WHY the script of "CRASH" WORKS

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                THE SECRET ARTISTRY OF "CRASH"
               ...and the writing techniques we
                    can learn from the film

                     By David S. Freeman

"Crash": script by Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco

The writing techniques that create the most powerful emotional
impact in a film audience, or in a reader of fiction, lie outside
the viewer's or reader's conscious awareness.

We'll examine one of the most powerful scenes from "Crash."
(Note: Please don't read on if you haven't seen the film but
intend to.)

Farhad (Shaun Toub), the angry Iranian shop keeper, has a gun and
is coming to kill the locksmith Daniel (Michael Pena), falsely
believing that Daniel is responsible for not fixing the door in
his (Farhad's) shop, which lead to a break-in.

Farhad arrives at Daniel's house with the gun, confronting Daniel
outside.  Daniel's young daughter, inside the house, sees the gun.
Believing she wears a magical, invisible protective robe, she runs
out and jumps between Daniel and Farhad.

The gun goes off, and everyone, including Daniel's wife who's
watching from inside the house, is shocked and anguished,
thinking the girl is dead.

When the girl is not dead, Daniel and his wife are thankful -- the
girl assumes her survival is to be expected because of her robe --
and Farhad believes a miracle has occrred.  Only we, the audience,
know what happened when, shortly after the incident, we learn that
Farhad's daughter, fearing her father's bursts of irrational anger,
had bought blanks for the gun.

Let's look at the techniques that operate outside our normal
awareness but which combine to make this scene powerful.

1.  The scene leads us through many emotions in quick succession.
This emotional churning gives the scene a feeling of "depth," and
thus I call it a "Scene Deepening Technique."

2.  We simultaneously identify with more than one character in the
scene, who are feeling quite different emotions (the girl, Daniel,
and his wife).  This is another Scene Deepening Technique
("Multiple Empathies").

"Depth," whether it be in a scene, in a character, in a plot, or
even in a single line of dialogue, usually has to do with layers;
more than one thing is going on at a time.  Let's look at some
other techniques which make this scene so emotionally compelling.

Note: To save space here, the article, with screen-shots and
and many more techniques, continues at:
http://www2.beyondstructure.com/crashOJg7.ZxOkRVuO.JBSckVYQ