UID:
almahu_9949460386302882
Format:
1 online resource (208 pages).
Edition:
First edition.
ISBN:
9781501352164
Content:
"You've got an idea for the next great screenplay. Maybe you're just getting started or perhaps you've spent time with other screenwriting books, and you have your hero's journey, plot twists, reversals, and cat-saving scenes all worked out. Either way, what stands between you and an outstanding finished screenplay are the blank pages that you must fill with cinematic life, energy, conflict, and emotion. So how on Earth do you do that? The secret is scenewriting . This thorough and effective guide will help the beginner and the professional master the most critical and overlooked part of the screenwriting process: the art and craft of writing scenes. With step-by-step instruction, and numerous exercises, you will learn how to transform an outline into a fully-developed script. Learn how to prepare scenes for writing, construct sparkling, naturalistic dialogue, utilize scene description and the unique structure of the screenplay format to maximum advantage, and polish your scenes so that your idea becomes the script you always imagined it could be. Through scenewriting, great ideas become brilliant scripts."--
Note:
Introduction - Why a book about scenes? - What is a "scene" anyway? - Three steps to great scenes: planning, drafting, perfecting -- Part I. Planning. 1. What do they want and why? - Little scene in a big story - People want the same things (The scope of human desire is finite) - It's Important that Harry met Sally (specific, tangible goals) - Whose scene is this anyway? (A note about point of view ) -- 2. Why can't they have it? - The dragon guarding the treasure (direct antagonist) - I'm scared of heights (internal fear) - You can't share a parking space (mutually-exclusive desire) - Who's in charge here? (power dynamics) - Mountains, not molehills (obstacles should be big) - One clear and tangible obstacle - That rabbit's got a mean streak a mile wide (make your obstacles interesting) - Raising stakes doesn't mean more sharks -- 3. What are they gonna do about it? - Hamlet doesn't do laundry (great characters do memorable things) - Talking your way out (argumentative strategies) - But you can't argue with a tornado (creative solutions to external problems) - Cogitate outside the container -- 4. Where and when is it gonna happen? - Location, location, location! - The setting as obstacle - Preoccupations based on setting -- 5. What kind of film is this, anyway? - Give 'em what they want but not how they expect it - What does the audience know? What does the character know? (information flow and suspense) - Hey look, Han Solo came back! (The value of shock) - Know your plot genre - What do you mean funny? Like a clown? -- 6. Where the heck is this thing going? - Something's gotta change - End on a question, not an answer - Resolving old questions and posing new ones (expositino, plants, and pay-offs) -- Part II: Drafting. 7. A slugline says what? - Anatomy of a screenplay page - I made you look! (directing attention) - A minute per page - Inserts, montages, transitions and other oddities ; 8. Show 'em what you got - Speaking in pictures - It's all happening now (present tense) - Juxtaposition is your friend (storytelling through montage) - Write what they can act (actions not emotions) - Writing point of view without camera directions ; 9. Do you have something to say? - Playing chess against yourself (The challenge of embodying different minds) - Making good on your preoccupations - Saying something without speaking (dialogue/action vs -- silence/Inaction) - People don't say what they mean unless it's a Wes Anderson film (subtext) -- Part II: Perfecting. 10. Check your length - Form follows function - Start late, end early - Get to the point (eliminate unneeded action/description) - What do you want, already? (get to the character desire immediately) - Put a sock in it (aim for just enough dialogue) ; 11. Writing as directing - Reading your scene should be like watching it - Writing the camera without technical language - The power of metaphor ; 12. Conversations are more complex than that - Getting it "Off the nose" (when characters say what they mean and listen to each other) - Unconscious subtext (characters don't know --but the audience knows--What they really mean) - Conscious subtext (characters know what they mean but they can't say it directly) - Earth to Jordy (characters don't listen to each other) - Who invited her? (conversations with more than two characters) -- 13. Hiding exposition in plain sight - Remember that time when dad died? (characters shouldn't talk to the audience) - You wouldn't like me when I'm angry (hiding exposition through conflict) - Oh, so you're the new kid (providing exposition through a disparity of knowledge) ; 14. Watch your language! - Preoccupation, reversal, interruption, contradiction, repetition, repetition - Too much information (don't overshare) - End with a bang (save the most important thing for last) - Stop calling me names - Fine-toothed comb (watch for adverbs, adjectives, and duplicates) ; 15. A whole lotta meh - Do some research (reconnect with your inspiration) - Make every word fit your tone - What's at stake (can you push it further?) - Overturning cliches - A few words about bringing the funny - When you just hate a line (and what to do about it) ; 16. Last looks - The look of the page - Clarity, clarity, clarity (avoid ambiguities) - Sprooffrreading are important - Rinse and repeat (scenewriting is a process) ; Conclusion - The reading, and how to prepare for it - What's it sound like (how to listen to your own work) - Slings and arrows (receiving critique doesn't have to hurt) - Now what? (you don't need to go back to square one) - Other venues for feedback (The scenewriting website).
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Also published in print.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Additional Edition:
Print version: ISBN 9781501352126
Language:
English
Keywords:
Electronic books.
DOI:
10.5040/9781501352164
URL:
Abstract with links to full text
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