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