DZ-117: Tonal shifts

2025-03-31

How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story? Following on from our episodes on establishing tone through action lines and through character, this is what we have been building up to: how to pull off a tonal switch… that does not throw the audience out of the film. And, in particular, how to pull that off on the page when writers don’t have framing, lighting, music, editing, etc. at our disposal? With that goal in mind, Mel and Chas dissect specific moments on the pages of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU and SWISS ARMY MAN...

How can we teach our audience new storytelling rules in the middle of our story?

Following on from our episodes on establishing tone through action lines and through character, this is what we have been building up to: how to pull off a tonal switch… that does not throw the audience out of the film. And, in particular, how to pull that off on the page when writers don’t have framing, lighting, music, editing, etc. at our disposal?

With that goal in mind, Mel and Chas dissect specific moments on the pages of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU and SWISS ARMY MAN. While there are definite craft tools identified - rhythm of action lines, varying use of unfilmmables and metaphors, establishing language patterns - the two big takeaways are: (1) pulling off a tonal shift takes a lot of setup; and (2) when the time comes, contrast on the page is key.

Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 – Cold Open
00:00:25 - What do we mean by tonal shift?
00:08:35 - Distinguishing between genre shift and tonal shift
00:13:08 - Shaun of the Dead
00:45:41 - Sorry to Bother You
01:28:07 - Swiss Army Man
02:02:10 – Key learnings and wrap up
02:06:35 – Patreon thanks

RELATED EPISODES:

DZ-105: Establishing tone through big print
DZ-107: Establishing tone through character

LINKS:

Every frame a painting – Edgar Wright – How to do visual comedy
SHAUN OF THE DEAD - Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU - Boots Riley
SWISS ARMY MAN - Daniels

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