What Writers Should Learn From Mad Max: Fury Road
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- Опубліковано 21 січ 2018
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Mad Max: Fury Road is often praised for its visual storytelling, an achievement that was made possible by the film’s unique storyboarding/writing process. But what if you tried to write a screenplay for a movie that is primarily told through visual language? I try to do that in this video, and in the process, figure out what should and should not go in a script, as well as why I think more filmmakers should attempt to emulate Fury Road’s creative process.
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Hey all! If you've got a recommendation for a future video, let me know here!
Pan's Labyrinth
My vote is for Gladiator, Marley and me, or The Prestige! I'm always excited for whatever you upload though :)
Can you talk about the opening of The Dark Knight and what makes it such a good intro? Sorry if you've already done this lol
Could you do a video about horror? Maybe how to write good horror or what not to do. Anything horror related would make me and I'm sure many others happy!
Seeing you do this makes me itch for an exploration on conceptualization of characters and their relationships to each other. Not from the screenplay stage but from the concept stage, as in ideas of what makes for good characters, good relationships and things to avoid. Big can of worms but I know you'd do great at it, especially from this video!
WHAT WRITERS SHOULD LEARN IS VERY, VERY CLEAR:
MORE ELECTRIC GUITARS PLAYED ON THE BACK OF SPEEDING MONSTER TRUCKS.
MUCH MORE. NOW.
What blew me away was.. that wasn't cg. The musician needed to hear what he was rocking out to so that was all real. That rig was supposed to be the command vessel, much like ships at sea using flashes of light or flag men to direct orders, they used sound and fire.
And the guitars must also be flamethrowers..
Cringe comment God damn
Here was me thinking that the main thing that made that part of the movie good was that it hadn't been done before.
And the drumbs man, the drumbs!
Is mad max fury road the best example in history of the saying: “show, don’t tell”
You have discovered this film late after all of the trolls are spreading their hate. the comments at the start are better. The director (George Miller) has been quoting Alfred Hitchock "I want to make a film that plays in Japan without subtitles, that they can understand." If you dig through the reviews a lot of people with too much time compare it to the the silent movies of Buster Keaton's, specifically The General.
@@stephenharvey4138 only thing i understand , after watching this movie , is : what this fucking shit ? i pay for mad max not for a gender social propaganda !!
@@krokrokrokro mad max wasn't even about gender social propaganda
@@krokrokrokro lol It didn't focus on gender at all, what are you talking about.
@@Charzilian heh all these dumbasses take this as "propaganda" or "feminism" just because they are saving women who are used as sex slaves and at the same time they fuck up the villains plans of getting a healthy heir
My only regret in life is that I didn't take my ass to the theater and watch Fury Road more times while it was still on the big screen.
man i watched it 4 times in theaters.. never went second time for any other movie.. this was something different
I witnessed it on opening day. There was a roar in the audience when the drum scene (YOU KNOW THE ONE) came up.
It almost made up for me also being there on opening day for Last Airbender.
Overrated film.
@@damienholland8103 explain
Damien Holland Please elaborate on how that is
It really annoyed me when I had a bunch of friends say "The script and writing is so simple and basic. It's just a chase with no dialogue." I tried explaining how it was all done visually and how rich with detail it was, but sadly modern audiences are used to excessive exposition. You explained what's brilliant about it better than I could.
I actually think there is a more cynical reason these big budget blockbuster Hollywood movies have very little dialogue, they make them more transferable to a worldwide market. You can understand the story without speaking a word of English.
no offence, dude.......
but your audience doesnt get mad max fury road..........
all of them think, it has no story. its visual & depth & show, not tell.
but its mnot like this.
this movie essentially follows heroes journey.
you can see it through out.
two worlds
1. immortan joe place(patriarch)
2. many mothers place(matriarch)
furiousa, travels to both & conquers both.
mad max is mentor. his only remaining instinct is "survive" because he's been forged by this world. But when he meets Furiosa's cause he starts to get his humanity back.
nux, want to go to valhala. he wants his brother to witness his epicness, he doesnt want to die mediocre, which immortan joe labels him. he goes to valhala.
all along the wives were the many mothers, who replaces old.
patriarch alone cant survive
matriarch alone cant survive
but when they come together, max & furiousa, they thrive.
it is masterpiece because if there would have been a madmax fury road novel before this movie was made, all the fans of the novel would think that it isnt possible to tell the story of madmax in one movie.
its just like ramayan, lord of the rings, odyssey etc etc.
If you think there’s too much exposition in movies...
...you don’t watch enough movies.
they'll only like excessive exposition if they can masturbate to it. Like the MCU
You can't argue with ignorance man sometimes is just better let it be.
I was blown away when I found out that “immortal Joe” the big boss was the same actor as “toe cutter” from the original Road warrior
The original Road Warrior isn't called Road Warrior. It's just called Mad Max. The second film is called Mad Max Road Warrior. It would be like calling the first Star Wars movie the original Empire Strikes Back.
He was in Stone as well
@@Malumbrus It’s called Mad Max 2.
That’s it.
Immorten joe
@@theexpresidents It was released as just "The Road Warrior" in North America and simply "Mad Max 2" everywhere else. It was retroactively titled "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior."
For the Alien chest burster scene, all it says is "this thing emerges".
Iirc, "emerged" is the word they used.
......and it shapes like a penis
Yeah, the rest of that scene was improvised.
the thing went skkkrrrraaa papakakaka skibidipap...
MJ Red I don't think it's "improvised" as the director directed it lol
What I adore about this film is Furiosa’s arm, it’s never explained. That’s amazing because it allows the audience to theorise her backstory. You let the viewer imagine this worlds characters. Mad respect to George Miller for not treating us like toddlers.
It's so seamless to you believe her arm is gone, but nobody tells you anything about it, magic.
Or they simply didn't care about giving Furiosa's arm any backstory, and thats perfecly acceptable becuase it's a small detail that isn't so relevant to the backstory
Well, say no more because we're getting a prequel of Furiosa.
The major reason Fury Road feels so good to watch is because of the painstaking effort to ground the story in an Ethos. The visuals, the motivations, all of it stems from the characters reacting to the world. This gives the actors SO much to work with in making their characters believable. A good script is about giving the actors something rich to work with. I think its a bad take to say a story isnt capable of "good writing" because its methods cant be summarized in a script.
A serious amount of effort went into the world building, character backstories and motivations. And this most certainly didnt begin with the storyboards. It started with the director researching concepts and getting great edits from his wife who also worked on the production, while also calling in consultants who could give specific frame of reference for stuff like sexual slavery. I know you wanted to emphasize the use of storyboards but did so to make a point that only works by omitting ALL the other work that went into preproduction.
A real lesson for Hollywood writers would be to do some damn research into culture, religion and psychology before churning out a half-assed script.
Fury Road does such a great job of developing its themes visually without any dialogue.
I love how the movie starts with young people, the warboys, fighting and dying to preserve the power of the old and corrupt. The movie ends with old people, the many mothers, fighting and dying to create a better future for the young and innocent.
Shit, that's well said! I didn't notice it and I watched the move a dozen times.
Along time ago I heard a quote from a film maker "sometimes the audience are more smart than you". Our eyes and mind know whats going on (when the actors and directors are good). We don't need to hear as much dialogue as we do.
From a good film maker. Not from those people that are currently serving heavy pig-slop on a silver plate. Everything has to be explained nowadays or people will not get it. #conditioning
-Man jumps- "And soo the maann jumped"
Holy shit, I love this film and I've picked up on a lot of other themes and subtext, but I never noticed this one. Thank you!
I appreciate the use of examples along with the associated script. I guess the rule of "show, don't tell" also applies to videos analyzing movies.
Can we apply "show don't tell" to videos analyzing videos analyzing movies now?
Though the USS Indianapolis speech in Jaws proves that "tell, don't show" can also work.
petlahk actually yes
Whenever I see a video or a screenshot from this movie, I immediately get an urge to watch it again. And I always do.
I watch. I reflect. I watch again.
just about to do the same
Fury Road has so much lore that isn't explained and yet we the viewers know exactly what's going on and what it all means.
So, in the end, it is kind of a comic book made into a movie.
A wordless comic book, at that.
It's a movie made into a comic book, made into a movie.
It's common for complex movies to have previous very detailed story boards. So in fact, movies are a script turned into a story board turned into images in movement.
No, it's not. Storyboards and comic books (though they look similar) are different things.
Martophrenia, sure, what I was getting at is that Mad Max basically used the advantages comic books have over other types of narrative media to set up a near perfect movie.
Writing Action pieces is SO much harder than people think. Specially in a book, you have to constantly make it interesting without constantly using the same words 'as' 'then' 'whilst' etc. Bringing an action piece into the readers minds so they can easily visualize it, perhaps one of the hardest things to do in a story.
My favorite action oriented book writter is Jonathan Maberry. Ha manages to bring the action to life. On the oposite side, as much as I love Neil Gaiman's books, his action scenes are awful, almost always relating the fights as if they were a sequence of turn based moves, never feeling like everyone is moving simultaneously.
Like "and then x attacked y. Y returned fire. Z moved to the front..."
Some keys to writing action.
1. Be knowledgeable and have experience in fighting, or consult someone who does.
2. Know your terminology, and then simplify it. When you say something like "He stepped in and performed a near perfect Ogoshi throw" it takes people out of the action...But when you know what an Ogishi throw is you can break it down and come up with simple way that involves the imagination more. "He ducked as he stepped in and trapped his opponents shoulder, twisting him over his hip and slamming him hard."
3. Keep it vague. I love fighting and can go into explicit details, but if a reader doesn't understand it gets overwhelming and boring quickly. The best fight scenes in books are the ones that give general details with strong verbs, but keep everything basic. Those scenes engage the imagination and your mind fills in the blanks. And your mind makes the coolest fight scenes.
If you search deep enough, you'll find plenty of writing on how *writing is not a medium for heavy action.
And it's true. Writing is about words, the "poetry" of it, its soul, even when it's not poetry.
This is why cinema is its own art-form, they deal specifically with *action, with moving pieces, and much less with words.
It's why great books don't always make good movies and great movies would be terrible books.
Absolutely. Working on a novel at the moment, and I've just hit a wall at my first big action scene. In my head it's big and chaotic and exciting, but translating that into words is really, really hard. When you've got lots going on in an action scene you need to keep track of all the elements. You also need to describe elements of what's going on, but adjectives slow down the pace, which is the opposite of what you want, so all your description comes through the use of verbs.
It's easier in some respects on film, but Mad Max makes it look simple - there's loads going on the whole time, but you're never confused.
It's also an action film that doesn't rely on excessive numbers of jump cuts to make things feel tense and fast. Flawless.
Semantic Samuel, try breaking your action down into small scenes. Don't make it all one word vomit on the page, rather, just like MM, break each action piece down into smaller scenes.
Write a person on person fight, then a couple of sentences about what else is happening in the battle and cut back another person on person fight.
As a storyboard artist, Mad Max has inspired me more than nearly any other film.
the colors and composition and, just everything, are absolutely stunning
This movie came from the same guy who did Happy feet...
Huh
He also did all of the other mad max films.
Au contraire, Happy Feet came from the same guy who did all the Mad Max films.
Before he did Happy Feet. He did Mad Max
Somehow that doesn't totally surprise me. I freaking loved Happy Feet. :)
Both are bat shit insane, doesn't surprise me.
Mad max fury road is one of my favourite films but I always found it hard to explain why other than just saying “it’s awesome!”. But you put it really well. I always thought the screenplay should be as detailed as possible, it’s weird that it’s not the case.
You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I guess that saves a lot of screenplay pages.
the exact opposite is the case. The screenplay dictates the story, the narrative structure, the motivations, the conflicts of the characters, how they develop etc. details are not only not necessary, they often disrupt or destroy a good screenplay. You dont want to write details, you want to write the meaning of them. One of the simplest examples is: Instead of writing "He drove up in a 91s Porsche 964 with a lot of dirt, a long scratch on the left side and filled with old fast food packages" you should write "He drove up in a sport cabrio which he took care of like it was part of his body" Thats just a fast example I could thing of and my English is not too well, but I hope I made my point clear.
ODog LP I guess because in my head I can see exactly the scene, but to write it without including every detail would mean it’d be taken differently by the director. I guess this is why a lot of directors write their own scripts?
Film is a visual medium and only when shooting, with a great director, does the magic arise. But overall one can not always say "few details" - good "many details" - bad.
It depends on what you want to tell how.
There are great scripts with a lot of details and great ones with little. Of course, a screenplay always has to be handled differently than a novel.
When you group up and watch more movies you will lose this 3 year old mindset of a hype-eater
A new just write video Ooh What a day WHAT A LOVELY DAAAY.
Witneeeeesss.....the storyboards
WITNESS!
So shiny.. So chrome!
im the 800th like
This comment seems like a stream of incoherent thoughts, why has it garnered so many likes?
Jacob Dix Dix OP could’ve paid a lil more attention to grammar, but really dude it’s not that complicated .. looks like you’re the only person on the web that’s confused. I’ll break it down: A new “Just Write” (the channel’s name) video; oh what a day, what a lovely day (a well-known quote from George Miller’s 2015 SciFi flick - Mad Max: Fury Road).
"Mad Max 2" had Max get only 16 lines of dialogue in a 90 minute film.
See most of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns for another example of economy of dialogue.
Example for Darth Maul or Boba Fett
The first time I made a story board, I loved it. Not only could I draw almost impulsively what I imagined, I could draw the scenes prior and after. I could basically display the mini movie in my head onto many different pictures. That felt very freeing.
You know where you can put it down in pictures and have success? Comic books. The independent comic scene is pretty healthy right now, and telling a good action story in a comic series can, and has on several occasions, led to comic creators getting their comics optioned to be made into films.
You got any suggestions? I'd love to get into a great indie graphic novel, but idk where to start
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. The Best We Could Do. Paper Girls and Lumberjanes. Saga is a fun ride if you want some crazy sci-fi. The Underwater Welder is a little bit older but it's still really good. There's plenty more out there if our tastes don't quite line up, and the first issues are usually pretty easy to find, so you can start the story from the beginning. Happy reading.
You say that but the only thing I can think of is all of the DC comic book movies.
Also check out Matt Fraction's run of Hawkeye and Warren Ellis's Moon Knight. I know they aren't indie or whatever but they both feature some fantastic writing, art, and paneling (Hawkeye especially). Also Maus.
Commenting to read later
The storyboarding way of creating a film is what Miyazaki did for all his films. The documentary "The Kingdom of Madness and Dreams" shows his process. It's really fasinating to watch.
Evangeline Ross Now I’m curious to hear/see what Miyazaki would think of Fury Road. Lol. I wonder if he would be so put off by the difference in tone or if he would recognize the visual storytelling Miller uses.
Wow I though watching Nausicca of the valley of the winds that it ressembles Mad Max Fury Road
MAD MAX ANIME CONFIRMED
that's usually how animated films are made. For a while, Miller considered making this into an animated film
One of the best action set pieces I can think of where you can clearly see moves and countermoves is the flying wing fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It may seem slow paced compared to some modern action scenes,the actions of characters in play constantly up the ante as the situation spirals out of control, with multiple conflicts running separately and intertwining. Indy fighting the mechanic, Marion trapped in the cockpit and taking on the the German trucks, the gun wielding pilot, the oil leak, the plane rotating our of control, its propellors endangering the combatants throughout - all these things going on at once but you're never confused as to what's happening.
9:05 There's more to writing than just words...
EPIC!
I call this "Visuals with Dialogues". Take a few films for example: A clockwork orange/The shining/Once upon a time in the west/Drive/First 40 minutes of Wall-E.
A lot of my favorite movies of all time on that list, hmmmm, what a coincidence.........
Imagine all films are fruits. some are apples, some are oranges, strawberries, mangos....
Me: Here are some of the best mangoes.
You:They are my favorite fruits!
Well, maybe you just really like mangoes, without knowing they are all mangoes.
no offence, dude.......
but your audience doesnt get mad max fury road..........
all of them think, it has no story. its visual & depth & show, not tell.
but its mnot like this.
this movie essentially follows heroes journey.
you can see it through out.
two worlds
1. immortan joe place(patriarch)
2. many mothers place(matriarch)
furiousa, travels to both & conquers both.
mad max is mentor. his only remaining instinct is "survive" because he's been forged by this world. But when he meets Furiosa's cause he starts to get his humanity back.
nux, want to go to valhala. he wants his brother to witness his epicness, he doesnt want to die mediocre, which immortan joe labels him. he goes to valhala.
all along the wives were the many mothers, who replaces old.
patriarch alone cant survive
matriarch alone cant survive
but when they come together, max & furiousa, they thrive.
it is masterpiece because if there would have been a madmax fury road novel before this movie was made, all the fans of the novel would think that it isnt possible to tell the story of madmax in one movie.
its just like ramayan, lord of the rings, odyssey etc etc.
@@jayantrajshastri You are reading a film like a novel, man. Those Two are different art forms.
Keep preaching the gospel of Trey Parker. "A story isn't a series of and thens, it's a series of therefore buts."
Therefore, butts.
Maybe unintentional, but having little dialogue certainly forced writers/storyboard to come up with creative ways to have conversations.
I've watched this movie about a dozen times and never felt like there was any dialogue missing. You helped explain why the visual storytelling was so strong it does a lot of the heavy lifting of the plot and the story! And yes, to all naysayers, there is a great deal being said in this movie that goes literally unspoken.
the fact that i love to draw and create characters/stories, that mad max is one of my all time favorite franchises AND that i want to make movies as an adult,,, this video hits close to home. thank you for making this video. it really inspired me.
hapichapi Better see your name on some storyboards soon then mate, good luck!
Fun fact :
Christopher Nolan wanted to make Dunkirk without screenplay .
Specsome Ideas And in the end, it feels like he did something similar to this. I could be wrong, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Plenty of big movies have very little script, District 9 was improvised
The Roo, could you expand on what you mean when you say it was improvised?
@@PhyreI3irdD9 had no script just a load of backstory presumably and ideas and then they just let Sharlto Copley run with the dialogue, worked too
Agreed. People lambasted Mad Max Fury Road and praised Dunkirk, yet they are so similar. Scenes with minimal dialogue, but so much being said by the looks and actions of the actors, with sweeping landscapes, large special effects and almost no CGI.
So...
Books = Tell a story
Movies = Show don't tell
Games = Do don't show
-
Yep...
Games are more like ”make them work to see what's next”
@@RB-mm7ce we play different styles of games.
-
Games that are only about "working to find out what the game's creator wants you to." Are basically only writers trying to get you to "watch" their story (movies and plays do a better job of that "because they have you/ the audience captive." This is why bad use of "cutsceans" is a common criticism of those styles of games.)
-
Imagine trying to "play" tag or hide and seek "while someone is trying to tell you how to play."... kind of lame right?
(It's like; "explain the rules to me, fine." But then get the hell out of the way and let me play... don't keep changing the rules and then claiming that "that's how it was meant to be from the start."... or lying about the "story" because you know that I won't like it, but you still want me to buy your game.)
Wow that was so inspirering!!! Especially the last line with the kids out there!!! Thank you! Cheers Daniel
“But but but the plot sucks”
Nathan S tell me about it, I got a roommate that hates it cause he "finds everyone in it anoying" for no reaso at all.
It does suck. And plots don't have to be complex to be good. John Wick and The Raid Redemption prove this. But they had a plot that progressed.
I'll concede the visual storytelling here was great and a masterclass in "showing, not telling," but the actual plot was all "telling." The dissonance between the two was too much to overlook.
To me I can barely compare these to something like The Raid or John Wick.
Michael Harris Yeah not really sure how the plot doesn’t progress. The plot is, in its simplist form, that the characters are running away from their problem, hoping that the grass is greener on the other side (literally). They find out it isn’t, so they go back and face the problem head on. Simple, yes. Without progress... no.
Yes they did find out the grass was greener on the other side and faced the problem head on. But basically the movie starts saying that they're on the run from Joe and his threat drives the whole first act. And the whole threat is pulled out from under the rug later. He's chasing them but doesn't want them killed, undermining all the actions of the first half and most of the reason for the most of the action in the story.
Plus all we really get as far as plot are a couple of verbal and visual dumps of them essentially saying "this is bad" and that's the only reason they're running. The little that is shown is basically visual world building dumps that set the world but provide little to no information nor emotional backdrop or set up.
As I said before, simple plots can be amazing, but it needs to be done well. The Raid does this masterfully, and John Wick comes close, but the story (character development) doesn't jive with the plot (what actually happens). The stakes are raised in the movie but they aren't really stakes, just a cool car chase.
Michael Harris I disagree that the second half of the plot “undermines” the first half in any way. I respect your opinion, but I’m not sure I understand it and I definitely don’t agree with it. But to each his own.
Simplistic plot and minimal dialogue with a focus on visuals are the key to a great action movie (In my opinion). Far too many filmmakers in Hollywood, especially action movie filmmakers, forget that movies are primarily a visual medium and not a filmed play.
rocknrolllives agree that film need less exposition more visual story telling because alot of them lags on that aspect of storytelling
ha yes but think about john wick for instance ... i manages to be borring by being so relentless with it's action
I think John Wick is also less visually...emotive...than Mad Max. Like Mad Max doesn't just sell the emotional state of the MC, but also the feeling of other characters as well as the majestic brutality of the environment. It's operatic in scope. I feel like (I can only say feel here) John Wick works like a cinematically executed side-scroller game. I might be talking out of my ass.
The point might be that both are great action movies, but they have different ambitions as to how that action is applied in each movie.
Personally I enjoyed both of those movies but having all the ingredients for a great action movie doesn't guarantee those behind the camera will execute it right.
I think the problem with many modern action movies is their visual elements don't work together very successfully. They have far too many cuts, and cuts done for no reason. The action in Fury Road is very clear, which lets you follow what's happening and care about the outcome.
I just want to say thank you for this video. I'm in the last year of my degree in marketing and advertising in college and I'm making a short stop-motion film. Until this moment I was worried about creating an interesting script because I was never very good at writting, so a bend towards to express myself visually. This video opened my eyes. At a certain point I came with the ideia of making a storyboard first but at the time I tought it was a bad idea lol. Again, thank you very much and keep the good work!
Lots of great points, thanks for sharing!
This reminds me of the making of Paprika. That film DID get a script, but the storyboards came first because it's such a visually significant movie. And the storyboards were gooorgeous
Flurrin I didn't know that. It would make sense though, given some of the transitions. Man how would you write those for the opening scenes alone?
Most anime depends on storyboarding rather than on scripts. It's a visually significant medium.
Set up. Pay off.
Pieces of a man dont forget the reminder
Why are you guys saying things that don’t make a lick of sense? What the hell does “Set up. Pay off” have to do with any of the content in this video. How come the 450 people who liked you comment seem to know when the rest of us are dumbfounded?
I agree with Jacob.
Imagine being getting mad to the point of insulting other people’s intelligence simply because you don’t understand something. “Obviously everyone else is stupid not you you’re absolutely perfect in every aspect.”
Anyways the comment and subsequent reply are both talking about a concept in storytelling also known as Checkov's gun. Basically if you show a gun on the wall in the first half someone will be shot by the gun in the second half. The “set up” is the gun being shown on the wall the “pay off” is the gun being fired. Throw a “reminder” in there if you’re feeling frisky and have a character address the gun at some point before the pay off just to keep the audience thinking about it.
The comment is on this video because mad max: fury road employs this concept to the extreme. In the beginning max is kept alive for his blood in the end he keeps Furiosa alive using his blood for example. There are a lot of other examples of this but it’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie so I can’t describe them well here.
In closing, when you don’t understand something try asking questions instead of immediately jumping to “you’re stupid.”
watch the video by Lindsey Elis
Very cool, thanks for the analysis!
Having storyboards for a movie this big is just awesome. Especially because if you add text and coloring them you get a bunch of comics.
If you go on pretty much any comment section about this movie you'll learn that a lot of people didn't get all that info about characters from the subtle details. I feel bad for those people.
I don't agree with the character development argument of the film and I read lots of books. Mainly History. I finished a 1500 page 2-volume on Abraham Lincoln and working on another monster of the Maryland Campaign. Very solid works with lots of detail. Some people that I know loved Mad Max: Fury Road never read books. Can go both ways.
I think therein lies the problem; the requirement for explicit detail. What many lack is the ability to draw the dots from the implicit, infer, and compute.
@Charmiskit Anime and Manga can be some of the worst storytelling in existence. I've found most of the popular ones just deteriorate into non-stop exposition dumps.
no offence, dude.......
but your audience doesnt get mad max fury road..........
all of them think, it has no story. its visual & depth & show, not tell.
but its mnot like this.
this movie essentially follows heroes journey.
you can see it through out.
two worlds
1. immortan joe place(patriarch)
2. many mothers place(matriarch)
furiousa, travels to both & conquers both.
mad max is mentor. his only remaining instinct is "survive" because he's been forged by this world. But when he meets Furiosa's cause he starts to get his humanity back.
nux, want to go to valhala. he wants his brother to witness his epicness, he doesnt want to die mediocre, which immortan joe labels him. he goes to valhala.
all along the wives were the many mothers, who replaces old.
patriarch alone cant survive
matriarch alone cant survive
but when they come together, max & furiousa, they thrive.
it is masterpiece because if there would have been a madmax fury road novel before this movie was made, all the fans of the novel would think that it isnt possible to tell the story of madmax in one movie.
its just like ramayan, lord of the rings, odyssey etc etc.
Brendan McCarthy came up with the idea of the movie to begin with. Go watch an old show he worked on in the 90s, "Reboot". There's an episode in season 2 that parodies Mad Max. This episode actually feels like a mix between Road Warrior and Fury Road despite being made about two decades before Fury Road came out. This is because McCarthy, as a huge Mad Max fan, eventually met with George Miller and pitched the idea that would become Fury Road.
thank you for the video! and for the link!
As a storyboard artist this video made me really happy and I'm glad that you dived into the subject matte! It was really interesting to see you go through the different scripts, especially the John Wick one.
I think part of the reason why live action movies aren't usually storyboard driven is because of the structure of the production. Storyboarding for live action movies is usually used more for helping frame a scene than as a foundation of the overall movie. They defiantly can help flesh out fight scenes and other details left out of the script, but it's thought of as a separate process. Plus, it allows other members of the crew (actors, cinematographers, editors, ect.) to have space to put their thoughts/voices into the movie as well.
Quick edit: I guess I need to clarify something real quick. You can defiantly still have other members of the crew chime in and try stuff with a storyboard driven live action movies. However, there's defiantly more restrictions to what you can do once your out of the pre-production phase and less improvisation overall.
This really helps. I began writing down some thoughts of a story that was going on in my head for years now, but I didn't know how to write it down. I see pictures, scenes, not words. I don't have the money nor experience too make a movie, but I will keep on working on it and try to write a book which is easy to "watch" and who knows, maybe it's going to be a movie one day.
The story is about an ex-yakuza who settled down in new york. His life is boring and mundane, till the day his twin appears and starts dragging him into a world of violence, drugs, sex and conflict. I see well tailord suits, blood on black sunglasses staring at a neon light shining in a rainy night. Bruised knuckles, a man trying to move away, his left leg got shot off. The two brothers standing in front of each other, ready to duke it out like in a classic western shootoff. Distorted guitars weeping in the background, as the bass gets louder and louder...
This was fascinating! Thanks!
Awesome Video thanks for the work
Phenomenal video as always, Sage. I was just having a conversation yesterday with someone who thought Fury Road was just another substance-less blockbuster, but now I’ve got a great video to recommend!
My problem with the movie is that it was amazing visually, and the action conveyed the story really well, but sadly the story it created was mediocre. There was no real development in the plot, nor any good consistency.
When it came to the action, it showed but not told, but when it came to the actual story, it told and didn't show so it ended up being caught somewhere in between being forgettable and great, but at least for me, the forgettable side won out.
The story is simple: Some people are trying to escape their usual hell.
It's not a story about how far they'll go (like Lord Of The Rings), but it's more about how such a small act (Driving away) is risky in their* world. It's more of a character piece without all the grandiose "adventure" you find in something like Terminator 2.
Some people want a block-buster that is literally out of this world, like Jurassic World, Any Superhero Movie, etc.
The story of Fury Road is not complex, but it does one thing amazingly well: Adrenaline Rush. You will be thinking all the way from beginning to end "They might not make it."
While other blockbusters *clearly, you freaking know, they're going to make it. The danger isn't real, doesn't feel real, and you care less. Which is great if you really want to turn your brain off.
If you watch Fury Road again, you'll put the dots together for the "story" you say is missing. It's in the top 5 Block-Busters for depth, really. They just don't tell you every detail about the world like in other movies, you have to put the pieces together yourself (just like every other Mad Max film).
My problem is the story (the growth of the characters) is at odds with the plot (the things that happen.) At the end of the movie they end up back where they started and there's never any reason for any of the stuff that actually happened.
Basically the movie says "it sucks under Immortan Joe, we're going to run away. Now we're running. Now he wants to catch us. But we're suddenly precious even though we were nearly killed multiple times." There's never any real consequences for the actions and the tension is barely different than what you see in any standard superhero flick. It just has better action.
Mind you, I'm okay with simple stories. Some of my favorite movies have simple stories and he actually mentions one with a dumb but consistent story that stays true and doesn't just info dump in John Wick...And if you want a master class in simplicity in story and plot, but done with consistency and high stakes, then you need to watch The Raid Redemption.
Drive away, steer off coarse while still in view, get chased, get stuck, drive back the way you came, victory! Max was in there somewhere.
Michael Harris, I feel like you've got such a surface level understanding of it. It seems like you watched it passively. I suppose that people NEED to be told instead of shown the story. The story is all in the visuals, not at all in the dialogue. The dialogue is only used for exposition or things that are kind of impossible to do visually. Ah, well, it's all subjective.
I found the tension to be absolutely terrific, though. One of the few movies in my lifetime that I've seen had me grabbing the armrests of the theatre seat for dear life.
If i recall corectly, george lucas, for the big fight in revenge of the sith, the ultimate showdown, the fight that prequels led to and from which sequels (originals) came from, he just wrote "they fight".
And i think, as long as director is good visual artist, they dont need detailed script. And vice versa.
This is kind of a counterargument to the point of this video, though.
I think that's why that fight rings so hollow. That's one instance where the script should have followed that John Wick model of actually writing out the important beats in the action rather than just letting a stunt/vfx coordinator go nuts. Especially for a fight that's supposed to be such an important event in the entirety of your franchise.
Joseph Bernados exactly. Or at least bring Ray Park back.
In that scene, I feel like he SHOULD have wrote more in the script.
And then what?
A fight should bean more then just a brawl, put in some details.
Sure a brawl can be just a brawl but then John Wayne punch's some one and settle things, the fight should lead some where even if its jail.
I love this entry so much. It makes me feel okay with how I think when approaching my films, which is always a blend of script and boards. Thank you Sage.
That was great! That was GREAT! Thanks dude. Gonna watch more of your videos. This is good stuff.
Man, I love this series so much, great work!
Just re-watched this last night on Sci-Fi!
One of my favorite modern movies, bar-none.
Thanks for the analysis!
awesome video! gotta watch this movie again now. thanks! subbed!
Witness me!
MEDIOCRE!
Oh, what a day! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!!
So shiny and chrome!
WIIIITNEEEEEES!
I myself will carry you to the gates of Valhalla
Fascinating, thanks for this!
amazing video! loved it. great critique!
Hey man, just discovered this. Late to the party but you have an enthusiastic new subscriber! Thanks so much for all of this.
"There's no way we can describe all of them in any adequate amount of detail in a script"
-George R.R. Martin: "Hold my Beer"
This is just the difference between a novel and a screenplay though. One is meant to be self-contained, the other is not. Unless you're talking about actual TV scripts written by Martin?
That beer is stale as hell at this point.
@@IvanLendl87 my arm is so tired from holding George's beer
Novels are scripts
@@turbo2tone you mean they're the same thing as movie scripts? Because they aren't.
This video just made me realise how amazing the musical score was, for this movie. The music was simply amazing and felt us focussed towards the action.
I've just discovered this video and I'm a new subscriber. Your content is inspiring. Thank you for it.
That was such a great video. I learned a lot from it. Thank you!
I think my favorite part of Fury Road is how each character is different. No two people in the movie look the same.
What about all the war boys who look exactly the same lol. I get what you are saying though. And I believe this to be one of the best action movies ever made.
@@stuntcock8921 The war boys have the same general motif but they all have different shoes and pants and other clothing. I heard somewhere that the actors for them were told to bring their own boots and stuff like that.
@@stuntcock8921 Drone-like soilders have personalities too, even actual drones
You don't need to describe everything in minute detail, as this allows the person reading it to imagine what it might look like. You just need to tell the story and describe what each scene entails and whether it's day or night. Picture the how the scene will look like on screen, then describe it, but placing an emphasis on pacing and visuals.
Love your video !!! I learned so much from it thank you 😍🙏🏼
Dude bravo! This was great! Lots of useful stuff to think about.
0:58 seconds in and I'm already thinking, "a picture is worth a thousand words" it's so much easier to sketch that up than explain it.
Thats... actually a really great way to write. Just have panels, and underneath have some dialogue or notes on the subject. If you write by starting with the key scenes first, then fleshing it out, it could make the whole process so much more efficient and effective!
I think this is an awesome topic. I clicked on for the title and the subject matter didn't disappoint! Great video! But one thing I will say is that directing, cinematography, etc etc. are also huge visions that are pieced together from those who own/ execute those specific departments. Any single piece of those execs or heads were hired differently the whole movie could have looked different perhaps very drastically.
I'm blown away, great video!
Please make a video on how to write a memorable and quotable line.
This is interesting. I have thought about this myself. And then I realized ... I don't have time to sit and think about what quote would be memorable. I don't think Tolkien or Hobb or Moore thougt "Now I'll write a memorable quote".
So how do you do? I want to know too!
The best way I can suggest to do it, is never right down anything you think sounds cool. You'll miss out on a lot, but whatever sticks in your head will have a higher chance of sticking in others heads.
A memorable/quotable line is what happens when you make a good screenplay, no good writer goes in with the intention of making a line memorable or quotable. They simply write the line that's the perfect line to be said. But like most creative professionals know, simple is simply complex.
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." - Casablanca
so really it comes down to knowing how to structure a story so the line has significance to the story, which should be every line.
MrAwon12 I agree with your idea that it comes from a good script but a lot of iconic lines have been improvised.
Yeah, I suppose I was thinking more of the memorable lines. I think quotable lines can really just become a line perfect for a character. Rather than for the story, for instance
"hmh this is a tasty burger" - Pulp Fiction
not necessarily perfect for the story but man was it perfect for Jules. Just walks into the apartment and dominates the entire space(looking down on everyone), takes a bite out of the guy's big kahuna burger then proceeds to play nice, doesn't get more perfect than that.
So I guess I see a difference in memorable and quotable lines. Memorable being for the story and quotable being for characters and situations.
That was great. Made sense. Great video. 👍🏽👍🏻
Another great video, Sage!
A beautiful loveletter to beautiful movie.
So Fury Road is just the Anime adaptation? Now I wanna read the Manga.
Good God, just stumbled upon your channel and it is incredible! Keep up the good work!
Its the second video of your channel that I see and I already love the way you make your points
"It's the Bullet Farmer! He's coming from the Bullet Farm!"
Its like a farm. A farm where they farm bullets. Thats why they call it the bullet farm. And the bullet farmer is from the bullet farm. Thats why he is called the bullet farmer. That and because he actually farms bullets...on the bullet farm.
Not gonna lie Prince of Egypt by Dreamworks is my favorite movie
ᛟ VALHALLA ᛟ Umm. That’s not Disney. That’s DreamWorks. XD
Little1Cave FUCK
ᛟ VALHALLA ᛟ Yep. XD Three directors: One made Balto. One made Brave. And one made Bee Movie. 😂
Little1Cave NO WAY
ᛟ VALHALLA ᛟ Yes way! It was one of four traditionally animated DreamWorks movies, first Prince of Egypt, then Road to El Dorado, then Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and finally Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. The last one was a huge financial and critical disappointment so, like Disney, they shut down their 2D animation studio.
ABOSLUTELY GREAT! Thank you for putting this out! Doing final edits on the fifth draft of an action comedy and this helped a lot!
Dude you just made my day. Every action movie needs this in the future.
It doesn't hurt to have the most legit actress in Hollywood as your co-lead either ;)
THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF THIS MASTERPIECE
This was such a great analysis. Very well explained.
This video was So inspiring! I can only say thank you for that...
Awesome!
Please do one for Call Me By Your Name. It's one of the best book adaptations made, imo.
Aty S. Behsam I agree with this!
Enter a good storyboard artist.
Visual medium needs visual writing.
Great video, subscribed.
You touch on a lot of good points in this video, and I'm always impressed with how well you manage to answer them.
For example how movies go from story to fight scenes and how to remedy this by combining them visually.
How would you set up this action and reaction in a text piece like a novel without visual queues?
My point is, I don't think I can put it down in pictures, but if I understood the method of writing better, its definitely something I could replicate and make my own.
Your voice sounds like the guy who narrates the movie Two Brothers in the Rick and Morty show.
"...one of the best films of all time." BOLD.
and wrong too.
It isn't. Couldn't care less about any of the characters. The female child bearers were 2 dimensional / nothing. Main character uninteresting.
jon nuccle what would you consider to be one of the greatest movies of all time then?
@@SAMSARALIVEEEEEE Pan's Labrynth, Once Upon A Time In The West, Brazil, The Godfather II... amongst a whole bunch of others.
Fury Road is a great action movie, but like all action movies, it lacks depth and dimension imo.
jon nuccle I agree and disagree with your point, i feel like the movie’s depth and point isn’t obvious at all. It might not be in the characters or the script, but it’s in the details of the world, the character and their design, the weapons they carry, the vehicles they drive. The movie’s style just oozes personality and dimension. It’s an action movie that wanted to be more than just meaningless schlock full of cliches, i feel like it offers more than just a dumb action movie but that’s just me. Obviously many directors know how to find the perfect blend between action, story and dialogue way better than what Miller did with Fury Road. Tarantino for example really knows how to do these kinds of things for most of his movies, but still it isn’t a completely stupid movie like Fast and Furious. It still has beauty in my opinion and most importantly, it has meaning.
I'm now a subscriber.....I'll be looking at screenwriting now because of this....Well said!!
Great work!!
What I learned: have a bunch of cars drive for 2 hours while things explode.
The development process for Fury Road is the legacy of comic books. Comics have been doing this for decades, which is why Marvel movies feel as thrilling as they look: they have an established frame of reference to guide the development process.
Storyboards open up new avenues, which is why Pixar uses them so extensively to shape the look of their films. I’m not about say all (or even most) action movies should ditch screenplays in favor of storyboards, but like with the Lord of the Rings scene you noted, there’s ways the two modes can compliment one another to create a more whole and engaging motion picture.
I haven't enjoyed the Marvel films because of that. Mind you, I don't read comics but I did when I was a kid, so I understand the references in framing.
But directors are hand-tied by the comic references.
If they were given more freedom, you might get actual good-stand alone films, and not giant ads for the comic book inspirations.
Finding the middle ground between "stand-alone piece" and "inspired by" is hard.
So, I find that the people that love Marvel movies most are people that were fans of the original IPs already; for "plebe" fans like me, they don't really do much for me. And I love film.
I think this is something of a separate issue, where the desire to build a cinematic universe collides with the desire to create a great standalone. The film I think found the most perfect balance was Captain America: Civil War, along with the other two films in that series. Certain other Marvel films, like Ant-Man, suffered because they couldn't quite find the balance, making the work little more than a passable experience.
As for the enjoyability factor, I believe that's more of a generational difference. Just like westerns once spoke to one group, so too do superhero films. There's nothing wrong with loving, liking, or hating them; movies are subjective, after all. :)
amazing essay, bravo
EXCELLENT and well presented education on the "writing" of a GREAT film, thanks, love it.
It’s a shame the sequels are in jeopardy, this movie is amazing!
Patrick Watrick They'll get made eventually, Fury Road started way back in the 90s, but with some serious delays. But with the success of FR, the sequels should come with far less hurdles to jump.
Dillon Orr Well George Miller has recently realized that he should’ve gotten more money from fury road which led to a disputed with fox, which has put the sequels in jeopardy. Two to three sequels, however, have already been written/drawn
This is true, however after the success of Fury Road I'd almost guarantee they'll appeal to Miller as they know the change they pay out now will more than be returned through future films. However, corporations do like to be logically backwards sometimes so we shall have to wait and see if they postpone them.
Dillon Orr Well he’s suing them now....shit!..