Week 14

WRITING IS REWRITING

• Revision and Rewriting

1. Rewriting is not just rewriting.
2. It’s rethinking, re-conceptualizing  and approaching new things. (Perspective, Structure of things, Obstacles, Character’s behaviour/Speech, Character’s goal)

• Everyone should be at least try and rewrite the stories 5 times
• You will never find out what is really in you until you write and rewrite
• This doesn’t mean just polishing phrases
• TIP:

1. Study your story, see it with a new vision and changed value
2. Write it afresh
3. Then maybe scrap it, start all over it again – don’t be afraid to do this!
4. After this, then you can begin “polishing”
5. Finding expressions with character, dialogue that has rhythm.
6. It may take 2 or more variations to bring out the full colour of the characters or yourself

Reflect on this!

The inclination of the egoist is to get as much as he can, but at the same time not to change.

The Final Draft

1) Read with a fixed eye

• Re-read through your story carefully.
• Focus on a particular aspect each time, i.e., character, location, action, etc.

Ask yourself:

• “Is the protagonist ALWAYS the focus of the story?”
• “Is he/she doing anything or is everyone else always doing stuff around him/her?”
• “Is he/she even there?!”

2) The chainsaw is your friend

• Now is the time to look at script economy
• Why have your reader dying to finish after 4 pages when they could be craving for more after 2?

Ask yourself:

• “Where do my scenes begin? Where do they end?”
• “Can six lines be said in three?”
• “Can I trim the fat? Can I cut the exposition? Can I tell it visually instead?”

3) CRANK IT UP!

• The stakes are high – can they be higher?

1. Would Oh Daesu’s plight be as bad if it wasn’t his daughter he had slept with?

• More to lose = More dramatic tension.

Ask yourself:

• “Does everything matter enough? Can everything matter more?” (Does the situation matter enough to the characters? If it matters more to the characters, the characters will matter more to the audience.)
• “Am I giving my characters hell? Is it fun to see them squirm and satisfying enough when they get out of it?”

Week 12

Interactive Location

What is a location?

• A physical place (created or real)
• Must allow events to take place
• The place in your story where events occur and characters interact
• May also represent the ‘villain’ in the story
• What elements make the location interesting? E.g. geographical position, climate, rules (spoken and unspoken)
• 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 heighten the stakes
• Threat of being in the location
• Impact of a newly introduced character/ element
• E.g. Norma Rae

Jurassic Park

• 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 form the mainland arrives.

Week 9

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

>> PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE

• Addresses the problem many newbies have to screenwriting:

How to convey visually any sense of inner conflict of emotion.

ASSIGNMENT

1st DRAFT of STORY due Wed, 6 January 201o

Printed copy in class. Softcopy on SafeAssign.

Format: Courier 12, single spacing.

Maximum 3 pages.

Week 8

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 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

- It conveys essential exposition.

- Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the storyline.

• 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 and 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 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.”

• GOOD DIALOGUE is not somebody’s ability to write authentic speech as heard in real life.

- Bad dialogue:

- Long winded

- Cheesy

- Unfocused

- Inappropriate

- If that was all that 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.

Week 6

Sparked off by:

• Event/person
• Reflect on emotions then/now
• Most important thing you wanted to know/say (fear of confrontation, self-denial, having to deal with the situation/consequences)
• Revisit the past, relive the past. Emotions. Painful memories.

The letter is a practical, personal example of how a character – YOU – undergo an inevitable process of change.

Process of change is an essential ingredient of any effective story.

In dramatic writing, the very essence is character change/development.

Observation –> Learn

Experience –> Learn (ex-convict release from prison)

Memory –>  Learn

How we learn depends on each individual’s mindset. Learn from mistake?

A storyteller should be concerned with thepotential 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 experiences are universal and translatable and can be used in any location. (Home, Run)

TIP:

• If you don’t know what to do with a character, make him yourself for a while. Be careful not to put your OWN personality onto the character.
• See how he/she relates to the world he has been thrown into.
• PLUNDER YOUR OWN PERSONAL BACKGROUND! The things that happen to you as you grow up and the things that are currently happening to you make terrific story sources.

Record your experiences: Diary, blog

Reflect your past (colourful past, good/bad)

Recall how you felt then/now.

All people have fragments of stories. Bits and pieces of our existence. Remember the emotion.

These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more.

Respond emotionally and intellectually to what you heard. Emotionally first, need some time to adapt.

Good stories are born in the heart, not the head.

Initial ideas sparked off by:

• Memories/emotions (heart)
• Development – research etc (head)

Remember the role of an audience, YOU ARE THE AUDIENCE! make the film worthwhile.

Take them on a ride of discovery. Feed them new info. Different angle, tell it from a diff POV. Most of the time, stereotypical view.

Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told.

Her memory, and your memory is different, although the same incident.

These memories are points of reference to your own past existence.

Write something you do not know.

• Imagination
• Research
• Interviews

Always room for personal discovery!

Experience vs Memory

Experience – What you go through.

Memory – Manufactured, what you remember.

Sunat 2006, M. Raihan halim

True/False stories

Write one true, one false story.

Week 4

Group A:

1.  Who is Aristotle?

He was a Greek philosopher.

2.  When and where did Aristotle live?

Greece, 384 – 322 B.C

3.  What was Aristotle’s Poetics?

He taught that Poetry should be divided into 3 genres – tragedy, comedy and epic.

Poetics focuses on tragedy.

4.  What is the definition of Greek tragedy?

Tragedy is the ‘imitation of an action’ according to the law of probability or necessity’

Group B:

1.  Explain Aristotle’s 6 required parts of a tragedy?

Plot, Character, Thought, Diction, Song/Melody, Spectacl

2.  What is the “cause-and-effect” chain?

Reveals what MAY happen.

3.  How can a good plot create a “unity of action”?

‘Arrangement of incidents’, not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience.

4.  Definition of mimesis: Imitation/Representation

Group C:

1. Aristotle thought episodic plots were the worst kind of storytelling. What is an episodic plot and why did Aristotle think this way?

Episodic plots only concentrate on random and unrelated incidents that happen to a character.

1. What is an example of a movie or a play that follows Aristotle’s definition of tragedy? Explain your selection.

1. Definition of katharsis: Purification/Clarification

Group D:

1.  What is the difference between a simple and a complex plot?

2.  What can scriptwriters today learn from the opinions of Aristotle?

3.  Definition of the Greek word ‘peripetieia’ – Reversal

Group E:

1.  What is the responsibility of characters in an Aristotelian tragedy?

They support the plot. Their motivation is connected to part of the cause & effect chain.

2.  Aristotle originated the concept of the three act structure. What is it, and how does it apply to scriptwriting?

3.  Definition of anagnorisis?

Discovery of recognition, a hero suddenly becoming aware of a situation.

 

Week 3

Storytelling Tool 1: Observation

Observe in a conscious way (notice details like behaviour, attire, speech, stance/gait, posture, gestures physical looks)

A – Attire
B – Behaviour
C – Characteristics
D – Dialogue
E – Expression
F – Facial features (physical looks)
G – Gestures

• Train yourself to see and record: Movements (some fidget a lot), physical characteristics and settings (e.g. being angry at home and at work)
• Adopt a keen eye
• Develop a natural sense of curiosity (important for writers!)

The difference between curious and intrusive (kpo)

Curious

• ‘Do you need to talk about it?’
• Genuine to understand the situation
• Allows the person to provide information based on his willingness
• Naturally curious without being curious

Intrusive

• “Eh tell me leh. Why don’t want to tell?’
• Trying to get information out a person without being considered to the person’s feelings

Think of questions about an event you’re curious about.

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

Examples

• A maid sends a letter to her family. You question ‘What’s in the letter? What did she write in it?’
• When you observe a couple having a meal together and not talking at all. What questions come to your mind?
• Elderly couples are silent because they are comfortable with each other and there’s no need to fill up the silence in between.

Silence: comfortable silence VS awkward silence

You’re on the bus and there’s an empty seat next to you and you don’t want the acquaintance you saw to sit with you. If it is a good friend, you would be more willing and less obliged to fill in the awkward silence/gap or make small talk. When you know someone well, you don’t actually have to ask so many questions.

• Whom am I writing about? (POV)
• Who is my character?
• What is he/she/it like? (slowly revealed; what he likes to eat, how he eats)
• What does he/she/it do? (The job scope tells a lot of a person’s personality. E.g. Lawyer needs to debate about everything; a teacher speaks loudly even after class.

Exercise: Awareness level

• People rarely observe familiar people or things closely.
• Most people pass through the day with 20-3o% awareness
• You should try to observe one person each day to train yourself to recall facts

Mindless observation VS true observation

Questions would be asked about what you see (personality, behaviour or interest + attire)

Assignment(s) due on 11/11/09

• Observe the movements, physical characteristics and settings/places of people
• Develop the ability to see and record people

People Watch

• Pick a fairly crowded place and watch people pass by
• Write down as many details as possible through observation
• Any 2 persons in 2 different settings and of 2 different age groups
• It will be best if the person is with a friend (tend to be more conservative when alone)
• Transcribe all details
• Try to take a picture is possible but discreetly!

 

 

Week 2

Conflict

-       Serious disagreement

-       Hostile encounter

-       Struggle (mental, emotional and physical)

-       Opposition of persons or forces

-       Can result internally or externally

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

Types of Conflict

-Dramatic conflict is the protagonist’s struggle against something or someone

-man vs man (Troy)

-man vs environment (War of the Worlds)

-man vs system (Children Of Men)

-man against self (7 Pounds)

-Variation of conflict can arise from gender, age, religion and culture.

 

Causes & 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 earn to cope with change if they want to survive

-The action in a 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 he conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement.

 

Writing for an audience

-Screenwriter=storyteller

-It’s people to people

 

Writers 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.

Week 1

Introduction

How storytelling fits into the “BIG PICTURE” OF FMS.

Proper writing format

Written assignments must use:

• Present tense
• 3^rd person
• a visual voice

Commonly used in:

screenplays

thriller and suspense genres

passive vs active voice

passive uses weak verbs

tell what’s happening in the character’s head.

creates a distance between the reader from the story

active voices uses strong action verbs

shows the action

uses an immediate sentence structure

conveys the story in a lively manner

Examples of openers:

Leonard walks towards the box…

Sally keeps glancing at her watch…

Joe opens the bottle and takes a whiff…

May closes her eye and jumps off…

James paces around the empty hallway..

Mel opens the envelope. Her hand shakes…

Story comments

Its credibility

Passages drawn from reality or experience

Passages created artificially to keep the narrative flowing

By the end of this semester.

And the second week of school went passed just like that, along with half of my enthusiasm for this semester.

The school semester has just started and I’m already a victim of sleep deprivation and fatigue. Workouts on Tuesdays and Fridays, a camera manual assignment, a killer photography in-class assignment(using costly film), and commencement of a very very very very very strict diet, it’s not surprising I’m beat.

So let’s talk about my resolutions for this semester. First of all, my academics are of top priority. I am willing to work my butt off to get myself in the director’s list and get a module award. Easier said then done, I’m hardly visible in this tough competition. My target GPA for this semester is at least a 3.6. It’s the 1.2 semester, I must get it!

Next, I will and must reach a size SLIM. It will be a grueling and tedious journey filled with buckets and buckets of sweat and tears. I have started working out with the usual people at the school gym, on Tuesdays and Fridays. Besides that, two of my friends, Rachel and Jiayi, has volunteered to be my fitness mentors. Rachel is bringing a totally tedious Magnum Force-inspired exercise schedule, and Jiayi is cutting back my food habits to super healthy. Time is not of the essence here for there will be a very very important trip to Sentosa and I am expected to make visible physical change. But the ultimate goal for me is to fit into Topman clothes with ease and not look like I’m not breathing.

Thirdly, I need to get my bank account as fat as possible. Ever since I started my account, I have never got it pass the $300 mark. I’m still contemplating if I should get the Starhub job. I want a very relaxing job to make my already taxing life as easy as possible. I still have many restaurants I haven’t been too, tons of Topman blazers, ties, shoes, hats, shirts and hoodies to buy, and I still need a digital camera.

I guess that’s enough for this week’s post, so long!