[drgoodword]

Hi Fellow PO.com'ers

I'm writing a spec script for an action thriller in which Peak Oil is a significant factor. I know many screenwriters prefer to avoid voiceover narration, but it's been used effectively in some movies (e.g. Sunset Blvd, Fight Club, Election).

In any case, I've written a voiceover narrative introduction to start the movie/script, and I'd like to run it by you, my fellow PeakOil.com'ers. In this voiceover I try to summarize Peak Oil with a doomerish shading. Your feedback, positive and negative, is greatly appreciated.

Note: I've left out the last sentence in the introduction because it gives away too much of the movie's plot.

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My Action/Thriller Peak Oil Movie Voiceover Narrative Introduction

Mankind has made a terrible mistake.

For thousands of years, war and disease kept a check on human population. Life was difficult and uncertain, but we managed a rough balance with the world. Then, at the dawn of the twentieth century, everything changed with the discovery of oil. Technologies rapidly evolved to utilize this new source of power, transforming everything from transportation to agriculture. We developed aircraft and grew enough food to feed the world’s population, which exponentially increased from one billion to six billion people within a single century.

But this golden age of energy has come to an end. Oil extraction has a unique property due to the way oil is buried in the ground: the first half of any oil well comes out quickly, but the second half comes out more slowly, at a declining rate. This geological fact of midway peak production rate is as true for one oil well as it is for all oil wells combined, and no technology can overcome it. Globally, we have now reached the combined midway summit point of oil production, an event which some geologists call “Peak Oil.” From now on, no matter what we do, our world will produce less oil than the year before.

Nothing can save us. Not solar power, not windmills, not more nuclear reactors. Nothing can replace the concentrated power of oil. Very soon our economies, already suffering from a financial crisis, will stall and crumble. Governments will fail. And we will have much less food. In the midst of panic, hunger and despair, the world will cry out for solutions. Many leaders will offer them. None will work.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')il extraction has a unique property due to the way oil is buried in the ground: the first half of any oil well comes out quickly, but the second half comes out more slowly, at a declining rate.

[Revi]

I know that the odds are stacked against us, but you should have one person, or group of people that makes it through the crisis. That gives people hope. You are writing a story that will motivate people to try to do something about peak oil. I think that the power of a movie is way greater than a documentary or a book. You can get something into the minds of millions of people. Why not get them thinking about the solution to this problem?

A solar economy could support a lowered human population.

[Jenab6]

I'm not sure that this is a good idea. Noble, perhaps. But unwise. Why? Because no matter what anybody does, at least 3/4 of the world's population must die. There is no point in cluing in the stupid-heads, the improvident and the unalert, the ones who ignore the signs of the times, since they're the ones who are least likely to be able to survive in the post-apocalyptic world. Each stupid-head who gets informed becomes a competitor to the people who didn't need to have the situation explained to him in comic-book-simple terms.

Jerry Abbott

[nutmeg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jenab6', 'I')'m not sure that this is a good idea. Noble, perhaps. But unwise. Why? Because no matter what anybody does, at least 3/4 of the world's population must die. There is no point in cluing in the stupid-heads, the improvident and the unalert, the ones who ignore the signs of the times, since they're the ones who are least likely to be able to survive in the post-apocalyptic world. Each stupid-head who gets informed becomes a competitor to the people who didn't need to have the situation explained to him in comic-book-simple terms.

Jerry Abbott

[Revi]

People don't respond to a message of doom. They only respond to hopeful messages. I know it's going to get bad, but you can't motivate people that way. You have to tell them that there is a way through this. I agree that by the end of this thing there will be a quarter of the people, but in an adventure story it's always nice to have the people you focus on live.

Of course, The 300 was a very popular movie and everybody died in the end. Maybe it could work, but you would have to ennoble the people, like Nevil Shute's on the Beach.

Cormac Mc Carthy's The Road even had a tiny bit of hope in it, and it was one of the darkest books I have ever read.

[AirlinePilot]

Actually I think doomer movies work quite well. I just saw "I Am Legend" and in the end billions are gone, but the hope for mankind is kindled in the final scene quite well. It almost moves you to tears.

Keep the message simple. Keep it short, and use some very powerful imagery with the voice over.

I'd keep it very succint and simple, more-so than you have there. Think similar to Morgan Freemans voice over for the beginning and end to the latest version of "War of the Worlds". I thought that was excellent.

[I_Like_Plants]

You can't lecture or pontificate. Your characters can't lecture or pontificate. If you need to make a point, such as Albert Bartlett's point about exponential growth, you have to do it in a witty, visual way.

No, this is not easy to do. This is why great movie-writers make the big money.

(By this I mean, that way of thinking without being pedantic or wordy means, they get good at quick quips and snappy comebacks, and they get to bus tables at the more sophisticated clubs!)

Good luck!

[Nicholai]

The movie 'Manufactured Landscapes' was perfect.

Very little narration, very little to argue with. It was just pictures and music. How do you argue with pictures and music?

Obviously this wouldn't be shown in any major theater (Manufactured Landscapes), and from what I understand, this is your main goal (or at least to have it seen by more than the usual documentary crowd).

Maybe you should make a movie that tells people to do all the wrong stuff, that would be hilarious.

Tell them to buy larger cars and move to more unstable and overpopulated regions such as (for example) the HOT and RELAXING climate of Bangladesh or fun-filled summer cottages on the coast of Florida.

I've always wanted to see a movie like that.

[PenultimateManStanding]

I think you need to make it more theatrical, like the Star Wars intro:

For thousands of years, humanity has battled the elements, faced famine and wild beasts of prey. But then the miraculous powers from beneath the Earth unleashed even more miraculous powers that promised the stars. Fantastic prosperity gave promise to a future so bright as to be unimaginable. But then the dark fluid that made it all so real flowed through humanity's fingers. Thus begins our tragic tale.

[drgoodword]

Thank you all for taking the time to give your feedback. It is much appreciated. You've given me some excellent ideas about reworking the 3rd paragraph.

To AirlinePilot: I agree that the narrative introduction to Spielberg's War Of The Worlds is a first-class piece of writing. Little wonder since it's taken almost exactly from Wells' opening to the source novel. Further, I agree that literate but plain-language writing, without unnecessary drama, jargon or flourish, makes for the most powerful statement.

Again, thanks to all!