a soundtrack for those living the "thug life." Pacino even spoke on it during an interview for the 20th Ann. DVD release. Scarface is poor, a racial minority and not too well educated. But he his balls, his word and the desire to achieve the American Dream on his own terms -- via his own peculiar skill sets. That appeals to a certain element. They cheer on Scarface as he rises to the top, but develop amnesia as to how it all shook out. Near the end of "New Jack City," crack kingpin Nino Brown -- having killed his own best friend and on the run from the cops and the Italians -- gets drunk as he watches the final shootout at Tony's mansion. Also (it's sorta related) Tupac's sociopathic character Bishop in the film "Juice" idolizes Cody Jarrett in "White Heat."