When I was about 17 I sat down with my brothers to watch TV one summer. When we clicked it on it was about 1/8th of the way into a classic film, The Planet of the Apes (1968 version). We missed all the credits, the spaceship crash, everything that happened in the beginning. We had jumped straight into the part where the apes show up and start hunting the humans. As a viewer just jumping into the show at this point and seeing these apes chasing these people was a rush. Who are these people being chase? Who are these apes and how did they end up in charge? What planet are we on? Will the main characters survive? The effect of jumping in the middle of a chase sequence and having to run with the characters (mentally) and try to play catch up with the facts of the story was really compelling...Flash forward to 2001, four months after 9/11. I was inspired by the events of the tragedy and embarked on one of my longest writing assignments. For me inspiration is different than other people. I don't try to come up with a story. Something triggers me to "see" a scene or series of events in my mind and I start to play out the scenario. So what did I see that triggered this story? I saw a man waking up in a post-apocalyptic world with amnesia. He had no idea how he got there or what was happening... and then he found himself being chased. Yes, I went from apocalypse, amnesia and then chased.
I had always had these weird reoccurring dreams when I was growing up of being chased by some strange army. Never knew who they were or what they were after. These played out in my mind as a key factor in the story development of Amnesia. The story would always be a mix of searching for clues while constantly trying to evade capture or death.
I'm not a big "cause film" kind of person. If I'm going to watch a film it's because I find the story compelling and then themes develop within the story. This is also how I write my scripts. Out of the story, the struggle of the characters, the flaws and triumphs these themes emerge. You don't have to force themes to happen. Themes generally happen as the writer empathizes with the character's struggles. The questions that you struggle with as a writer, the ideals you try to hold to that you question rive the theme. This happens whether you want the themes to happen or not. Ironically the themes, which generally for me are unintended, resonate with the audience sometimes more than the story plot. With Amneisa the theme is simple but consistent: Hope Still Lives.
Even when things look bad and everyone says there's no hope... Hope Still Lives. Hope maybe hiding behind all the bad things that are happening. Hope maybe very subtle, small, almost invisible, but it's there. Hope is like the rays of a sunrise just as the dawn of day is coming. Just that little sliver of light that tells you that things will get better. Hope Still Lives.
J.W.B.
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