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Writing rescue scenes is both an art and a science. The art is in the scene-setting, the plot and the depth of the characters. The science is knowing how the human body reacts to drama on the screen. You have the ability to play the human psyche like a finely tuned harp or a cacophony of clashing symbols. During a really dramatic scene, and even during the ups and downs of the developing plot, you could plant electrodes on your audience and watch how your words affect their physiology.
Select your words carefully, and you can drive your audience wild with fear and tension. Get it wrong, and they are planning their next toilet break and wondering whether to buy hot dogs, chocolate or nachos. If you want to keep them in their seats, bury one or more of your characters alive. The car or coffin they are buried in needs to be small enough to bring out your audience's inner claustrophobic but large enough to accommodate the camera crew.
There are some terrifying examples of coffins buried in shallow graves, complete with cameras, lights and microphones to let the audience in on the victims' every twitch, facial expression and screams of anguish. Will the hero get there in time before the victim draws her last breath? Unless you like writing funeral scenes, you'd better make sure they do.
A claustrophobic trauma is not compulsory for writing rescue scenes that stir your audience. Maritime disasters like shipboard fires or perfect storms are a recurring theme. Your typical hero should also be schooled in dragging people out of burning buildings or coaches full of tourists dangling precipitously on the edge of a cliff.
Medical dramas provide excellent fodder for the rescue team. A recent television program crashed an entire team of surgeons in a light aircraft. That kept the writers busy for an entire season documenting the back story to the disaster. Meanwhile, their colleagues who weren't dashed to the ground occupy themselves by reconstructing limbs and making life or death decisions.
Character development is a crucial factor in manipulating your audience's attention. You can go one of two ways. One, you can develop the soon-to-be victim as a sympathetic character as lovable as everyone's granny. Your viewers will be cheering the heroes to get to the crisis in time, offering helpful advice along the way.
The other method is to draw your victim as the world's biggest sleazeball. In the build-up to the disaster, show your villain doing the dirty on several of the 'good guys.' In this scenario, you want your audience to be cheering for the heroes to fail in their noble quest to save the villain's life.
You can monitor your effectiveness in writing rescue scenes by monitoring popcorn sales. Studies have shown that the more engaged the audience is in the action on screen, the more rapidly they munch on popcorn. When news agencies are reporting a sudden shortage of popcorn, that's when you know you have done your job correctly.
Select your words carefully, and you can drive your audience wild with fear and tension. Get it wrong, and they are planning their next toilet break and wondering whether to buy hot dogs, chocolate or nachos. If you want to keep them in their seats, bury one or more of your characters alive. The car or coffin they are buried in needs to be small enough to bring out your audience's inner claustrophobic but large enough to accommodate the camera crew.
There are some terrifying examples of coffins buried in shallow graves, complete with cameras, lights and microphones to let the audience in on the victims' every twitch, facial expression and screams of anguish. Will the hero get there in time before the victim draws her last breath? Unless you like writing funeral scenes, you'd better make sure they do.
A claustrophobic trauma is not compulsory for writing rescue scenes that stir your audience. Maritime disasters like shipboard fires or perfect storms are a recurring theme. Your typical hero should also be schooled in dragging people out of burning buildings or coaches full of tourists dangling precipitously on the edge of a cliff.
Medical dramas provide excellent fodder for the rescue team. A recent television program crashed an entire team of surgeons in a light aircraft. That kept the writers busy for an entire season documenting the back story to the disaster. Meanwhile, their colleagues who weren't dashed to the ground occupy themselves by reconstructing limbs and making life or death decisions.
Character development is a crucial factor in manipulating your audience's attention. You can go one of two ways. One, you can develop the soon-to-be victim as a sympathetic character as lovable as everyone's granny. Your viewers will be cheering the heroes to get to the crisis in time, offering helpful advice along the way.
The other method is to draw your victim as the world's biggest sleazeball. In the build-up to the disaster, show your villain doing the dirty on several of the 'good guys.' In this scenario, you want your audience to be cheering for the heroes to fail in their noble quest to save the villain's life.
You can monitor your effectiveness in writing rescue scenes by monitoring popcorn sales. Studies have shown that the more engaged the audience is in the action on screen, the more rapidly they munch on popcorn. When news agencies are reporting a sudden shortage of popcorn, that's when you know you have done your job correctly.
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