Script Analysis Midterm - Compressed 낱말 카드 | Quizlet

Formalist Analysis

The search for playable dramatic values revealing a central unifying pattern that forms or shapes a play from the inside and coordinates all its parts.

Playable Dramatic Values

The features that energize actors, directors, and designers in their practical work

Chicago Critics

Maintained that principles of criticism should be explicitly stated and subject to logical explanation before their use in the study of individual works, privileging the form of the literary work as a whole

Cambridge Critics

Led a movement in English literary criticism, adopting many principles of the New Criticism

Russian Formalists

Critics scrupulously attentive to the inherent artistic aspects of literature, as opposed to any possible social or moral implications

Alexander Veselovsky

Russian scholar who refined Aristotle's system by developing a system of specific aims and methods for the study of literature and drama, based on the primacy of plot

Aristotle

Developed principles and methods for the analysis and evaluation of drama, emphasizing strict attention to internal structural design and the importance of plot as a unifying feature
- understood plot as the first principle and soul of drama

Michael Chekhov

An influential follower of Stanislavsky, whose principles are well known in the fields of film and television, and who utilized a type of Formalist Analysis

Group Theatre

Adopted the analytical methods of the Moscow Art Theatre, supporting the creative principles of various theatre professionals

Action Analysis

A specially reduced type of Formalist Analysis based primarily on the events in the plot.
- not intended as a shortcut to creativity but quicker and more straightforward

Events

Turning points in the course of the stage action that change the behavior of all who are present.
- makes distinction between essential and less essential events

External Events

Social exchanges that change the behavior of everyone present
- something happens --> changes everything that happens later

social exchanges

1. arrivals and departures
2. hellos and goodbyes
3. meetings and separations
4. secrets and disclosures
5. encounters and avoidances
6. public announcements and private monologues

Reviewing the Facts

Trying to understand the reasons and motives behind the facts and events of the play by asking who, what, where, when, why, how, and what for.

Seed

The main emotional and conflictful essence and the source of the author's perspective.
- main question to ask: what motifs do they exclude
- distinct pattern that is latent in the external events up to now
- play's DNA, provides the genetic code for character development

Internal Events

Connect the external events firmly to the seed, making all the events work together toward a single core of meaning.
- provides another opportunity for reviewing the facts

3 Major Climaxes

Beginning, Middle, End
- Every play goes through all three stages

Major Climaxes

Crucial turning points marking the beginning, middle, and end sections of the play, each expressing the essence of the section it represents.

Theme

The outcome of the seed, typically the opposite value of the hero's character flaw.
- summary statement, fixed intellectual study
- expression of the main idea in abstract universal terms

Super-Objective

The protagonist's all-inclusive goal; it is the theme expressed as what the main character is striving to accomplish.

What a character wants to achieve for the whole play.
- explains the changing feelings and thoughts by showing how they are related to a single permanent goal

Through-Action

A description of what the protagonist continually does to the antagonist to achieve his/her super-objective.

Counter Through-Action

A description of what the antagonist regularly does to the protagonist to accomplish his/her super-objective.

static

total set of present and past conditions in which the action takes place

dynamic

all of the events that move the action forward

Given Circumstances

Denote the entire set of conditions in which the play takes place
- forms foundation for plot
- always will contain information about other parts of the play

Time of the Plays Writing

Refers to the era in which the author wrote the play.

Time of Action

Refers to the clock time, calendar time, season, year, and era in which the play takes place.

Dramatic Time

Refers to the time that passes during the stage action, including intervals between entrances and exits, and acts and scenes. (time happening in the play itself)

Place

Refers to the general and specific location of the stage action.

General Locale

The neighborhood, district, city, region, and country in which the action takes place.

Specific Locale

Denotes the particular spaces in which the stage action takes place. (specific place such as a room)

Society

Refers to the closed social system of the play. (student body, Christians, theater students)

Family

Refers to parents and their children.
- one of the main topics in modern plays

Friendships

Sympathetic social bonds outside the family.

Love

Denotes intense feelings of deep affection.

Occupation

Refers to what the characters do to earn a living and their interactions with others having the same or different professions

Social Status

Refers to the position a character holds in the social hierarchy of the play.
- does not need to be stated or proven

Social Standards

The behaviors and beliefs that characters uphold and are expected to defend.

Economics

Signifies the large-scale monetary system the characters live under and the smaller-scale financial dealings in which they engage

Politics and Law

Refers to governmental institutions and activities, including the rules of conduct or legislation established by political and legal authorities

Culture

Relates to the arts and other signs of intellectual sensitivity and achievement

Spirituality

Refers to beliefs in divine, spiritual, or supernatural powers that are obeyed, worshipped, or respected.

The Special World of the Play

The unique sphere of influence collectively formed by the given circumstances.

Nonrealistic Plays

Are about generalized people, places, and events; hence their given circumstances are driven by theme (the intellectual focus of the play).

Atemporal Time

No relation to a particular time

Nonlocalized Place

Not assigned to a specific place

Myth

A traditional story describing the psychology, customs, and ideals of a society.

Theme World

A stage environment intended primarily to carry a specific theme throughout the play.

Background Story

Denotes everything that happened to the characters before the beginning of the play.
- plot details, exposition

Historical Method

Refers to background story that emerges mainly in extended passages near the beginning of the play.

Realistic Method

Background story is divided into smaller portions, shared among more characters, and disclosed in bits and pieces throughout later scenes.

Minimalist Method

Background story is so altered, reduced, or concealed that it is almost impossible to distinguish without very close reading,

Events in background story

turning points that change the behavior not only of those originally present but also of those present at the disclosure

close reading

An analytical approach that emphasizes the belief in the autonomy of the literary work, focusing on the role of meaning in a literary work

Character Descriptions in the Background Story

Take in those who are named or otherwise involved

Feelings in the Background Story

Include past feelings and sensory perceptions or present feelings resulting from them.

Background Story in Nonrealistic Plays

Contains the expected events, character descriptions, and feelings, but short, straightforward character histories and more likely to reveal information about the theme world of the play (closed system) than the background of the play

Plot

An account of connected events.
- does not progress at the same rate throughout the entire play
- forward motion is a fundamental necessity

External Action in the Dialogue

Refers to statements about entrances and exits, blocking, physical production, and special activities.

Elementary Storyline

stage directions provide some of these information

Entrances and Exits in the Dialogue

Change the numerical composition of characters on stage
- stops the ongoing action and starting a new action.
- identifies who is, was, or will be on stage

New Criticism

An American movement advocating the meticulous study of the work itself, disregarding the mind and personality of the author, historical-critical theories, and political and social implications

Blocking in Dialogue

The movement and positioning of the characters on stage.
- communicates plot visually and helps actors to intensify their actions
- characters attract and repel each other (close in climax and apart in tension = shown in dialogue)

Physical Production in the Dialogue

Refers to elements of scenery, costumes, lighting, properties, sound, and makeup used by or referred to by the characters.
- tends to be one of the objectively real things in performance
- assists in placing the play in a particular time and place
- storytelling and dramatic

Special Activities in the Dialogue

Are goings-on outside those typically found in a play; that is, beyond standing, sitting, eating, drinking, smoking, walking, talking, arriving, departing, etc.
- needs additional rehearsal time

Internal Action in the Dialogue

Appears in the form of effective assertions, plans, and commands.
- refers to nonphysical, psychological dimensions of the plot

Effective Assertion in the Dialogue

A statement of fact that produces a change in the characters and the course of the action.
- fact you want action on

Plans and Commands

statements requiring an outcome

Command

A statement intended to make a character do or avoid doing something.
- pushes action forward by creating events the characters must strive to carry on

Plan

A detailed method developed in advance for doing something.
- propels the plot --> through-action and counter through-action --> oppositions

External Action in the Dialogue of Nonrealistic Plays

can come into full potential as they are limitless and things can happen without thorough explanation

Internal Action in the Dialogue of Nonrealistic Plays

often seems trifling, enigmatic, repetitive, or contrary to the rules of common sense; nature and variety of examples depend on the theme as viewed through the lens of the playwright's imagination

Progression

A piece of dramatic action with a beginning, middle, and end.
- indispensable features of playwriting and as such exist objectively in the script

Beat

The smallest progression, the smallest piece of dramatic action.
- dynamics and intentions (changes of thought)

Unit

A group of connected beats.
- beats - musical measures; ______ = musical phrases

Scene

A group of units marked by a change of time or place.

French Scene

A new arrangement of characters on stage indicated by an entrance or exit.

Formal scenes

Shown as such, with labels, such as Scene 1 and Scene 2 and so forth.

Acts

The primary and most substantial progressions of a play.

Modern plays

tend to hold the situation longer than historical and classic plays for sufficient uninterrupted time for psychological exploration
- fewer events and formal scenes, more extended individual scenes

Digressions

Events that deviate, or seem to, from the forward movement of the plot.
- nonrealistic plays make extensive use of them

Horace

Roman author that was first to identify acts as primary divisions of a play

Structure

The arrangement of the parts of the play and their relationship to each other and the whole play.

Linear Plot

Begins at a certain point, moves through a series of events, and then ends up at another point.
- chronological

Non-Linear

(Sometimes called a disjointed, disarranged, or disrupted plot) Does not follow a chronological path but may contain other plotlines, flashbacks, dreams, soliloquies, and narrated stories within the primary plot.

Causal or Cause-and-Effect

Such that one or more scenes are the result of another or other scenes.

Epic Plot

Each scene is relatively autonomous and not necessarily the result of another or other scenes.

Point of Attack

The moment in time when the play begins in relation to the chronology of the background story.

Primary Event

A crucial event in the background story that produces the conditions necessary for the play to take place.
- crucial for generating the initial state of tension with which a play necessarily begins

Late point of attack

when onstage action states late in chronology of background and extend through a short dramatic time frame

Early point of attack

little background story and long dramatic time between opening and closing curtain (ex: Hamlet)

Inciting Action

The onstage event that starts the primary conflict of the play.
- can only begin after ______ takes place
- forms transition between the initial given circumstances and the body of the play
- helps to shape composition

Conflict

Refers to the counter-movements in the plot created by opposing motives and events.

Refers to the obstacles characters encounter as they attempt to fulfill their desires.
- axiom of drama

Climax

A crucial turning point in the course of the stage action that profoundly changes the behavior of all who are present.
- highest peak of emotional intensity
- 2 parts: recognition and reversal

Axiom

proposition that is established, accepted, and self-evidently true

Obstacle

Something that obstructs or hinders the progress of a characters goal.
- motivate characters and advance story but makes little difference

Complications

The unexpected changes in existing plans, methods, or attitudes that make a situation more difficult to deal with.

Recognition

A change from ignorance to knowledge on the part of a character, typically the hero.

Reversal

A radical change of circumstances.

Catastrophe

An event of physical suffering.
- single most distinguishing feature of classical tragedy