Retroscripting: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:41, 19 August 2012

Revision as of 18:46, 12 October 2012

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A retroscripted [[Screenplay|script]] contains a [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] outline and leaves dialogue deliberately vague for interpretation by the actors through [[Improvisational theatre|improvisation]].<ref name="Cheryl">[http://www.5minutesformom.com/22145/podcast-with-cheryl-hines/ Janice ( May 21 2010) "Chatting with Cheryl Hines", 5 Minutes for Mom.com]</ref> It gives [[Realism (dramatic arts)|realism]] and [[characterization]] to dialogue, and is regularly employed in the [[improvised situation comedy]] genre. In this respect it is very similar to the historical medium of ''[[Commedia dell'arte]]''.

Contemporary examples of television shows using this technique are ''[[Home Movies (TV series)|Home Movies]]'', ''[[10 Items or Less (TV series)|10 Items or Less]]'', ''[[Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist]]'', ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'',<ref name="Cheryl"/>, ''[[Trailer Park Boys]]'',<ref>[http://inmovies.ca/tpb2/tpb2_interview.htm Kirk Hooper, "Trailer Park Boys Interview", inmovies.ca]</ref>, ''[[Reno 911!]]'',<ref>[http://www.avclub.com/articles/ben-garant-and-tom-lennon-of-reno-911,14064 Kyle Ryan, "Interview: Ben Garant and Tom Lennon of ''Reno 911!''" (February 21, 2007) ''The Onion'']</ref>, ''[[Summer Heights High]]'', ''[[Outsider's Inn]]'', as well as films by [[Christopher Guest]].<ref>[http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/191 "Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy—For Your Consideration—11/10/06" (2006) ''Groucho Reviews'']</ref>

Some other films that have contained retroscripted segments are ''[[Friday Night Lights (film)|Friday Night Lights]]<ref>[http://theenvelope.latimes.com/env-cover-3-30may30,0,516856.story Deborah Netburn, "Emmy Awards: 'Friday Night Lights', The free spirit" (May 30, 2007) ''Los Angeles Times'']</ref>'', ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'',<ref>[http://www.kaos2000.net/interviews/heatherdonohue/heatherdonohue.html Heather Donohue "Blair Witch Project" (August 14, 1999) ''KAOS2000'']</ref>, ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'',<ref>[http://heatvision.hollywoodreporter.com/2009/10/qa-paranormal-activity-star-katie-featherston.html Jay Fernandez, "Things that go bump include pay" (Oct 26, 2009) ''The Hollywood Reporter'']</ref>, ''[[District 9]]<ref>[http://www.ecr.co.za/kagiso/content/en/east-coast-radio/east-coast-radio-news?oid=374781&sn=Detail&pid=5884&District-9-wows-audiences "District 9 wows audiences" (1 September 2009) East Coast Radio, Durban, South Africa]</ref>'' and some of the films of [[Robert Altman]],<ref>[http://digitalcontentproducer.com/mil/features/video_filmic_hd/ Michael Goldman (Aug 26, 2006) "Robert Altman: Filmic HD," Digital Content Producer]</ref>, who was known as an actor's director and referred to a screenplay as merely a "blueprint" for the action.<ref> Jan Stuart (2003) ''The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece'', Limelight Editions, ISBN 0-87910-981-5, Reviewed by Bill Chambers, A Film Freak Central Book Review [http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/moviebooks/nashvillechronicles.htm]</ref>. The director John Cassavetes, sometimes known as the "father" of independent film, used retroscripting most notably for his films [[Husbands (film)|''Husbands'']] (1970) and [[Faces (film)|''Faces'']] (1968), although he employed the technique to some degree in most of his films.<ref>[http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Bu-Co/Cassavetes-John.html "Cassavettes, John", Film Reference]</ref> [[Stanley Kubrick]] employed retroscripting in his film ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', incorporating [[Peter Sellers]]' [[ad-lib]]bed lines into the script.

==Re-recording==

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*To censor potentially troublesome or possibly insensitive dialogue. An episode of ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' suffered this fate following the passing of the [[Pope John Paul II|Pope]]. A line was redubbed from, "You have to hand it to the [[Catholic]]s. They know how to do grief better than anyone," to, "You have to hand it to Gabby and Carlos. They know how to do grief better than anyone."

*If an actor has repeated trouble with a line or word. In [[A Private Little War (TOS episode)|an episode]] of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'', according to [[William Shatner]], his fellow actor [[DeForest Kelley]] had trouble pronouncing an alien creature's name. The creature's name was "Gumato", but Kelley kept saying "Mugato". The monster eventually became officially known as the Mugato.

*To make late changes to the script. In [[The Battle (TNG episode)|an episode]] of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', [[LeVar Burton]] and [[Brent Spiner]] originally said the USS ''Stargazer'' was a [[Constitution class starship (Star Trek)|"''Constitution''-class" starship]], but in post-production, it was decided to show a previously unseen class of starship. The dialogue was re-dubbed with the words "[[Constellation_class_starship_Constellation class starship (Star_TrekStar Trek)|''Constellation''-class]]," partly due to the similarity of the words ''constitution'' and ''constellation''.

==References==

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[[Category:Narratology]]

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