Geva 10-minute play contest scripts are due today. Please print out your 2nd draft of your 10-minute play script (even if you hate it or think it sucks, you may win...sometimes we are not the best judge of our abilities and talents.) Think positively. You cannot win contests if you do not enter.
Please add a title sheet to your play script including name, full address (with zip code), phone #, and email (if possible). Remove my name and the heading. Geva doesn't care that you did the assignment for a class project and they don't need to know my name.
You may submit up to 3 scripts, so go for it!
Please continue to work on your Film Scripts. The push to finish today will allow you to do little homework over break (see below). However, if you waste your time or do not complete your work today in the lab (even if you are working hard), please finish writing your film script draft and turn in by Tuesday, March 1 (our next class).
The Academy Awards are screening Feb. 27. For extra credit, please watch and respond to the event. What did you notice? What do you think about the films selected? How has the event changed over the years? Etc.
HOMEWORK: Academy Awards handout & extra credit response. Incomplete film script drafts should be completed. Please finish reading Annie Hall (see post below).
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Film Script Draft #1
Using your treatment, please continue to write and develop your film script draft. Your script draft will be due at the end of Friday's class.
UPCOMING HOMEWORK: We are going to be reading the film script "Annie Hall" by Woody Allen. The script should be read and completed when we return from Feb. break. For those of you who want to, please start reading the script so that you don't have much to do over your break. Of course, you may also read the script during break, but whatever you prefer, you should read Annie Hall. As you read, please note camera work, script format, and the 3-act structure.
Annie Hall material:
Annie Hall Script
Annie Hall explanation/film history
UPCOMING HOMEWORK: We are going to be reading the film script "Annie Hall" by Woody Allen. The script should be read and completed when we return from Feb. break. For those of you who want to, please start reading the script so that you don't have much to do over your break. Of course, you may also read the script during break, but whatever you prefer, you should read Annie Hall. As you read, please note camera work, script format, and the 3-act structure.
Annie Hall material:
Annie Hall Script
Annie Hall explanation/film history
Monday, February 14, 2011
Visions of Light (Conclusion)
Today we will watch the rest of the film "Visions of Light."
When we complete the film, please gather back into your film writing groups and work on the following project:
1. Using your treatment, write a film script (around 5-15 pages) for the film.
2. Use the format learned from your reading of a professional script and the links on the side of the blog dealing with film script format.
HOMEWORK: If you haven't yet completed your reading of a film script, please complete it. See post below for details.
When we complete the film, please gather back into your film writing groups and work on the following project:
1. Using your treatment, write a film script (around 5-15 pages) for the film.
2. Use the format learned from your reading of a professional script and the links on the side of the blog dealing with film script format.
HOMEWORK: If you haven't yet completed your reading of a film script, please complete it. See post below for details.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Visions of Light: Documentary
After 10 minutes of note taking (see below), we will be screening the documentary: Visions of Light. This film deals with the art of cinematography. A cinematographer is also called the Director of Photography. It was produced and directed by Stuart Samuels (edited by Arnold Glassman) and the director of photography was Nancy Schreiber.
As you watch the film, please take relevant notes, paying specific attention to how light, camera, and raw artistic talent can improve film. There is quite a bit of film history included here. Please take note of major film movements (define), for example.
As you watch the film, please take relevant notes, paying specific attention to how light, camera, and raw artistic talent can improve film. There is quite a bit of film history included here. Please take note of major film movements (define), for example.
Film Script Format
When creating a film script, your format is important. Film scripts are formatted in a weird way. You will need to learn how to format the script. As you read your full length film script (see post below) for Monday, pay close attention to the film script format being used.
To help you, here's some info about how to set it all up.
Headings are CAPITALIZED in UPPERCASE and left justified:
Narrative Description is left justified but not uppercase. It includes description of:
Dialogue:
Camera Shot Abbreviations:
CU (close up)
LS (long shot)
XCU (extreme close up), XLS (extreme long shot)
FS (Full shot)
Medium shots are default, so don't bother specifying them.
MCU (medium close up; shot shoulder-to-head)
WS (Wide shot)
Establishing shot (sets up setting)
Master shot (a shot indicating that the scene is shot over again from different camera positions so that there are various shots for editors to use)
2-S, 3-S (2 shot or 3 shot)
OS (over-the-shoulder shot)
Film Editing Terms:
Cut to (used as a clean transition from one scene to another)
Dissolve (one scene image dissolves into another to indicate juxtaposition or comparison)
Fade In/Fade Out (a slower transition than cut to:)
Fade to (fade to black is default, often used to indicate the end of the film or a major act/scene; fade to white indicates transcendence or death)
Special Terms:
POV (point of view)
EXT (exterior)
INT (interior)
VO (voice over)
SFX (special effects)
HOMEWORK: Choose and read a film script for Monday.
To help you, here's some info about how to set it all up.
Headings are CAPITALIZED in UPPERCASE and left justified:
1. Master scene headings include:
a) Camera location - EXT. (exterior or outside) or INT. (interior or inside)
b) Scene location (LOCAL RACE TRACK)
c) Time (DAY or NIGHT)
2. Secondary scene heading
3. “Special headings” for things such as montages, dream sequences, flashbacks, flash forwards, etc. are indicated in the heading.
4. Camera shots (camera shots MAY be noted in the heading, but are not required. In shooting scripts this becomes more important. The # of the shot and scene are also indicated in the heading line in shooting scripts.
Narrative Description is left justified but not uppercase. It includes description of:
1. Action
2. Character and settings (what we see visually)
3. Sounds (including specific music or sound effects cues--diagetic and nondiagetic)
4. PROPS and CHARACTER names are CAPITALIZED within the narrative description.
Dialogue:
1. The name of the person speaking appears at 2.5", in CAPS.
2. The actors direction is separated by parenthesis and indented on its own line at 2". Try to avoid these as much as possible.Both the director and actor appreciate it. Keep them short and succinct, if you must use them.
3. The speech. Is generally 1" in (2 tabs) and blocked together (all aligned)
Camera Shot Abbreviations:
CU (close up)
LS (long shot)
XCU (extreme close up), XLS (extreme long shot)
FS (Full shot)
Medium shots are default, so don't bother specifying them.
MCU (medium close up; shot shoulder-to-head)
WS (Wide shot)
Establishing shot (sets up setting)
Master shot (a shot indicating that the scene is shot over again from different camera positions so that there are various shots for editors to use)
2-S, 3-S (2 shot or 3 shot)
OS (over-the-shoulder shot)
Film Editing Terms:
Cut to (used as a clean transition from one scene to another)
Dissolve (one scene image dissolves into another to indicate juxtaposition or comparison)
Fade In/Fade Out (a slower transition than cut to:)
Fade to (fade to black is default, often used to indicate the end of the film or a major act/scene; fade to white indicates transcendence or death)
Special Terms:
POV (point of view)
EXT (exterior)
INT (interior)
VO (voice over)
SFX (special effects)
HOMEWORK: Choose and read a film script for Monday.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Film Treatment Draft Due!
Today please complete your Film Treatment. See below for details. You will use your treatment to write your film script (upcoming project).
In preparation of writing a film script, please check this script website.
Spend some time here. Click on the links regarding story structure, script format, getting ideas, information about the industry, etc.
Finally, under sample scripts, choose 1 script from the list and read it. Yes. Actually read the script. Pick something you like, it will be more enjoyable that way. As you read please complete the following analysis:
1. If you have seen this film, how is reading the script SPECIFICALLY different from watching the movie? Are there scenes that have been cut from the actual film? Identify them. How do written characters and live actors in film compare? How, as a writer, do words and lines communicate ideas to a director--are scenes shot for shot accurate, or are details missing?
2. Look for film vocabulary. Closeups and long shots, and various terms. If you don't know a term, write it down in your notes to discuss in class.
HOMEWORK: Choose and read a film script. If you did not turn in your required treatment, complete for homework (past due).
In preparation of writing a film script, please check this script website.
Spend some time here. Click on the links regarding story structure, script format, getting ideas, information about the industry, etc.
Finally, under sample scripts, choose 1 script from the list and read it. Yes. Actually read the script. Pick something you like, it will be more enjoyable that way. As you read please complete the following analysis:
1. If you have seen this film, how is reading the script SPECIFICALLY different from watching the movie? Are there scenes that have been cut from the actual film? Identify them. How do written characters and live actors in film compare? How, as a writer, do words and lines communicate ideas to a director--are scenes shot for shot accurate, or are details missing?
2. Look for film vocabulary. Closeups and long shots, and various terms. If you don't know a term, write it down in your notes to discuss in class.
HOMEWORK: Choose and read a film script. If you did not turn in your required treatment, complete for homework (past due).
Friday, February 4, 2011
Script Format
Film scripts are a strange format. Please refer to the script format here.
Here are some sample scripts. Choose a few and read a little of each script. Pay close attention to where the dialogue goes on the page, how the shots are indicated, and other curious formatting.
After you are familiar how to format a script, please take your treatment that you selected and begin writing a script.
Here are some sample scripts. Choose a few and read a little of each script. Pay close attention to where the dialogue goes on the page, how the shots are indicated, and other curious formatting.
After you are familiar how to format a script, please take your treatment that you selected and begin writing a script.
Film Treatment & Script
What is a Film Treatment?
A pitch is used to convince a film company to produce your film. The pitch is usually a one page summary of the main action, characters, and setting of the film. Essentially it deals with the idea.
The film treatment is usually a 2-5 page document that tells the whole story focusing on the highlights. It is more detailed than a pitch. It can include a scene by scene breakdown of a script. It is used BEFORE writing the real script so the author can plan his/her project.
How To Write a Treatment
The treatment should read like a short story and be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story including the ending, and use some key scenes and dialogue from the screenplay it is based on.
What Should Be in the Treatment?
Basic screenplay structure for a full length film usually has three acts.
In The Poetics, Aristotle suggested that all stories should have a beginning, middle, and an end. Well, duh. You know that. But really. You need to remember this advice.
Breaking the plot of a story into three parts, gives us a 3-part or act structure. The word "act" means "the action of carrying something out. For our purposes think act one (beginning), act two (middle), and act three (end) of your short film.
Act 1, called the Set-up, The situation and characters and conflict are introduced. This classically is 30 minutes long. For a short film it can be only a few minutes or 1 minute.
Act 2, called The Conflict, often an hour long, is where the conflict begins and expands until it reaches a crisis.
Act 3, called The Resolution, the conflict rises to one more crisis (the last one called the climax) and then is resolved.
How To Write The Treatment
Find A Title
Your treatment should include a synopsis.
Get into groups of 1-2. You may, if you wish, work alone, but feel free to choose a person you can work with. Don't feel bad about saying: I need a partner. Realize that teenagers are cruel and may not want to work with you for a variety of reasons. You can feel good about yourself that when these people are older, they will want to date you, but you can refuse them.
Work together to create a treatment. Please turn in your treatments today as homework/participation by the end of class.
Treatment sample #1
Treatment sample #2
A pitch is used to convince a film company to produce your film. The pitch is usually a one page summary of the main action, characters, and setting of the film. Essentially it deals with the idea.
The film treatment is usually a 2-5 page document that tells the whole story focusing on the highlights. It is more detailed than a pitch. It can include a scene by scene breakdown of a script. It is used BEFORE writing the real script so the author can plan his/her project.
How To Write a Treatment
The treatment should read like a short story and be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story including the ending, and use some key scenes and dialogue from the screenplay it is based on.
What Should Be in the Treatment?
1. A Working titleThe Three Act Structure
2. The writer's name
3. Introduction to key characters
4. Who, what, when, why and where.
5. Act 1 in one to three paragraphs. Set the scene, dramatize the main conflicts.
6. Act 2 in two to six paragraphs. Should dramatize how the conflicts introduced in Act 1 lead to a crisis.
7. Act 3 in one to three paragraphs. Dramatize the final conflict and resolution.
Basic screenplay structure for a full length film usually has three acts.
In The Poetics, Aristotle suggested that all stories should have a beginning, middle, and an end. Well, duh. You know that. But really. You need to remember this advice.
Breaking the plot of a story into three parts, gives us a 3-part or act structure. The word "act" means "the action of carrying something out. For our purposes think act one (beginning), act two (middle), and act three (end) of your short film.
Act 1, called the Set-up, The situation and characters and conflict are introduced. This classically is 30 minutes long. For a short film it can be only a few minutes or 1 minute.
Act 2, called The Conflict, often an hour long, is where the conflict begins and expands until it reaches a crisis.
Act 3, called The Resolution, the conflict rises to one more crisis (the last one called the climax) and then is resolved.
How To Write The Treatment
Find A Title
The first contact a prospective producer has with a script is the title. Pick a title that gives a clear idea of what genre the screenplay is written in. Blood House is probably not a romantic comedy. Americans like one or two word titles: Psycho, Saw, Year One, Rocky, Pan's Labyrinth, Animal House, Tangled, Avatar, etc.After a title, start a logline: a brief one sentence summary of the movie. For example: And Then Came Love is a character-driven romantic comedy about a high-powered Manhattan single mom who opens Pandora's box when she seeks out the anonymous sperm donor father of her young son.
Your treatment should include a synopsis.
Begin by expanding the logline into a three-act story Start with the end. For example, The Silence Of The Lambs:
Act 3: Clarice Starling catches the killer and saves the intended victim.
Then break down this synopsis into three acts. For example,
Act 1: While still a student at The FBI, Clarice is asked to help on a case. She's eager to help and interviews Hannibal Lector who gives her a clue.
Act 2: With his help, she is able to overcome many obstacles, and finds the identity of the killer.
Act 3: She confronts the killer, saves his intended victim and atones for the death of the lamb. The scriptwriter should follow this break down for his or her story, and then expand this into a synopsis that is about 2-5 pages in length.
Get into groups of 1-2. You may, if you wish, work alone, but feel free to choose a person you can work with. Don't feel bad about saying: I need a partner. Realize that teenagers are cruel and may not want to work with you for a variety of reasons. You can feel good about yourself that when these people are older, they will want to date you, but you can refuse them.
Work together to create a treatment. Please turn in your treatments today as homework/participation by the end of class.
Treatment sample #1
Treatment sample #2
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