Alex Garland: Writer's Journal

Someone else who inspired me when writing the script for River was the English director, Alex Garland. He was the director for one of my favourite films, Ex-Machina, and was recently involved with the Netflix film Annihilation, which is just as emotional and surreal. What I find riveting in Garland's scripts is the sheer amount of detail he puts into a small part of the screenplay, as he wants to convey meaning throughout, especially in a subtle manner.




 Something that Garland manages to do in his script for Ex-Machina which was inspiring for me was build tension and the change the mood very quickly. In these lines, he establishes a character bridge between Ava and Caleb that Nathan is not connected to, creating a sense of secrecy, thus building tension and suspense. Garland also creates this mood amazingly through the quick, short alternating lines, building urgency and inducing the viewer with fear. This was all possible due to the power of script writing, and Garland believes strongly in a good script. In 2015, he stated that: "Film sometimes neglects [scripts] and it does it it its detriment. But partly because we're all chasing this sort of... you know people are supposed to want to be the director. That's the sort of coded thing is being the director, and it's not helpful. You need good writers and cinematographers and so on."  

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