PREMISE & THEME (Notes)

What is a Premise?

When you’re deciding HOW TO WRITE A STORY, the important first step is to
Create your Premise.

When you WRITE A STORY it needs to be about something. That something is the
premise. It’s the central idea, an intriguing situation that makes people want to
see further. It’s usually an open question in the form of “what would happen
if…?”

Let’s look at some examples:

GROUNDHOG DAY
Premise: what if? You lived the same day over & over again.
It’s SHORT its BRIEF, its PROVOCATIVE.

AANKHE
Premise: what if? Three blind people robbing a bank.
It’s exciting; you would want to know how?

Ingredients of a good Premise:

A good Premise should be….

• Brief
• Provocative
• Framed as an interesting ‘what if…?’
• Contains a character, a conflict & a hook
• 25 to 30 words max
• Contains universal appeal
• Gets you passionate about writing
• Written in present tense
• Understood by a fifteen year old

You should create a Premise before you write a story.

WHAT IS A THEME?

A Theme is the overall thrust of a story, it’s the meaning of an entire story, it’s the
end result, and theme is the key message the film or event conveys.
Examples of premise & theme interwoven:

Take Romeo and Juliet. The premise is two young people from warring families
fall in love. The Theme is great love even defies death.

The Da Vinci Code: the premise is that the Catholic Church has a secret agenda.
The theme is that it's time to change the way we feel about organized religion.

Pride and Prejudice: the premise is that a feisty young woman needs to find a
husband. The theme? Love conquers all.

The premise to Crime and Punishment: a young man kills an old lady for her
money. The theme: sin leads to redemption.

But wants missing here is your PLOT, which is:

A SERIES OF EVENTS DELIBERATELY ARRANGED SO AS TO REVEAL THEIR

DRAMATIC, “THEMATIC” & EMOTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE.

So your PREMISE leads to a PLOT, then plot leads to a THEME (the meaning of
the story.)

Short analysis on theme from a movie

MAQBOOL

Maqbool (Irfan khan) his mistress Nimmi (Tabu) in their ruthless ambition to
achieve their goal, decide to kill their don ABBAJI (Pankaj kapoor). Then to
strengthen himself in his position, Maqbool hires assassins to kill KAKAJI &
GUDDU whom he fears. But Guddu escapes. Later, Maqbool is forced to commit
still more murders in order to command his position as the don. Finally his own
men come against him. His mistress dies of haunting fear.

So what can be the theme of this movie? The question is what is the motivating
force? No doubt AMBITION. What kind of AMBITION? RUTHLESS, since it is
drenched in blood. Maqbool’s downfall was foreshadowed in the very method he
achieved his ambition. So as we see the theme for MAQBOOL is: “ruthless
ambition leads to its own destruction.”

Another Example:

Lets say we want to write a story on a FRUGAL character. Shall we make fun of
him? Shall we make him ridiculous, or tragic? We don’t know yet. We have only
an idea, which is to depict a frugal man. Let us pursue the idea further. Is it wise
to be frugal? To a degree, yes. But we do not want to write about a man who is
moderate, who is prudent, and who wisely saves his money. Such a man is not
frugal; he is farsighted. We are looking for a man who is frugal he denies himself
basic necessities. His insane frugality is such that he loses more in the end than
he gains. We now have a THEME. “Frugality leads to waste.”

Every good theme is composed of three parts each of which is essential to a

story.
Let us examine “frugality leads to waste”. The first part of theme suggests
character----- a frugal character. The second part, “leads to,” suggests conflict, &
the third part “waste” suggests the end of the story.

So lets develop: “frugality leads to waste”. The theme suggests a frugal character
that in his eagerness to save his money refuses to pay his taxes. This act
necessarily evokes a counter action---- conflict------ from the state, & the frugal
person is forced to pay triple the original amount.
“Frugality” then suggests character, ”leads to suggest conflict, ”waste suggest the
end of the story.

Some important thought

You should have the ability to dramatize your IDEA/THEME rather than your
character talking about in the story. You should make your point through the
dramatic action of the story. You gain the added power of allowing the audience
to discover what’s really going on rather than being told.

Implementing the theme while writing a story

How to you use theme? It is the tool that dictates everything, plot, camera
movement, set design, lighting, acting, everything.
(Movie clip of the film GRAGUATE will be shown)

THEMATIC SCENE

Is where you place a scene symbolically to illustrate your theme or what the
story is about? In most cases the scene is sugar coated.
In the beginning the audience might not get it but later when the story concludes
they realize the importance of the scene.
(Film example: PSYCHO, SIGNS, REAR WINDOW, BIRDS, DEVIL, and DIRTY
PICTURE)

INTRODUCING THE MAIN THEME AS QUESTION

The speed at which an audience thinks, when it watches the events of a film
unfolding, cannot be maintained when it comes to understanding the statement
(Theme) of the film. The speed drops suddenly & this is entirely natural.
So there has to be a balance between these two speeds. This can be achieved if
the statement of a film can also, like the events gain a certain speed.

How is this speed to be acquired?

A question can act as this source. A question can be raised by a character about
the statement (theme). After this happens the audience will naturally seek out
the answer & audience mind gains speed.
All the things that take place over the rest of the film appears to be the answers
to the question.

Movie example:

(Opening scene CITIZEN CANE, NAYAK (Satyajit Ray’s)

TRANSCODING THE MAIN PHILOSOPHY INTO TINY DETAIL

The main IDEA/THEME shouldn’t be dialogue based. It has to be visual based.

It is easier in poetry or a play by words, but in a movie we have to look for visual
means. Using means to embody the basic idea/theme in front of one’s eyes,
through objects, (film clips:IKIRU, KUPURUSH MAHAPURUSH)
Incidents, (Movie example: GODFATHER, DEEWAR)
Character traits (Movie example: ANAND)

Therefore, the methods of transforming the “idea” or “theme”

Place the object, through which the idea is being realized, as a visual instance,
With little dialogue or no dialogue.

Make this instance a simple, unified one, so that one does not have to keep
looking at it endlessly to understand its nature. Therefore the more familiar &
ordinary the instance is, the better.
Avoid poetic description about that instance.