Script Writing

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.
Who will read the script?
– actors
– directors
– producers
– casting manager
– location manager

Only use Courier 12 Point type.

Every one page – 1 min in screen time.

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.

For class we will number individual scenes, but it is not professional standard.

– Don’t use correction fluid, don’t draw arrows, smiley faces, etc. on the page.

Margins

1’ Left Margin

1’ Right Margin

Slug Lines
Ext/Int – Location – Time (All Caps)

Action

Action Description
– 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 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

Characters
– First appearance in Caps

– All other appearances normal.

Character Dialogue
– Name in Caps

– Left Margin at 3.5’ from edge of page

– Dialogue 2.5’’

Others

– The character name followed by (V.O) indicates Voice Over- Luke Skywalker (V.O)

– The character name followed by (O.S) indicates Off Screen – Han Solo (O.S)

– A parenthetical appears in dialogue to give specific description of movement, gesture, or method of delivery,

~ (sarcastically) or (waving)

Interactive Location – Week 12

Storytelling Techniques – Week 12

Interactive Location

Location – What comes to my mind? A Place / Venue

Interactive: Engage in it, actively participating in it.

Interactive Location means: A place which allows you to interact.

What is a location?

– Siberia,

– Adilah’s Mon’s House,

– Void deck where Jordus had his first kiss.

– Physical Address

– World Created by the writer.

World Created by: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Golden Compass and etc…

What is a location?

– A physical Place.

– The place in your story where events occur and characters interact.

~ Planet of the Apes

~ Witness

~ Billy Elliot

Location

When you think of a location, you must think of:

– Rules

– Address

– *Other Elements that reside within location (Must take note on)

(Think of how is it going to endanger or challenge the character)

– A setting and surrounding that interacts with the characters of the film by adding importance to their action.

[Character must do something that is extraordinary in an ordinary world.]

– An environment which impacts the action and heightens the stakes.

– Location: Jurassic Park is a zoo/amusement park located on an island off the coast of the Central America.

– Interactive Location: The island is completely isolated, and anyone on it will be trapped until assistance from the mainland arrives.

The Godfather part 2

– Written by: Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo

– Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

– USA, 3:20:00

Dynamic Action – Week 11

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.

Character
– Environment
– Another Character
– Action

~ Talking about how one feels is not as powerful as illustrating why one feels the way they do through action.

<< FILM IS BEHAVIOR>>

~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 act cut their emotion set by a simple narrative according to the following:
– The couple has just met. This is their first evening spent 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 women friend. She is also eating at the restaurant.
– She is pregnant. She can’t bring herself to tell him.

FILMS
Steve Pavolsky’s
INJA (Australia, 2001)
17 Minutes.

Letter to the past – Week 5

Assignment

A Letter to the Past

– Select a person that meant 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.

Dialogue Exercise – Week 8

ELEMENTS OF DIALOGUE

Good and Bad Dialogue

Good dialogue
– sounds real ( but not so real as it will get boring)
– is short (relatively)

Bad dialogue
– not concise
long winded
– too real
– cheesy (cliché lines, in a romance… I will not be able to get on life without you…)

DIALOGUE REVEALS CHARACTER
– A character will talk about himself and other people will talk about him.

Communication with others helps you find out a little more of other people. (Their personalities)

Dialogue reveals a person’s personality.

DIALOGUE ESTABLISHES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHARACTERS

Casual in tone – it means that the person trusts you and they are comfortable with you.
Situation with lecturers – tend to be more formal.

– 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
(Audience must find out something new.)

– It conveys essential exposition.
– Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the storyline. (Not in the direct way.)

DIALOGUE COMMENTS ON THE ACTION

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 NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTION>>

In Hollywood when they look at a page it’s got too much black, too much ink on the paper, they say:
‘SHIT! IT’S FREZE THE CAMERA TIME!!!’
(It  means there’s too much dialogue)

COMMON MISTAKE ON WRITING DIALOGUE
– Students sometimes never achieve a level of competence as they tend to reproduce conventional spoken language, long statements if ‘ REAL TALKING’, and defend their decision by tell us that:

‘’It’s how the character speaks.’

Dialogue is affected by
– age (eg, speed of speech, how busy a person is)
– gender ( eg, females tend to talk more)
– Social Status / educational qualifications
– race

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 recorder and 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 will be late.
– The dinner is ruined.

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 (Using Youtube, Multiply, etc…)

Two things:
Audio and subtitles

True or False Stories – Week 7

Week 7

Review Exercise: True or False Stories

>> Purpose of the exercise

– A True story is not necessarily a good story.

– Good stories have to be worked and re-worked.

– True life stories do not offer neat and relevant endings.

– Life is unpredictable
Stories that are unpredictable are what we enjoy to watch.
Stories that are predictable are boring because we can anticipate it.

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, it can be a human or an animal.
Animals Characters: Finding nemo, Chicken Little, Garfield, etc

The character is… the heart, the soul, and nervous system.

It is through your characters that the viewers experience emotions.

< WITHOUT A CHARACTER, THERE IS NO ACTION.>
Your engaged in the movie because of the character.

<WITHOUT ACTION, YOU HAVE NO CONFLICT.>

<WITHOUT CONFLICT, YOU HAVE NO STORY.>

<WITHOUT A STORY YOU WILL NOT HAVE A SCREEN PLAY.>

Developing Characters

WHEN DEVELOPING A CHARACTER, ASK YOURSELF:

– Who is your character?
– What does he want?
– What is his quest?
– What drives him to the resolution of the story?
Meaning, what motivates him? What are we doing about it?

1. ESTABLIS YOUR MAIN CHARACTER

Characters should have a 3 Dimensional Structure. (3 Important parts to building your character)

a) Physiology – His looks.
b) Sociology – More of her/his background. Determine his/her background.
c) Psychology – how he/she thinks, what he/she believes in. ( Important)

a) Physiology
– Sex (Gender)
– Age
– Height, weight
– Colour of hair, eyes, skin
– Posture
– Appearance
– Defects, abnormalities, deformities, birth marks, diseases.
– Hereditary

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, favorite 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, newspaper, 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
– I.Q
– E.Q
– 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
b) Exterior

>> 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?

>> Exterior

The exterior life takes place the moment your story begins to it’s conclusion.

It is a process that reveals character.

– Who are they and what dot hey do?
– Are they sad or happy with their life?
– Do they wish their life were different? Another job, another wife?

>> YOU MUST CREATE YOUR CHARACTERS IN RELATION TO OTHER PEOPLE OR THINGS.

ALL DRAMATIV CHARACTERS INTERACT IN 3 WAYS:

1. They EXPERIENCE CONFLICT in achieving their dramatic need.
(eg, need money – rob the bank, rob a store, rob a person?)

2. They INTERACT with other CHARACTERS.
(Either in an antagonistic, friendly or 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.

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.

Next week

Storytelling techniques Quiz #1

Review

Storytelling Tool 2: Experience – Week 6

Story telling tool 2: Experience

– A storyteller should be concerned with the potential of every experience.

– Everything about you – where you were born, what food you eat, the bump on your forehead – your experiences are unique and irreplaceable.

– Many of your experience are universal and translatable and can be used in any location.

Universal themes
– Friendships
– Love
– Family
– Death
– Betrayal
– Loneliness
– Hardships (different for different people, different culture.)
– Hope

Translatable (what would you change)
– Settings
– Characters
– Language
– Culture

Tip:
– If you don’t know what to do with a character, make him yourself for a while. (Put ourselves in other people’s shoes)

– See how he relates to the world he has been thrown into.

-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 rod of an audience.

– After all, you ARE the audience.

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 existence.

What’s the difference between memory and experience?

Experience – true
Memory – can be manufactured.
Eg. Can be true or can be false.

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.

How do we use memory to build creative content?

Film Screening

Les Mistons (1957)
Director: Francois Truffaut

Film Screening

Les Mistons (1957)
Director: Francois Truffaut

Assignment 1
Write 2 short stories
– One is completely TRUE
– One is completely Fase

Only the author knows which is which!

Post these on your blogs under a page called true or false by tues, 3rd June, 10am.

Assignment 2
After posing your story, visit 3 classmates below you on the blogroll and vote for which story you think is true and which is false.

Principles of Tragedy – Week 4

Assignment

VIsual Trigger: Find and image and tell a story that comes to your mind as you see it.

Pictures should not be taken for this purpose – use only pictures you can find.

Take a picture that can create my story.

Can be a magazine, internet, any other pictures.

Incorporate principals 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.

6 Parts of Tragedy in a Play
-Plot, events that happen
-Characters
– diction
– thought
– Melody
-Spectacle

3 act structure
Act 1 : Intro, set up characters, problems that occurs
Act 2: Obstacles
Act 3: Resolution, morale of the story

People Watch – Week 3

Storytelling Techniques – Week 3
(Make-Up lessons with Miss Phuah)

REVIEW EXERCISE 2: 50 WORD STORIES
– Difficulties – What were they?
>> Keeping on word limit.
– Restrains – Did they help?
>> It helps to focus on the main idea.

Do constrains help you to be a better writer?
>> It helps to be more creative.
What constraints do professional writers face?
>> Professional writers face datelines, casting problems…

STORYTELLING TOOL 1: OBSERVATION

– Observe in a conscious way – watch with awareness

– Train yourself to see and record:
– Movements
– Physical Characteristics – are important because it shows how they carry themselves.
– Settings – how they behave in different situations

– Adopt a KNEE EYE – to be aware
– Develop a natural SENSE OF CURIOSITY – be interested in people in events, but not intrusive.

~ An observed event, when subject to simple questions, can set up a sequence of possibilities that will develop into a story worth telling.

For eg, when you observe a couple having a meal yet totally not talking…. what questions come to your mind?
– Have they just had an argument over something?

– WHOM AM I WRITING ABOUT? –Which character, whose point of view are you telling 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
– 2 students
– Back to back
– DESCRIBE each other ACCURATELY

Assignment:
ARISTOTLE

– You are to answer the questions on the handouts
– As a group, prepare a PowerPoint or keynote presentation.

1. Review the list of questions in groups of 3
2. You have an hour to complete your research
3. Avoid presenting just facts or theories. Support your answers with interesting antidotes or tales about Aristotle.

Presentation by our classmates during lesson
Problems writers face
– Deadlines
– Plagiarism
How to solve: read up more and watch more movies, copyright your work.
– Casting Problems
– Creative differences with other writers/directors

Watch what is people doing and not just what is said
(See the actors)
Observing what people do as well as what they say

Conflicts – Week 2

Conflict

Means… Disagreement

– Definition

– Opposition of persons or forces

– Can result internally or externally

Internally – yourself
Externally – against other people, organizations

– It is the interaction of opposing ideas, interest, or wills that creates the plot.

Three movies/TV Series that has conflict:

Heroes – fighting for power from one another
Gossip Girl – Reputation and relationships
Step up – Skills and Position

– a serious / not so serious disagreement
– Hostile encounter
– Mental / Emotional / Physical Struggle
Physical Struggle: Handicap

Types of Conflict:

– Dramatic conflict is the protagonist’s struggle against something or someone.
~ Man vs man
~ Man vs environment
~ Man vs system
~ Man against self

– Variations of conflict can arise from gender, age, religion and culture.

Gender: different mind set
Age: generation gap
Religion: different believes
Culture: different way of doing things / different superstitions

Causes and Effects of conflicts

– Conflict arises when there is CHANGE

– Changes may be major or minor
Changing a class time – Either or

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 character 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.

Antagonist – Anything, a barrier

Writing for an Audience

– Screenwriter = Storyteller
~ The cinematic experience is not just made up of text on paper, but the audiences’ emotional reaction to that information.

Director to people x

Writer to people x

Camera to people x

IT’S PEOPLE 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

(To tell a good story, you have to create characters.)

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.

(Do a word count before submission.)

Short Films Showed:

The Call Home

Directed by:
Han Yew Kwang

Written by:
K.S.A Shah
Raj.A Pillai
Subra V.S
Rachel B. Kaur
Han Yew Kwang

2001, Singapore, 31:00

The Secret Heaven

Written and Directed by: Sun Koh
Singapore 2002, 16:00