Random rants from a random rambling soul

NOTES TIME!!

Dynamic action

Stories that you write are action

Story is action
-action is any kind of activity,movement,interaction of characters with their surroundings.

-talking about feelings is not as powerful as illustrating why you feel this way through your actions.

Better to do what they want rather than say what they want

Film is behaviour
Actions are simply manifestations of behaviour
Human emotions are understood by watching the actions and reactions of the characters.

Action is the visual element in a film. Very important!!! You can have a movie without dialogues but not without actions!

What is the purpose of dynamic action?
-add subtext-not explict, like what he is thinking or saying
mimesis

in short stories you cheat but in film you cant since its visual.
Eg apple pie reminds him of grandmother
So first show apple pie with grandma then later in present he sees it then his expression will show that he got a reminder etc…

Dynamic action has the potential to enrich the experience of the audience by building an emotional relationship between the characters and the audience.]

Improve for the audience ,creative way.

Notes

Dialogue
-The audio part of the film. Or aardio as some people say it.

Portray emotions(express)
Express thoughts
Monologue
Say things on purpose to lead audience on
Build connection with the audience
Defines the characters
Communicate to other characters (indicates msg)
Moves plot forward relations
Communicates message

Elements of dialogue

Dialogue reveals character.
- A character talks about himself or herself
- Other people talk about that character

Dialogue establishes relationships between characters
-Characters express attitudes and opinions that are in opposition to one another.

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 story line.
- Dialogue ties the script together (voice overs)

Mistakes:
- Dialogue should be used sparingly, never telling the audience what they can see for themselves.
- Dialogue is no substitute for action. (IF not there is no point in it being a movie!!)

- Dialogue that creates ambiguity.

- Unnecessary Dialogue ( no difference whether its there or not)

Writing for an audience

Screenwriter = storyteller

- The cinematic experience is not just made up of words you might put on paper, but the audience’s emotional reaction to that information.
Is it:
Director to people? nope
Writer to people? nope
Camera to people? nope

It’s people to people *bingo*

What is the writer’s purpose?
1. To connect:
2. Themselves
3. Their unique vision
4. The material
5. The drama
6. Others

Audiences want to be transported by a screenplay.

Where do you looks for a story?
Inside yourself.
Everything to learn about other people is already in you.
Now you need to figure out how to connect to it.

Experience

Something, which does not need to be a memory. Are memories true? Memory is filtered through reality. When something sits in your mind, and it merges with other details, your memory of that incident changes.
1. All people have fragments of stories.
2. These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more.
3. Respond emotionally and intellectually to what you heard.
4. Good stories are born in the heart, not the head.
5. Remember the role of an audience, after all, YOU are the audience.

You must be satisfied with the story before other people can be satisfied by it. Therefore you satisfied=audience satisfied=total satisfaction guranteed:D

LECTURE NOTES:Character analysis

A story starts with character
Strong memorable characters = good/better story
The character is…. The heart, the soul and nervous system of your story
It is through your characters that the viewers experience emotions.
It is through your characters they are touched

Without character you have no action.
Without action you have no conflict
Without conflict you have no story
Without story you have no screenplay

Character

- emotions
- history
- personality
- goal

When developing a character, ask yourself:

Who is my character?
What does he want? The goal is what he wants and then the reasons why he want to attain those goals
What is her quest?
What drives him to the resolution of the story?

You must create your characters in relationship to other people or things

-They experience conflict in achieving their dramatic need.
-They interact with other characters
-They interact with their emotions

Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorcese

Memory

Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told
These memories are points of references to your own past experiences.

[Memories may not always be true as over time details get added to it. Moreover you will remember what you want and how you want it to be remembered at times.]

Write what you know
-believable
-can relate to it

Write what you don’t know

Les Mistons written and directed by Francois Truffaut

——————————————————————–
Thats it people:D

Lecture notes

ARISTOTLE:

- 384-322 BC

-Lived: Stageira, Macedonia

-Was a Greek philosopher

-The dude who came up with somewhat like official rules for stories

-Wrote the book called Poetics

1) What is poetics?

SET OF ADVICE ON WRITING TRAGEDIES TO CONTEMPORARY POETS

What is a plot?

-plot is the arrangement of incidents. The soul of a tragedy.

Beginning:

-the incitive moment

-it must start the cause and effect chain.

Middle:

-climax

-it must be caused by earlier incidents ….

End:

-resolution

-must be caused by preceding events but not lead to other incidents.

-the end should resolve the problem created during the incitive moment.

[ Magnitude—length of a plot ]

6 Elements of Tragedy :

Plot

Character:

It supports the plot
Personal motivations are connected to the cause-effect chain.
He believes that the main character should be rich and famous so that his change can be from good to bad.
In the ideal tragedy, the protagonists will mistakenly bring about his own downfall
This lack of self knowledge is called hamartia.

Diction-> the way it is delivered

Thought->The representation of the rational processes of the characters and of the values and ideas articulated in the play.

Song/Melody->Some parts of the text of the play are conveyed through the singing of the chorus or of other characters

Spectacle->aesthetics of the entire play

Important vocabulary for the week:

Kartharsis
Mimesis
Anagnorisis
Perepeteia
hamartia
———————- —————————- ————————- —————————–
3 act structure→his greatest contribution to the world
1st act: set-up
story begins with a goal-oriented character introduced at a point of crisis.
In the act of trying to get to the goal he has to meet roadblacks produced byt the antagonist

2nd:confrontation
action intensifes
an event forceds the chracter to make his choice

3rd:resolution
level of effort rises to new heights
both plot and character is resolved
main character either achieves or does not achieve his goal.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

–LECTURE NOTES 101—

We were told that,

Assignments should all be in:

-Present tense

-Third person

1st person – me
2nd person – you
3rd person – name
Example: “Mark picks up the gun and holds it in his hand. It begins to tremble, as if alive.”This adds impact to the story as though as it is happening to us at that very moment.

Third person is used in screenplays,scripts etc..
-Active voice

Why is this “format” used?
-Possibly because, screenplays are script of a movie.Its just the written version of the visuals that we are about to see on screen. Thus it has to follow this format so it allows the audience to see the movie as though as they are experiencing right at that moment.It gives a more immediate as well as an urgent feel to it.

[Third person is where focus is placed on the subject. Present tense focuses on the verb. ]

———————————————————–

Passive vs. Active Voice

Passive:
• Uses weak verbs
• Tells rather than shows what’s going on
• Distances the reader from the story.
The sky was blue with lot of white clouds

Active voice:
• Uses strong action verbs
• Shows the action
• Uses an immediate sentence structure
• Conveys the story in a lively manner.
-Put the subject infront to give it something to do.

Passive: Mano was angry at Jane for tricking him into helping her. (No actions from Mano) Include an action in and it becomes an active voice.

Active: Mano snapped angrily at Jane for tricking him……

—————————————————————————————

We were given some tips to help us write better.

Tips for Writing:
• If you have a work in progress never stop for the night if you’re stuck
• Always solve the problem and keep going until you are in safer water. A good night’s sleep is important. Sleeping on problems is a myth.
• If you can’t get started on a project, start writing anyway. To do this, you have to have some words to type.
• It doesn’t matter what you write. You’ll soon begin to think and move in your own rhythm/pace.

———————————————–

Some questions to ask yourself while writing:

-Whose story am I telling?

-What is the point of the story?

-How can I engage the attention of audience?

-Who is so-and-so (main character) and what is he going to do?

———————————————————————————–