@mytechtoday/augment-extensions 1.5.2 → 1.6.0

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/cinematic-styles/rules/blue-ruin.md

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+# Blue Ruin - Screenplay Style Guide
+## The Incompetent Protagonist Thriller
+
+**Film**: Blue Ruin (2013)  
+**Writer/Director**: Jeremy Saulnier  
+**Genre**: Revenge Thriller / Anti-Action Film  
+**Runtime**: 90 minutes  
+**Core Concept**: Authentic incompetence in a revenge narrative
+
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Blue Ruin revolutionizes the revenge thriller by asking: "What if the protagonist was slightly less competent than the average person?" This style guide captures the techniques that make this film a masterpiece of grounded, tension-driven storytelling.
+
+---
+
+## Core Principles
+
+### 1. **Authentic Incompetence**
+The protagonist is not comedically inept—he's realistically unprepared.
+
+**Key Philosophy**:
+- Character can do nothing the audience cannot do
+- Every "action hero" skill is absent or fumbled
+- Mistakes have real, escalating consequences
+- No plot armor, no convenient expertise
+
+**Examples from Film**:
+- Protagonist misses a target from 7 feet away (realistic for untrained shooter)
+- Struggles to slash a tire (harder than it looks)
+- Cannot pick locks, hot-wire cars, or treat wounds properly
+- Gets lost, makes noise, leaves evidence
+
+**Writing Approach**:
+```
+WRONG: "Dwight expertly picks the lock and slips inside."
+RIGHT: "Dwight fumbles with a bent paperclip. The lock doesn't budge. 
+       He looks around, then smashes a window. Glass cuts his hand."
+```
+
+### 2. **Minimal Dialogue**
+Blue Ruin uses sparse, purposeful dialogue. Long stretches pass without words.
+
+**Dialogue Guidelines**:
+- **Show, don't tell** - Visual storytelling over exposition
+- **Silence as tension** - Quiet moments build dread
+- **Subtext over text** - What's unsaid matters more
+- **Functional only** - Dialogue serves plot or character, never explains
+
+**Dialogue Ratio**:
+- First 15 minutes: Nearly silent
+- Average scene: 60% visual, 40% dialogue
+- Key moments: Often wordless
+
+**Example Structure**:
+```
+INT. ABANDONED HOUSE - NIGHT
+
+Dwight enters. Checks corners. Listens.
+
+Footsteps above.
+
+He freezes. Hand on knife. Breathing shallow.
+
+The footsteps stop.
+
+Long beat. Nothing.
+
+He exhales.
+```
+
+### 3. **Visual Storytelling**
+Every frame communicates character state, danger, or consequence.
+
+**Visual Techniques**:
+- **Environmental storytelling** - Setting reveals backstory
+- **Physical state** - Wounds, dirt, exhaustion shown constantly
+- **Practical details** - How things actually work (or don't)
+- **Consequence visibility** - Blood, damage, evidence accumulates
+
+**Character Through Visuals**:
+- Protagonist's homelessness shown through appearance, not dialogue
+- Desperation conveyed through body language
+- Fear shown in shaking hands, shallow breathing
+- Inexperience visible in hesitation, fumbling
+
+### 4. **Realistic Violence**
+Violence is messy, painful, and has lasting consequences.
+
+**Violence Principles**:
+- **Unglamorous** - No choreography, no style
+- **Consequences** - Injuries don't heal between scenes
+- **Desperation** - Fighting is survival, not skill
+- **Aftermath** - Blood, cleanup, trauma shown
+
+**Action Scene Structure**:
+```
+NOT: Smooth, choreographed fight sequence
+BUT: Desperate scrambling, missed strikes, exhaustion, luck
+```
+
+---
+
+## Narrative Structure
+
+### Act 1: The Ordinary Incompetent (0-20 minutes)
+**Goal**: Establish protagonist's baseline incompetence before the mission begins
+
+**Key Elements**:
+- **Silent opening** - Show character's current state visually
+- **Inciting incident** - External event forces action
+- **Reluctant preparation** - Character clearly unprepared
+- **First failure** - Early mistake establishes pattern
+
+**Pacing**:
+- Slow, deliberate
+- Minimal exposition
+- Build dread through silence
+- Audience realizes protagonist is in over his head
+
+### Act 2: Escalating Consequences (20-70 minutes)
+**Goal**: Each mistake compounds into bigger problems
+
+**Escalation Pattern**:
+1. **Small mistake** (leaves evidence, makes noise)
+2. **Medium consequence** (attracts attention, gets injured)
+3. **Major complication** (involves family, escalates conflict)
+4. **Desperate measures** (forced into worse situations)
+
+**Key Techniques**:
+- **No easy wins** - Every success comes with a cost
+- **Mounting injuries** - Physical toll accumulates
+- **Moral compromise** - Forced into darker choices
+- **Isolation** - Support systems fail or are pushed away
+
+### Act 3: Inevitable Collision (70-90 minutes)
+**Goal**: Protagonist's incompetence meets final confrontation
+
+**Resolution Principles**:
+- **No heroic transformation** - Character remains flawed
+- **Pyrrhic victory** - Success comes at devastating cost
+- **Ambiguous morality** - No clear "good guy wins"
+- **Quiet ending** - Understated, not triumphant
+
+---
+
+## Character Development
+
+### The Incompetent Protagonist
+
+**Core Traits**:
+- **Ordinary skills** - Can do what average person can do, nothing more
+- **Determination** - Driven by emotion, not ability
+- **Vulnerability** - Physically and emotionally exposed
+- **Adaptability** - Learns slowly, makes mistakes, improvises poorly
+
+**What They CANNOT Do**:
+- Fight multiple opponents
+- Shoot accurately under pressure
+- Pick locks or hot-wire vehicles
+- Treat serious wounds
+- Evade trained pursuers
+- Plan more than one step ahead
+- Keep emotions in check
+
+**What They CAN Do**:
+- Feel pain and fear
+- Make desperate choices
+- Stumble into partial success
+- Survive through luck and stubbornness
+- Fail repeatedly but keep going
+
+**Character Arc**:
+```
+NOT: Incompetent → Competent (training montage)
+BUT: Incompetent → Still Incompetent (but more desperate)
+```
+
+### Supporting Characters
+
+**The Competent Antagonists**:
+- **Professional** - Know what they're doing
+- **Organized** - Work as a unit
+- **Experienced** - Have done this before
+- **Dangerous** - Protagonist is outmatched
+
+**The Reluctant Helpers**:
+- **Skeptical** - Don't believe protagonist can succeed
+- **Protective** - Try to stop protagonist for their own good
+- **Limited** - Can help, but won't solve problems
+- **Realistic** - Have their own lives and limits
+
+---
+
+## Scene Construction
+
+### The "Competence Test" Scene
+Every action scene is a test of basic competence that the protagonist fails or barely passes.
+
+**Structure**:
+1. **Setup** - Protagonist needs to do something "simple"
+2. **Attempt** - Shows lack of skill/knowledge
+3. **Failure** - Task goes wrong in realistic way
+4. **Consequence** - Failure creates new problem
+5. **Adaptation** - Protagonist finds messier solution
+
+**Example Template**:
+```
+TASK: Break into a car
+ATTEMPT: Tries to slim-jim the lock
+FAILURE: Doesn't know how, breaks tool
+CONSEQUENCE: Attracts attention, wastes time
+ADAPTATION: Smashes window, cuts hand, sets off alarm
+```
+
+### The "Quiet Tension" Scene
+Build suspense through silence and visual detail.
+
+**Elements**:
+- **Minimal sound** - Footsteps, breathing, ambient noise
+- **Slow pacing** - Let moments breathe
+- **Environmental awareness** - Character scans, listens, waits
+- **False scares** - Build and release tension repeatedly
+- **Real danger** - Payoff is earned, not cheap
+
+**Tension Techniques**:
+- Long takes without cuts
+- Handheld camera for unease
+- Natural lighting (darkness is dark)
+- Diegetic sound only (no score)
+
+### The "Aftermath" Scene
+Show the consequences of violence and action.
+
+**Required Elements**:
+- **Cleanup** - Blood, evidence, disposal of bodies
+- **Injury care** - Realistic, painful, inadequate
+- **Emotional processing** - Shock, guilt, fear
+- **Practical problems** - Where to go, what to do next
+
+**Example**:
+```
+INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
+
+Dwight strips off bloody shirt. Examines wound in mirror.
+
+He pours vodka on it. Grits teeth. Doesn't scream.
+
+Tries to thread needle. Hands shake. Drops it.
+
+Picks it up. Tries again.
+
+Finally gets thread through. Starts stitching.
+
+Each stitch: wince, pause, breathe, continue.
+
+Sloppy. Uneven. But functional.
+
+He wraps it in duct tape and a torn t-shirt.
+
+Sits on toilet. Head in hands. Breathing.
+```
+
+---
+
+## Dialogue Principles
+
+### When to Use Dialogue
+
+**USE dialogue for**:
+- Essential plot information that cannot be shown
+- Character relationships and history
+- Immediate tactical communication
+- Moments of emotional breakthrough
+
+**AVOID dialogue for**:
+- Explaining what we can see
+- Character backstory (show through environment)
+- Emotional states (show through action)
+- Exposition dumps
+
+### Dialogue Style
+
+**Characteristics**:
+- **Sparse** - Every word counts
+- **Realistic** - People talk in fragments, not speeches
+- **Subtext** - What's unsaid is louder
+- **Functional** - Serves immediate purpose
+
+**Examples**:
+
+**WRONG** (Over-explained):
+```
+DWIGHT
+I have to do this. The man who killed my parents is
+getting out of prison today. I've been homeless for
+years, waiting for this moment. I know I'm not trained
+for this, but I have to try.
+```
+
+**RIGHT** (Minimal, visual):
+```
+POLICE OFFICER
+Wade Cleland's being released today.
+
+Dwight's face: recognition, pain, determination.
+
+DWIGHT
+When?
+
+POLICE OFFICER
+This afternoon.
+
+Dwight nods. Walks away.
+```
+
+### Silence as Dialogue
+
+**Powerful Silent Moments**:
+- First kill (no words, just action and reaction)
+- Driving scenes (character alone with thoughts)
+- Stalking/surveillance (patience and observation)
+- Injury treatment (pain speaks louder than words)
+- Final confrontation (actions over threats)
+
+---
+
+## Pacing and Rhythm
+
+### Overall Pacing
+- **Slow burn** - Build tension gradually
+- **No rush** - Let scenes breathe
+- **Earned payoffs** - Setup takes time
+- **Quiet between chaos** - Contrast action with stillness
+
+### Scene Length
+- **Varies widely** - Some scenes are 30 seconds, others 5+ minutes
+- **Follows natural rhythm** - Ends when moment is complete
+- **No artificial cuts** - Stay with character through full experience
+
+### Montage vs. Real-Time
+**AVOID**: Training montages, time-skip solutions, convenient skill acquisition
+
+**USE**: Real-time struggle, visible learning curve, repeated failures
+
+---
+
+## Visual Style Guidelines
+
+### Cinematography
+
+**Camera Work**:
+- **Handheld** - Adds realism and unease
+- **Long takes** - Build tension without cutting
+- **Static frames** - For observation and waiting
+- **Close-ups** - Show physical toll and emotion
+- **Wide shots** - Establish geography and isolation
+
+**Lighting**:
+- **Natural** - Available light, practical sources
+- **Darkness** - Actually dark, not "movie dark"
+- **Harsh** - Unflattering, realistic
+- **Minimal** - No glamour lighting
+
+### Color Palette
+- **Desaturated** - Muted, realistic tones
+- **Blue-gray** - Cold, bleak atmosphere
+- **Rust and decay** - Visual metaphor for protagonist
+- **Blood red** - Only vibrant color (violence stands out)
+
+### Production Design
+
+**Locations**:
+- **Real places** - Lived-in, authentic
+- **Decay** - Abandoned buildings, run-down areas
+- **Isolation** - Rural, empty, lonely
+- **Practical** - Actual locations, not sets
+
+**Props**:
+- **Functional** - Everything works (or doesn't) realistically
+- **Worn** - Nothing is new or pristine
+- **Limited** - Protagonist has minimal resources
+- **Improvised** - Makeshift weapons and tools
+
+---
+
+## Sound Design
+
+### Minimal Score
+- **Sparse music** - Used rarely, for specific emotional beats
+- **Diegetic sound** - What characters hear, we hear
+- **Silence** - Powerful tool for tension
+- **Ambient** - Natural environmental sounds
+
+### Sound Effects
+- **Realistic** - Guns are loud, violence is messy
+- **Detailed** - Footsteps, breathing, fabric rustling
+- **Consequences** - Ringing ears after gunshots
+- **Environmental** - Wind, rain, distant traffic
+
+---
+
+## Common Mistakes to Avoid
+
+### DON'T:
+1. **Give protagonist convenient skills**
+   - No sudden expertise in fighting, shooting, or tactics
+   - No "I used to be in the military" reveals
+   - No hidden talents that solve problems
+
+2. **Use plot armor**
+   - Protagonist can and should get hurt
+   - Enemies are competent and dangerous
+   - Luck runs out, mistakes compound
+
+3. **Explain everything**
+   - Trust visual storytelling
+   - Leave gaps for audience to fill
+   - Backstory through environment, not dialogue
+
+4. **Make violence cool**
+   - No slow-motion heroics
+   - No witty one-liners after kills
+   - No glamorizing brutality
+
+5. **Rush the pacing**
+   - Let tension build naturally
+   - Show the full process of tasks
+   - Don't skip the hard parts
+
+6. **Provide easy solutions**
+   - No deus ex machina
+   - No convenient help arriving
+   - No last-minute skill acquisition
+
+### DO:
+1. **Show realistic consequences**
+   - Injuries persist and worsen
+   - Mistakes create cascading problems
+   - Actions have moral weight
+
+2. **Build tension through silence**
+   - Long stretches without dialogue
+   - Visual storytelling over exposition
+   - Quiet moments before violence
+
+3. **Make audience question protagonist**
+   - Is this revenge justified?
+   - Can they actually succeed?
+   - Should they even try?
+
+4. **Ground everything in reality**
+   - Research how things actually work
+   - Show failures and fumbling
+   - No movie magic solutions
+
+---
+
+## Thematic Elements
+
+### Core Themes
+
+**1. The Cost of Revenge**
+- Revenge doesn't heal wounds
+- Violence begets violence
+- Protagonist loses more than they gain
+- No catharsis, only consequences
+
+**2. Ordinary People in Extraordinary Situations**
+- Average person thrust into thriller plot
+- Lack of preparation is the point
+- Survival through desperation, not skill
+- Realism over wish fulfillment
+
+**3. The Illusion of Action Heroes**
+- Deconstructs action movie tropes
+- Shows what "heroism" actually costs
+- No glory in violence
+- Competence is rare and hard-won
+
+**4. Isolation and Desperation**
+- Protagonist is alone by choice and circumstance
+- Help is limited or refused
+- Desperation drives poor decisions
+- Loneliness as character state
+
+### Moral Ambiguity
+- **No clear heroes** - Protagonist is sympathetic but flawed
+- **Understandable villains** - Antagonists have their own logic
+- **Questionable choices** - Audience debates protagonist's actions
+- **Pyrrhic victories** - Success feels hollow
+
+---
+
+## Practical Writing Tips
+
+### Scene Checklist
+Before writing any scene, ask:
+1. Can this be shown without dialogue?
+2. What can the protagonist realistically do/not do?
+3. What are the consequences of this action?
+4. How does this build tension or character?
+5. Is the pacing too fast? (Slow down)
+
+### Action Scene Checklist
+1. Is the protagonist outmatched?
+2. Do they make realistic mistakes?
+3. Does violence have weight and consequence?
+4. Is there a cost to "winning"?
+5. Does it feel desperate, not heroic?
+
+### Dialogue Checklist
+1. Can this be cut entirely?
+2. Can it be shorter?
+3. Is it realistic speech, not exposition?
+4. Does silence work better?
+5. What's the subtext?
+
+---
+
+## Example Scene Breakdown
+
+### SCENE: First Confrontation
+
+**Setup**: Protagonist must confront the man who killed his parents.
+
+**Traditional Thriller Approach**:
+```
+INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
+
+Dwight bursts in, gun drawn. Wade turns, surprised.
+
+DWIGHT
+Remember me?
+
+WADE
+Who the hell—
+
+BANG. Dwight shoots him. Wade falls. Dwight stands over him.
+
+DWIGHT
+That's for my parents.
+
+Dwight leaves.
+```
+
+**Blue Ruin Approach**:
+```
+INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
+
+Wade sits on toilet, reading newspaper. Hears door open.
+
+WADE
+Occupied!
+
+Dwight enters. Knife in shaking hand.
+
+Wade looks up. Doesn't recognize him. Starts to stand.
+
+Dwight lunges. Knife goes in wrong. Wade screams.
+
+They struggle. Crash into sink. Mirror shatters.
+
+Wade's stronger. Pushes Dwight back. Dwight slips on water.
+
+Wade grabs Dwight's wrist. They're face to face. Both terrified.
+
+Dwight headbutts him. Wade's nose breaks. Blood everywhere.
+
+They fall. Knife between them. Both grabbing for it.
+
+Wade gets it. Raises it.
+
+Dwight grabs his throat. Squeezes. Wade can't breathe.
+
+Knife drops. Wade's face goes purple. Eyes bulge.
+
+Dwight doesn't let go. Keeps squeezing. Tears streaming.
+
+Wade stops moving.
+
+Dwight holds on. Ten more seconds. Twenty.
+
+Finally lets go. Sits back. Covered in blood. Shaking.
+
+Looks at Wade's body. No satisfaction. Just horror.
+
+Stands. Legs barely work. Stumbles out.
+```
+
+**Key Differences**:
+- No witty dialogue
+- Messy, desperate struggle
+- Both men are terrified
+- No clean kill
+- Protagonist is traumatized, not triumphant
+- Takes time to show full horror
+
+---
+
+## Final Notes
+
+### The Blue Ruin Formula
+
+**Core Equation**:
+```
+Ordinary Person + Extraordinary Situation - Competence = Authentic Tension
+```
+
+**Success Metrics**:
+- Audience thinks: "I couldn't do that either"
+- Tension from realism, not spectacle
+- Silence speaks louder than dialogue
+- Violence disturbs rather than entertains
+- Ending feels inevitable, not triumphant
+
+### When to Use This Style
+
+**Best For**:
+- Revenge thrillers
+- Crime dramas
+- Survival stories
+- Character-driven suspense
+- Anti-hero narratives
+
+**Not Ideal For**:
+- Traditional action films
+- Superhero stories
+- Comedies (unless very dark)
+- Feel-good narratives
+- Stories requiring competent protagonists
+
+---
+
+## Recommended Viewing
+
+**Similar Films** (Incompetent Protagonist Trilogy):
+- **Murder Party** (2007) - Jeremy Saulnier
+- **Blue Ruin** (2013) - Jeremy Saulnier
+- **Green Room** (2015) - Jeremy Saulnier
+
+**Thematic Companions**:
+- **No Country for Old Men** - Ordinary people in violent situations
+- **A Simple Plan** - Escalating consequences of bad decisions
+- **The Nice Guys** - Incompetence played for comedy
+- **Hell or High Water** - Desperate people, realistic violence
+
+---
+
+## Conclusion
+
+Blue Ruin proves that authenticity creates more tension than spectacle. By stripping away the competence we expect from thriller protagonists, the film forces audiences to confront what revenge actually costs and what ordinary people can actually do.
+
+**The Golden Rule**:
+> "If your audience can't do it, your protagonist probably can't either."
+
+**The Result**:
+> Quiet, devastating, unforgettable cinema.
+
+---
+
+**Version**: 1.0
+**Date**: 2026-02-22
+**Based on**: Blue Ruin (2013) analysis and Jeremy Saulnier's filmmaking approach
+
+