forum Your preferred type of death scene

Started October 11, 2018 by @Paperok

tune

Fast? Drawn out? Offscreen?

i think the faster, the sadder

Drawn out, but not for too long or it ruins the entire plot.

It honestly depends on what the scenario is and what audience you are aiming for. Offscreen but implied death is better for younger ages, fast or drawn out works quite well, but it, again, depends on the scenario.

Personally I see the appeal to both extremes. Drawn out to play to the reader's emotions or quick to solidify some realism in the whole fleeting sense of life. @"Impossible_Girl (Impossible_Droid)" Is right. It is very situational. I have a death scene where two brothers are fighting together and the older one acts as a shield to ensure the younger one gets the kill. The younger brother doesn't realize his brother is dead until a moment later. The blink of an eye. I did it this way so Jake, the younger brother, wouldn't have the closure you would want from a situation like that. Yep. Stuff.

Slow trust to love then a quick brutal betrayal. Then death.

Show how others react to the death, that makes it much sadder.

Unexpected is my favorite way to go. No one is prepared for it, it just happens in a split second. ooooOoOoOOoOoOOoOoO the shock of the other characters is fun to write too.

Death is not emotional or theatrical. Death is a fact of life. If there is a sense that death is temporary, who the fuck cares, honestly. If it fwels too permanent, the audience might think that life doesn't matter. The key is to keep it in the middle. When a character dies, there should be almost no hope. And I mean ALMOST. As in, in the sandbox of sorrow, only one single grain of hope should remain. If it's too fast, the impact doesn't fully hit.
If it's too slow, it's schlock and camp. Gruesomeness is good, especially if you're trying to make a point. The real key is before the death. If nobody is TRULY invested in your characters, refer back to sentence three in this post. All in all it is entirely situational and circumstantial.

I prefer the emotional, badass last stand! Nothing like crying while your favorite character goes down swinging!

Yos. Yos.

Dying to save their friends??? That's some gooooOOOOOoooood stuff right there!

the death scene at the end of rogue one is the ideal character death😤👌

WE DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT!!!!!
sobs

Oof

Oof indeed ouch my heart I can't even asdfghjkl; I cannot even I cannot even begin to even

WE DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT!!!!!
sobs

yo the first time i saw that i sobbed my eyes out
but the cinematography was FREAKING GORGEOUS
and giacchino did an amazing job on the soundtrack

kudos to whoever storyboarded that scene. It was sad and beautiful

Stibbity Stabbed in the back by a friend.