Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: The Martian

Starting Monday, we begin our next installment of the Go Into The Story Movie Analysis series: The Martian, screenplay by Drew Goddard, book by Andy Weir.

The Martian is already a hit having grossed over $117M in box office revenues worldwide in less than 2 weeks. Not surprisingly, critical response has been strong as well: Rotten Tomatoes at 93% and Metacritic at 81. So do like I’m doing this weekend: Go see The Martian!

Our schedule for discussion next week:

Monday: General Comments
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Takeaways

Why watch movies?

Because to be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.

But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.

Movies must be in your lifeblood — and the best way to do that is to watch and analyze them.

This series is your Call To Adventure! So do yourself a favor: Watch Nightingale and join the discussion beginning Monday, October 12.

If you have found interviews and/or analysis of the movie, please post in comments.

The official The Martian website here.

To access all of the movies we have analyzed in this series, go here.