Free Romantic Screenplays 101 by Sally J. Walker Page B

offense/aggressive moves or how would he look when in defense mode? Is the body movement instinctive (such as jumping when startled or chugging water when dying of thirst) or learned (stoic tolerance of pain or embarrassment)? Does the character’s innate personality make that person impetuous / thoughtless of consequences or does the young warrior remember boot camp drilling and move deliberately?
    Carefully examine the character’s history in your profile to identify triggers that could change the inner character’s willingness to move differently. In the concept of the Anxiety Curve, blank apathy exists at one end and thoughtless panic at the other. Most of us function at the apex between the two, swinging a little in each direction according to how we cope with daily stresses. With this in mind, think of a young woman who was gang raped as a vibrant, cheerful teenager. The traumatic experience has so mentally beaten her self-concept, she rarely maintains eye contact with anyone. Her head is always down, her shoulders slumped, her hands either limp or fidgeting. But, her car has broken down. A drunken man stops to check it out and puts her up against the car. Two options: surrender or attack. How do you visually depict the change in her demeanor? Eyes focused, teeth clenched as she juts out her chin, shoulders up and back as she takes a deep breath in preparation for battle, and hands clawed. The apathetic wimp has become an aggressive tigress. Is this not a better visual film technique than having her scream “I will not be raped again!” Go for the visual when it will be more powerful than the dialogue.
     
    Head-to-Toe
    Law enforcement training teaches officers to observe body language for survival’s sake. The writer can use the same lessons, not in micro-choreography but when delivery is important to make a story point about a character.
    Eyes-Body-Head-Hands . That’s the litany you want to recite. Officers are trained to take in the picture all at once to sense the person’s intent in the first crucial moments of the confrontation. Their lives depend on it.
    “Eyes are the windows to the soul.” Well, that’s debatable. Some say they are simply instruments of sight surrounded by highly sensitive nerves and muscles that can frame the eyes with expression. The one concrete is “Where is the person looking?” Eye-to-eye contact? Glancing nervously about? Deliberately avoiding something? Eyes deliver intent.
    Is the body positioning that of offense? Knees bent ready to move, arms controlled vs. relaxed. Or is the wife hunched, as if guarding from future assault? Positioning signals offensive or defensive movement.
    Is the head positioning casual, relaxed or up and arrogant, challenging? Think about military training. Attention! Stand tall, shoulders back, head up. Be proud, be ready, be focused. The head position is the indicator of self-awareness in this circumstance.
    To an officer of the law, the eyes, body, and head won’t kill you . . . but the hands will. So what about your character’s hands? How does this person habitually use them? Confident movement? Hesitant? Gentle, always willing to stroke? What subtle message is depicted from the character to the audience’s mind? Hands are the receptors to the encounter.
     
    Personal Territory
    Dr. Edward Hall coined the term “Proxemics” to describe our perceptions of personal space and territorial zoning. Each of the spaces or zones has limits of “close” and “far” which are quite logical. The four zone classifications are 1) Intimate, 2) Personal, 3) Social, and 4) Public. Surprisingly the limits of our own self-awareness are taken for granted, unless invaded. Now you need to translate your character’s reaction into a visual message of his perceptions.
    Moving from far to close, the Intimate Zone means touching of skin, invasion (medical procedures), and insinuation (possession of kissing and sex). The Personal Zone is a step or two back