DZ-82: Dramatising Given Circumstances in WATCHMEN

Listen if you're drowning your readers in world-building and can't figure out how to make it awesome! In this final podcast release of last year’s run of LiveSoLation episodes, Chas and Stu are joined by Uber-geek Mel Killingsworth (who else?) in an epic exploration of how Dave Gibbons’ and Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel WATCHMEN is adapted differently in Zack Snyder’s 2009 film and Damon Lindelof’s 2019 HBO television show. For this podcast release, we focus on a single craft tool: GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES. Traditionally an acting tool, we look at how it is also a useful writing tool: how is your story world different to your audience’s lived world and how best to communicate that? In terms of WATCHMEN (as you will hear), there is so much given circumstances to convey — in terms of alternate history, superhero rules, political rules, character backstory, character worldview — that is done excellently in both the movie and the TV show that this becomes a masterclass in exposition. We also touch on narrative structure and tone: how presenting the exact same information in a different order or through a different tonal lens can change how it lands for an audience. But this is explored much more fully in the very-visual companion YouTube videos. While this episode may not be for the feint of heart, we feel it is one of our best. Hope you do too. Quantity has a quality of its very own. As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Watch and comment on YouTube. Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Thomas, Garrett, Bjorn, Randy, Jesse, Theis, Sandra and Khrob. ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:02 – Watching the Watchmen 00:06:13 – Summaries 00:17:07 – Given Circumstances 00:38:39 – The Characters 00:51:07 – Theme & Characters 01:02:13 – Narrative Structure & Theme 01:27:07 – Worldview 01:33:47 – Dr Manhattan 01:51:50 – Wrap Up FILMS WATCHMEN (2009) — (w) David Hayter, Alex Tse (d) Zack Snyder SHOWS WATCHMEN — (w) Damon Lindelof SCRIPTS Study the script: WATCHMEN (2009) — David Hayter, Alex Tse SHOT ZERO DEEP DIVES How To Transition #001 - MATCH CROSSFADES The Eyes Have It: WATCHMEN The Eyes of WATCHMEN LINKS Read: Watchmen by Alan Moore YouTube: Narrative Structure and Given Circumstances in WATCHMEN YouTube: Adapting the Watchmen - Comic to Movie, or: how changing the tone changes the theme YouTube: Cal Abar Heaven Is Pretend speech - Watchmen S01E04 RELATED EPISODES DZ-37: Excelling at Exposition (Part 1) DZ-38: Excelling at Exposition (Part 2) ——— More Draft Zero is brought to you by our awesome Patreons. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, a rating on Spotify, or a review on Podchaser. We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter. Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2021/dz-82/