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Importance of format
Why do we need special format for scripts?
-Ultimate goal is to make the script easy to read
-Intended as a blueprint for production – must meet the needs of the various departments
-Format has been designed so that the flow of the story is not interrupted by extraneous details on the page.
Dos and Don’ts
-Only print on one side of the page. Only use plain white paper.
-Put the page numbers, followed by a period in the upper right hand corner.
-Don’t use correction fluid, don’t draw arrows, smiley faces, etc. on the page.
Margins
1” left Margin, 1” Right margin
Slug lines
-EXTERNAL/INTERNAL – LOCATION – TIME (All caps)
Action
-Describes what can be seen on screen
-Stretches across entire page
Writing Style
-Action description is always in narrative style, 3rd person and present tense.
-“What can be seen” includes actions as well as descriptions
-It is a good idea to suggest shot sizes and content through the writing but best to leave out specific shot references (CU, WS, Push In, etc.) This is the director’s job.
Character
-First appearance in CAPS
-All other appearances normal
-Character dialogue, NAME in CAPS. Left margin at 3.5” from edge of page.
Others
-The character name followed by (V.O) indicates Voice Over – Luke Skywalker
-The character name followed by (O.S) indicates Off Screen – Han Solo (O.S) (eg; telephone calls)
-A parenthetical appears In dialogue to give specific description of movement, gesture, or method of delivery.
-(sarcastically) or (waving)
Storytelling techniques
Week 12
Interactive Location
What is a location?
It can be :
Siberia
Adilah’s Mum’s house
Void deck where Jordus had his first kiss
– It is a physical place
World created by writer
It can be a physical address, or a world created by writer.
The place in your story where events occur and characters interact
When setting a location, think of the rules, address and other elements that reside within location
– It is a setting and surrounding that interacts with the characters of the film by adding importance to their actions
– An environment which impacts the action and heightens the stakes eg; Harper’s Island, LOST; Jurassic Park.
When you think of a location, we must consider the:
1. Rules (Spoken/Unspoken)
2. Address (Must be specific)
3. *Other elements that reside within the location
Location : Jurassic Park is a zoo/amusement park located on an island off the coast of Central America.
Interactive Location : The island is completely isolated, and anyone on it will be trapped until assistance from the mainland arrives.
Screening :
Lou Lou lives here (Hazel G, 2003)
Godfather 2
Review exercise 3: dialogue
Purpose of the exercise
– We write best what we know well
Dynamic action
<<Story is action>>
-Action encompasses any kind of movement, activity and interaction between the characters and also between the characters and their surroundings.
-Talking about how one feels is not as powerful as illustrating why one feels the way they do through action.
<<Film is behaviour>>
-Action is the manifestation of behaviour
-The complexity of the human psyche and interaction is better understood when it is possible to watch the actions, nuances and reactions of the characters.
<<Dynamic action>>
-Has the potential to enrich the experience of the audience by heightening the stakes and increasing the tension.
MOVING PICTURES
The power of any story lies in the narrator’s ability to project a mental picture for the audience
Exercise: Translating emotional responses into actions
2 students are to cut out their emotion set by a simple narrative according to the following:
The couple has just met. This is their first evening together. He is very shy. She desires him.
The young man has decided to leave his girlfriend.
The young lady has decided to leave her boyfriend.
He has another woman friend. She is also eating at the restaurant.
She is pregnant. She can’t bring herself to tell him.
>> Purpose of the exercise
-Translating emotional response into action
Screening : Steve Pavolsky’s “INJA” (Australia, 2001)
Elements of dialogue
• Dialogue reveals character
– a character will talk about himself and other people will talk about him
• Dialogue establishes relationships between characters
– once you have established your main character’s POV, you can use dialogue with other characters to show that they have other attitudes, creating opposite/alternative POVs
– this helps to create and sustain the element of conflict between characters
• Good effective dialogue will move the story forward.
• Dialogue communicates faces and information to the audience (your audience must find out something new)
– it conveys essential exposition
– characters will talk about what happened, establishing the storyline
• Dialogue comments on the acition
• Dialogue ties the script together
– it is one of the devices that you as a writer can use to expand and enlarge your characters
• If you can see it or hear it, don’t write it. – Neville Smith
• Dialogue should be used sparingly
• Never tell the audience what they can see for themselves
<Dialogue is not a substitute for action!>
In Hollywood, when they look at a page and it’s got too much black, too much ink on the paper, they say: “SHIT! IT’S FREEZE THE CAMERA TIME!”
• Common mistake
– students sometimes never achieve a level of competence as they tend to reproduce conventional spoken language, long statements of “REAL TALKING”, and defend their decision by telling us that : “It’s how the character speaks.”
• Dialogue is affected by: age(speed of speech, how busy a person is), gender, social status (educational qualification)
• Good dialogue is not somebody’s ability to write authentic speech as heard in real life
– if that was all there is to it, you can just push a button on the tape reocarder, then go collect your oscar
• Good dialogue is the illusion of reality
– you’ve got to know how to edit what people say without losing any of the spirit
• Common mistake
– students tend to create radio shows with images
<< Film is a visual medium>>
A screenplay is a story told in pictures
Exercise : writing dialogue
The scenario :
A middle aged man returns home from work.
He had stopped for a few drinks with his friends and forgot to phone his wife to tell her he’ll be late.
The dinner is ruined.
The exercise :
Write a short scene composed of dialogue between husband and wife.
Role play : 2 students to play the roles from their stories.
The real exercise :
Repeat the experiment, but
Husband and wife are your own parents
Get two people to read the dialogue
Record the reading
Post it to your blog
Review exercise : True and False stories
Purpose of the exercise
– a true story is not exactly an exciting story
– true life stories do not offer neat and relevant endings
– life is unpredictable
– in a story, we can and must control the events and sequences so that it gives the appearance of being like life.
Characterization : defining the character
– every story starts with a character
The character is the heart, the soul, and the nervous system
It is true your characters that the viewers experience emotions.
Without a character, there is no action.
Without action, you have no conflict.
Without conflict, you have no story.
Without story, you have no screenplay.
Developing characters
When developing a character, ask yourself :
1. Who is your character?
2. What does he want? (he must have a goal, a target to meet)
3. What is his quest?
4. What drives him to the resolution of the story?
1. Establish your main character.
– characters should have a 3 dimensional structure.
a) physiology
b) sociology
c) psychology
a) PHYSIOLOGY
– sex
– age
– height, weight
– colour of hair, eyes, skin
– posture
– appearance
– defects, abnormalities, deformities, birth marks, diseases
– heredity
b) SOCIOLOGY
– class (lower, middle, upper)
– occupation : type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, attitude towards organization, suitability for work
– education : amount, kind of schools, marks, favourite subjects, poorest subjects, aptitudes
– home life : parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated/divorced, parents’ habits, parents’ mental development, parents’ vices, neglect, character’s marital status
– religion
– race, nationality
– place in the community; leader among friends, clubs, sports
– political affiliations
– amusements : hobbies, books, newspapers, magazines he/she reads
c) PSYCHOLOGY
– sex life, moral standards
– personal premise, ambition
– frustrations, chief disappointments
– temperament: choleric, easy going, pessimistic, optimistic
– attitude towards life : resigned, militant, defeatist
– complexes : obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias
– personality : extrovert, introvert
– abilities : language, talents
– qualities : imagination, judgment, taste, poise
– IQ/EQ
– What is the deep and personal secret this character has which he is desperate to protect/hide?
1. Separate the components of his life into 2 basic categories :
a) Interior
– the interior life takes place from birth until the moment your story begins
– it is a process that forms character (when you start formulating your character from birth, you see your character build in body and form)
• How old is he when the story begins?
• Where does he live?
• Does he have siblings?
• What kind of childhood did he have?
• What was his relationship to his parents?
• What kind of child was he?
• Is he married, single, widowed, separated or divorced?
b) Exterior
– the exterior life takes place the moment your story begins to its conclusion
– it is a process that reveals character.
• Who are they and what do they want?
• Are they sad or happy with their life?
• Do they wish their life was different? Another job, another wife?
You must create your characters in relation to other people or things
All dramatic characters interact in 3 ways :
1. They experience conflict in achieving their dramatic need. (eg; need money – rob a bank, a store, a person?)
2. They interact with other characters (either in an antagonistic, friendly of indifferent way
3. They interact with themselves. (eg; he overcame his fear of being caught by pulling off the robbery successfully)
How do you invent characters?
– try turning them upside down. (eg; a monk who is devoted to his religion.. but is a football fanatic. A serial killer.. whose obsession is to kill other serial killers. A common street rat.. who loves to eat and cook only fine food.)
Movie screening: taxi driver
Review exercise : letter to the past
Purpose :
– the letter is a practical, personal example of how a character (me) undergo an inevitable process of change
– this process of change is an essential ingredient of any effective story
Storytelling tool 2 : Experience
– a storyteller should be concerned with the potential of every experience
– everything about you – where you were from, what food you eat, the bump on your forehead – your experiences are unique and irreplaceable
– many of your experiences are universal and translatable and can be used in any location. Universal themes : friendship, love, family, death, betrayal, loneliness, hardship. Translatable : setting, characters, language, culture
– all people have fragments of stories
– these potential ideas prompt your desire to know more
– respond emotionally and intellectually to what you heard
– good stories are born in the heart, not the head
– remember the role of an audience
– after all, you are the audience
Tip :
– If you don’t know what to do with a character, make him yourself for a while.
– See how he relates to the world he has been thrown into
Storytelling tool 3 : Memory
– Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told
– These memories are points of reference to your own past exsistence
Experience – true
Memory – can be manufactured eg; can be true/false
– How do we use memory to build creative content?
Tip :
– Write what you do not know because you will find some part of you that does know.
– There is always room for personal discovery
Assignment :
Write 2 short stories
One is completely true.
One is completely flase.
Post them on your blog under a page called True or False by Tues, 2nd June, 10am.
Movie screening :
The Shawshank Redemption
Assignment :
– Letter to the past
– Select a person that means something to you in your past, but whom you no longer speak to now.
– Then write a letter which expresses all the things you wish could say to the person but can’t.
– Communicate the memories of important moments you had together has made you a different person now than you were before.
– Cannot be a fictional story
Password protect your page (optional)
Review Exercise: People-Watch
– Take 1 character from the person above you on the bloglist
– Take 1 character from the person below you on bloglist
– Write a story about how these two people interact
– Don’t forget the most essential element of drama: CONFLICT!
ASSIGNMENTS:
– Visual Trigger:
PRINCIPLES OF TRAGEDY
Incorporate principles of tragedy into your writing!
What is tragedy?
Tragedy doesn’t mean that something bad happens and the story ends.
It means something bad happens as a result of a flaw in your character, and you show how this tragic fall forces your character to learn something about herself or himself.
No reflections required
Review exercise 2 : 50 word stories
Difficulties : what were they?
Restraints : Did they help?
Do constraints help you to be a better writer?
What constraints do professional writers face?
– deadlines
– plagiarism
– casting problems
– problem with directors. Some directors are more experienced than writers
STORYTELLING TOOL 1 : OBSERVATION
– observe in a conscious way (observe with awareness, notice certain details) things to observe – dressing, way they carry themselves, speech (fast, slow, mumble), expression, gestures
– train yourself to see and record movements, physical characteristics, settings.
– Adopt a keen eye
– Develop a natural sense of curiosity, but don’t be intrusive.
– An observed event, when subject to simple questions, can set up a sequence of possibilities that will develop a story worth telling. Eg; when you observe a couple having a meal yet totally not talking, what questions come to mind?
– Whom am I writing about?
– Who is my character?
– What is he/she/it like?
– What does he/she/it do?
– What happens to him/her/it in the story?
EXERCISE : AWARENESS LEVEL
– People rarely observe familiar people or things closely
– Most people pass through the day with 20%-30% awareness
Mindless observation vs True observation
– observe in a conscious way
– develop the ability to see and record people: their movements, physical characteristics, setting/places they’re in
EXERCISE : PEOPLE WATCH
1. Walk into the canteen/library, etc. and watch people pass by. (MRT, supermarket)
2. Eventually, one will catch your attention.
3. Write down as many details as possible through observation
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for a second character. (different age, gender, settings. Get a picture of the character)
Photo
Gender :
Setting:
What happened (what was unique about the experience) :
+ reflection
Conflict
Definition :
– opposition of persons or forces
– can results internally or externally
– it is the interaction of opposing ideas, interests, or wills that create the plot.
Types of conflict
– dramatic conflict is the protagonist’s struggle against something or someone eg; man vs man, man vs environment, man vs system, man against self
– variations of conflict can arise from gender, age, religion and culture
Causes and effects of conflict
– conflict arises when there is CHANGE
– changes may be major or minor
– while change is universal and common, it is not always accepted
– examples of changes : seasons, lives, relationships, feelings, bodies, locations, technologies
– conflict arises when people resist changes
– the intensity of conflict depends how people react to the change
– people must learn to cope with change If they want to survive
– the action in drama depends on conflict
Importance of Conflict
– plot cannot be constructed without conflict
– central feature of the screenplay
– as your characters attempt to reach their goals, they come into conflict with each other
– the end of the story nears when the protagonist and antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement
Writing for an Audience
– screen writer = storyteller
->the cinematic experience is not just made up of text on paper, but the audiences’ emotional reaction to that information
– writing a story should be People to People, not director to people, writer to people, or camera to people.
What is the writer’s purpose
– to connect the audiences :
– themselves
– their unique vision
– the material/issue
– the drama
– others
Audiences want to be transported by a screenplay
Where do you look for a story?
– within yourself. Eg; experiences, memories, emotions
– practice observing, ‘listening’ and reading body language of people
– figure how to connect your viewers to your story through emotions, characters, etc.
Assignments
5 stories of exactly 50 words each, posted to your blog.
The Call Home
Directed by : Han Yew Kwang
Released Singapore 2001
The Secret Heaven
Written and directed by : Sun Koh
Released Singapore 2002
i love my toaster 