Video: “Theme Shown”

Another in the excellent screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.

Jonathan W. Stokes is a screenwriter with a unique credit to his name: Five of his original screenplays have been named to the annual Black List. That alone should get your attention, but there’s also this: Over the last few years, he has produced an excellent video series called Raising the Stakes.

In the Season Two, Episode 2 video (“Theme Shown”), Jonathan explores how well-constructed movies often feature a closing image or scene with a visual that conveys the story’s central theme, then bookends it with a similar or same visual at the movie’s end. Jonathan calls this “theme shown” and here is the video exploring this storytelling technique.

I love Jonathan’s choice of framing the video with the feather from Forrest Gump. It’s a perfect choice. The feather moved by the wind here and there, the wind representing Fate … a metaphor for Forrest life which also is moved by Fate.

Movies are primarily a visual medium, so Jonathan’s point about using some sort of image to convey theme is well taken. But perhaps even more important is this point Jonathan makes toward the end of the video:

“If your story doesn’t have a strong theme if you’re not writing about something, what are you even writing it for?”

As a writer, whether you are consciously aware of your story’s central theme or perhaps simply feel it in your gut, it is critical to tap into it. For it is the touchstone for everything else in the script, a lens through which you can assess every character … every plot event … every scene. Knowing a central theme can bring your story into focus.

How to zero in on a story’s central theme? This article may help you out.

Movies referenced in Jonathan’s video:

Check out all of Jonathan’s Raising the Stakes videos.They offer an excellent foundation in grasping the essence of screenplay structure.

For more background on Jonathan W. Stokes, you can go here.

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You may read my interview with Jonathan here.