The mind is the writers playground - and for some it can be a lifetime's battlefield. It is the Gladitorial arena in which we fight all our internal battles before moving forward with life and its many dilemmas. For those who weave words, of course, the human mind is far more than the simple movie screen brought to us by directors of film. Forget all about 3D. When one is absorbed by the reading experience, when you're lost in the written word, no movie can match the vitality of the vision being played out before you.
Just why then is Hollywood spending millions on 3D, when we know the novelty is soon to wear off? Well, we've had 3D a few times before, but it was maybe a little before my time. Back then it was a new gimmick. Obviously, I never saw 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon' in 3D at the theatre. I have a standard DVD copy of the movie. A classic? That's a matter of opinion, but I personally don't think so. The interesting point is, there are films being released today of a similar ilk that are meant to wow us with spectacle for one thing, and then floor us with 3D action for another.
They don't.
We've already seen far too much. The advent of computer generated effects has ensured every situation imaginable can be flung onto the screen to blow us away . . . and unfortunately now, it's turning us away. I am currently reading 'The Woman in Black'. Apart from personally knowing the description of the locale, (which I can relate to because I live on the East Coast of England, close to where Susan Hill, who wrote the book grew up) I have found the experience of the written story more vivid and frightening than anything the movie could muster up. There has been no creepy music in my head, no real jump scares so far, yet the excursion has evoked far more unease for me. The film, for all its noble worth, has obeyed a requirement to employ standard horror devices to lay out its thrills. There are hence plenty of jumps, loud noises, blurry images of figures in the background, and children with expressionless pale faces . . .
There are, of course, certain ways and means of creating similar spills and chills in the written word; little tricks to make things move a little quicker or provide the 'jump'. A nice slow build up of description, followed by a single line paragraph usually does this quite nicely. You know, you ramble through a description for quite a bit about some guy coming up a flight of stairs in an old dusty house, and then in a single paragraph line at the very end you might suddenly declare . . .
'And the guy had no head.'
For heaven's sake, please don't slot in an exclamation mark after it. That would kill it dead! Okay, the example might be fairly crude, and it's not a great line, but you get the point. Stephen King and others use this technique to great effect time and again. So you can create cinematic effects on the written page. Of course, there are skills involved in all of this, to prevent it becoming hackneyed, to make it build up effectively; skills which I'm sure many of the writers who read this have already perfected.
So, let's allow the imagination have some sway, even in the movies. The insistence of some film makers to 'show' everything is a poor one, in my opinion. Just some insight, to let the audience do a little work themselves, to collaborate, must surely go a long way. I remember seeing 'Jaws' for the first time. I was absolutely terrified before I'd even entered the theatre, such was the ground work already laid by the hype, to ramp up any anticipation of unbridled fear. For me, the thing that was so great about that movie was the fact you saw barely anything of the shark for most of its running time. So when the rubber fish finally was revealed, the subconscious part of my head had already bought into it. I was convinced the thing was real, dangerous and very deadly.
And it was all because - 'the shark was not working.'
Apparently, this was the loud hailer declaration for most of the shoot. The mechanical shark, designed and constructed to replicate a Great White, failed many more times than it worked! Under pressure from the studio to finish the shoot Steven Spielberg had to devise ways to allow them to carry on filming. I get the feeling from recent interviews he had no idea this apparent annoyance was to become a masterstroke of good fortune. The initial intent was to show a hell of a lot more of the shark than finally ended up on screen. And boy are we glad now he didn't - because I believe it allowed 'Jaws' to become the masterpiece it is. The opening scene of Chrissie Watkins' death is so chilling because you are constantly expecting that Great White's snout to break through the water in a fountain of spray and gore.
You get to see a little more later as poor Alex Kintner gets munched. Even taking the scene in slow motion it's hard to make out what just happened. It kind of looks like the shark rolls over as it strikes, in the manner of a crocodile. Two fins flip over in the water and in the next second the boy is gone. Very effective. Again, as the movie reaches its nail chewing climax on the 'Orca', the 'three floating barrel technique' covers efficiently for the lack of a mechanical shark. When a barrel pops up, bobbing around in the waves, you know the shark is somewhere near. Actually, there's nothing there at all, but we all think there is.
Thankfully, the shark did work long enough for the movie to be finished, and when it did finally show up in full glory you could tell that no way could it be a real Great White, not even close. But by then Spielberg had played his winning move in the mind game and convinced us all of its deadly validity.
So who needs to see everything? Some of the worst horror writing currently published is that in which the author has seen fit to describe every last detail, of every last thing. From time to time this method may be desirable, even required, but I would venture to say that most decent stories and novels have managed without it.
So please, let's continue to let words stimulate the mind first . . . because we all know, massive IMAX screens, over used CGI and even, dare I say, 3D is never going to come close.
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