Uber Authors Follows Certain Masters

My friend, the wonderful writer Pamela Clare, sent me a really sexy and funny commercial video by Willian Lawson Scotch called "Scottish Instinct" that works on many levels to get attention. It stars Sharon Stone and she has never looked lovelier.

The video plays on Stone's stunning beauty and her reputation (her most famous movie, Basic Instinct). First, it's shot in black and white, enhancing the mystery and elegance of the surroundings. It also provides a young, but good-looking, Scot for eye-candy. There's humor and a subtle sexiness to the whole short video.

Because I don't want to pay $$$ to rent space on an audio BLOG site to show you this wonderful clip, I'm sending you on a link that probably will disappear in a day or two because it shows different videos every day.

If you're interested, click:

STONE AD

and then choose the video for William Lawson Scotch. What do you think of it?

Videos, of course, can say so much at a much faster rate than a chapter in a book. Visual details are grasped by the brain and the concept of the Scot mocking Stone can be immediately grasped by the viewer.

It's much tougher in writing, especially bringing in humor into a tense atmosphere. First you have to build in the mystery and the tension with WORDS (no dark colors for viewing, no suggestive looks). In the video, the key moment, for me, is when Sharon Stone steps out of the elevator and she turns and gives the Scot a smile. As a writer, I'll have to add the explanation to spice up that moment.

But on film, you see it: She turns. She makes eye contact. She smiles, half-amused, half-intrigued. The lady is fascinated. And there is a slight invitation in her eyes, even though she has a handsome (and a bit pompous) companion for the evening.

As a writer, I'll have to choose one of two POVs--Stone's or the Scotsman's--to emphasize the scene. I'd choose Stone's because she doesn't know what's coming, so the moment the mysterious mood changes into fun and amusement, it works.

I love film composition. In fact, I spent hours in college wasting a lot of $$$ attending film-making classes because I love visuals so much. The best class I took was a course on black and white film art, concentrating mostly on the great masters Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman. Wow, did those two geniuses open the eyes of this silly eighteen year-old storyteller-wannabe! I can gush Fellini and Bergman for hours. The other great filmmaker who influenced me is Akira Kurasawa, one of the best of those who use color.

In my writing today, I still write by scenes, much of them in the style of either quick cutting camera angles, or a slow pan. The camera shows what it wants to show and the audience/reader has to work at the details. It is therefore not surprising to me that readers who enjoy very existential movies don't mind the darkness that lurks in my stories. Without them, the funny parts wouldn't be so human.

Now you know who influenced my style ;-).

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!