When it comes to the craft of storytelling, it's not exactly a secret that writing good screenplays isn't easy. Writing a story that makes sense and works from start to finish isn't something that can be done if you don't take your craft seriously.
After all, there are so many mistakes that you can make with your screenplays. If you don't manage to keep your script plausible and consistent, you won't be able to come up with a story that keeps your audience entertained throughout its length.
So when it comes to an actual movie that has a lot of these consistency problems, let's look at Roland Emmerich's film 'White House Down'. This is a movie (released in 2013) that has a lot of problems when it comes to its focus and plausibility.
In essence, the movie is about U.S Capitol Police Officer (Channing Tatum) and his daughter (Joey King). These two find themselves in the middle of a hostage situation when terrorists manage to invade and take control of the White House.
So when it comes to the story in the film, it has to be said that the first act of the movie (first 35 minutes or so) is actually rather well written. This is when the story feels plausible and you're interested in what's going on.
By that I mean that the movie - for once - doesn't rush things and takes its time in introducing us to the characters. The divorced cop (an underdog) and his smart-ass daughter are in a situation that most of us are able to relate to.
So when things finally escalate in the story, you feel that the movie has potential to be something solid. When a bomb goes off at the capitol hill and the white house gets invaded - the main protagonists are there on a tour - the movie makes sense.
However, the big problems in the film begin when it becomes apparent that the story is not that much about our protagonists. At roughly 40 minute mark, the focus of the film changes pretty drastically - and not in a good way.
After all, this is when it's revealed that this is not a simple hostage movie. It is revealed that the evil 'mastermind' of the movie is not the head of the terrorist group - but the head of the secret service detail (James Woods).
Unfortunately, from that moment on, the movie gets increasingly more convoluted and more implausible. It keeps introducing tons of new - fairly ridiculous - characters to the story that aren't needed and that make the film lose its focus.
Especially when it comes to the hacker (villain), the innocent wife of the mastermind (who agrees with the plot!) and the speaker of the house (part of the plot too), the movie falls apart. It loses its focus and isn't about the father and the girl anymore.
In that sense, when you think about this movie and screenwriting in general, it's clear that quality writing is not about making your script too convoluted. It's not a good idea to write stuff that is all over the place and that doesn't know what it's about.
After all, if you decide to come up with stupid ideas like adding completely implausible plot twists - like the convoluted plot concerning the speaker of the house - things won't work. There are clearly limits to what you're allowed to do in your scripts.
In the end, that was the reason that 'White House Down' didn't work. The writers - as unfortunate as it is - didn't trust their premise or characters and kept adding stuff that didn't make sense and that didn't raise the stakes believably.
After all, instead of the movie concentrating on the father / daughter relationship and keeping the script tighter, it did the total opposite. The film more or less went from a solid, tight movie to a ridiculous 'nukem all' mess.
In that sense, it's really unfortunate that 'White House Down' didn't have a better script. It's too bad that its script was that bad, because had the writers paid more attention to the basics, this could actually have been a fairly solid movie.
So when it comes to the story in the film, it has to be said that the first act of the movie (first 35 minutes or so) is actually rather well written. This is when the story feels plausible and you're interested in what's going on.
By that I mean that the movie - for once - doesn't rush things and takes its time in introducing us to the characters. The divorced cop (an underdog) and his smart-ass daughter are in a situation that most of us are able to relate to.
So when things finally escalate in the story, you feel that the movie has potential to be something solid. When a bomb goes off at the capitol hill and the white house gets invaded - the main protagonists are there on a tour - the movie makes sense.
However, the big problems in the film begin when it becomes apparent that the story is not that much about our protagonists. At roughly 40 minute mark, the focus of the film changes pretty drastically - and not in a good way.
After all, this is when it's revealed that this is not a simple hostage movie. It is revealed that the evil 'mastermind' of the movie is not the head of the terrorist group - but the head of the secret service detail (James Woods).
Unfortunately, from that moment on, the movie gets increasingly more convoluted and more implausible. It keeps introducing tons of new - fairly ridiculous - characters to the story that aren't needed and that make the film lose its focus.
Especially when it comes to the hacker (villain), the innocent wife of the mastermind (who agrees with the plot!) and the speaker of the house (part of the plot too), the movie falls apart. It loses its focus and isn't about the father and the girl anymore.
In that sense, when you think about this movie and screenwriting in general, it's clear that quality writing is not about making your script too convoluted. It's not a good idea to write stuff that is all over the place and that doesn't know what it's about.
After all, if you decide to come up with stupid ideas like adding completely implausible plot twists - like the convoluted plot concerning the speaker of the house - things won't work. There are clearly limits to what you're allowed to do in your scripts.
In the end, that was the reason that 'White House Down' didn't work. The writers - as unfortunate as it is - didn't trust their premise or characters and kept adding stuff that didn't make sense and that didn't raise the stakes believably.
After all, instead of the movie concentrating on the father / daughter relationship and keeping the script tighter, it did the total opposite. The film more or less went from a solid, tight movie to a ridiculous 'nukem all' mess.
In that sense, it's really unfortunate that 'White House Down' didn't have a better script. It's too bad that its script was that bad, because had the writers paid more attention to the basics, this could actually have been a fairly solid movie.
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