Short Scripts Simple Stories Well Told There is always room for another good story. But beginning with a good theme, an interesting character, and a good setting is only the start. A great film is created from a good story well told. Without a well-crafted script you cannot have a good video. To assure your success, we must pay attention to some of the stumbling blocks of novice scriptwriters. The two most common mistakes that novice short filmmakers make are: 1) Try and explore overcomplicated themes. Too much information presented too quickly makes for a shallow and confusing project. You want to say it all in 5 minutes. The scriptwriter must think of the audience and how best to deliver the story. One goal should be to impact the audience. 2) Dealing with the problem of how to show what is going on inside the character s mind. The beginning scriptwriter often struggles with rushes to fill the gap with dialogue. This is not a satisfactory solution and the openness and honesty of the actors will make the audience run for the exits. The short must dwell on a simple theme; a single character that is developed enough such that we share some amount of empathy. We are only with this character for a few moments in time. In this time the character must be attempting to do something; attempting not to do something or attempting to stop something from happening. A script to filmmaking is what a blueprint is to a shipbuilder or a score to a symphony performance. Imagine the difficulties of a shipbuilder who begins the construction on a boat with only a few sketches to work from or a full orchestra trying to play a concert from a sketchy musical score. Just as the drawings tell
the shipbuilder where to place the mast and the notes on the score tell the musicians what and when and how loudly to play, so a script dictates how each member of the production team is to go about fulfilling his or her job. The scriptwriter crafts the script such that the director can share the vision. Together, all the film crew has the ability to force the audience to see only what the storyteller chooses. Think of your script as a blueprint for the final film. It depicts a momentto-moment progression of events by indicating what the audience will see and hear. Unlike a novel or a script for a stage performance, the film script is an unfinished work subject to change as the production takes place. It is only a part of the media making process. It has no inherent literary value other than as a guide from which a film or video is made. Credit to The Tools of Screenwriting, by David Howard & Edward Mabley, St Martin s Press 1995
The Division into 3 Acts Typically a script develops in a sequence of 3 acts: Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Setup Confrontation Resolution Act 1: Gets the audience introduced to the world of the story and the principal characters. In most stories, there is a single character whose life and predicament are focused on by the end of the first act that is the character s goal is established and some inkling of the obstacles is given. Act 2: Elaborates in even greater detail and intensity on those difficulties, the obstacles to the character achieving the goal. At the same time, this character changes and develops during the second act, or at least there is intense pressure put on the character to change, and that change is manifested in the third act. Subplots in the story are developed largely in the second act. Act 3: The main story is resolved (and any subplots). There is a sense of finality the feeling that the conflict is over (even if we see another storm on the horizon, the conflicts have been resolved and the story is complete).
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The Essentials of Screenwriting Effective screenwriting is the result of many different factors, all of which contribute to the success of the film. The following is a list of different techniques the screenwriter uses to gain and hold the reader s attention. Drama is conflict and change If there is no conflict there is no change Change can be the cause of dramatic conflict or the result of dramatic conflict or both Changes may occur gradually through a story or it may be sudden If the change is a complete switch to the opposite condition it is called reversal If there are no changes, the story is boring If there are many changes at first, then none, the story seems interesting at first, but then feels boring Generally a story has a set up, called the first act. The main character, called the protagonist, is introduced and they have some sort of problem. The problem can be another person, called the antagonist, or a natural obstacle, like a storm or a mountain. If the problem remains the same we get bored. If there is a change and the problem becomes worse we get interested again. Once the problem has become worse, we are in the second act. The more active the protagonist is in dealing with the problem, the more absorbed we become with the story. Before the protagonist manages to overcome the problem, things should get worse again. This puts us into the third act. Near the end of the third act, the protagonist faces the worst yet. This is called the climax.
During the climax, the protagonist generally overcomes the problem, or is crushed by it. Once the climax is over, the audience wants everything to be wrapped-up fairly quickly, as they know the outcome. Sometimes, when they think it is over, another climax may occur. This is especially common in action thriller films. In addition: Short films can be just one scene There may be a three act structure within the one scene Good scenes will have a beginning, a middle, and an end Events which have happened before the script begins are called the backstory Text is what the actors are saying or doing Subtext is what the actors may be perceived to be feeling Subtext is usually derived from something which happened earlier in the story The story must be arranged so that the audience believes what is happening. If, without warning, something unbelievable happens (unexpected is ok), the audience will feel cheated. Notes from Bruce McKenna Saltwater Moose