Helpful Movies

I'm back! Woot! Well, I watched two films this weekend that really have nothing in common. They are actually quite the polar opposites. The films are Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures and the Seth Rogen written Pineapple Express. Despite their black and white difference in tone, subject matter, and direction I found them both to be very inspiring and containing elements that I want to incorporate into my film.
For starters, as I write I cannot help but imagine how I will directed certain scenes: how will the scene be lit, how will I move the camera, ect. Working through the outline, it became quickly apparent to me that I want a very "free" moving camera. Initially, I only intended to use this technique to keep the film moving, adding energy to each scene, but after watching Heavenly Creatures I was challenge to think deeper. The crazy, "flying around" camera from Heavenly Creatures did more than just "keep the film moving". Instead, it was really used to communicate the insanity inside the leading characters' minds. With that in mind, I decided to really use my camera to help demonstrate the difficultly that my leading character have with communicating.
For Pineapple Express I was really given a chance to see what works and what does not work in a movie very similar to the one I am trying to write. Although a large part of the humor for Pineapple Express is found in the "pot jokes" and vulgarity, and my film will have neither of those things, much of the character development and plotting have strong similarities. Newer to the whole writing of screenplays, this was very helpful. I was able to see: what kinds of humor worked and what fell flat, what character development felt forced and what felt natural, what parts of the story dragged and what parts were too quick, ect.
That's all for now friends. Until next time, good night and good luck!