June 25, 2009
Week 8 Notes
Elements of dialogue
- Dialogue reveals character
- Good dialogue
– Sounds real
– Is relatively short
- Bad dialogue
– Not concise long winded
– Too real
– Cheesy
A character will talk about him 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.
(Dialogue can create conflict)
- 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 or hear it, don’t write it.”
– Neville Smith
- Dialogue should be used sparingly
Action speaks louder than words
- Never tell the audience what they can see for themselves!!!
[DIALOGUE IS NO SUBSTITUDE 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 a 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
– Gender
– Social status/Educational qualification
– Race
- GOOD DIALOGUE is no 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 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 role 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.)
June 10, 2009
Week 7 Notes
Review Exercise: True & False Stories
- 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
- 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
- Can be an animal
- The character is…
– The heart
– The soul
– The nervous system
- It is only through your characters that the viewers experience emotion.
– Without a character, there is no action
– Without action, you have no conflict
– Without conflict, you have no story
– Without a story, you have no screenplay
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?
- Establish your character.
– Character should have a 3-dimensional structure.
- Physiology
- Sex
- Age
- Height & weight
- Color of hair, eyes, skin
- Posture
- Appearance
- Defects, abnormalities, deformities, birth marks, diseases
- Heredity
- 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/divorce, 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
- Psychology
- Sex life, moral standards
- Personal premise, ambition
- Frustrations, chief disappointments
- Temperament: choleric, easy-going, pessimistic, optimistic
- Attitude towards life: resigned, militant, defeatist
- Complexes: obsession, 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 as which he is desperate to protect/hide?
- Separate the components of his life into 2 basic categories
- Interior
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 childhoods did he have?
- What was his relationship to his parents?
- What kind of child was he?
- Is he married, single, widowed,, separated or divorce?
- 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 do?
- Are they sad or happy with their life?
- Do they wish their life were different? Another job, another wife?
Taxi Driver
You must create your characters in a relationship to other people or things
All dramatic characters interact in 3ways:
- They EXPERIENCE CONFLICT in achieving their dramatic need.
- They INTERACT with other CHARACTERS.
- They INTERACT with THEMSELVES.
- How do you invent characters?
– Try turning them upside down
Next Week
Storytelling techniques Quiz #1
Review
May 27, 2009
Week 6 Notes
Review exercise: Letter to the past
è Purpose of the exercise
– The letter is a practical, personal example of how a character – YOU – 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 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.
- Universal
- Friendship
- Love
- Family
- Death
- Betrayal
- Loneliness
- Hardship
- Translatable
- Setting
- Characters
- Language
- Culture
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.
- 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
- 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
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
Experience – true
Memory – can be manufactured; can be true/false.
TIP:
- WRITE what you do not know because you will find some part of you that does know.
- THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR YOUR PERSONAL DISCOVERY!
- What is the difference between memory and experience:
- How do we use memory to build creative content?
Assignment
Write 2 short stories
– One is completely TRUE
– One is completely FALSE
Only the author knows which is which!
Part 2
After posting your story, visit 3 classmates below you on the blog roll and vote for which story you think is true and which is false.
May 20, 2009
Week 5 Notes
Film Screening
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Assignments
– 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 in the past, and how your time spent together has made you a different person now than you were before.
– Password protects your page! If you want to.
May 13, 2009
Week 4 Notes
Assignment
• Visual trigger: find an 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.
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 characters to learn something about herself or himself.
May 6, 2009
Week 3 Notes
Review exercise 2: 50 word stories
- Difficulties – what are they?
– To the 50-words
- Restrains – did they help?
– In a way
Do constraints help you to be a better writer?
What constraints do professional writers face?
– Deadlines
– Plagiarism
– Casting problems
– Problems with directors
Storytelling tool 1: Observation
- Observe in a conscious way
Things to observe
- Dressing
- Way they carry themselves
- Speech
v Fast
v Slow
v Mumble
- Expression
- Gestures
- Train yourself to see and record
– Movements
– Physical characteristics
– Settings
- Watch only what is not said, but what is said
- Adopt a KEEN EYE
- Develop a natural SENSE OF CURIOSITY but not contrusive
– An observed event, when subject to simple questions, can set up a sequence of possibilities that will develop into a story worth telling
- Ask
– 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
– Their physical characteristic
– The setting/places they’re in
Exercise: People-watch
- Walk into the canteen/library, etc. and watch people pass by.
- Eventually, one will catch your attention.
- Write down as many details as possible through observation.
- Repeat steps 1 – 3 for a second character.
– Different genders
– Different settings
– Different age
- Transcribe all these details into the “PEOPLE-WATCH” page that you will create on your blog.
– Try to take a photo if possible O.o
Presentation
Aristotle
- Review the list of questions in groups of 3
- You have an hour to complete your research
- Avoid presenting just facts or theories. Support your answers with interesting antidotes or tales about Aristotle
Questions
- What is the responsibility of characters in an Aristotelian tragedy?
- Aristotle originated the concept of the three-act structure. What is it, and how does it apply to scriptwriting?
- Definition of anagnorisis?
April 29, 2009
Week 2 Notes
Conflict
– Definition
– Opposition of people or forces
– Can result internally or externally
è Internally is usually within yourself, externally is usually with people and forces
– It is the interaction if opposing ideas, interests, or wills that creates the plot
– A serious/not so serious disagreement
– Hostile encounter
– Mental/emotional/physical struggle
Types of conflict
– Dramatic conflict is the protagonist’s struggle against something or someone
èMan vs. man
èMan vs. environment
èMan vs. system
èMan against self
– Variations 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
– Changes can just be able anything
– While change is universal and common, it is not always accepted.
– It really depends on the person’s personality. Some people can accept any changes, while others may argue about anything.
– Example of changes;
èSeasons, lives, relationships, feelings, bodies, locations, technologies.
– Age can affect how we perceive things
– 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.
è We all want to see what happens, without conflict, it becomes boring
– Central feature of the screenplay
– as your character attempt to reach their goals, they come into conflict with each other.
– Internal stories are actually quite hard to tell.
– The end of the story nears when the protagonist and antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement
– Remember: the antagonist can be anything.
The Call Home
The Secret Heaven
Writing for an audience
– Screenwriter = storyteller
è The cinematic experience is not just made up of text paper, but the audiences’ emotional reaction to that information
X Director to people
X Writer to people
X Camera to people …
It’s none of those things,
– it’s people to people
What is the writer’s purpose?
– To connect the audience
èThemselves; 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 e.g. experiences, memories, emotions
– Practice observing, ‘listening’ and reading body language of people
– As storytellers we must learn to observe people
– Figure how to connect your viewers to your story through emotions, characters, etc
Assignment
– 5 stories of exactly 50 words each, posted to your blog.
(Do a word count before submission)
April 22, 2009
Week 1 Notes
My written assignment must use:
⇒ Present tense
– So that the reader can imagine the scenario
⇒ 3rd person
– Use a name
⇒ A visual voice
– So that when he reads it he can imagine
– Writes things that people can see it in their head
– I.e. Facial expressions, actions, movements, etc.
The 3rd person/present tense
– A character is ‘narrating’ the story as it is happening.
– E.g. Mark picks up the gun and holds it in his hand. It beings to tremble, as if alive
– Voice over narration. Try not to use it too much.
Commonly used in:
⇒ Screenplays
– the story/film unfolds as we read it
– fosters a more urgent and immediate feel to the story
– our imagination are much scarier rather than what is actually happening
Passive vs. Active voice
Passive
– uses weak verbs
– tells what’s happening in the character’s head
– creates a distance between the reader from the story
Active
– uses strong actions
– shows the action
– uses an immediate sentence structure
– conveys the story in a lively manner
Some slight causes can change a story. Always get our characters to do something.
Tips for writin
– Everyone has NO PROBLEMS coming up with a list of excuses for procrastination. Don’t procrastinate!
– The BIGGEEST PROBLEM is GETTING STARTED.
– Getting started is the hardest. Once begun, ideas to trickle and eventually flow
– Being with a short description of your story.
– When you have a writer’s block, take a break, find inspirations then continue until you derive solution.
– All writers sleep better when they solve the problem in their stories. Sleeping on the (writing) job is a no-no.
⇒ The next day you may not be able to continue
– Don’t be too hard on yourself; what you write at the beginning is seldom good but eventually…
Exercise 1a. Openers
⇒ Begin with this opener:
– Leonard walks towards the box …
⇒ Ask yourself:
– Whose story am I telling?
– What is the point of this story?
– How can I engage the attention of the audience? (Cliffhanger)
⇒ Story comments
– Its credibility
– Passages drawn from reality or experience
– Passages created artificially to keep the narrative flowing.
– Sometimes when we tell a story as it is, it sometimes does get very boring.
– Telling stories verbally and written is 2 very different things.
exercise 1b. openers
⇒ write 12 opening phrases in your blogs under the openers page.
– examples:
= sally keeps glancing at her watch …
= joe opens the bottle and takes a whiff …
= may closes her eyes and jumps off …
= james paced around the empty hallway …
= mel open her envelope. Her hand shakes …
Don’t forget reflection.
My ideas comes from dreams 