Screen writing theory!
Objective
To understand the role concept, theme, characters and
structure play in storytelling. In this order!
CONCEPT. Like a survey this should be tested to check if it is
sound!
LOGLINE –is the film explained in 40 words or less.
Whos the protagonist, what happens to them and what do they
have to overcome. Formula for a logline.
Protagonist= hero.
Antagonist=villain.
A film is always about what happens to the protagonist that
is why a logline is always important so that once viewed people are able to
explain the film in a simple manner.
There are 2 types of loglines this is not an academic
teaching but a trade/industry reference.
Compass logline- the writer at the beginning and this is to
keep the direction of the story travelling continually throughout in same
direction.
Logline – the final logline is created at the end of the
film and is an aid in use of pitching/selling the movie to a director and an
audience through a trailer.
Synopsis – 1 page of information that explains the story ( a
fleshed out logline) for each act of the story.
Treatment- 10-50 pages long.
THEME- is what it is
really all about it can be one or two words or what if e.g. aliens the theme of
that film is motherhood.
CHARACTERS-
Protagonist-luke skwalker
Antagonist- darth vader
Stakes- princess leah
Mentor- obi won kanobe
Names (who they are, what they are about in this world) –
Skills –
CORE NEGATIVE BELIEFS –all characters must have a weakness
or flaw this is the thing that drives the characters there neurotic behaviour
is driven by this.
Both antagonist and protagonist must be strong but in
different ways to create a balanced battle otherwise one or the other will
easily walk over the other.
Characters motivation- what the character is driven by their
ambition and there drive and the reasons why
Dilemma is a morale choice that will come up somewhere
through the film the protagonist will always decide to do the right thing and
the antagonist will always decide to do the wrong thing. The harder you make
the choice for the protagonist the more drama you will get out of it. The
closer they are to the edge of looking like they may make the wrong decision
the better the drama or the more they have to lose by making the right choice.
Secrets- each character must have secrets as this creates
conflict as people will try and exploit people because of this and use it
against them again the better and bigger the secret the bigger the conflict the
more they have to lose by this being released .
Back story- all characters will have a back story where they
are from and what they have done initially (a biography of the character to
understand who they are.)
STRUCTURE- 3 act structure developed by syd field beginning,
middle, end. The whole script should
be 85-117 anymore is looking at 2 hours
long they prefer 90-100.
Act 1 – one page of screen play formatted in film format
equals one minute of film on average. The act structure is also looked upon as
the heroes journey (greek mythology) there is only one story it is just told
over and over again.
0-10 pages in (the
ordinary world)
10 pages in is the
INSIGHTING INCIDENT
27-30 is the 1st act break
50 is the mid break
75 pages in is the 2nd act break
75 to the end is the end fight conclusion love romance
in sighting incident the moment in the film that sends the
protagonist on their journey. This then continues creating bad things until you
get to the 1st act break this is where there is a large change in
the story a surprise and then continues to keep bad things happening until the
middle where really bad stuff keeps happening, then the 2nd act
break bigger reversal and then the end is the conclusion fight love end fight.
PAGES 1-10 ORDINARY WORLD
PAGE 10 – ORDINARY WORLD
First 25 pages is about secluding the protagonist (hero)
Pages 25-50 is about them trying to find answers
(protagonist)
50-75 pages which is generally the death of the mentor and
then full warrior mode
75+ is martyr where they generally have to sacrifice
something from themselves or themself completely.
The more the protagonist is beaten down and losing the more
the antagonist is winning and gaining until the protagonist begins to fight the
father figure is taken and then the protagonist starts to become the mentor and
sacrifices himself for the greater good through sacrifice he will prevail. Antagonist will never sacrifice and this is
his weakness.
There are usually 6-8 sequences within each act unless it is
a hugely action orientated film then there may be less.
You would write on each FILE CARD questions to the effect of
sequence one what is the protagonists ordinary world sequence 2 identify
incident ?
3 pages a sequence!!!
25 pages per act
De noumente is the final act!
Conflict is the core of all drama, drama is driven by
conflict.
Always make sure that you have the right producer right day
right project. Always have other idea’s readily available when in a position to
share them.
Objective : to
Autheur = author a personal stamp on the film that only they
could bring
Creative =
Technical
DYEGESIS- when we create a film we create a world that has
rules but they don’t have to reflect real life. The world in which the film
inhabits is called the dyegesis this is to give the film a foot hold in the
real world to connect with the audience,
MISE-EN-SCENE- location colour direction setting the world
must be relevant to the story. Controlling the totality of the image ( clothes
make-up expression black and white depicts the era if your able to pick up on a
lot of things based on the settings and things that influence the audience with
out words this is the mise-on-scene.
Kuleshov theory is showing an emote expression (an
emotionless person then move from that image to an image that depicts an
emotion this then move back to the image of the blank expression you will then
project that expression on to the character you see before you. What does
somebody see what does somebody hear in the film and this is important in film
directing to move the audience in the direction you want them to (to create an emotional
judgment on your character based on the images that you create as to create a
collective emotional decision that the audience and the director both agree on.
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most
governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive
rights to it, usually for a limited time, with the
intention of enabling the creator of intellectual wealth (e.g. the photographer
of a photograph or the author of a book) to get compensated for their work and
be able to financially support themselves. Generally, it is "the right to
copy", but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for
the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform
the work, who may financially benefit from it, and otherrelated
rights. It is a form of intellectual property (like
the patent, thetrademark, and
the trade secret)
applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is
substantive and discrete
Public domain
Works in the public
domain are those whose
intellectual property rights have expired,[1] have been forfeited,[2] or are inapplicable. Examples include
the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven, The King James Bible, most of the early silent films, the formulae of Newtonian physics, and the patents on powered flight.[1] The term is not normally applied to
situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, in which case
use of the work is referred to as "under license" or "with
permission".
In informal usage, the public domain consists of works that are
publicly available; while according to the formal definition, it consists of
works that are unavailable for private ownership or are available for public use.[2] As rights are country-based and vary,
a work may be subject to rights in one country and not in another. Some rights
depend on registrations with a country-by-country basis, and the absence of
registration in a particular country, if required, implies public domain status
in that country.
Creative commons
Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization headquartered
inMountain View, California, United
States, devoted to expanding the range ofcreative works
available for others to build upon legally and to share.[1] The
organization has released several copyright-licenses known
as Creative Commons licenses free
of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which
rights they reserve, and which rights theywaive for
the benefit of recipients or other creators. An easy-to-understand one-page
explanation of rights, with associated visual symbols, explains the specifics
of each Creative Commons license. Creative Commons licenses do not replace
copyright, but are based upon it. They replace individual negotiations for
specific rights between copyright owner (licensor) and licensee, which
are necessary under an "all rights reserved" copyright management
with a "some rights reserved" management employing standardized
licenses for re-use cases where no commercial compensation is sought by the
copyright owner. The result is an agile, low-overhead and low-cost copyright-management
regime, profiting both copyright owners and licensees. Wikipedia uses
one of these licenses
Film certification
A motion picture rating system is designated
to classify films with regard to suitability for audiences in terms of issues
such as sex, violence, substance abuse, profanity, impudence or other types of
mature content. A particular issued rating can be called a certification, classification, certificate or rating.
Character deformation
Under common
law, to constitute defamation, a claim must generally be false
and have been made to someone other than the person defamed.[1] Some common
law jurisdictions also distinguish between spoken
defamation, calledslander, and defamation in other media such as printed
words or images, called libel.
liable
In law, a person is legally liable when they are
financially and legally responsible for something. Legal liability concerns
both civil law andcriminal
law. Legal liability can arise from various areas of law, such ascontracts, tort judgments
or settlements, taxes, or fines given bygovernment agencies.
Liabilities may be covered by insurance, although
typically insurance covers liability arising from negligent torts rather than
intentional wrongs or breach of contract. Liability may also be imposed joint
and severally in certain cases. Liabilities arising from
a contract to borrow money are debt.
Sita sings the blues.
Process from script to business
Script-copyright
