Writing Class


What’s in a Scene?

  • A character must want something

  • Something else gets in the way

  • They either get it or they don’t

Use writing to show character’s personality


Aristotle

  • pity/ fear/ catharsis

Three Acts:

  • Act 1: Pity, Empathy, Care

  • Act 2: Fear, Know what they have to fight for

  • Act 3 : Catharsis, Release

    • both physical and mental

Similar to a roller coaster: Act 2 is the buildup of fear, Act 3 is release


Comedy Sketches

  • Premise

    • e.g. : Kylo Ren

    • Situation Based

  • Character

    • e.g: Chicken Lady

    • Character based

  • Comedy Sketches usually end in violence or chaos or one side joins the other

Comedy Sketches has 4 parts:

  1. Set Up

  2. Reveal/ Twist

  3. Escalation (fear part: build up)

  4. Pay off

“Twist the Knife”

  • What other conclusions could the story have

Parody

  • playful take

Satire

  • There’s a bite

  • social constructthat often leaves individuals grappling with their identities, questioning norms, and laughing at the absurdities of life.

Frameworks of Comedy

  • eccentric vs centric

  • centric vs eccentric

  • clash of context

  • fish out of water

  • impossible task

  • parody, satire

Plot Points

  • inciting/ call to action

  • acceptance/ end of act 1

  • mid point break

  • climax/ catharsis 180

  • denoument

the office car scene

  • set up

  • stayin alive

  • chaos

sttuterer plot points

  • ellies asks to meet up

  • he got punched in the face

  • he meets her

alma plot points

  • sees the doll

  • denial that he was being denied

  • bike hitting the door

  • touching the doll

Analogous

  • colours next to each other on the wheel

Complimentary

  • opposite colours on the wheel that compliment each other

Discordant

  • colours that do not compliment each other

Associative

  • associating colours with someone or something

Transitional

  • when colours change, the character changes


Inciting Incident

  • character

  • present choice

  • stakes


  • normal world

  • incident disrupts world

  • character makes a choice

  • thrown into world of chaos

  • confronted

  • obtain goal

  • denoument

Advance Plot

Reveal Character

(be funny)


Factors that shape the way you talk/ communicate

  • age

  • friends

  • family

  • community

  • gender

  • education

ways to reveal a character

  • argument

  • confession

  • new character

  • big choice

midpoint breaks:

  • you have to either ^ or v to get the character to who they are supposed to be at the end of the story

in movies, we aren’t there for the ending, we are there for the “fight” or the “Struggle”

  • if everything is going great, you reveal nothing about your character

Non - Linear

In the mood for love - corridor glance (wong kar-wai)

  • the scene is slow at the start so that the audience can interpret what’s going on

  • theres room for interpretation

music can be a bully, it forces you to feel an emotion ie:

  • lively music to be happy

  • solemn music for sad, etc

  • silence makes the audience think about what they should feel


  • use very descriptive words to give a vision to the crew, describe what the objects look like, sounds, moves and reacts. this allows us to add personality to a simple object in a film

    • give audience a picture of your vision

  • conversations need to reflect the character and the scene’s emotional state. dialogue does not have to be generic but we should learn about the character/ scene through it


Silence

  • mystery

  • suspense

  • film-attention

  • sound track

  • montage

  • discomfort

  • sequence

  • neutral

  • stakes


mimicry

  • using closeups of peoples faces to convey emotion

  • you unknowingly copy the faces right infront of you

difference between mystery and suspense

  • mystery turns into suspense if you know something that the characters don’t

joan of arc 1928

  • silent film

rear window

  • silent sequence

eraserhead

  • awkward silence


documentary films → two types of camera people

  • the one that captures the beautiful sights/ moving pics

  • the secret “wannabe” director, who films the people and asks all the questions

    • makes sure that the director actually hears them

stakes

  • win/ lose

  • technique/ technical

  • new story

  • character/ supporting act

  • old story/ new way

story engine - new story/ situational problem/ action

  • these topics are used in every factual show/ movie


format

  • show with a format (the amazing race, the survivor, etc)

documentary

  • capture the moment and tell a story (no format)

hybrid

  • combination of format and documentary


  • format shows must have a “tent pole”

soft script

  • producers come up with ideas before filming then shoot it. no full script is made

arced

  • to watch in order. you’d have to watch it in order for the show to make sense

self contained

  • can film/ watch in mixed order

  • it is easier to create a “self contained hybrid” show


when writing a cover letter or scripts:

  • use small words well

  • “the vampire stood in the window”

    • no anticipation

  • “in the window stood the vampire”

    • has anticipation and impact




  • fill the picture when given basic information

  • scripts and media are meant to be said aloud

  • you’re giving instructions to the editor, actors and filmmakers when writing a script

idea → shot → idea → shot

  • structure of scripts